Indiana Portal Additions: At His Best, Tucker DeVries Can Do It All

Editor's note: Hoosiers On SI looks at the Indiana players Darian DeVries has brought to the team from the transfer portal and their best performances.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Tucker DeVries’ first career college basketball game came in 2021 when his team – Drake – took on Division III Coe College.

DeVries didn’t start in that contest as a true freshman. He came off the bench with 16:16 to go in the first half and quickly converted a traditional three-point play against the Kohawks for his first points as a collegian.

Nearly 2,000 points later? DeVries has never stopped scoring.

The son of Indiana coach Darian DeVries is not at Indiana because his dad calls the shots. DeVries is an elite-level scorer who could be playing for any program in the country.

He chooses to play for his father, and the father knows a good player when he sees one.

Tucker DeVries has 1,986 career points. He’s a career 43.5% shooter, including 36.7% from 3-point range. In his aborted eight-game season at West Virginia, DeVries started out 47.3% from 3-point range.

DeVries has had good teams around him at Drake and at West Virginia. How his scoring acumen will make his teammates better and vice versa at Indiana will be fun to watch once the 2025-26 begins.

Here’s a look at some examples of DeVries when he’s been at his best in his career.

Big Moment

West Virginia Mountaineers guard Tucker DeVries (12) drives to the basket as Arizona Wildcats forward Carter Bryant (9) defends during the second half at Imperial Arena at the Atlantis resort. | Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images

DeVries didn’t play many games for West Virginia – just eight in all. He made an impression, however, in one of his most high-profile contests.

In the third-place game at Battle 4 Atlantis in November, the unheralded Mountaineers took on then-No. 24 Arizona. West Virginia had already upset Gonzaga earlier in the tournament and lost to Louisville in overtime in a semifinal.

DeVries scored 26 points and was 8 of 12 from 3-point range as West Virginia defeated Arizona, 83-76.

DeVries began the game on a tear. He scored 17 points in the first half, making five of his threes along the way. Later, when West Virginia was trying to get the edge on Arizona in overtime, DeVries hit a key 3-pointer that put the Mountaineers up five. Arizona would not get within three points again.

While DeVries had bigger games in his Missouri Valley Conference days at Drake, this game demonstrated that he could be dominant at the power conference level, which is most germane for the Hoosiers.

Scoring

DeVries has had 41 career games where he scored 20 points or more. He has had six career games at 30 points or more.

His career-high of 39 points came in a triple overtime game at Illinois-Chicago won by Drake 107-105 in February 2024. In a regulation game, DeVries scored 36 in a November 2023 Drake victory over Lipscomb. His most efficient 30-point game was a 12 of 19 shooting effort to score 33 points in a November 2023 contest against Akron.

For these stories, we’ve used the measure of five attempts in a game as the cut-off to determine shooting percentage in a game. That’s easy for DeVries. He has never attempted less than five shots in a game in his entire career.

DeVries has had 36 of those 50% or better games. He’s been perfect twice. He was 8-for-8 against non-Division I St. Ambrose in 2022. He was also 5-for-5 against Tarleton State in 2022.

DeVries’ personal best for field goals made is 12, which he’s done four times, most recently for Drake against Illinois-Chicago in that triple overtime victory.

DeVries has had 28 games where he shot 50% or better from 3-point range, though not all of them were on five attempts or more. Not that he’s shirked in that department. He’s had 19 games of 50% or better on five or more attempts.

His career-best were in those games against St. Ambrose and Tarleton State – he was 4-for-4. The above-mentioned 8 of 12 performance for West Virginia against Arizona is the highest amount of threes he’s made in a game.

DeVries is an 81% free throw shooter, and he’s had 47 games where he didn’t miss a free throw. His career-best was a 9-for-9 performance against Bradley in the 2024 Missouri Valley Conference Tournament.

Other Statistics Of Note

At 6-foot-7 and 210 pounds, DeVries has the capability to clean the glass. He’s had nine double-digit rebounding games in his career. He reached his career-high of 13 in that triple overtime win against Illinois-Chicago.

For someone who shoots as much as DeVries – he’s averaged 13.7 shots per game – he’s a capable distributor. He twice had seven assists in a game and had 15 career games with at least five assists.

DeVries makes the effort to protect the rim. He had a career-high five blocks in a 2022 MVC Tournament game against Loyola. DeVries’ career-high in steals is four, done three times, most recently against Bradley in 2024.

Advanced Statistics

Advanced stats are very kind to DeVries given his versatile game and high-scoring ways. He has a career scoring average at 17.7 points, so he’s bound to be in elite territory in advanced measures.

His offensive box plus-minus rating has never been below 4.4 – and anything above five is considered to be very good. DeVries led the MVC in win shares in 2023 at 6.0.

One area that can get lost in the shuffle is that DeVries doesn’t turn the ball over too much. He has a career turnover percentage at 10.4% - solid for someone who has the ball in his hands as much as DeVries does.

If DeVries can overcome his shoulder injury, Indiana gained one of the best and most experienced scorers in college basketball.

Big Moment

Scoring

Other Statistics Of Note

Advanced Statistics

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