That’s A Wrap: IU basketball senior guard Tayton Conerway
- Alex Bozich
- 3h ago
Welcome to “That’s A Wrap,” our player-by-player recap of the 2025-26 Indiana Hoosiers. Our next recap focuses on Tayton Conerway.
Conerway (29 games): 9.5 points, 3.3 assists, 2.8 rebounds, 1.1 steals and 56.1 FG% in 21.2 minutes per game.
Previously: Trent Sisley, Jasai Miles, Nick Dorn
The 2024-25 Sun Belt player of the year and an NCAA tournament participant, Troy transfer guard Tayton Conerway was signed by Darian DeVries from the transfer portal last spring to be IU’s starting point guard.
That’s the role Conerway, a 6-foot-3 guard, occupied for the season’s first 21 games.
In the non-conference portion of the schedule, Conerway showed glimpses of why he was a coveted portal target not just by IU, but several SEC programs as well.
He was easily the best athlete in the Hoosier backcourt, showing he could use his speed and athleticism to break down defenders and get to the rim.
Conerway finished his final season of eligibility with a sparkling 70.3 field goal percentage on 2s, the 20th best mark in the country.
In his third game in an IU uniform, Conerway scored 21 points and made all seven of his 2-point attempts as the Hoosiers crushed Milwaukee, 101-70, on November 12 in Bloomington.
Turnovers, however, were also a concern early in the season. Conerway had seven turnovers in an early-season win against Kansas State and then had three in a loss at Minnesota, five in a loss against Louisville and four in a loss at Kentucky.
Poor 3-point shooting also hampered Conerway’s effectiveness at times. Over the season’s first seven games, Conerway was 4-for-23 on 3-pointers and he finished the season 18-for-62 on triples, good for just 29 percent. As a non-threat from the perimeter, defenses could sag off of Conerway and play him to drive while daring him to take the 3-pointer.
After IU’s 74-57 loss to Iowa on January 17 – a game in which Conerway suffered an ankle sprain – his role changed dramatically over the season’s final 14 games.
The Burleson, Texas, native missed three games total and only played 20 or more minutes in two games after that loss to the Hawkeyes.
Conerway didn’t play in IU’s three best wins of the season – Purdue, at UCLA and Wisconsin – and his impact down the stretch was minimal, as the coaching staff opted to keep Nick Dorn in the starting lineup.
So why did IU choose to minimize Conerway’s role in the final stretch of the season?
The risks of playing him too often outweighed the reward. As good as Conerway could be at times in breaking down the defense, he was often careless with the ball and took too many risks defensively. Rather than staying in position defensively, his tendency to hunt steals often left teammates scrambling when his attempts at creative turnovers didn’t pan out.
The offense also flowed better at times without Conerway, particularly in wins like the Purdue, UCLA, Wisconsin and Oregon games where he either didn’t play or saw minimal time.
Bottom line: One of the biggest missing ingredients on IU’s 2025-26 roster was consistency at the point guard position. Conerway was recruited as the answer, but it unfortunately didn’t work out as planned, as he leaped from the mid-major ranks to the Big Ten. Conerway was very good at finishing at the rim, a solid distributor and drew fouls at a high rate. Ultimately, though, his inconsistencies in a few key areas led to his diminished role and playing time as the season closed.
Quotable: “Tayton is one of those guys who can get downhill and utilize the speed and Conor once in a while as well. I thought Tayton did a really good job there, while we were struggling, of finding those opportunities and getting downhill and getting to the rim, and we need him to continue to do that.” – Darian DeVries on Conerway after the team’s loss to Iowa on January 17.
See More: Commentary, Tayton Conerway