Shooter

Braden Smith is 5 for 30 shooting in his career in Assembly Hall. 17%.

Great job taking care of business. Obviously not perfect, but I'm not going to nitpick after a comfortable Big Ten road win. Enright and Conerway were really good. And Wilkerson in the second half

LOL. I apologize to any residents of the greater Terre Haute area.

Click below for highlights of Devries in the 2024 MVC Final. This is the game I remember from him. A bit slimmer and scoring in a variety of ways. (This video also includes a confident Conor Enright draining a go ahead 3 in the closing minutes from 3 feet behind the line. We need that guy!) Devries MVC Final

It's not just B1G athletes. The two games prior to this against Chicago State and Siena, he took a total of 20 threes and only 5 twos. That's a significant change in his shot diet compared to earlier in his career. I am certain you watched him play at Drake more than I did. I wasn't expecting him to be a super athlete, but I was expecting a version of Tucker closer to what we saw vs Marquette. A shooter but also someone who can score inside via smart cutting and attacking closeouts.

Back in his Drake days Tucker took roughly equal 2s and 3s. This season, more than twice as many 3s as 2s. And it's not only because of higher competition - it's the same story vs the non-con cupcakes. I only watched him once or twice at Drake, but it seems like his athleticism has been sapped a bit with injuries and some extra weight.

Agree but I'm setting the goal slightly higher. - Take care of business at Maryland and Rutgers - Take two of three at home vs Nebraska, Iowa, Purdue - We probably get smoked at Michigan, but have a slight puncher's chance at MSU. If we are sitting at 6-4 after Purdue we're in great shape. 5-5 isn't a disaster either.

I'm just saying, part of our offensive issues against good teams is that it's hard to play 4 on 5 on offense. Disciplined defenses will sag off him, not bite on shot fakes and play the pass when he drives. Enright currently occupies a usage category Kenpom calls "nearly invisible" - following the tradition of Anthony Leal and Gabe Cupps in recent years. You are right that he has a decent career shooting percentage. It will help us a ton if he is willing and able to knock down shots when he's open.

Washington started the game in a triangle and 2 which was pretty crazy. Haven't seen that in a while. Credit to Conerway and Enright for shooting them out of that, but I wouldn't say they ever really came out on Enright. Plenty of possessions he was "guarded" by Steinbach, who was giving him a 10 foot cushion and playing more of a rover role. Triangle and 2 was a bit extreme, but that won't be the last team to play way off of Enright and dare him to do anything offensively.

Sisley was outstanding last night. Really like that kid. It's all in front of us the rest of this month. Two lower tier road games we need to be winning. And three Quad 1-A opportunities at home, two of which we may actually be favored in.

I will cheer him if he takes some more of those contested long 2s he was so fond of here.

We got a ton of open looks against an overmatched opponent. First half we hit them. Second half we missed them. For better or worse, we kept shooting. I'd like to see us work inside more when shots aren't dropping. That being said, it's kryptonite to your offense when shooters start hesitating on open threes (as we've seen for nearly a decade now). Gotta find a balance.

We suck and show no promise of improvement? LOL, what? It's less than halfway through our new coach's first season. We've lost a grand total of 3 games, and are currently projected to make the tournament.

As it stands, IU is #29 in the NET rankings. Torvik has IU as the #20 team in the country, with a 94% chance to make the tournament. Averaging a 6 or 7 seed. I am not as high on our ceiling as T-Rank, just offering a data-based counter to the doom and glooming here.

I was at the game. First half we dominated and made a bunch of open threes. Second half we mostly missed those same open shots. Also missed a bunch of FTs. Crowd was pretty weak, as expected for a Christmas break game against a bottom feeder. Not much to take away from this kind of game positive or negative, but those with agendas already decided will see what they want to see. Completely agree with the bulk of your post. I am much more optimistic about this team going into January than either of the last two seasons.

I'm not putting words in your mouth. Your direct quote was "The brand of basketball against Penn State was awful". Yes, I believe a performance in which IU took equal amount of 2s and 3s, made over 80% of the 2s, over 50% of the 3s, assisted on over 70% of baskets, forced 11 turnovers vs 9 opponent made baskets in the first half, etc was good basketball. You got me on that one. I agree we stunk against UK. We have a new coach, we'll see how he adjusts. Enjoy the rest of the season.

I was being serious. If you watched IU go up 58-26 at halftime and thought "this is awful" - why are you doing this to yourself? Go watch old games or find a different hobby that you actually enjoy.

Indiana was up 58-26 at halftime vs Penn State. If you think that brand of basketball was awful, you just don't enjoy modern basketball. Which is fine, your choice. There are probably some videos of 1970s basketball on YouTube that would be more your speed.

Need to play better, I agree. I think we are capable of doing that.

Man, some of you guys are babies. Or maybe just spoiled by Cignetti. Coming into this year I thought making the tourney would be a decent first season. That's still on the table. Season's not over because we played like crap on the road.

Good thing he made it. Or else straight to jail

I don't think it matters a ton which one starts. They are clearly more of a platoon than a starter / backup dynamic. Devries has been inserting Alexis earlier and earlier, did it less than 2 min in to the second half last night.

TJD in this offense gives you the playmaking Devries sees in a skilled big like Reed Bailey, PLUS elite level rebounding and shot blocking. God I hope we get someone like TJD again.

A few mistakes, but I thought he and Enright did a great job overall. Only 8 TO in a 77 possession game against a full court press is outstanding stuff.

Yes, but that was at home. We are always good for a few big home wins even when we suck. This is more like how Louisville showed up vs us last year in Bahamas. Neutral court, new coach and new roster. Came out and dominated and set the tone for a great first season.