IU basketball opens an exhibition against Marian University on Friday evening at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall in Bloomington.
Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 PM ET on BTN+, with students Nick Rodecap, Graham Nash and Ava Wegenke in conversation.
(Note: With a code you can save 50 percent on a BTN+ subscription for three months HOOPS50 at checkout. The offer is valid until October 31st.)
This will be the fourth straight season that the Hoosiers and Knights will play in Bloomington during the preseason. Pat Knight coaches Marian and Steve Downing is the university’s athletic director.
In lieu of our traditional game preview – Friday is an exhibition against an NAIA opponent – here’s what you can watch Friday night in Bloomington:
IU’s ball movement, spacing and 3-point shooting
The Hoosiers played three exhibition games in Puerto Rico in early August, but this is the first time IU fans will be able to see a full game since the Big Ten Tournament in March.
Clearly a lot has changed in the program. The entire staff and roster have been overhauled and with those changes comes a new style of play in Bloomington.
Although IU has big players on the roster in Reed Bailey and Sam Alexis, the offense will be focused on the perimeter for the first time since the 2016-17 season, Tom Crean’s final season.
First-year coach Darian DeVries wants ball movement, spacing and passing to be the pillars of his Indiana offensive system. Expect the Hoosiers to value three-point shooting and limiting turnovers, while prioritizing getting back defensively in transition over crashing the offensive glass.
DeVries admitted at his press conference on Thursday that the Hoosiers probably won’t show much, especially on offense.
“For practice matches, especially in attack, you probably won’t show much,” he said. “Even though we want to win the games, we also understand that the regular season games are more of a priority for us.”
Expect the Hoosiers to be vanilla on offense, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be a focus on ball movement, adequate floor spacing and three-point shooting.
“These preseason games will be on the offensive side, more about executing some of our moves,” DeVries said.
Experimenting with line-ups
Out of necessity, Indiana plays in unconventional lineups on Friday evening.
The Hoosiers will be without four scholarship players: Aleksa Ristic, Jason Drake, Josh Harris and Nick Dorn.
Of the four, Dorn may be the closest to a return, but DeVries said Thursday he will likely be out for both exhibition games.
With only nine scholarship players available and an overmatched opponent, expect IU to try everything from two bigs at a time to small-ball lineups that focus on floor spacing and three-point shooting.
“We’re a little bit short-staffed, so it’s almost going to force us to look at some things like we’ve been doing in practice,” DeVries explained. “I liked some of the things we had to look at, so maybe it opened our eyes to some different types of setups we can use as the November and December season gets underway.”
Ideally, the Hoosiers will be able to take control of the game quickly and utilize some walk-ons and younger players like Bosnian center Andrej Acimovic.
Will the defense show improvement?
Indiana started both exhibition games against Mega Superbet in Puerto Rico slowly and had to come from behind in both victories.
Poor defense early on was a major factor in Puerto Rico, and on Friday the Hoosiers will get a chance to show off the defensive improvement made in the two months since the practice trip.
“The biggest thing is just defensively. I think we became a lot more connected on our trip to Puerto Rico,” DeVries said Thursday. “You can just see it in the way we are much more aggressive, much more attacking, because we understand the positioning and where we should be a little bit better. So we are not half a beat late, maybe with things like in the summer.”
IU’s defensive struggles in Puerto Rico were understandable.
It was the first time most of the players on the roster played together and with the exception of Tucker DeVries and Conor Enright, the defensive system was new to everyone.
But with those exhibitions in the rearview mirror, plenty of film to watch and time to correct the mistakes of the trip, Friday will be the first opportunity to see how far the Hoosiers have come defensively.
“Playing as hard as we can (is the key),” DeVries said. “That’s number one. That’s number one every night we go there. Are we getting the most out of our efforts and communication?”
(Photo credit: IU Athletics)
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