INDIANAPOLIS – IU basketball beat Butler 96-68 at Hinkle Fieldhouse Sunday evening in an exhibition. It was the first of three exhibitions for the Hoosiers and the only true road game until conference play.
While the game didn’t tell all about how the second year of the Darian DeVries era will go, it did offer some insights.
Indiana’s size can be a major factor
Last season, Indiana just didn’t have enough size to compete in the Big Ten against some opponents. Rebounding was underwhelming. Low-post work and shot-blocking were hard to come by.
That doesn’t seem to be the case this season.
With Samet Yigitolu, Aiden Sherrell and Sam Alexis leading the way, Indiana dominated Butler down low on both ends of the floor. The Hoosiers scored 42 points in the paint and outrebounded the Bulldogs 53-33, with a 17-7 advantage on the offensive glass. Indiana had 25 second-chance points and held Butler to just five.
It was not just those three. Trevor Manhertz and Jaeden Mustaf were active inside, each finishing with eight rebounds. All game, Indiana had a presence down low. Its guards were big and physical. Its bigs were overpowering and used their positioning and size effectively.
From a pure roster construction standpoint, Indiana saw the fruits of its labor on Sunday. This team will be big enough for the Big Ten.
Trevor Manhertz is a player to watch
Manhertz was the only freshman who played in the main rotation on Sunday. The 6-foot-8 forward showed why all night long.
Manhertz played 20 minutes and finished with seven points, eight rebounds and an assist. He shot 2-for-6 from the field and 2-for-5 from 3-point range. He also finished with a team-high plus-minus mark of +20.
“He knows every play,” Indiana head coach Darian DeVries said of Manhertz. “He can tell guys where to go. He knows where to go. So there’s just a complete trust there. He makes good decisions with the ball. He’s got great length, so he utilizes that on the defensive end, blocks shots, and rebounding. So, I really love the progress he’s made.”
While one game is a small sample size, Manhertz has shown the potential to be a real difference-maker for this team. His coach believes in him. He believes in himself. That goes a long way.
Indiana has a variety of ways it can rotate its guards
Indiana has a problem. It has too many guards who could start. It is a good problem to have.
“I wish I could start with six guys,” DeVries said.
That is because Markus Burton, Mustaf and Bryce Lindsay are all good enough to start. They all showed why against Butler.
Burton was red-hot early. He scored 11 of Indiana’s first 13 points and finished with 13 on 5-of-6 shooting. Mustaf scored seven points on just 2-for-10 shooting but grabbed eight rebounds and showed his versatility. Lindsay finished with six points on 2-for-7 shooting, plus three rebounds and three assists.
Burton is a twitchy scorer. Mustaf is a physical and versatile guard. Lindsay is a methodical playmaker who can get hot. All three are good players. Indiana has to figure out which to play together, when and for how long.
The road test was important
Few places are better to watch a college basketball game than Hinkle Fieldhouse. That becomes even more true when Butler fans show out.
That was the case on Sunday. The place was packed. While the game might have been an exhibition, the atmosphere felt like a big regular-season game.
Butler and Indiana fans filled Hinkle. Students were out in full force. The band, game presentation and chants were all the same as a regular-season game. It may not sound important, but without this game, Indiana wouldn’t play a true road game until December 7 in Iowa City.
“It was terrific,” DeVries said. “We wanted a true road game because we don’t have one in a non-conference. So, we wanted to be in an atmosphere. I love the fact that it was our first game. So it was a chance for us as a staff to really see how guys are going to react in adverse conditions.
“I love the fact that Butler made a run, cut it to three at halftime and we had to respond. So, those are such invaluable things to get out of the exhibition game.”
This game allowed Indiana to figure out where it needs to improve
It is extremely difficult for a team to know everything it is good and bad at solely in practices or scrimmages. It needs to test itself against someone new.
That was the purpose of this exhibition and, frankly, any exhibition. There is no pressure to win. There are no implications other than finding out what a team did well or needs improvement on.
“I told the team there’s also a lot of really good stuff we’ve been talking about for a while, but when we play each other, it’s hard to really see the exposures,” DeVries said.
Indiana was in foul trouble, struggled in transition defense at times and did not create enough turnovers in the first half. The list could go on. The Hoosiers cleaned up their play in the second half, but still have a few things to fix.
That is the point of this game. Without knowing what needs fixing, it is hard to improve.
