SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — There were things on Indiana’s stat sheet in connection with their 98-47 win over Universidad de Bayamon that likely caught your eye.
Those 32 assists? Would have been an all-time single-game team record for Indiana were it a regular season contest.
And those 33 three-point attempts would have been more than all but one game of the Mike Woodson era (at Nebraska, 2025).
Other stats that stood out: Indiana was plus-26 on the glass and had 14 steals against the Puerto Rican school.
But let’s be clear here, Universidad de Bayamon is not a measuring stick for Indiana. The significantly undersized squad is nowhere near Division I caliber. They would properly fit in the lowest levels of American college basketball.
Nevertheless, there are things to be learned by these numbers.
First-year coach Darian DeVries placed a heavy emphasis on recruiting players out of the transfer portal who moved the basketball. Conor Enright averaged 6.2 assists per game last year. Not far behind were Tayton Conerway (4.8), and Reed Bailey (3.8).
Before he even recruited them, DeVries alluded to the kind of players he was looking for at his Indiana introductory press conference.
“You have to build a team, and a team has to be able to fit together, play together, win together, be able to function together,” he said.
Making the extra pass is a hallmark of a functioning team that plays together, and Wednesday night was a good indication IU has a collection of those kind of players. Perhaps even to a flaw, as it seemed open shots were at times being passed up for the “next pass.”
As we wrote in April, each year over his last five seasons as a head coach, Darian DeVries’ offense has placed a greater emphasis on the three-point shot.
And in his lone season at West Virginia, DeVries’ squad took 46.1% of their total shots from three, good for No. 44 in the nation. That team’s fortunes took a major hit early in the season when DeVries’ son Tucker went down with an injury eight games in. The Mountaineers were shooting 29.8 threes a game to that point and making 35.3% from beyond the arc. Through eight games West Virginia’s three-point attempt rate was 49.4%, which would have been the ninth-highest rate in the nation had they kept that pace up the entire campaign.
So Indiana hoisting 33 attempts from beyond the arc here on Wednesday is another sign of what’s to come. The Hoosiers had a major size advantage over Universidad de Bayamon. They could have fed the post to ensure their domination. But they didn’t.
This team appears poised to shoot a high-volume of threes all season. IU has five players who have shot 35% or better from three in a season on 95 or more attempts. They are going to work to find those shooters.
PLAYER NOTES
Trent Sisley played against better competition as a senior at Montverde H.S. last season. So let’s not overreact to his team high 21 points. But making 9 of 12 shots including 3 of 3 from three is no fluke. We wrote last week he doesn’t look like a freshman, and his performance did nothing to change that perspective.
“His adjustment to college basketball has been really good,” DeVries said of Sisley on Wednesday.
Tayton Conerway only took one three on Wednesday, and he made it. He made shots at the open practice we watched, and in pregame warmups too. If you didn’t know his background as a career 29.2% shooter, you’d think Conerway was another strong performer from three on this team. His mechanics are good, and he looks confident.
DeVries has much larger from of reference with his 6-foot-3 guard, and he thinks Conerway has a chance to become more of threat from long range this season.
“Tayton has put a lot of time into his three-point shot this summer and in live play, he’s shot a great percentage,” DeVries said. “We chart all of our 5-on-5 in the summer, and he’s done a great job of developing that and he’s very confident with it right now. I think that’s going to be a piece he’s added to his game because of the work he’s put into it.”
A BIGGER TEST AWAITS
We have an idea for how IU wants to play. But can they be effective?
Indiana will be challenged in their final two games in Puerto Rico.
The Hoosiers face Serbian professional team Mega Superbet, the same magenta-colored operation they played four years ago in The Bahamas under a different name.
Mega Superbet has real length to go with better skills than what IU saw on Wednesday. The Hoosiers will be tested, and we should be able to infer more from those contests in terms of how their playing style translates.
Indiana and Mega Superbet tip at 7 p.m. ET Saturday in San Juan. Stay tuned to The Daily Hoosier for more coverage.
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