Quotes: Everything IU basketball coach Darian DeVries said following FISU America Games

• Alex Bozich

• 1h ago

 

IU coach Darian DeVries addressed the media on Tuesday afternoon following his team’s 4-0 performance at the FISU America Games in Lima, Peru.

You can watch the full press conference here.

Here’s a complete transcript of everything DeVries said on Tuesday following his team’s run representing the United States:

(Transcribed by TurboScribe. Go Unlimited to remove this message.)

On whether off-court chemistry leads to on-court chemistry:

“Yeah, I think they’re directly related. You can tell even as the week went on, you’ve been seeing guys at the dinner table and their interactions. Now they get more and more (time), there’s more stories being told.

“And so I think from that standpoint, it’s an incredible opportunity for us. And then you can see that out on the floor too, just some relationships being built in a very quick way. So an incredible trip for us from that standpoint.”

On the play of freshman Vaughn Karvala:

“Yeah, I think Vaughn had a great week. I think like all of our freshmen, they’re developing their bodies and things. So time will tell in terms of getting on the floor and in Big Ten basketball. But I love what those guys are doing. And Vaughn, I thought had a great week. Just his versatility, his length, his athleticism and ability to shoot the three.

“Defensively, he can give you some versatility there guarding multiple positions. So I like that. Trevor’s (Manhertz) very much in that category, too.

“And then Prince (Moody) comes in and can do a lot as a combo guard. He can score it, he can play make.

“So I love what the freshmen did this week. I thought it was just an awesome experience for them, for us to get them a lot of time out there together, get some game minutes in and be able to see some of the things they can do.”

On his overall assessment of the time in Peru:

“Yeah, I thought … I loved how hard our guys played all week. I thought we got a lot out of that. I thought our transition game was really good. I liked how we got out of the blocks, so to speak. And then I loved our offensive rebounding. I thought we had a very clear mindset.

“I thought there was great carryover from practices and what we’ve emphasized and taken that to the game floor. So those are some great things that we saw. And we thought defensively as the week went on, we did some good things.

“We got a little anxious at times trying to get some steals and things like that. But overall, I liked our activity. I thought we were continuing to learn how to cover for one another, be more connected as a defense. But their unselfishness, how hard they played and their approach, their attitude, their togetherness, I thought was terrific.

“The guys will get a break when they get back. Coaches, too. So that’s a good thing. So we’ll get back, we’ll travel through the night tonight, our flight’s at midnight, and then we get back tomorrow, kind of mid-afternoon and then a lot of the guys will take off that following day and basically have some time off until school starts.

“So it’ll be a nice little break for them to kind of refresh, restart, and get us ready to come back, fully fresh and healthy for fall workouts.”

On Aiden Sherrell’s transformation with his body this offseason:

“Yeah, I think Aiden looks terrific. I think you have a big shout-out to our strength and conditioning staff for putting him in a really good spot. You got to give a lot of credit to Aiden, too. He’s really made it a priority. He’s got himself in great shape. He’s running well. I think he feels healthy. That’s a big part of it, too. And you can see it out on the floor.

“And I think he’s going to just continue to grow in his confidence and some of the things that we want him to do. We want him to have the ball. We want him to be versatile. We want him to showcase kind of all of his skill sets. And he did a great job of that this week. He didn’t get a ton of time, we kind of limited him in a lot of the second halves. But the minutes he had out there, he was incredibly productive.”

On the versatility and the options they have with ball handlers:

“Yeah, I think we have great versatility there, as you mentioned. We’ve got good depth. Prince is coming along as that kind of third option at the point guard spot. Even (Jaeden) Mustaf can play that if needed. So it just kind of gives you that bigger guard. But I love what Bryce (Lindsay) brings and Markus, they’re both a little different in how they approach it. Prince is more of a prober. Markus is a downhill attacker. And so getting both of them on and off the ball is a great luxury for us to have.”

On whether the cadence of the games they played in Peru can help for the regular season:

“Yeah, I mean, it’s somewhat similar. We came down here with the anticipation that we were going to play six games, but they had to readjust our schedule. So it ended up only being four.

“And then in between the games, we didn’t have any basketball activities. So it was more sightseeing and doing that type of stuff. So from a routine standpoint, it’s probably not a lot of carryover from what the regular season looks like.

“Our basketball ended up being just kind of game day. We had a couple of days of prep. Originally, we thought it was going to be six games in eight days. So we were going to have to really stay on task with the basketball side of it. But it did allow us to do a lot more things outside of basketball. We got to do a little bit more exploring. So that was fun.

“One of the things I know we learned was the traffic laws here are optional. So that was – we spent a lot of time on the bus in traffic jams, I think.”

On the depth and versatility of the roster:

“Yeah, what I love is I think it’s going to make for a very competitive fall. And in some ways, a coach’s dream of having some very hard decisions as you get into the season. But we do have great depth really across the board.

“And we love that. We love what everybody brings. So it’s finding those rotations as you get deeper and deeper into the season and ultimately into conference play. And a lot of that stuff works itself out. But we feel very good about all of our guys and their ability to come in and contribute. So it should make for, again, a competitive fall, which would only be a great thing for us to continue to grow as a team and get better. And I love that about this group.”

On the benefit of the additional practice time and whether it puts them ahead of schedule than they would be typically:

“What I think it does, too, is when we come back in the fall, because we have so much stuff in, because we had to have basically every game situation. Not every late game, all that type of stuff. But you have so much stuff in now, when we come back in the fall and your hours get cut back, we can really utilize that a lot more towards our skill work, our individual player development. So that’s a great luxury to have because we don’t have as much to put in.

“It’s more just cleaning up some of the details of everything and then getting all the late game, all those type of things as you get closer to the season. But I think it gives us a great opportunity to not only be ahead on the offensive and defensive end, but also allow us more time for that individual player development as we get into September and October.”

On handling guys’ physically in the fall after a long summer to keep guys healthy compared to a normal preseason:

“That’s why we really were intrigued by this trip because typically when you take these type of tours or whatever, a lot of times you go into mid-August and then you just get a week and then you start school and then you’re back at it again. That’s why this trip we felt like was just going to be a really good chance for us to get all the advantages of a tour, but then also get the break, too. So our guys get to go home here for three weeks, refresh.

“Now they’ll go work out, they’ll take some time off, but get with kind of their people and trainers and things like that. But I think it gives us definitely a reset so they’re not just worn out. And that’s what I think I’m really excited about what this opportunity presented for us.

“So they’ll come back and they should be really feeling good and ready to go as you get into that because you do have to be careful of doing too much for too long and trying to sustain it all the way into March.”

On the expectations for this team defensively:

“I think the versatility and the depth, the length, the athleticism, all those pieces really fit well together. It allows us the opportunity to maybe switch more off balls so you’re not chasing quite as much, not as concerned about maybe foul trouble and playing heavy minutes for multiple guys. So I think we do have that flexibility now to keep guys fresh and have some different types of lineups that give us not only on the offensive end, but on the defensive end of giving people different looks and being able to do some different things from that side of the ball.

“So I’m excited about it. I think we have still a ways to go there for sure. But I do like our mindset and our mentality. And the guys are picking things up. You can see it week by week and made a lot of progress there. And I thought this week in the games was a good challenge for us in some ways. And some of the things they did, I thought a couple of the teams, specifically the Virgin Islands, did a great job of really attacking downhill. So it put some pressure on us to be able to stay in front of the ball, have great protection behind them. And the guys did a nice job of really adjusting to that as the games went on.”

On where things stand with the roster and if it’s set:

“We still have one spot available. So we’ll see how that plays out here these last few weeks. We were pretty intentional in leaving that open just to kind of see where everything’s at as we get closer to the start of the school year. So there’s certainly some flexibility there if we decide to add another piece.”

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