The purpose of any international and preseason trip for college basketball programs around the country is to build on the summer months of setting in motion the system and scheme the coaches have been teaching. That emphasis was heightened for Indiana as 13 new players and a new staff came together for the first time just two months ago.
Wednesday’s first exhibition in Puerto Rico — a 98-47 win over Universidad Central de Bayamon (UCB) — was the first time this group of players met a true competitor. After eight weeks of battling against one another in practice and scrimmages, it was the first opportunity to put everything they had learned to a test.
For head coach Darian DeVries — regardless of the outcome — that was the goal.
“I thought the biggest thing for us was, we just wanted to make sure we did in the game — even though it’s an exhibition game, of what we’ve been talking about, what’s important to us,” DeVries said after the win. “So, I thought we did a really good job sharing the ball and stuff.”
From the tip, Indiana was clearly going to outmatch UCB in every category and every position on the floor. So while it could’ve been easy to turn Wednesday’s exhibition into an unorthodox flow, this group did what it could to focus on the building blocks that had been set over the course of the summer.
And, most of it translated, beginning with the unselfish nature of this team. Whether it was passing up open shots or good shots to get great shots. Or looking ahead in transition and finding open players. Or running sets the way they’ve practiced. Indiana’s play was a byproduct of what it had practiced.
“At practice every day we move the ball so it wasn’t nothing new against a new team,” IU forward Sam Alexis said. “It was just executing the same thing.”
“Sharing the ball,” Freshman forward Trent Sisley said. “Coach is big on sharing the ball and as long as we keep doing that, it’ll be a good formula to winning.”
Indiana shot 51.2 percent from the floor and had 32 assists on 41 made field goals. In total five players were in double figures.
Where there were some struggles was shooting the ball — just 9-of-33 from three as a team. But, what good comes from it was the emphasis on 3s. Darian DeVries roster is made up of players who can step out and be productive from the perimeter. There are also six players who have shot above 34 percent from three in their careers, including Lamar Wilkerson and Tucker DeVries who come in after both shooting above 40 percent last year and combining for 7.7 made 3s a game.
“We didn’t shoot it great tonight, but I thought our ball movement and unselfishness was really good,” DeVries said. ” … We were a little excited early on both sides of the ball and anxious and things, but that’s to be expected. It was good. It was a good first outing for us to get out together.”
On Wednesday, Wilkerson was just 3-of-14 from the floor and DeVries was 3-of-10 — combining for 5-of-20 from three.
“I kind of like the fact that he struggled shooting in an exhibition game, because he doesn’t struggle very often. So, this is a good one to get out of the way,” DeVries said of Wilkerson — who shot 44.5 percent from three last year. “He’s one of those guys that I don’t care if he goes, 2-for-20, because that means he’s going to go 18-for-20 some night. He’s that good of a shooter, just had a tough night. And then with the trip and everything, the excursions, all that, there’s a lot that goes into these games that aren’t ideal for playing a regular season game — you treat it a lot differently. But he’s not going to have very many of those nights.”
Indiana has two more games to wrap up its preseason trip — once on Saturday and then on Monday. Both are against Mega SuperBasket, a professional club out of Serbia and a much different level of competition for the Hoosiers.
Despite that, it’ll be more emphasis on continuing to lay the groundwork for the season and fine tuning all the details that have been set in place since June.
“Ultimately, though, I love the fact that I’ve seen all the unselfishness in practice for these last eight weeks, and then have it show up in front of people,” DeVries said. “That’s a big deal. That’s important. And they did a nice job of that.”
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