After waiting his turn, Nick Dorn delivers an impressive debut for Indiana

While eight scholarship players — and head coach Darian DeVries himself — made their Indiana debuts in the Hoosiers’ season-opening win over Alabama A&M last week, one player could only watch from the sideline.

Nick Dorn, the transfer guard from Elon, had spent the offseason and much of the preseason recovering from a Jones fracture in his foot that required two surgeries. He’d waited through summer workouts, sat out the exhibition slate and stayed patient as his teammates opened the DeVries era in Bloomington without him.

“I don’t think anybody’s more excited to get back to that play than he is,” guard Tayton Conerway said back in September of Dorn. “He’s been in the gym. He stays in the gym, even though he probably shouldn’t be there as much as he is. But he stays in the gym. He’s ready to get back.”

On Wednesday night against Milwaukee, Dorn finally got his turn.

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He checked in at the 10:49 mark of the first half, and in barely a minute, showed exactly what Indiana had been waiting for. On his first offensive possession, just 34 seconds into his debut, he assisted one of Lamar Wilkerson’s five 3-pointers. The next trip down the floor, Dorn buried a long jumper — his toe just grazing the 3-point line — for his first basket as a Hoosier.

It was a debut that didn’t last long, but it didn’t need to. The message was clear: Dorn’s combination of skill and confidence could give Indiana’s bench a new dimension.

“I think you saw why we were excited to get him out there,” DeVries said postgame. “He gives us another guy that can go out there and make four or five [threes] in a night. Like he shoots it at a high, high level and is a big, strong guy, too. So it just gives us a lot of versatility from our bench right now. That’s certainly something that as a coach is a great luxury.”

In just seven minutes of action, Dorn made the most of his opportunity. He totaled eight points on 3-of-6 shooting, including 1-of-3 from beyond the arc, and added three rebounds — two on the offensive glass — along with an assist and a block. For a player returning from injury, it was an efficient, confident opening act.

Dorn brings something distinct to Indiana’s rotation — a blend of physicality and polish that can shift the rhythm of a game. He’s more than a floor spacer. He’s a scorer who can manufacture points from different spots and put pressure on defenses in ways few others on the roster can.

At Elon last season, Dorn scored in double figures 22 times, including six games of 20 or more points. He’s the kind of player who can catch fire in an instant, and for a team still settling into its new identity, that type of scoring spark is invaluable.

“As he continues to work back,” DeVries said, “it’s nice that we got another person that can go in there and not only go in and do what we ask, but he’s a guy that can change a game when he comes in.”

Indiana’s upcoming stretch will demand that kind of depth. Over a span of a week and a half in early December, the Hoosiers will play two Big Ten contests and nonconference clashes with Louisville and Kentucky. That stretch will test Indiana’s rotations and reveal which pieces can provide consistent bursts of production.

If Wednesday night is any indication, Dorn will almost certainly be one of them.

He didn’t debut alongside the rest of his teammates last week, but when his number was finally called Wednesday night, he made it count — eight points, seven minutes, and one big reminder of what Indiana’s offense might look like with another weapon at full strength.

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