Indiana’s first public look at the new season came with plenty to like Wednesday night, as the Hoosiers rolled past Canada’s Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf, 98-64, at Assembly Hall.
The exhibition was more than just a comfortable win. It gave Darian DeVries a chance to show off a roster packed with new faces, and the early returns were encouraging. Indiana played fast, shared the ball well, got a huge all-around night from Aiden Sherrell, and saw its freshmen make an immediate impact.
The most obvious change was the tempo. DeVries opened with a starting five made up entirely of transfers: Markus Burton from Notre Dame, Bryce Lindsay from Villanova, Darren Harris from Duke, Aiden Sherrell from Alabama, and Samet Yigitoglu from SMU. Every one of them brings multiple seasons of high-major experience, and that showed up in stretches once the group settled in.
Indiana started slowly on offense, but the rhythm came together quickly enough. Burton handled the ball often and kept looking to push the pace, finishing with 11 points and a team-high 6 assists. Harris brought the same urgency in transition and matched Burton with 6 assists of his own.
The rotation was deep, too. Trent Sisley, Prince-Alexander Moody, and Vaughn Karvala were the first bench pieces to enter, and 13 Hoosiers saw the floor overall.
Sherrell logged just over 25 minutes, while Yigitoglu played 21:48, Burton 22:27, Lindsay 23:59, Harris 21:46, and Trevor Manhertz 22:21. Georgia Tech transfer Jaeden Mustaf was out with a lower body injury.
Indiana didn’t shoot it especially well from deep, finishing 11-for-40, or 27.5%, but the better story was the quality of the looks. The ball moved, the offense rarely bogged down, and the Hoosiers generated shots with far less standing around than teams often show in an exhibition setting. There are still rough edges to smooth out, but the talent and athleticism were obvious.
Sherrell, though, may have been the biggest winner of the night.
The Alabama transfer looked like a player ready to take over. He led Indiana with 16 points on 6-of-11 shooting and added a team-high 6 rebounds, including 3 offensive boards. He scored inside, stepped out and hit multiple three-pointers, and even brought the ball up the floor when the guards were getting pressured in the backcourt.
That kind of versatility is exactly why Sherrell looks so important for this team. After averaging 11.1 points and 6.2 rebounds per game at Alabama last season, he appears capable of a much bigger role in Bloomington.
At 6'11" and 255 pounds, he gives Indiana the kind of frontcourt size it was missing a year ago. He also shared the floor early and often with Yigitoglu, the 7'2" SMU transfer, and that pairing could become a major weapon for the Cream and Crimson.
The freshmen made their case, too.
Moody, Karvala, and Manhertz all played meaningful minutes and looked comfortable in the moment. Karvala was active above the rim on both ends, while Manhertz scored 10 points and knocked down two three-pointers.
Moody was the one who really stood out. The 4-star prospect handled floor-general duties for stretches and finished with 13 points, 3 assists, and 3 rebounds.
He showed strong chemistry with the other freshmen, especially in transition with Karvala and Manhertz, and he also found his shot from outside, going 3-for-7 from three-point range. That included back-to-back threes in the second half.
He wasn’t just productive on offense, either. Moody was all over the ball defensively, hounding handlers and leading Indiana with 5 steals. Those stops turned into quick points going the other way, which only added to the sense that this freshman group can help right away.
In Other News...
The 5 Portal Moves That Built Curt Cignetti's Indiana Powerhouse
Curt Cignettis rise at Indiana has been built as much in the transfer portal as on the practice field, and the core of that turnaround is easy to spot. In just two seasons, the Hoosiers have gone from trying to change their trajectory to playing at a level that produced a National Championship, with portal additions like Fernando Mendoza, DAngelo Ponds, Elijah Sarratt, Pat Coogan and Roman Hemby giving the roster the kind of immediate impact that can reshape a program.
What makes the list even more important for Indiana is how many of those moves became proof points for Cignettis approach. Mendoza, Ponds, Sarratt, Coogan and Hemby each filled major roles and helped push the Hoosiers into a different tier, while some of that talent has already moved on to the NFL. The bigger question now is how long Indiana can keep stacking wins in the portal before other programs start treating the Hoosiers the way Indiana once treated everyone else. [Read more 🡒]
Indiana Just Won A Recruiting Battle Hoosiers Fans Never Expected
For years, Alabama made the kind of recruiting run that felt almost automatic, with Nick Sabans final five classes sitting near the top of the national race every cycle. That standard is part of why Indiana landing a major win on the trail stands out so much now, because the Crimson Tide are no longer operating with the same recruiting certainty under Kalen DeBoer.
This cycle has been a rough one by Alabamas usual standards, with a class ranked 32nd nationally and a group that has not piled up the kind of blue-chip talent Tuscaloosa fans came to expect. Against that backdrop, Indiana beating out Alabama for the nations top-ranked wide receiver recruit is the sort of result that says as much about the changing recruiting landscape as it does about one individual decision, and it leaves plenty of room to wonder how many more surprises like this are still out there. [Read more 🡒]
Curt Cignetti And Indiana Just Became A Blueprint For Contenders
Rhett Lashlees new deal at SMU was always going to say something about where the Mustangs see themselves in the college football pecking order. The extension, signed in October 2025, pushed him into the sports top financial tier at more than $9 million a year and underscored how aggressively SMU has invested in its football future, from the coaching staff to the player budget to keeping the roster intact.
What makes Lashlees stance more interesting is the larger argument behind it. With college footballs power structure feeling a little more open than it used to, he has pointed to the idea that programs outside the traditional heavyweights can build real staying power if they commit the resources and trust the process. For Indiana fans, it is the kind of validation that matters, because it suggests the path to contention may no longer belong to only the usual suspects. [Read more 🡒]