INDIANAPOLIS – As IU basketball moved to 2-0 in its exhibition slate with a 76-58 win against North Carolina at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Sunday, few problems stood out.
One stands out and it’s growing stronger after Indiana’s first exhibition win over Butler last week. Fortunately for the Hoosiers, it is a good problem to have.
After beating the Tar Heels, IU head coach Darian DeVries identified the problem himself: Indiana can only start five players at a time. Bryce Lindsay makes that rule difficult to adhere to.
“Honestly, he’s a starter,” DeVries said of Lindsay after the Butler exhibition. “I’m not saying that’s not going to change at some point, but I wish I could start with six guys.”
Lindsay showed why on Sunday in IU’s 18-point win.
Within 78 seconds of tipoff, Indiana’s starting point guard Markus Burton picked up two fouls. Lindsay came off the bench to replace him and played 18 minutes in the first half. He scored 18 points, shooting 5-for-9 from the field, 2-for-4 from 3-point range and 6-for-6 from the free-throw line. He also grabbed three rebounds, dished out three assists and finished the half with a team-high plus/minus of +13.
He finished with a team-high 26 points on 8-for-14 shooting from the field, 4-for-9 on 3s and 6-for-6 from the free-throw line in 28 minutes.
“I have no problem with coming off the bench if that’s what’s best for the team,” Lindsay said. “All I want to do is win. So that’s if that’s what it takes to win, then yeah.”
Lindsay was the motor that ran Indiana’s offense throughout the night. Aiden Sherrell, Samet Yigitolu and Markus Burton all had off-nights offensively for the Hoosiers. Together, they scored just 20 points on 7-for-24 shooting.
Lindsay could create his own shots, create shots for others and earned the attention of the defense to open lanes and clean looks for his teammates.
“They brought in Bryce and right away, he put his fingerprints all over the game.” North Carolina head coach Michael Malone said postgame. “I had a lot of people reaching out to me about him when I got the job leading up coming out of Villanova and he looks like he’s poised to have a hell of a season. You got a weapon like that off your bench and he’s a heck of a player.”
Not only did Lindsay shine individually, he was able to be a part of lineup and rotation experiments. While Burton missed most of the first half with foul trouble, he and Lindsay were able to play together for a good portion of the second half.
When Burton and Lindsay are on the floor together, Indiana has two point guards who can do it all. Especially on a night where the frontcourt struggled, that combination proved quite effective.
“When you got both of them out there, now you got two playmakers, two decision makers,” DeVries said. “We’re more than comfortable playing that lineup. We just have so much flexibility in the lineups we can put out there with the versatility that we have.”
“I feel like I’m great at, playing on and off the ball,” Lindsay said. “I feel like I can show my versatility that way. Me and Markus, if he has the ball, I can be off the ball. He can be off the ball as well. So, I think the best part of my game is that I can do both. It’s hard to guard if you can do both.”
The point of the exhibition slate is to test and improve. It is a prime opportunity to tweak rotations, install a system and prepare for specific situations that may arise in the regular season.
It is also a first impression of what a team could be capable of down the road. For Indiana, that first impression signals much-improved depth, more dynamic players, more size, more physicality and a more cohesive group.
Lindsay is at the forefront of the depth. He may come off the bench, but he is not a typical “bench player”. He is a sixth starter. And that’s exactly what he showed on Sunday.
