Indiana’s roster makeover has given Darian DeVries something he didn’t have a year ago: a team built to take the bumps that come with Big Ten basketball.
After a first season in charge, DeVries went looking for more size, length and versatility, and Indiana responded with a transfer haul that changed the look of the Hoosiers almost immediately. Seven newcomers arrived, including three players listed at 7-foot or taller, and the result is a group DeVries believes is built on a different foundation.
“Physical, tough, gritty,” DeVries said. “That’s what we have to be.”
That shift was driven by what went wrong last season. Indiana averaged 32.4 rebounds per game, sixth-lowest in the Big Ten, and often found itself outmuscled on the glass.
Tucker DeVries led the team with just 5.3 rebounds per game, while Sam Alexis ranked second at 4.8. The Hoosiers also didn’t have much margin for error offensively.
When Lamar Wilkerson or Tucker DeVries was off, the scoring options thinned out fast.
“If we weren’t making threes, there weren’t a whole lot of places we could get to offensively,” DeVries said during Big Ten Media Days on Thursday in Rosemont, Illinois.
Indiana still managed to stay in games by leaning on volume perimeter shooting, but the shortcomings showed up often enough to force a reset. Wilkerson averaged 20.9 points per game on 46.3% shooting and 37.8% from three-point range, while Tucker DeVries added 13.7 points across 32 games. They were the only Hoosiers to finish in double figures.
The problems weren’t limited to one end. Indiana allowed 72.2 points per game, a number that ranked 129th nationally, and the front line frequently had trouble matching up with bigger Big Ten opponents. Freshman center Andrej Acimovic and senior forward Reed Bailey, both 6-foot-10, were the tallest players on the roster, but Acimovic never appeared in a game and Bailey averaged only 3.4 rebounds.
That pushed DeVries to reshape the group through the portal. He said the league’s physical demands left no wiggle room.
“The Big Ten from a physicality standpoint is as physical of a league as there is in the country,” DeVries said. “You have to be able to match that.”
Indiana’s new frontcourt is meant to do exactly that. Junior center Samet Yigitoglu and junior forward Aiden Sherrell give the Hoosiers more flexibility inside and, in DeVries’ view, improve the team’s interior defense. Sherrell, who transferred from Alabama, said daily battles in practice have already helped him adjust.
“Just competing against those guys every day has helped,” Sherrell said. “Like, in the Big Ten, I’ll definitely see a lot of solid guys. So, just getting a lot of reps, that helps a lot.”
DeVries has also been pushing the offensive glass, an area he believes can create extra possessions and easier scoring chances when shots aren’t falling. And even with all the size added, Indiana still has the kind of shooters that fit DeVries’ system.
He described former Notre Dame point guard and senior Markus Burton’s midrange game as his “superpower.” Former Duke guard and junior Darren Harris has the “green light from anywhere.”
Senior guard Bryce Lindsay, who has spent time at Texas A&M, James Madison and Villanova, is a proven outside threat after shooting 37.7% from three over his career and averaging 12.3 points last season at Villanova. Sherrell can stretch defenses too, having shot 33.8% from beyond the arc last season with Alabama.
DeVries called Sherrell the “perfect fit” for the system.
The pieces are different now, and so is the profile. Indiana no longer looks like a team trying to survive with shot-making alone. It looks built to lean into its size, absorb contact and still threaten from all three levels.
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