Written by: TJ Inman
The Indiana Hoosiers opened their three-game exhibition tour in Puerto Rico with a dominant 98-47 victory over Universidad de Bayamon at the Coliseo Guillermo Angulo in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
11 players saw the floor for the Hoosiers with each one scoring and five IU players scored in double figures: Trent Sisley, Josh Harris, Sam Alexis, Reed Bailey and Lamar Wilkerson. Freshman forward Trent Sisley paced the team with 21 points on 9-12 shooting (3-3 from three). Indiana outrebounded the opponent 60-34 with 18 offensive rebounds and a 20-3 advantage in second-chance points. They also held a 31-5 edge in fastbreak points. Senior forward Sam Alexis led the team in rebounds with 12 rebounds while both Tayton Conerway and Tucker DeVries racked up impressive all-around games in limited time.
Individual Performances of Note
- Trent Sisley impressed in his 23:19 of action, going 9-12 from the floor, hitting three triples and leading the team with 21 points (plus three rebounds and two assists). That should be a good confidence-builder for the freshman from Indiana.
- Tucker DeVries only played 20 minutes and he was just 3-10 from the floor but he had eight rebounds, seven assists and three steals to contribute.
- Tayton Conerway was, by all accounts, a menace defensively and outstanding as a creator. He led the team with a plus/minus of 43 in just 21:22 of action.
- Jason Drake and Nick Dorn are both out with injuries
Team Stats of Note
- IU attempted 33 three-pointers in the contest. That far exceeds last season’s average and observers (Jeff Rabjohns of peegs.com) noted that Indiana routinely hunted three-point shots in transition and ran offense to get open looks from the perimeter.
- Indiana had 32 assists on 41 made baskets and turned the ball over 13 times. An assist to turnover ratio of 32:13 (nearly 2.5 to 1) would certainly be acceptable during the regular season.
Quotes of Note
- “I thought the biggest thing for us was to make sure we did what we’ve talked about and what is important to us. I thought we did a really good job sharing the ball tonight. We didn’t shoot it great but I thought our ball movement and unselfishness was really good,” Darian DeVries said.
- “I’ve seen all of the unselfishness in practice these past eight weeks and to have it show up in front of people, that’s a big deal. That’s important and they did a nice job of that.”
- “Our transition was pretty good and we were consistent with it. We missed some opportunities but we want to continue to play aggressively, to put pressure on defenses to have to get back and I thought our whole roster up and down did a good job of playing to that uptempo game.”
- On Trent Sisley: “Trent’s done a really good job this summer. You know, like a lot of freshmen, you come in and have a lot to learn but I think his adjustment to college basketball has been really good. He’s done a nice job of continuing to grow and get better and better. That’s something he’s going to continue to do, he puts a lot of time and work into it. What you saw today is a product of all the work he’s put in during the summer.”
What’s Next?
Indiana will take on Serbian professional team Mega Superbet on Saturday, August 9 at 7 p.m. EST. Mega Superbet should offer a much stiffer test than what IU faced on Wednesday night.