What is the story about?
Indiana men’s basketball tipped off the 2026-27 season, the second under head coach Darian DeVries, with a strong x-x win over Eastern Illinois on Monday evening at Assembly Hall in Bloomington.
This was pretty standard buy game stuff. Indiana didn’t look to be running too much offensively, staying pretty vanilla as it did through the exhibition slate. DeVries also went pretty deep into his bench pretty early, something that probably doesn’t happen against a more capable opponent.
There were multiple
good signs, even given the level of competition. There were a few nitpicks. Here’s five thoughts:
- Indiana can weather tough shooting nights. The Hoosiers weren’t incredibly efficient, hitting 50% of their attempts from the field and 37.5% from 3-point range. That’s not at all poor, but it’s decently average and included some rough stretches early. The offensive rebounding kept Indiana’s misses from piling up, with the Hoosiers pulling down 13 offensive boards and turning them into 15 second chance points.
- Markus Burton can lead this group in multiple ways. He led the Hoosiers in scoring with 19 points on 7-8 shooting from the field and finished with a team-leading five assists as well. That’s as good of an offensive debut as you could’ve hoped for with the lone demerit being a persistent fouling issue. He checked out with four, but it’s worth taking a step back to see if that’s more an aberration or an early sign of a trend.
- Indiana’s younger forwards could prove critical. Trent Sisley and Trevor Manhertz, in their second and first years with the program, looked good coming off the bench. They finished with 7 and 11 points, respectively and shot 1-2 and 2-5 from 3-point range. Indiana’s going to need that in potential larger lineups with either at small forward or in relief of Aiden Sherrell at power forward.
- Bryce Lindsay is great for the role he’s in. This is a program that’s needed a reliable, experienced sixth man for a while. Lindsay’s that guy, smooth as silk with the ball and capable of doing plenty with it. He gives this group a nice change of pace from Burton as a ballhandler and looks comfortable in that role.
- The defense could prove reliable. There’s only so much you can put into this given the level of competition but Indiana held Eastern Illinois to some rough scoring droughts. Will it be elite? No, probably not. Will it be enough to sustain a strong offense while picking up extra possessions on the other end? Perhaps!
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