SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico \u2014 There were things on Indiana\u2019s stat sheet in connection with their 98-47 win over Universidad de Bayamon that likely caught your eye.<\/p>\n
Those 32 assists?\u00a0 Would have been an all-time single-game team record for Indiana were it a regular season contest.<\/p>\n
And those 33 three-point attempts would have been more than all but one game of the Mike Woodson era (at Nebraska, 2025).<\/p>\n
Other stats that stood out:\u00a0 Indiana was plus-26 on the glass and had 14 steals against the Puerto Rican school.<\/p>\n
But let\u2019s be clear here, Universidad de Bayamon is not a measuring stick for Indiana.\u00a0 The significantly undersized squad is nowhere near Division I caliber.\u00a0 They would properly fit in the lowest levels of American college basketball.<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, there are things to be learned by these numbers.<\/p>\n
First-year coach Darian DeVries placed a heavy emphasis on recruiting players out of the transfer portal who moved the basketball.\u00a0 Conor Enright averaged 6.2 assists per game last year.\u00a0 Not far behind were Tayton Conerway (4.8), and Reed Bailey (3.8).<\/p>\n
Before he even recruited them, DeVries alluded to the kind of players he was looking for at his Indiana introductory press conference.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have to build a team, and a team has to be able to fit together, play together, win together, be able to function together,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
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.\u00a0 Perhaps even to a flaw, as it seemed open shots were at times being passed up for the \u201cnext pass.\u201d<\/p>\n
As we wrote in April, each year over his last five seasons as a head coach, Darian DeVries\u2019 offense has placed a greater emphasis on the three-point shot.<\/p>\n
And in his lone season at West Virginia, DeVries\u2019 squad took 46.1% of their total shots from three, good for No. 44 in the nation. That team\u2019s fortunes took a major hit early in the season when DeVries\u2019 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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
So Indiana hoisting 33 attempts from beyond the arc here on Wednesday is another sign of what\u2019s to come.\u00a0 The Hoosiers had a major size advantage over Universidad de Bayamon.\u00a0 They could have fed the post to ensure their domination.\u00a0 But they didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
This team appears poised to shoot a high-volume of threes all season.\u00a0 \u00a0IU has five players who have shot 35% or better from three in a season on 95 or more attempts.\u00a0 They are going to work to find those shooters.<\/p>\n
PLAYER NOTES<\/strong><\/p>\n Trent Sisley<\/strong> played against better competition as a senior at Montverde H.S. last season. So let\u2019s not overreact to his team high 21 points.\u00a0 But making 9 of 12 shots including 3 of 3 from three is no fluke.\u00a0 We wrote last week he doesn\u2019t look like a freshman<\/a>, and his performance did nothing to change that perspective.<\/p>\n \u201cHis adjustment to college basketball has been really good,\u201d DeVries said of Sisley on Wednesday.<\/p>\n Tayton Conerway<\/strong> only took one three on Wednesday, and he made it.\u00a0 He made shots at the open practice we watched, and in pregame warmups too. If you didn\u2019t know his background as a career 29.2% shooter, you\u2019d think Conerway was another strong performer from three on this team.\u00a0 His mechanics are good, and he looks confident.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n \u201cTayton has put a lot of time into his three-point shot this summer and in live play, he\u2019s shot a great percentage,\u201d DeVries said.\u00a0 \u201cWe chart all of our 5-on-5 in the summer, and he\u2019s done a great job of developing that and he\u2019s very confident with it right now.\u00a0 I think that\u2019s going to be a piece he\u2019s added to his game because of the work he\u2019s put into it.\u201d<\/p>\n A BIGGER TEST AWAITS<\/strong><\/p>\n We have an idea for how IU wants to play.\u00a0 But can they be effective?<\/p>\n Indiana will be challenged in their final two games in Puerto Rico.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Mega Superbet has real length to go with better skills than what IU saw on Wednesday.\u00a0 The Hoosiers will be tested, and we should be able to infer more from those contests in terms of how their playing style translates.<\/p>\n Indiana and Mega Superbet tip at 7 p.m. ET Saturday in San Juan.\u00a0 Stay tuned to The Daily Hoosier for more coverage.<\/p>\n