That’s A Wrap: Reed Bailey

Photos from IU basketball’s 72-67 win against Purdue at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.

Welcome to “That’s A Wrap,” our player-by-player recap of the 2025-26 Indiana Hoosiers. Our next recap focuses on Reed Bailey.

Bailey (32 games): 8.3 points, 3.4 rebounds, 1.1 assists and 57 FG% in 19.1 minutes per game.

Previously: Trent Sisley, Jasai Miles, Nick Dorn, Tayton Conerway

Reed Bailey arrived in Bloomington hoping to translate three productive seasons at Davidson into Big Ten success.

The 6-foot-10 forward started 97 games in his time with the Wildcats and joined Indiana’s offseason rebuild on the back of a junior campaign that earned him Atlantic-10 All-Conference first team honors. The conference’s leading scorer with 18.8 points per game that season, Bailey was the No. 23 player in the portal at the time of his commitment.

Despite starting the season in the Hoosiers’ starting five, Bailey struggled to find consistency on the offensive end and eventually played second fiddle to Sam Alexis in an Indiana frontcourt lacking depth.

His first outing was one of his best. In just 23 minutes, Bailey posted a team-high 21 points to go with five rebounds in the Hoosiers’ 98-51 rout against Alabama A&M to open the season. Success continued when — after a quiet 5-point outing against Marquette — he bounced back with 14 points, five rebounds and five assists in a comfortable win against Milwaukee.

Although he started, Bailey earned fewer minutes than Alexis in Indiana’s following two non-conference outings. Soon after, the Harvard, Massachusetts, native proved his value once more with 21 points across 29 minutes in a win against Kansas State — thanks to 13 makes at the charity stripe.

That production didn’t become a trend. Bailey was held to single digits in each of the Hoosiers’ next three matchups, including a pair of losses to Minnesota and Louisville, and — as a result — lost his spot in the starting lineup. He turned things around with an efficient 18 points off the bench in Indiana’s 113-72 blowout win against Penn State, where he shot a perfect 6-for-6 from the field and the free throw line.

Once more, one of Bailey’s quality performances was followed by shortcomings. Due in part to three first-half fouls, he played just eight minutes and failed to record a point in a road loss to Kentucky.

When the bulk of Big Ten play began, Bailey returned as the primary option in the post. While still coming off the bench, he played considerably more minutes than Alexis in the Hoosiers’ next three games against Washington, Maryland and Nebraska. Bailey tallied double-digit points against both the Terrapins and Cornhuskers.

His quality stretch screeched to a halt when he fouled in just 18 minutes against Michigan State. Bailey’s next outing wasn’t much better, as he scored just four points in limited playing time during a blowout loss to Iowa.

His next notable outing wouldn’t come until January 31, when he put forth a season-best 24 points complimented by six rebounds and five assists in a double-overtime thriller to help beat UCLA on the road — a performance that would prove to be the last true bright spot of his season.

Bailey played fewer than 20 minutes in each of Indiana’s next eight games. In that stretch, he scored double-digit points just one time — 10 points in a 29-point loss to Purdue — and failed to record more than three rebounds as his role continued to diminish.

He eventually returned to relevance when Alexis faced foul trouble in the Hoosiers’ regular season finale against Ohio State. Bailey stepped in against the Buckeyes, scoring 12 points in 29 minutes in a losing effort. His final performance marked a return to the starting lineup alongside Alexis in a new two-big lineup against Northwestern in the Big Ten tournament.

Bailey finished the season with six points — all from the charity stripe — and one rebound in Indiana’s early exit to the Wildcats.

Bottom line: Bailey’s promising outputs in nonconference play were quickly tarnished by an inability to compete with larger frontcourts across the Big Ten. His undersized frame proved ineffective as the season progressed and hurt Indiana’s rebounding and offensive paint presence. Despite his success at Davidson, Bailey failed to establish as a reliable scorer for the Hoosiers.

Quotable: “We’ve kept encouraging him, just be aggressive. Go make plays, be yourself, I think he’s doing a really nice job of that … The thing that people don’t notice is, his defense, his ability to go out there and play in space and switch onto guards and be able to get back to a big, it’s pretty impressive what he does on that side of the ball.” – Darian DeVries on Bailey following Indiana’s 98-97 win against UCLA.

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