What to Know About Indiana Basketball Heading Into the Season Opener Against Eastern Illinois

Indiana Basketball finished 18-14 (9-11 in conference) last season, narrowly missing out on the NCAA Tournament in the process. It was year one of the Darian DeVries era for Indiana, and it fell short of expectations.

This season, Indiana only returned two players from last year’s team (Sam Alexix and Trent Sisley). Coach DeVries had to once again rely on the portal and high school recruiting to fill out the roster.

IU has wrapped up three exhibition games, heading into the season opener against Eastern Illinois on Monday, Nov. 2. Exhibition games aren’t something to overreact to, as looking back just to last season, Cincinnati took down the eventual national champion Michigan Wolverines 100-98 in an exhibition game. Cincinnati would end up missing the tournament, and the Wolverines would win it all. That being said, while the outcome of a win or loss didn’t necessarily matter for Indiana in these exhibition games, there were still some takeaways that show glimpses of who the Indiana Hoosiers will be this season in year two of the DeVries era.

Rebounding

Last season, IU was 176th in total rebounding rate across the country. They were an even worse 306th in the nation in offensive rebounding rate. This was a major reason as to why they missed out on the tournament last year.

This season, in the exhibition games, the Hoosiers had a 40 percent offensive rebounding rate and a 79 percent defensive rebounding rate.

“The number one thing I was really pleased with… in the three games, we were at a 40% offensive rebound rate, which would have been third in the country,” DeVries said. “Again, like we’ve talked about it. It’s a small sample size, but pretty good competition, too… We defensive rebounded at a 79% clip, which would have put us number one in the country last year. So, that’s a component that I was really pleased with”.

This was in a small sample size, but it was against strong opponents. The Hoosiers beat a Big East team in Butler, an ACC team in North Carolina, and then a strong Conference USA team in Western Kentucky. These are not opponents to just look off.

In these games, the rebounding was excellent, and a large part of that was thanks to the two big men that DeVries brought in from the portal this offseason. Aiden Sherrell and Samet Yigitoglu are both elite, rebounding big men, and they are versatile enough to play next to each other on the court.

This season, rebounding will go from a weakness to a strength for Indiana.

Depth

For a majority of Indiana’s games last season, they ran a 7-to-8 man rotation, which left starters having to play for a large sum of minutes. In IU’s final game, a 74-61 loss to Northwestern, Tucker DeVries had to play 37 of the 40 total minutes in the game.

This year, Indiana’s depth has improved.

Bryce Lindsay will be starting the year off the bench as Indiana’s sixth man. He is a lethal shooter and capable playmaker who will likely average double-digit points every game while coming off the bench.

Then you have the returners in Alexis and Sisley, who will both come off the bench. Alexis was a starter for a large part of last season, but in the past was a national championship-winning sixth man for Florida. Now he will be Indiana’s third big man, which just gives DeVries a lot more wrinkles to play with in his second year.

Sisley didn’t play much as a Freshman, but was solid in the minutes he did get. Now as a Sophomore, he will be a backup three and four for Indiana. He provides returning experience for Indiana, which will help this bench perform well under the DeVries scheme.

Then you have the freshmen who have gotten to see the court a good amount in the exhibition games and this summer in Peru when the team won the FISU Tournament.

“We got a lot of those freshmen… a lot of minutes in the second half,” DeVries said. “I thought they came in and gave great production, and that was something we really wanted to be able to get those guys in last exhibition game, give them some meaningful minutes, and they took advantage of it, which I thought said a lot about their readiness and ability to come in and perform in a tight game situation”.

Against Western Kentucky the Freshman played a large amount and really showed that they can play some meaningful time for Indiana this season. Prince-Alexander Moody is a freshman with a lot of hype for his defensive abilities. Then you have the three-and-D player in Trevor Mahertz, who will likely be the freshman who plays the most off the bench for Indiana. Overall, the Hoosiers have more depth than last season.

Shooting

Last year, the team seemed to be live or die by the three-pointer. This year, the team has a bit more options on how to win a basketball game, but still, they have some capable shooters.

I already mentioned Lindsay off the bench, and he probably is the team’s greatest shooter, but in the starting lineup, Darren Harris and Markus Burton will have the green light from deep. Sherrell also is a capable shooter at seven feet tall, which also adds a new wrinkle to Indiana’s offense.

Burton is coming off an injury from last season, and it appeared like he is still a bit sluggish to begin the year in these exhibition games.

“I’m not worried about Markus (Burton)’s ability to score,” DeVries said. “I think he’s got plenty of a track record of proving that he can score at this level, you know, and he had dislocated his finger about a minute and a half into the game, and they popped it back in, and he continued to play. So, I’m sure that didn’t help any”.

Burton has proven his ability to score in his time with Notre Dame, where he averaged 19.1 career points per game in the ACC. He can score; it is that simple.

Harris can really shoot, even if he also struggled with it in the exhibition games.

“Darren Harris, in some of our exhibition games, he’s been solid, but he didn’t shoot it great in our last one, but I know how well he shoots the ball,” DeVries said.

Harris can shoot, and will prove that throughout this season. Perhaps the greatest strength of Indiana this season, though, is that even when these players don’t shoot the ball well, the team will still be able to have offensive production.

The team can grab rebounds to create extra opportunities for points, as well as score in the paint at a higher rate than they did last season. Jaeden Mustaf is an elite rim scorer who will start for IU. Then you have the big man trio of Yigitoglu, Sherrell and Alexis.

Indiana will be a better team than last year. DeVries learned from his mistakes and went out and built a new roster. It is a roster built smarter, with more of a winning potential than what last years roster had. These exhibition games should be taken with a grain of salt, but they still showed how Indiana is built for more success this season than their 18-14 record last year.