The Indiana Men’s Basketball (IUBB) season officially gets underway in 16 days when the Hoosiers take on Alabama A&M on Wednesday, November 5 at Assembly Hall. Just like our football coverage, we are doing a countdown to tip-off. Today we take a look at freshman guard Aleksa Ristic.
Name: Aleksa Ristic
Height/Weight: 6’3” / 200 lbs
Hometown/High School: Nis, Serbia / KK Dynamic (Professional Team in Serbian Top League)
Class: Freshman
Position: Guard
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Serbia, the beautiful European country tucked away between the Adriatic and Black Seas, north of Greece, south of Hungary, and filled with basketball talent. Serbia is currently home to the world’s best basketball player, Nikola Jokic, and has continued to boom as a result of his success. They are currently 3rd in the world FIBA rankings and show no signs of stopping. Part of the youth movement of ‘next up’ potential Serbian National Team members is Indiana’s very own Aleksa Ristic.
Ristic was born in Serbia and played there professionally for three seasons in the top Serbian basketball league. In his most recent season, he averaged 13.6 points, 3.2 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 1.2 steals and shot 38.6% from three point range with 101 attempts across 19 games (per iuhoosiers.com). He has represented Serbia on the national stage as well, making the Serbia FIBA U-20 EuroBasket squad, showing his strong potential and how favorably one of the best basketball nations views Ristic long term.
Ristic joins the Hoosiers as a freshman, but is already 20 years old. He brings a unique skillset to the guard position as an intelligent distributor who can calmly command an offense while also drilling three’s at a high clip. He plays with supreme confidence, slowing the game down and controlling it as he pleases. It will be interesting to see how the Euro game translates to college basketball, but Ristic has all the tools and experience to succeed. He very easily could see the floor with strong minute totals in the 2025-2026 season and boasts sky high potential moving forward. Ristic is tall, strong, smart, and has a quick shot with a high release. He is certainly one to watch moving forward.
The Hoosiers are set to open the regular season at Assembly Hall on November 5th against Alabama A&M. Stay locked in with Hoosiers Huddle for all things Indiana Basketball, Indiana Football, and all other Indiana sports – all the time.