3 Instant Takeaways from Indiana Basketball's 82-59 Win at Rutgers

After Nick Dorn worked around a screen, after he'd fired from the right wing and after he'd watched his second 3-pointer in less than minute swish through the net Friday night at Jersey Mike's Arena, the Indiana men's basketball junior guard lifted three fingers across his face.

Partially masked by his celebratory signal, Dorn carried a sly smile. Teammates on Indiana's bench rose to their feet and applauded. The Hoosiers' lead grew to 15 points late in the first half in Piscataway, New Jersey.

Indiana had energy. Indiana had shooting. Indiana had diversified scoring.

After four straight losses — three against teams ranked inside the top 10 — the Hoosiers looked much like the team coach Darian DeVries thought he'd assembled in his first season in Bloomington.

And unlike previous games, where DeVries admitted fatigue struck his team, the good times kept rolling in the second half. Indiana (13-7, 4-5 Big Ten) cruised to an 82-59 victory over Rutgers (9-11, 2-7 Big Ten) on Friday night at Jersey Mike's Arena in Piscataway.

Here are three takeaways from Indiana's victory at Rutgers.

Hoosiers led by 3-headed scoring monster

Indiana led 47-32 at halftime. The trio of senior forward Tucker DeVries, senior guard Lamar Wilkerson and junior guard Nick Dorn totaled 43 of the team's 47 points — DeVries with 16, Dorn with 14 and Wilkerson with 13.

By night's end, all three finished above 20 points.

Wilkerson paced the Hoosiers with 27 points on 11-for-17 shooting, while Dorn folllowed with 23 points and made six triples. DeVries added 22 points on 9-for-20 shooting, including 4 of 12 from beyond the arc, while grabbing 10 rebounds. It marked his third double-double this season and seventh of his career.

Dorn, an Elon transfer, made his first start at Indiana in place of senior guard Tayton Conerway, who's dealing with an ankle injury suffered Jan. 17 vs. Iowa and has played sparingly the past two games. Dorn responded by matching a career-high with six 3-pointers.

Much of the Hoosiers' scoring burden has fallen on Wilkerson in recent weeks with DeVries struggling. But after a strong second half Tuesday night against Michigan in which he made four 3-pointers in the second half, DeVries carried his momentum into New Jersey, as did Dorn.

Indiana gave minutes to nine players Friday night. Only five scored. Conerway notched 6 points while senior forward Sam Alexis recorded 4 points. They were the lone two to find the scoring column apart from the trio of Wilkerson, Dorn and DeVries.

The Hoosiers shot 50% from the field and were 15-for-35 shooting from beyond the arc.

Francis aside, IU shuts down Rutgers' offense

By the time one of his teammates made a field goal, Rutgers junior guard Tariq Francis already had 12 points — and nearly 13 minutes had passed. Francis scored 12 of the Scarlet Knights' first 14 points, and he had 21 of their 32 points at halftime.

Francis finished with 28 points on 10-for-23 shooting from the field, including 1 of 4 from beyond the arc, to go along with three assists in 28 minutes.

Indiana didn't inherently do a bad job on Francis. He had several crafty, difficult finishes in the paint, be it layups through contact or running floaters. But the New Jersey Institute of Technology transfer, who entered Friday averaging 15.3 points per game, proved difficult to staff.

Francis aside, the Hoosiers performed well defensively.

Rutgers shot only 36.2% from the field and 5 of 19 from distance. No other Scarlet Knight reached double figures apart from Francis. Indiana controlled the glass, outrebounding Rutgers 40-27. Francis made difficult shots, but the Hoosiers were stout all-around.

Indiana ends losing streak with convincing victory

Friday night, for all intents and purposes, was do-or-die for Indiana. The Hoosiers' four losses were against strong opponents, three of the nation's top 10 teams and a fourth — Iowa — headed for the NCAA Tournament.

Rutgers entered the day as the Big Ten's worst team in the NET rankings at No. 153 overall. The Hoosiers closed as 7.5-point favorites and were expected to win convincingly — but this, a win with DeVries domiance, Dorn's breakthrough and Wilkerson's brilliance, was much-needed.

Indiana capitalized on a valuable opportunity for a Big Ten road win, and it did so in impressive, feel-good fashion.

Now, the Hoosiers carry momentum into an all-important rivalry game at 9 p.m. Tuesday, when they host No. 4 Purdue at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall in Bloomington.