What to watch for in IU basketball’s exhibition opener against Marian University

Tucker DeVries passes the ball in an open practice in Bloomington.

IU basketball opens exhibition play on Friday night against Marian University at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall in Bloomington.

Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET on BTN+ with students Nick Rodecap, Graham Nash and Ava Wegenke on the call.

(Note: You can save 50 percent for three months on a BTN+ subscription by using code HOOPS50 at checkout. The offer is valid through October 31.)

This will be the fourth straight season the Hoosiers and Knights have played in Bloomington during the preseason. Pat Knight coaches Marian and Steve Downing is the university’s athletic director.

Instead of our traditional game preview – Friday is an exhibition against an NAIA opponent – here’s what to watch for on Friday night in Bloomington:

IU’s ball movement, spacing and 3-point shooting

The Hoosiers played three exhibition games in early August in Puerto Rico, but this is the first time IU fans will be able to watch a full game since the Big Ten tournament in March.

Obviously, plenty has changed with the program. The entire staff and roster have been overhauled and with those changes comes a new style of play in Bloomington.

While IU does have bigs on the roster in Reed Bailey and Sam Alexis, the offense will be perimeter-focused for the first time since the 2016-17 season, Tom Crean’s final campaign.

First-year coach Darian DeVries wants ball movement, spacing and passing to be pillars of his offensive system at Indiana. Expect the Hoosiers to value 3-point shooting and limiting turnovers while prioritizing getting back defensively in transition over crashing the offensive glass.

DeVries admitted in his Thursday press conference that the Hoosiers likely won’t show a lot, particularly on the offensive end.

“For exhibition games, you’re probably not, especially on the offensive end, not going to show a lot,” he said. “Even though we want to win the games, we also understand that the regular season games are more of a priority to us.”

Expect the Hoosiers to be vanilla on offense, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be a focus on ball movement, adequate floor spacing and 3-point shooting.

“These preseason games, it’s going to be on the offensive end more about us just functioning some of our motion,” DeVries said.

Lineup experimentation

Out of necessity, Indiana will play unconventional lineups on Friday night.

The Hoosiers will be without four scholarship players – Aleksa Ristic, Jason Drake, Josh Harris and Nick Dorn.

Of the four, Dorn may be the closest to returning, but DeVries said Thursday that he’ll likely be out for both exhibition games.

With just nine scholarship players available and an overmatched opponent, expect IU to try everything from two bigs at once to small ball lineups that focus on floor spacing and 3-point shooting.

“We are a little shorthanded, so it’s almost going to force us to look at some things like we’ve been doing in practice,” DeVries explained. “I’ve liked some of the things we’ve been forced to look at, so maybe it opened our eyes to a couple of different types of lineups we can utilize as the season starts to get into November and December.”

Ideally, the Hoosiers will be able to quickly control the game and utilize some walk-ons and younger players like Bosnian center Andrej Acimovic.

Will the defense show improvement?

Indiana started slow in both exhibition games against Mega Superbet in Puerto Rico and had to come from behind in both victories.

Poor defense early was a significant factor in Puerto Rico, and on Friday, the Hoosiers will have a chance to show off the defensive improvement made in the two months since the exhibition trip.

“The biggest thing is just defensively, I think we’ve gotten a lot more connected from our trip to Puerto Rico,” DeVries said Thursday. “You can just see it in the way we are a lot more aggressive, a lot more attacking as we understand positioning and where we’re supposed to be a little bit better, so we’re not half a count late, maybe to stuff like we were in the summertime.”

IU’s struggles defensively in Puerto Rico were understandable.

It was the first time most of the players on the roster had played together and save for Tucker DeVries and Conor Enright, the defensive system was new to everyone.

But with those exhibitions in the rearview, plenty of film to watch and time to correct the mistakes from the trip, Friday marks the first opportunity to see just how far the Hoosiers have come defensively.

“Play as hard as we can (is the key),” DeVries said. “That’s number one. That’s number one every single night that we go out there. Are we maxing out at both ends of the floor in terms of our effort and communication?”

(Photo credit: IU Athletics)

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