BLOOMINGTON \u2013 Indiana\u2019s problems with outside shooting over the last two coaching regimes have been well documented. As the ability to convert from 3-point range has grown in importance across all levels of basketball, the Hoosiers have largely failed to use the modern game\u2019s most essential weapon.<\/p>\n
Since the 2017-18 season \u2013 former coach Archie Miller\u2019s first in Bloomington \u2013 Indiana has ranked no higher than 296th nationally out of about 360 Division I teams in made 3s per game. It never ranked higher than 311th in any of coach Mike Woodson\u2019s four seasons.<\/p>\n
That won\u2019t suffice for new coach Darian DeVries.<\/p>\n
\u201cDeVries always wants to get the most 3s up, make the most 3s,\u201d Hoosiers guard Lamar Wilkerson said Wednesday.<\/p>\n
If that\u2019s the first-year coach\u2019s goal, there are few better players he could\u2019ve added to the roster than Wilkerson. The Sam Houston State transfer shot 44.5% from beyond the arc last season, leading Conference USA and ranking No. 7 nationally. He achieved those numbers despite being the unquestioned star of his team and facing more defensive attention as a result.<\/p>\n
Small wonder then that the Hoosiers went all in to land him out of the transfer portal, convincing him to choose IU over Kentucky, which was also interested.<\/p>\n
DeVries\u2019 pace-and-space offensive system was a deciding factor in the 6-foot-4, 205-pound senior\u2019s commitment.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt just meets everything I think I am as a basketball player,\u201d said Wilkerson, who averaged 20.5 points last season. \u201cWe went together, man, like cookies and milk.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, with media in attendance at the first open practice the Hoosiers have held in close to a decade, Wilkerson put on a stellar shooting display, hitting shots from all over the court in drill work and in live half-court reps. He has a smooth, confident stroke from beyond the 3-point line but is also comfortable with a shot fake and a one-dribble pull-up from 20 feet.<\/p>\n
To hear Hoosiers forward Tucker DeVries tell it, that type of performance has been routine for Wilkerson.<\/p>\n
\u201cLamar might be one of the best shooters I\u2019ve ever seen,\u201d said the younger DeVries, who shot better than 47% from 3-point range in his own right at West Virginia last season.<\/p>\n
It helps, too, that Wilkerson has a pair of excellent facilitators who can find him in his spots in guards Tayton Conerway and Conor Enright. Both players got chances to run the offense Wednesday and they could start in the backcourt together this season.<\/p>\n
While Indiana is far from a finished product \u2013 having zero returning players and 13 newcomers creates a longer timeline for development \u2013 the Hoosiers\u2019 ability to create and knock down open 3s across the board has been one of the characteristics DeVries has liked most about his team so far.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we\u2019ve got a group that really understands offense as well,\u201d the former Drake and West Virginia head coach said. \u201cThey understand screening and finding windows to get opportunities to find and locate those shots.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve done a really good job to this point of being unselfish, moving the ball, sharing the ball, taking care of the ball. And guys have taken advantage of those opportunities when they\u2019ve gotten them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Notes from practice<\/p>\n
Here are some takeaways from the Hoosiers\u2019 workout Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Energy \u2013 IU\u2019s practice, which lasted an hour, was conducted with high enthusiasm throughout and a brisk pace in moving through drills. Tucker DeVries is the team\u2019s most vocal presence \u2013 not much of a surprise as he\u2019s spent five years in his father\u2019s system \u2013 but the level and volume of communication across the board was notable.<\/p>\n
Sisley \u2013 Indiana\u2019s lone American freshman, wing Trent Sisley from Santa Claus, is advanced for his age. He\u2019s physically strong, possesses great positional size at 6-7 with a long wingspan, can finish around the rim and shoot from the outside. It will be hard to keep him off the floor in some capacity this year.<\/p>\n
Work to do \u2013 IU\u2019s offense is ahead of its defense at this juncture. Darian DeVries acknowledged \u201cwe have a ways to go there.\u201d Of particular concern is the defensive glass, where IU would like to dominate to create opportunities for outlet passes and transition play.<\/p>\n
Injuries \u2013 Transfer guard Jason Drake (from Drexel) and wing Nick Dorn (from Elon) did not participate fully in practice. \u201cThe timeline on both of them is a little up in the air, I guess,\u201d DeVries said.<\/p>\n
Still to come \u2013 The Hoosiers were also missing their two freshmen from Europe \u2013 Serbian guard Aleksa Ristic and big man Andrej Acimovic from Bosnia. DeVries anticipates at least one of them on campus in the coming days but is unsure whether the new arrival will play in Puerto Rico from Aug. 5 to 12.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BLOOMINGTON \u2013 Indiana\u2019s problems with outside shooting over the last two coaching regimes have been well documented. As…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":49059,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[68],"tags":[402,15993,398,400,401,99],"class_list":["post-49058","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-basketball","tag-basketball","tag-iu","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-basketball","tag-ncaabasketball","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49058","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49058"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49058\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}