Darian DeVries era begins with father-son milestones, record win

On Wednesday night, Indiana basketball didn’t merely open its 2025-26 season. It made history. A 98-51 victory over Alabama A&M at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall marked the largest margin of victory ever for a first-time Indiana head coach.

But the scoreboard, while commanding, only hints at the night’s significance. The real story belonged to a family.

Darian DeVries celebrated his first regular-season win as Indiana’s head coach. On the same night, his son, Tucker DeVries, who is the nation’s active leading scorer in all of Division I, surpassed 2,000 career points.

Father and son, together, sharing the floor and the spotlight, achieving milestones on the same night that seemed almost scripted by fate.

“This is a special night,” Indiana athletic director Scott Dolson told the team in the locker room after the game. “This is to celebrate coach DeVries’ first victory; it’s the largest margin of victory for any first-time coach in IU history.”

Wednesday was a night that transcended numbers. It was a celebration of preparation, continuity and the rare convergence of family and basketball excellence.

Darian DeVries arrived in Bloomington carrying a record of consistency: six seasons at Drake, four NCAA Tournament appearances, six consecutive 20-win campaigns. Yet even with that resume, he recognized the singular energy of Assembly Hall.

“It’s just one of these special places that there’s not much like it in college basketball,” he said postgame. “It’s certainly a privilege for us to be out there and our team and our coaches to be out there and performing. Thankful we got that opportunity.”

TRENDING: Three takeaways from Indiana’s season opening win over Alabama A&M

He admitted the night before the game he had been restless, filled with “excited energy” and a worry that his players might be similarly keyed up. Once the ball tipped, those concerns dissolved. Indiana surged to a 23-2 run, built a 36-point halftime lead — the largest in a half since 2011 — and extended that advantage to 53 points at one point in the second half.

“It’s just one of those things, you’ve done all the work and then it’s like, what about this, what about this, what about this, are we ready for that?” DeVries said. “You’re just anxious to get out there and go play.”

Tucker DeVries, a two-time Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year, embodied both skill and poise on a historic night of his own. He finished with 18 points, 11 rebounds and four assists. Three second-half 3-pointers punctuated his performance, and the final one propelled him past 2,000 career points — far beyond the 1,084 his father scored at Northern Iowa in the 1990s.

“I recognize the fact that he just doubled me up in points,” Darian joked. “So I didn’t know how to feel about that in the moment.

“I think it’s a credit to all the hard work he’s put in. When you get individual accomplishments like that, it’s usually a credit to having really good teammates. It’s usually a credit to the work you put in on trying to perfect what you do.”

Wednesday night offered rare symmetry: the father’s record-setting debut, the son’s historic milestone and a team performing with poise and authority. It was more than a win; it was a demonstration that Indiana’s program, under new leadership, could be disciplined and dynamic, familial and professional and, perhaps most importantly, fun again.

For the DeVries family, the path to this moment has been deliberate. Tucker followed his father from Drake to West Virginia, gaining experience and maturity that allowed him to shine on a night of such significance. Their connection is not storybook novelty. It is a working, living system, honed over years of shared challenges and victories.

“It was a fun night, a special night, and hopefully it’s the first of many,” Darian said.

By The Numbers: Indiana rolls past Alabama A&M

Darian’s career coaching record now stands at 170-68, but Wednesday night was about more than just notching another win. It was about entering a historic program with purpose, about honoring Indiana basketball’s tradition while establishing a new voice.

Assembly Hall has a way of amplifying significance. The hardwood, the banners, the echoing cheers — they turn first games into history lessons and debut wins into benchmarks. On Wednesday, the building seemed to recognize the importance of what was unfolding: father and son, player and coach, past and present converging on the same court.

As Indiana turns its eyes toward the season ahead, the memory of Wednesday night will endure. It was more than a game. It was a rare alignment of legacy and family, a debut that felt timeless and the start of a chapter that promises more than wins and losses — a chapter immediately etched by a father and son who, in just 40 minutes, made history at Indiana.

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