'Big Deal': Indiana's Ball Movement, Selflessness an Early Indicator of Offensive Identity

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — For a moment, it was mesmerizing.

As Indiana worked through pregame warmups before easily defeating Universidad de Bayamon in an exhibition game Wednesday night, passes zipped from side to side.

While one player drove to the rim, two others moved to the wing and shot 3-pointers. The Hoosiers used three different balls — one for each player — in the routine. Neither the players nor the balls stopped moving.

Indiana coach Darian DeVries stood to the side and watched. He'd seen his team do the movements, passes and cuts time and again. He hadn't seen his brand-new squad do it in front of an audience or against another team.

The Hoosiers, who dished 32 assists to 13 turnovers in the 98-47 win, put DeVries' concerns to rest Wednesday.

“I thought the biggest thing for us was, we just wanted to make sure we did in the game — even though it's an exhibition game — of what we've been talking about, what's important to us,” DeVries said postgame. “So, I thought we did a really good job sharing the ball and stuff.”

Indiana likely won't see another crowd — or team, for that matter — as small as the one inside Coliseo Guillermo Angulo again this season. But nevertheless, the Hoosiers relocated from the friendly confines of Cook Hall to an arena with family, boosters, media and a minor contingent of fans. There were more eyes than usual.

It didn't matter.

The Hoosiers went only 9-for-33 shooting from beyond the arc against this Puerto Rican all-star team. But they routinely had open looks — a side effect of making the extra pass.

In the second quarter, senior guard Conor Enright pushed the pace in transition and whipped a pass toward the right wing to senior backcourt mate Lamar Wilkerson, who dished to the corner. Tucker DeVries, a senior forward, quickly returned the pass back to Wilkerson, who buried the triple.

Indiana's offense rarely resorted to isolation-based motions. And despite its size advantage, it largely avoided back-to-the-basket sets.

The Hoosiers offense is predicated on passing and floor spacing. They showed as much in their open-to-media practice July 30 in Bloomington, and much to DeVries' delight, delivered when the lights were a bit brighter.

“We didn't shoot it great tonight, but I thought our ball movement and unselfishness was really good,” DeVries said. “Ultimately, though, I love the fact that I've seen all the unselfishness in practice for these last eight weeks, and then have it show up in front of people, that's a big deal. That's important. And they did a nice job for that.”

Indiana forward Sam Alexis, who had a 10-point, 12-rebound double-double, said ball movement came naturally to the Hoosiers' offense.

“At practice every day, we move the ball,” Alexis said.”So, it wasn't nothing new to come out here and play against a new team and execute the same thing.”

If anything, Indiana had moments of being too selfless.

Enright turned down an open layup to kick out for a 3-pointer, and DeVries later said he would've preferred the Mundelein, Ill., native to keep driving and take the easy bucket.

But it's not lost on DeVries that Enright's intentions are rooted in the right place.

“I just like the fact that that's the way he thinks,” DeVries said. “He thinks unselfishly all the time, and he's all about winning and that extra play, and that was just a good example of it.”

Enright helped drive an up-tempo Hoosier attack. He was quiet offensively, finishing with two points, one assist and one turnover on 1-for-3 shooting in 17 minutes, but he often pushed the pace and set up transition offense.

The versatility of Indiana's offensive personnel has been evident this summer. The Hoosiers started three guards Wednesday in Enright, Wilkerson and senior Tayton Conerway. They will be one of the smaller teams in the Big Ten — but they'll also be one of the fastest.

Consider 6-foot-10, 232-pound forward Reed Bailey, the Hoosiers' tallest player in Puerto Rico, grabbing a defensive rebound, taking the ball up court, driving to the rim and kicking to Wilkerson for an open 3-pointer in the corner as an example of the athleticism and diversity Indiana's offense provides.

DeVries wants his team to play fast and be unafraid to shoot. Indiana checked both boxes Wednesday.

“I thought our transition game was pretty good,” DeVries said. “We were pretty consistent with it. Again, we missed some opportunities tonight that we'll take every night, and you're going to have that some nights in basketball, but we want to continue to play aggressively, put the pressure on defenses to have to get back.

“And I thought the entire game, our whole roster, up and down, did a really good job of playing to that up tempo transition type of game.”

Once it settled in defensively midway through the 10-minute first quarter, Indiana's on-ball pressure, length and athleticism created havoc. The Hoosiers scored 15 fast break points off UCB's 18 turnovers, and they scored 22 points off turnovers overall.

Indiana assisted on 32 of its 41 made baskets. Tucker DeVries tossed three lobs — two to Bailey for dunks, one to Conerway for a layup — and the Hoosiers made several accurate passes in tight windows on backdoor cuts.

The Hoosiers were several classes above UCB, and between competition level and the exhibition setting, few definitive takeaways emerged Wednesday night.

But as DeVries sets the foundation for his new-look Hoosier squad's identity, Indiana's tempo, selflessness, spacing and effort Wednesday night certainly looked the part of a team firmly bought into its coach's message.

“Coach is big on sharing the ball,” said freshman forward Trent Sisley, who scored a game-high 21 points. “So as long as we keep doing that, that'll be a good formula for us to win.”

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