LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — Another slow start. Another big rally. Another Indiana win.
For the second straight game, the Hoosiers erased a 20-point deficit against Serbian pro club Mega Superbet — this time capping the comeback with a Reed Bailey dunk with 6.6 seconds left — to escape with an 81-80 victory Monday in the finale of their three-game foreign tour.
The win completed a 3-0 week in Puerto Rico for IU, which trailed 50-30 at halftime and led for just 27 seconds in the contest. Lamar Wilkerson found Bailey cutting along the baseline for the go-ahead basket, then forced Mega guard Savo Drezgic into a contested jumper that fell short at the buzzer.
Tayton Conerway scored all 18 of his points in the first half to keep Indiana within range. Wilkerson came alive after the break with all 17 of his points, including three 3-pointers, while Sam Alexis added 15 and Tucker DeVries 13.
Indiana’s defense fueled the comeback. After shooting nearly 60 percent in the first half, Mega Superbet hit just 30.4 percent after intermission. IU also owned an 11-5 edge on the offensive glass and went 26-for-33 from the foul line.
“These last two games, we learned a lot," new Indiana coach Darian DeVries said. "We had two opportunities against a really good team. Unfortunately, both games played out very similar, where we gave up big leagues and then had to fight back. But again, I love the resiliency. I love the fact that we stuck with it, stuck with it, until we found a little crack and were able to kind of take advantage of it.”
Alexis’ three-point play cut the Mega lead to 80-77 inside the final minute, freshman Aleksa Ristic scored to make it 80-79, and Bailey’s dunk finished a closing 10-2 run.
The Hoosiers will head home and regroup, before beginning regular preseason workouts. But they'll do so with a good bit more data about their team -- and their new coaching staff -- than they had when they left.
"This was a great trip for us," DeVries said. "... And there was plenty of learning as to why we were down in both games, too. So there's some positives and negatives, which is what these trips are for. They're great learning opportunities for us to grow from now. We get to go back home, take a couple weeks off as a staff, got some great film, some great data to work with as we now begin the fall workouts and get ready for our season."
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