With Tayton Conerway Limited, Indiana Basketball Will Lean on Nick Dorn vs Purdue

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Opportunity called. Nick Dorn answered.

With sixth-year senior guard Tayton Conerway out of Indiana men's basketball's starting lineup for the first time this season due to an ankle injury, Dorn earned his first start in the Hoosiers' 82-59 win over Rutgers on Jan. 23 — and he flourished.

The junior guard scored a season-high 23 points, the fifth-most in his career, while matching a career-high six 3-pointers on 10 attempts. He added two rebounds and a pair of steals with no turnovers in 36 minutes.

Dorn's performance warranted more starting opportunities moving forward, and he appears poised to get the nod at 9 p.m. Tuesday, when the Hoosiers (13-7, 4-5 Big Ten) host No. 12 Purdue (17-3, 7-2 Big Ten) inside Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall in Bloomington.

Indiana coach Darian DeVries told reporters Monday over Zoom that Conerway, who sustained the injury in a loss to Iowa on Jan. 17, still isn't fully healthy and has been limited in practice. Conerway played 16 minutes off the bench against Rutgers, scoring 6 points and making layups on consecutive possessions in the second half.

"We'll have to see on that," DeVries said about when Conerway will be fully healthy. "Everybody heals differently at their own pace. But yeah, he certainly hasn't been able to do a lot. So, we were able to get some very valuable minutes from him, thankfully, and I thought he came in and did a good job.

"Gave us a nice little lift there in the second half with those back-to-back baskets, clearly when he's not 100%, which I think says a lot about his ability to go and still compete for us in that moment. But we'll hopefully get him healthy as soon as possible and be able to get him out there in more of that full-time role."

In the meantime, Dorn's minutes figure to remain high. When Conerway played only two minutes against Michigan on Jan. 20, Dorn saw the floor for 29 minutes — a season-high before Friday night in Piscataway.

The 6-foot-7, 225-pound Dorn scored 14 points on 4-for-9 shooting from the field, all beyond the arc, and collected four rebounds and one assist at Michigan. He hasn't committed a turnover across 65 minutes the past two games.

A Charlotte native, Dorn is 37-for-82 shooting from 3-point range this season, connecting at a 45.1% clip. He's attempted only 10 shots inside the arc, making seven. He's a 3-point specialist who's found his niche and is thriving within it.

Dorn missed the Hoosiers' preseason trip to Puerto Rico, didn't play in a pair of exhibition games and was inactive for the first two regular season contests while recovering from foot surgery over the summer.

After a slow, but effective, acclimation process, Dorn has emerged as one of Indiana's biggest X-factors. He's been volatile, but full of flashes. His recent breakout — 37 points combined against Michigan and Rutgers — followed a five-game stretch where he averaged just 4.6 points per game upon returning from winter break.

Before the near-two-week gap between games, Dorn eclipsed double figures in five of Indiana's previous seven games. DeVries said the Hoosiers needed to explore ways to get Dorn more minutes and expand his role.

Fate presented a different option.

Indiana didn't anticipate Conerway's injury, and the Hoosiers still need the Burleson, Texas, native at his best to reach their full ceiling this season.

But Dorn, if nothing else, has taken it upon himself to help lessen the blow of Conerway's absence. His ascent isn't surprising to DeVries and the Hoosiers — this is merely the version of Dorn that Indiana thought it secured from Elon in last year's transfer portal cycle.

And Dorn picked a crucial time to rise to the occasion.

"It certainly gives us just that one more guy that can go get four, five, six threes and space the floor," DeVries said. "It gives us some advantages there to maybe get more downhill, and I thought we were able to get a little more of that in the Rutgers game, where we were able to get in the paint with some post-ups with Tucker and Lamar or some drive opportunities.

"Now, you got that extra shooter spotted up, and I thought that's been good for us as he's continued to get healthy these last few weeks. You've really seen what he can do for us."

Now, Dorn will take center stage as the Hoosiers try to upset archrival Purdue on Tuesday night. Conerway figures to play, but the extent, and effectiveness, will depend on the health of his ankle.

The burden will again fall on Dorn to complement leading scorers Lamar Wilkerson and Tucker DeVries. If the Hoosiers' road win over Rutgers proved anything, it's that Dorn is up for the challenge. He's already answered the call once. He has the chance do it again Tuesday in Assembly Hall.