Indiana Game Preview & How to Watch

How to Watch (and bet)

Date: Sunday, 1/4/26

Tip-Off Time: 5:00 pm PT

TV: Big Ten Network

Radio: Huskies Gameday App, Sports Radio KJR

Location: Bloomington, IN

Betting Line: Washington Huskies +7.5

Indiana Hoosiers 2025-26 Statistics:

Record: 10-3 (1-1)

Points For per

Game: 84.7 (48th)

Points Against per Game: 66.1 (27th)

Adjusted Offensive Efficiency: 117.7 (58th)

Adjusted Defensive Efficiency: 97.0 (19th)

Strength of Schedule:

224th

Indiana Key Players:

G- Conor Enright, Sr. 6’1, 180: 3.2 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 4.6 apg, 36.1% FG, 28.0% 3pt, 66.7% FT

Evanmiya.com Stats: +3.51 BPR (405th nationally)

Enright started his career at Drake under Coach DeVries, transferred to DePaul last year, then reunited at Indiana. He has been the ultimate pass-first player so far this year attempting just 7% of his team’s shots while on the court which may be the lowest I’ve ever seen for a starter. Enright hasn’t had more than 5 attempts in any game. He’s a career 36% outside shooter but is struggling in his limited attempts so far and when he does happen to shoot the ball, it’s usually from the perimeter (11 2-point attempts in 13 games).

G- Tayton Conerway, Sr. 6’3, 190: 11.9 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 4.4 apg, 52.3% FG, 25.0% 3pt, 75.0% FT

Evanmiya.com Stats: +7.09 BPR (50th nationally)

Conerway transferred in from Troy where he averaged nearly 15 points per game and was 3rd nationally in steal rate each of the past 2 seasons. Conerway is at his best driving to the hoop where he’s shooting nearly 70% this season as he almost never pulls up for midrange jumpers. He’ll still take 3-4 shots from beyond the arc per game but has never shot better than 30% from deep over the course of a season so defenses are okay with him settling. On defense, his steal rate is down a little from his numbers at Troy but he’s still Indiana’s best perimeter defender.

G- Lamar Wilkerson, Sr. 6’6, 205: 19.0 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 2.8 apg, 46.6% FG, 42.9% 3pt, 83.7% FT

Evanmiya.com Stats: +6.07 BPR (94th nationally)

Wilkerson transferred in from Sam Houston State where he averaged better than 20 points per game last season. He’s one of the elite shooters in the country after making 43.4% last year on high volume and is nearly at that level again this year despite the step up in competition. He went supernova against Penn State last month with 44 points on 10/15 3-point shooting which immediately followed a 3 game stretch where he was just 5/23 so he can get hot at any time.

F- Tucker DeVries, Sr, 6’7, 225: 16.2 ppg, 5.4 rpg, 3.1 apg, 40.2% FG, 35.7% 3pt, 88.4% FT

Evanmiya.com Stats: +7.46 BPR (38th nationally)

DeVries was one of the best mid-major players in the country as a junior playing for his dada at Drake when he averaged 21.6 points and 6.7 rebounds per game. Then he followed his dad to West Virginia and got hurt within the first month only to miss the rest of the season. Now as a redshirt senior he has leveled out as a very good player but not quite among the game’s true elite. DeVries has played more on the perimeter than any season so far in his career with 70% of his shots coming from deep and that will be a challenge for Hannes Steinbach to guard on the perimeter. He’s not exceptional at any one aspect of the game but is above average in just about every category.

F- Sam Alexis, Sr. 6’9, 240: 8.2 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 1.3 ast, 69.6% FG, 81.8% FT

Evanmiya.com Stats: +291 BPR (291st nationally)

Alexis won a national title this year as a bench player at Florida after 2 years before that at Chattanooga. He has been in a virtual timeshare with Reed Bailey at the center spot but has played slightly more and started the last 4 games. Alexis is shooting a career best 71.7% from inside the arc this season with the shooters on the team drawing attention away from the paint. He’s a solid shot blocker and offensive rebounder but struggles on the defensive glass at times which UW will look to exploit.

The Outlook

You could make an argument that this game is a matchup between Indiana’s past and their future. Indiana was coached by Mike Woodson the past 4 seasons who embraced the idea that to succeed in the Big Ten you needed to have more size than the opponent and often ignored the concept of shooting three-pointers. The Hoosiers were never higher than 324th nationally in the percentage of their points coming from made treys under Woodson. Washington this season sits at 337th in that figure.

Meanwhile, Indiana with a completely redone roster has completely flipped the script and is 41st in that figure while ranking 336th in the percentage of their points coming on 2-point shots. The results so far you could argue have been mixed.

Indiana got off to a 7-0 start with 17+ point wins in all but one of those games including victories of Kansas State and Marquette. However, we now know that neither of those squads looks to be even close to an NCAA tournament contender and the Hoosiers have taken losses by 9+ points to Minnesota, Kentucky, and Louisville. They’re now just 1-3 against teams that rank 115th or better at KenPom. Is this a system/style that only works against worse teams? We’ll find out quickly in Big Ten play.

What’s clear is that DeVries has a clear approach to what is important in modern basketball. His team ranks 14th in 2-point percentage on offense and 6th on defense. They like to bomb away from three-point territory but when they do drive the ball they get it into the paint and it usually leads to an uncontested dunk or layup. On the other end they force opponents into midrange jumpers as much as possible.

They also put a heavy emphasis on ball movement on both ends of the court. The Hoosiers rank 5th nationally in assist rate with an assist on over 2/3rds of their makes. They have four players who all average at least 2.8 assists per game and two averaging 4+ per game. By contrast, the Huskies have just two players averaging even 2.5 assists per game and none over 3.5. That will likely continue as Indiana’s defense is 11th in opposing assist rate. They force opponents to play isolation basketball and drive the ball into the paint where they can collapse on the ball handler.

They also rank towards the extremes in a few other intangible areas. This is the oldest team in the country per KenPom but they’re last in minutes continuity with 0 returning minutes. It’s an entirely new bunch but their entire starting lineup is made from seniors and there’s only one underclassman in the rotation.

The other area though where Indiana compromised was on size. They split time evenly at center between 6’9 Sam Alexis and 6’10 Reed Bailey. That’s a very undersized frontline to go against Hannes Steinbach and Franck Kepnang. But the story of the game may be whether UW can stay in their double big lineup and own the paint or if Indiana’s shooting forces the Huskies to go a little smaller. Indiana does have size on the wing with a quartet of 6’6 to 6’8 players who often man the 2 through 4 spots. But UW’s success on the interior will likely decide this game.

I actually like this matchup for Washington. The things that Indiana is trying to do on defense generally play into UW’s strengths. The Huskies should be able to control the glass and all it would take is for Indiana to only have an okay shooting night to have a chance to steal a win in Bloomington. There’s no way though that I can trust Washington to pull it out though until we see proof of concept against a top-50 team with Wesley Yates out of the lineup.