The Indiana Hoosiers have five games left of the regular season and March is right around the corner. With NCAA Tournament talk really heating up IU coach Darian DeVries is just focused on the task at hand and a strategy that would put the Hoosiers into the tournament.
“The number one thing is you just have to keep winning games.” DeVries said on Thursday. “That’s number one. And then, like we talked about, a little bit of coach speak, but the only thing we’re really concerned about is our next one.”
IU sits at 17-9 (8-7) as they head into Friday night’s matchup up at No. 7 Purdue in West Lafayette. The Hoosiers will likely have to win at least three of their last five to not sweat out Selection Sunday.
Where’s Trent Sisley?
DeVries touched on why freshman Trent Sisley has seen his usage go down in the last month or so even with Tayton Conerway’s injury.
“I think Jasai (Miles) ended up grabbing some of (Conerway’s) minutes when he was out. So he kind of filled some of that. Now that TC is working his way back, those minutes and things would be a little bit game to game as we go through the year.” Devries said. “There’s been a few matchups where we wanted a little more perimeter, so we went with Jasai couple times. Still have great faith in all those guys that, you know, when their numbers called, they’re they’re coming in, they’re ready to go and give us great effort.”
DeVries Wants Nick Dorn to Keep Shooting
After the Hoosiers win over Oregon it looked like Nick Dorn was ready to break out of his slump. He had a personal 8-0 run and finished with 11 points. However, that bright spot did not last long as he struggled in IU’s 71-51 loss at Illinois. Dorn was 0-5 from the field in 33 minutes.
One of the biggest positives that DeVries brings to IU is his confidence in his players’ ability to shoot the basketball.
“Nick’s a really good shooter (and) that next game could be the six-for-eight game.” DeVries said. “He’s done a good job of picking some spots. He’s had some games here recently, he’s been able to get to get to the rim a few times and drive it, so that’s certainly something he’s added to his game as the years gone on, and he’ll continue to get better and better at it, but I think for all of our guys, it’s just remain confident, because it doesn’t do any good to not be so trust the work like we always say.”