Most of new men’s basketball head coach Darian DeVries’ players met him and each other no more than six months ago. In practice Wednesday, you would never guess they hadn’t been playing together for years.
Devries ran a tight ship during practice, with lightning-fast drills and scrimmages making up the bulk of the hour-long exhibition.
“This is standard for him, which I kind of love,” transfer guard Conor Enright said, who played under DeVries at Drake in his first two collegiate years. “I love the fast-paced, energetic practices. I feel like it kind of replicates a game where it's like, it's non-stop. Like, you don't have time to stop and think.”
Enright, like nearly the entire rest of the roster, transferred to IU following DeVries’ taking over the program. The Hoosiers may lack experience together, but the squad comprises mostly juniors and seniors — many of whom have NCAA tournament experience.
Troy transfer guard Tayton Conerway shone Wednesday even among a battle-hardened lineup. Conerway, who led Sun Belt in steals each of the past two years, was impassable in scrimmages all practice long.
“Defense is something you wanna do,” he said in an interview following practice. “On offense, anybody can move around and get a lucky shot now and then. On defense, it’s you versus another man.”
Despite his defensive-minded approach, Conerway had a smooth stroke from beyond the arc and got to the rim with ease in scrimmages against his teammates. He averaged 14.2 points and 4.8 assists per game in his last season with Troy, and will likely be the closest thing to a true point guard on Indiana’s roster.
“He's a little unique, and he may be one of the most creative guys with the ball in terms of the way he delivers passes,” DeVries said in a press conference after practice. “It's very unconventional. He's one of those guys, I told the coaching staff, you have to let him just go a little bit.”
Lamar Wilkerson, who led Conference USA in three-point shooting percentage last year at Sam Houston State, showed he hadn’t lost a step. The 6’4 redshirt senior guard rained fire from behind the arc whenever he touched the floor.
Wilkerson and Conerway met well before practices began, thanks to a shared agent connecting them and setting them up in a shared Air BnB. The flamethrower Wilkerson and the glove-like Conerway seem an odd pair at first, but to hear Conerway tell it, they fit together like puzzle pieces.
“He’s kind of like me, but he’s kind of my opposite,” Conerway said. “He’s got what I’m missing, and I’ve kind of got what he’s missing. So we even each other out.”
Wilkerson had one word to describe Conerway: “Different.”
Enright shot just as hot as Wilkerson Wednesday, reuniting with DeVries after spending two years in his system at Drake. Enright, who showed flashes of 40% three-balling in his second year with Drake but has struggled with consistency, looked like the pendulum might be swinging back in the right direction this year.
Enright makes up for a relative lack of size and length with a lightning-quick release, the ball often leaving his hands before a defender can get a hand up.
“I’m only 6-foot, so I gotta get my release off a little quick,” Enright said.
Florida transfer Sam Alexis, who was listed as the second-tallest player on the team until Bosnian Andrej Acimovic signed on to DeVries’ roster July 28, worked on patrolling the paint.
Despite 6 '11 Acimovic’s addition, Alexis will play a difficult and crucial role this season competing with larger big men in the Big Ten. But as a transfer from the SEC, Alexis is no stranger to battling in the trees.
“I feel like I’ve gotta be a good defender for this team, because we’re not as big,” Alexis said. “We’re gonna be playing against bigger dudes — like 7’3, 7-foot. The SEC is pretty physical, so just coming here, bringing that same physicality here.”
An evident focus for DeVries was communication. Throughout practice, even during skill drills, players were constantly vocal.
“Coach DeVries is always preaching communication,” Alexis said. “If you want to get on the court, you gotta talk.”
The players also discussed how they’ve been getting to know each other off the court, mostly through video games and dinners. Conerway said he’s taken a particular liking to Buffalouie’s. It seems from a distance like a team united.
“We’ve kind of got a chill group,” Conerway said. “Nobody likes the big parties and stuff. Everybody’s just cool.”
“You can call anybody on the team at any time, and they'll come hang out with you no matter what they got going on,” he added.
With four players unable to practice Wednesday — and in the case of European transfers Acimovic and Aleksa Ristic, yet to even set foot on Hoosier soil — DeVries’ squad still has a mountain to climb before they’re ready for three impending exhibition games in Puerto Rico in August.
But DeVries sees a team hitting its stride as the season approaches.
“I think the guys have been awesome to work with this summer. They've done a great job of just being receptive to coaching. They're all trying to do what we ask, and that's all we ask of them,” he said. “They're not going to be perfect. We don't expect them to be perfect. But the progress they've made from June until now has been really good. I've been really happy with it. I think they're going to continue to do that because I think they want to.”
