That’s A Wrap: Devonte Green
Welcome to “That’s A Wrap,” our player-by-player recap of the 2019-2020 Indiana Hoosiers. Today: Devonte Green. Previously: Armaan Franklin, Trayce Jackson-Davis, Damezi Anderson, Jerome Hunter, Rob Phinisee, Race Thompson, Al Durham, Justin Smith, Joey Brunk
Green (29 games): 10.8 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 2.1 apg, 36.5% FG, 35.8% 3PFG in 22.1 minutes per game
When Devonte Green was clicking on all cylinders, he lifted Indiana to some incredible moments in his final season in Bloomington.
The 6-foot-3 guard, who was forced to play out of position throughout his career, was named a captain prior to his senior campaign and at times, Green was Indiana’s best offensive player.
After missing the first three games of the season with a hamstring injury, Green scored in double figures in five of the first six games he appeared in as a senior.
The most notable of those performances? A 30-point barrage against Florida State in the Big Ten-ACC Challenge at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. The Seminoles had no answer for Green, who came off the bench and delivered a 10-of-15 performance from the field, including a 5-of-7 mark from behind the 3-point line.
“Devonte’s at his best, obviously, I think when he’s scoring,” Archie Miller said following the win over Florida State. “I think when he scores then he starts to play the game a lot better. And he started breaking their press in the first half, he starts to get the bigs involved behind the basket, he makes a couple drive-to-kick plays for other guys. He was good tonight, man, I mean he really was.”
Green would deliver big performances in several key wins for the Hoosiers, including 19 points in a 66-54 win against Ohio State on Jan. 11 and 27 points in an 89-77 win against Iowa on Feb. 13.
In total, Green scored in double figures in 18 of the 29 games he played in as a senior. He knocked down a career-best 59 3-pointers in his final season and finished his career as a 37.7 percent shooter from beyond the arc.
What Green didn’t do this season, however, was perform with the consistency that Indiana needed out of a captain and most talented offensive player in its backcourt. Sandwiched around that brilliant performance against Ohio State were four poor games from Green which highlighted just how unpredictable his output could be on a game-to-game basis.
In a narrow 66-62 win against Northwestern on Jan. 8, Green scored just one point in 20 minutes and was benched down the stretch. And in the three games following Indiana’s win against the Buckeyes at Assembly Hall, he scored a total of five points in 43 minutes.
One reason Green was often feast or famine offensively was his inability to produce anything besides 3-pointers. In Big Ten play, he shot just 28.9 percent on 2s. For the season, he shot just 45.5 percent at the rim and only 25.9 percent on 2-point jump shots, according to Hoop-Math.com. He was also Indiana’s worst transition offensive player, according to Synergy Sports. In 59 transition possessions, Green scored just 39 points, which ranked in the sixth percentile nationally.
Bottom Line: Green carried a major offensive load for Indiana this season, particularly in Big Ten play. He used 28 percent of IU’s possessions in conference play, which was the seventh highest usage rate in the league.
While it wasn’t enough to land Green on one of the All-Big Ten teams, it was going to be enough to land him in the NCAA tournament for the first time in his IU career. Unfortunately, Green didn’t get the chance to write the final chapter of his story as a Hoosier as the 2019-2020 season was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ultimately, Green should be remembered fondly by IU fans for his willingness to stick with the program through a coaching change and a situation that wasn’t always ideal in terms of his on-court role. Green was never a point guard, but was forced into that position often and it led to many situations where his decision making created unfavorable outcomes.
Quotable: “These four years have been great. I’ve been blessed to just even be in the positions that I’ve been in. I mean, we set a goal in the beginning of the season. We knew what was on the line for is as seniors especially, and we want to finish it up the best we can and do something we’ve never done before in our four years.” – Green prior to his final home game at Assembly Hall.
Filed to: Devonte Green