Highlighted by 3s, Indiana's 'philosophy' on display in high-powered, efficient opening win: 'Play fast and really trust their instincts'

Indiana is one of seven programs to enter the college basketball season without returning any production from its previous year. So throughout the summer and preseason, Darian DeVries continued to emphasize that his goals revolved around his attention to details and focusing on the implementation of their good traits in practice to the floor in live settings.

So after Indiana’s 98-51 win over Alabama A&M in the opener, what stood out to DeVries? Just what he’s been preaching — have a carryover from practice and the day before.

“Yeah, that’s what we’ve been talking about. That’s what they’ve been doing every day in practice,” DeVries said after the win. “I was really excited to see it carry over on the game floor. You get fans and stuff, sometimes things can go a little differently. But I thought the guys did an unbelievable job of continuing to just do what they’ve been doing in practice.”

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Wednesday’s win for Indiana was the largest margin of victory for a coach in his IU debut. It was also the largest margin of victory in a season opener for Indiana since 2018.

It was on the back of an extremely efficient and high-powered offensive attack — night and day difference from the past decade of basketball played at Indiana.

The Hoosiers shot 62.1 percent from the floor, were 10-of-24 (41.7 percent) on 3s and a perfect 16-of-16 from the free throw line. They had 23 assists on 36 made baskets. 

“We’ve got a group that has a really good IQ and feel,” DeVries said “And for a group that hasn’t been together very long they really play well off of each other and have a great understanding of some of the concepts that we’re trying to do, but they’re just out there playing. I think that’s allowed them to play fast and really trust their instincts.”

Despite the ‘newness’ of the Indiana roster, it’s built by veterans. IU is the only program in the nation to bring in at least 10 transfers with 30+ collegiate starts. 

That type of experience has allowed a for a near seamless transition from early June when the players arrived on campus, to Wednesday’s opener, leaning on the ‘instincts’ that they all bring to the floor.

“Coach DeVries is big on just moving the ball, being unselfish,” IU guard Lamar Wilkerson said. “I think it was one practice like two weeks ago we had 31 assists to two turnovers. The ball is always moving. We feel like we’re better playing when the ball is moving, moving off ball again, getting us open shots.”

Wednesday’s ball movement resulted in five players scoring in double figures, led by Reed Bailey with 21 points. Wilkerson, who has paced Indias through its four exhibitions, had 12 of the first 23 points for IU and finished with 19 points and four made 3s. Tucker DeVries added 18 points and four 3s to go along with 11 rebounds. 

“I mean, I thought we shot it great,” Bailey said. “We had our guys there. Mar (Wilkerson), everybody, they were looking for their shots and they were going down. It was a lot of fun to be out there to play.”

“We have a team with a bunch of shooters, so shots going in, that’s a good thing,” Wilkersons added. “It carries over to the defensive end and we was getting out and running in transition, and that creates open threes.”

A roster full of shooters resulted in making its first three just 56 seconds into the game. Then another one two possessions later, then just three possessions later. Six of the first 12 shots of the game were 3s, 13 of the first 26 and then 14 of the 31 shots altogether in the first half.

“Yeah, I thought, again, a lot of that shooting percentage is a product of ball movement and getting the right kind of shots, the right kind of threes,” DeVries said. “But we have a really confident group. They’re very sure of themselves, and they know that they have the green light. They put in the time and the work, so on game night, let it rip. That’s kind of our philosophy. We don’t want them to hesitate even when they miss one. I don’t care where they take them from, just know that it’s something that you work on every day, and we’re good with it.”

As DeVries says — ‘that’s our philosophy’. It’s been evident through four exhibitions and now IU’s first regular season game. And Indiana’s offense now will revolve around 3s or shots at the rim because of it. Another massive change from years past.

“To be honest with you, we don’t really talk a lot about not taking mid-range shots,” DeVries said. “It’s just kind of how the offense ends up. We feel very confident in our guys when they do come off, if they want to play in a deep drop with a big way back at the rim, they can come off and shoot those, too.

“It’s just I thought tonight they did a really good job because of the spacing, and when you start to make those threes, defense can tend to get stretched, and then we were able to get some slips and some rolls to the rim as guys are chasing shooters out the backside, and they just didn’t have a lot of help. I thought the guys did a good job of taking what the defense gave them tonight.”

So as Wednesday ushered in a new era of Indiana basketball — it was a display of modern basketball and a fun offense. But, that was just the first test and IU will be thrown into the fire quickly with a trip to Marquette on Sunday. DeVries isn’t worried, as he has full confidence in his offense, and the group he has on the floor.

“I thought our guys had great preparation heading into this all summer and fall, now we’ve got to go play games,” DeVries said. “We certainly understand that Sunday is going to be different than today, so we’ve got plenty to work on, plenty to continue to improve. But I like this group in that regard. They’re all eager to get better. They just want to win. That’s what makes this group fun to coach.”

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