Indiana Point Guard Khristian Lander Enters Transfer Portal Again
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Much-heralded but seldom-used point guard Khristian Lander announced on Wednesday afternoon that he is leaving the Indiana basketball program and entering the transfer portal for the second straight year.
Lander, a 6-foot-2 left-hander from Evansville, Ind., announced his decision on Twitter.
"First of all I want to thank Hoosier Nation and fans for all of the support these last two years," Lander wrote on Twitter. "After talking with my family I've decided to enter the transfer portal. I will always have love for Hoosier Nation."
Lander's two years at Indiana never turned out as expected. He was a top-50 recruit out of Evansville Reitz, and he decided to skip his senior year of high school to enroll at Indiana a year early to play for Archie Miller.
As a freshman, he played in 26 games as a back-up to Rob Phinisee at point guard. He scored a career-high 10 points in a December 2020 win over North Alabama, and for the year he scored a total of 55 points. He shot just 18-for-70 from the field, a team-low 25.7 percent, and was just 12-for-44 from three-point range (27.3 percent). He had 30 assists and 26 turnovers.
When Miller was fired, Lander entered the transfer portal, but after Woodson was hired, he decided to stay at Indiana. But Indiana snared point guard Xavier Johnson out of the transfer portal from Pittsburgh and he started 34 of Indiana's 35 games this year. (The one game he didn't, he was suspended for violating curfew along with four other players, including Lander.)
Lander dealt with a nagging knee injury for much of the year, but even when he was healthy, he didn't play much. He scored just 38 points all year. He averaged more than 15 minutes a game when Phinisee was out with a calf injury, but when he returned, Lander was relegated to the third-string point guard role. From Nov. 30 on, he only played a total of 41 minutes.
There doesn't seem to be any path to playing time for him at Indiana either, with 5-star point guard Jalen Hood-Schifino arriving on campus next year from Monteverde Academy in Florida.
Lander will have three years of eligibility remaining, since the 2020-21 season did not count because of the COVID-19 pandemic. He will be able to play immediately at his next school after the NCAA changed its transfer rules a year ago. Players can now transfer once without sitting out.
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