Samet Yigitoglu brings size, experience and production to IU basketball’s new-look frontcourt

Samet Yigitoglu attempts a shot.

Size in the post was an issue for IU basketball in the 2025-26 season, the program’s first under Darian DeVries.

The Hoosiers lacked a consistent shot-blocking presence, didn’t generate many easy baskets on the offensive glass and consistently gave opponents second-chance opportunities.

In Big Ten play, Indiana ranked 14th in block percentage, 16th in offensive rebounding percentage and 10th in defensive rebounding percentage.

One of the biggest offseason priorities for DeVries and the coaching staff was building a frontcourt capable of competing against the best teams in the Big Ten.

The signing of Alabama transfer Aiden Sherrell was one of the offseason’s headlining moves for the Hoosiers. The signing of SMU transfer Samet Yigitoglu gives DeVries a productive 7-foot-2, 270-pound center to pair with Sherrell in the new look frontcourt.

Yigitoglu, a native of Istanbul, Turkey, played the last two seasons at SMU under Andy Enfield.

As a freshman for the Mustangs, he averaged 10 points, 6.2 rebounds, a blocked shot and an assist in 24.5 minutes per game. Last season as a sophomore on an NCAA tournament team, his production grew to 10.7 points, 7.9 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.3 blocked shots in 28.9 minutes per game.

The plan is for IU to start Sherrell and Yigitoglu, giving the Hoosiers one of the biggest frontcourts in the conference next winter.

“In practice right now, the coaches are always trying to put me on the court with Aiden so we can play with two bigs on the court,” Yigitoglu said last week after an open practice at Cook Hall.

“It’s great. He’s a threat from the 3-pointers. So it’s so easy to play with him because teams are, when we play during practice, the teams are just confused because he can hit a roll or he can even hit a pop. So he’s good at both. It’s so easy to play with Aiden.”

Fans will get a first glimpse of the pairing on Wednesday night when IU, representing the United States, hosts Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf from Canada in an exhibition at Assembly Hall at 7 p.m. ET.

Yigitoglu won’t play on the trip to Lima, Peru, this month for the FISU America Games because he is not eligible as a non-American citizen.

He is, however, expected to travel with the team and his energy and enthusiasm from the sidelines should be a constant. One thing that has stood out from watching Yigitoglu in three practices this summer is that he’s always smiling and trying to lift up his teammates with his energy.

“It comes from my teammates,” Yigitoglu explained. “Because everybody’s happy, everybody’s laughing, everybody’s cheering for each other.”

Now entering his third season of college basketball, the 22-year-old Yigitoglu is hoping to take another step forward this winter in Bloomington.

His field goal percentage improved from 53.5 percent as a freshman to 62.8 percent last season as a sophomore. He also trimmed his fouls per 40 minutes from 5.1 to 4.5, a number that he’ll need to continue moving downward to maximize his minutes on the floor.

Yigitoglu does a good job of finishing plays in the post when he gets position, but isn’t demanding of the ball. He excels at setting screens, is an underrated passer from the perimeter and high post and will generate some easy scoring opportunities from the offensive glass.

“I’m just trying to make plays for others and to go get my own stuff in the paint,” Yigitoglu said of his role.

When he entered the transfer portal last spring, Yigitoglu committed to the Hoosiers before he ever set foot on campus.

He cited the coaching staff’s approach during his recruitment from the portal as a primary reason for choosing the program.

“They’re patient,” he said. “They were so patient and they explained the whole story like what they want to do next year and how they want to develop me and how they want to get me better for the next level, which is the NBA.

“SMU taught me a lot of things about college basketball. You know, it was great two years out there, but I just had to move on from there because if you want to do big things, sometimes you got to change up something or just got to get to another level. And then Indiana was like that for me.”

(Photo credit: IU Athletics)

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