Indiana Basketball Took 'Lot of Big Steps' in Non-Conference as Big Ten Season Looms

Darian DeVries couldn't wait any longer.

Before the clock officially hit zero, before the final buzzer sounded and before "Indiana, Our Indiana," filled the air Monday night at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall, the Hoosiers' first-year coach started toward Siena's bench to begin the postgame handshake line.

The sooner DeVries started, the sooner he finished — and could begin a near-two-week winter break spent improving, and re-centering, the Hoosiers before starting Big Ten play.

Indiana (10-3) capped its non-conference slate with an 81-60 victory over Siena (9-4) on Monday night at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall in Bloomington. The Hoosiers get four days off to celebrate the holiday season with their families and will return to practice the evening of Dec. 27.

DeVries dubbed it a nice, clean break — one that's much-needed for the Hoosiers to clear their heads, come back physically refreshed and mentally focused on the looming 18-game grind through the Big Ten season.

But it's also a critical reflection period.

Indiana finished the non-conference season ranked No. 29 in KenPom, and they entered Monday night No. 32 in the NET. The Hoosiers' resume lacks a defining win — they have no Quad 1 wins, and their Quad 2 victory over Kansas State is their lone triumph over a team in the top 100 in the NET — but also has no damaging defeats.

By and large, everything Indiana wants to accomplish in DeVries' first season is still on the table. The Hoosiers merely need to seize the moment — and sixth-year senior guard Tayton Conerway believes the team's arrow is pointing upward.

"I definitely think we took a lot of big steps, being able to understand what each other's really good at," Conerway said postgame. "We kind of know where, like, if we set a screen for somebody, we know if they're going to roll, we know if they're going to pop. At first we didn't know.

"We didn't know who was our best shooters, we didn't know who was going to do what, but everybody buying into their role definitely helped us a lot."

Indiana's win over Siena served as a fitting end to the non-conference period. The Hoosiers stormed out to a 46-20 lead at halftime, aided by quality ball movement, efficient shooting — they eclipsed 50% from the field, 40% from 3-point range and 90% at the foul stripe — and stingy defense.

DeVries felt Indiana lost its edge on both ends of the floor in the second half. The Hoosiers turned defense into transition offense and open 3-point looks in the first half but struggled getting stops and playing at a faster pace over the final 20 minutes, and Siena outscored Indiana, 40-35, after the break.

The Hoosiers' lead dwindled to 15 points midway through the second half, but they extended their lead to as many as 26 points, in large part because of Conerway's ability to get downhill and create advantageous looks both for himself and his teammates.

Indiana landed its seventh non-conference victory by 20-plus points Monday night, and DeVries deemed it a positive to have areas to fix amid sizable wins. Perhaps more importantly, the Hoosiers have a strong grasp of their issues and believe they have the blueprint to solving them.

DeVries singled out turnovers and defensive rebounding as Indiana's two biggest priorities amid a flurry of others.

"I believe you have to win those two battles every night if you're going to give yourself a chance," DeVries said. "We have to turn the ball over less, defensive rebound better. Those will be the top two. Then it's the screening, the force, all that stuff on the offensive end, playing with pace.

"Then defensively just try to continue to do what we've been doing and try to get better at it. And continue to find new ways, as we maybe see different offenses that are going to attack us in different ways, that we have some things ready for that when that time comes."

DeVries feels the Hoosiers have become turnover prone over the past two weeks. Through their first eight games, they committed double-digit turnovers only twice. After a 13-turnover performance Monday night, Indiana's had 10-plus giveaways in each of its past five contests.

The Hoosiers' offense ranks 56th in offensive efficiency, according to KenPom, and will enter January averaging 84.7 points per game. But when Indiana's offense struggles, DeVries said it's often been due to turnovers and a lack of physicality — each of which the Hoosiers plan to improve upon after Christmas break.

"Getting back to making sure we have some ball security and ball toughness with those things," DeVries said. "Then really as physicality ramps up, you have to put more of an emphasis on your screens and more of an emphasis on winning the war, as we like to say, whether you're the cutter or the ball handler.

"And between the two, now all of a sudden you can create some opportunities because you get two to the ball, and now, we can find people in space. Those are things that we've got to get better at."

Defensively, DeVries wants to see Indiana take strides with its rebounding. The Hoosiers have won the rebounding battled in nine of their 13 games, but they've allowed opponents to pull down eight or more offensive rebounds nine times.

Defensive rebounding is an underrated ingredient to the Hoosiers' offense. When Indiana clears the defensive glass, it can push the pace and play in transition as DeVries desires.

Rebounding aside, DeVries likes where Indiana stands defensively. The Hoosiers are holding opponents to 66.1 points per game and are No. 17 in KenPom's defensive efficiency.

"I think our ball toughness is where it starts," DeVries said. "I think our perimeter guys do a really good job of making things difficult and challenging for guys to not just play freely. They've really bought into that and given us great effort there.

"Like I told the guys, whatever our rankings are right now, it really comes down to, like, we still have to clean up the defensive rebounding, or that number would be even better."

Indiana won't play again until Jan. 4, when it hosts Washington at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. The Hoosiers will have a full week of practice before facing the Huskies.

The extended break offers DeVries the chance to go back to the drawing board for the first time this season — and first time in his tenure with a pulse on his team.

Indiana's roster of 13 scholarship players was largely brand new at the start of the season. DeVries had only coached two players — his son, sixth-year senior forward Tucker DeVries, and senior guard Conor Enright — and the Hoosiers were shorthanded throughout fall practice due to injuries.

DeVries knew as much as he could about his team after summer practices and an exhibition trip to Puerto Rico. But he acknowledged that, until the games matter and the lights turn on, no coach knows for certain how their team will respond to different situations or circumstances.

Some may be as easy as facing man or zone defense, others as simple as playing at home or on the road. But others — losing back-to-back games, falling as 10.5-point favorites to Minnesota, trailing Louisville 16-0, blowing a 7-point lead at Kentucky — are more difficult to anticipate and perservere through.

Indiana will enter Big Ten play well-rested but battle-tested. The Hoosiers feel they have the ingredients to put all their pieces, all their wisdom, together and enjoy a successful conference slate. Now, they have to capitalize.

"I think as a coaching staff and as a team, we've learned a lot," DeVries said. "We felt like there's an opportunity or two that we let get away, but hopefully it was something that we understand why and it's things that are within our control, and we can correct it.

"If we can come back and do that and get ourselves ready, maybe we don't pay for that later down the road. It was a couple good learning lessons in there. We just have to make sure that we learn from them."

But first, a four-day break and a chance to reset and refresh before the Big Ten gauntlet begins.