Florida transfer forward Sam Alexis commits to IU basketball

Florida transfer forward Sam Alexis has committed to IU basketball, Joe Tipton of On3 announced on Thursday evening.

The 6-foot-8 and 240-pound Alexis averaged 4.7 points and 3.5 rebounds per game for the national champion Gators. He played 11.9 minutes per game, shot 46.5% from the field overall, made 4-of-20 from three, and 53.8% at the stripe.

Alexis played in 24 games with zero starts. He suffered a foot injury on Feb. 11 and would appear in just one other game – against Maryland in the NCAA Tournament – logging just one minute of playing time.

While Alexis didn’t play significant minutes for Florida, he did shine in a few areas. On a per-40 minutes basis, he averaged 15.7 points, 11.6 rebounds and 2.1 blocks. Alexis’ 14.6% offensive rebounding rate was second-highest on the team, and his 5.5% block rate was tied for the best.

Fouls, turnovers and relative inefficiency as a scorer likely played a role in limiting Alexis’ minutes at Florida. According to data at Torvik, he had an overall 1.2 box score plus/minus, including negative .5 on offense, and positive 1.7 on defense.

Alexis totaled 516 points and 287 rebounds in two seasons at Chattanooga before transferring to Florida in 2024.
He earned All-Southern Conference and All-Defensive Team honors as a sophomore, averaging 10.8 points, 9.1 rebounds and 2.1 blocked shots in 2023-24.

He has the potential to surprise on the upside as a perimeter shooter. Alexis made 26-of-85 threes (30.5%) in his two years at Chattanooga.

Hailing from Apopka, Fla., Alexis has one season of eligibility remaining.

Alexis is the second transfer to IU of the evening, following Elon’s Nick Dorn. He is the tenth confirmed player on the team overall.

He joins Tucker DeVries (West Virginia), Conor Enright (DePaul), Reed Bailey (Davidson), Lamar Wilkerson (Sam Houston), Jasai Miles (North Florida), Tayton Conerway (Troy), Jason Drake (Drexel), Nick Dorn (Elon) and Trent Sisley (Montverde Academy H.S.). Senior forward Luke Goode is seeking a hardship waiver to return to Indiana for a fifth season and would be the 11th player.