NCAA Basketball Report News

Indiana men’s basketball wrapped up its preseason exhibition slate with a 79-74 win over Western Kentucky on Sunday afternoon in Evansville, Indiana.

This was perhaps the most interesting of the Hoosiers’ three preseason exhibition matchups. Obviously because of how close the score was but moreso by how Darian DeVries managed the game, more like a true feel-out exhibition, than anything.

Indiana won and got some valuable experience. That’s all you can really ask for. Here’s some key stats that jumped off the sheet for me:

11 Hoosiers

Indiana sent 11 different players on the floor throughout the matchup. Needless to say, that’s not the kind of thing you’re going to see in the regular season barring a massive blowout.

DeVries went pretty deep into the bench for this one and, unlike the previous two exhibitions, it wasn’t because the Hoosiers had a massive lead as a cushion late in the second half. This felt like DeVries tinkering with some lineups in live play while doing as much as he could to get real, meaningful minutes for his bench before the season.

57 bench points

This is perhaps the most telling stat as to the final score of the matchup.

Indiana got a whopping 57 points out of its bench while Western Kentucky got 17. That tells me the Hoosiers were looking to get some non-blowout minutes for the less experienced members of the team while the Hilltoppers were leaving starters in late to stay competitive or pull off the win.

Bryce Lindsay, unsurprisingly, led the way off the bench with 20 points on 6/11 shooting and 4/8 from 3-point range. Sam Alexis was right behind him with 15 points on 6/7 shooting. Indiana’s high school freshmen trio combined for 17 points.

32.3% from 3-point range

Indiana didn’t shoot particularly well from the perimeter, converting on 10 of its 31 attempts from beyond the 3-point line.

That’s also not horrible, we’ve seen worse shooting teams around here before. It’s just that this team is built to go after those misses in a way that others really weren’t, so it’s worth expecting a few of those whiffs to end up back in Hoosier hands. Lindsay led the way from deep while Prince-Alexander Moody, Aiden Sherrell, Trevor Manhertz and Trent Sisley chipped in a few as well.

Markus Burton and Darren Harris combined for seven attempts, none of which went in. You’d rather have that happen in a game that doesn’t count, no?

3 freshmen on the floor down the stretch

This one came down to the wire and DeVries, knowing full well the final result meant nothing, put three freshmen on the floor alongside Lindsay and Alexis to finish out the game.

Those two did plenty of the heavy lifting in eking out the win, but Vaughn Karvala pulled down an offensive rebound and scored to give the Hoosiers a multi-possession lead with under a minute to go in the game before sinking a pair of free throws to close out the final seconds.

That was smart, and bold, of DeVries. Yes, this game wouldn’t have counted as a loss, but it would’ve been something to see Indiana in headlines as having dropped this one despite the exhibition label. And, most importantly, it worked.

3 exhibition matchups in the books

Indiana learned a bit about itself from these three matchups. Namely, it can match up physically with high major competition and own its identity as a rebounding force with its rebuilt frontcourt.

The next time these Hoosiers take the floor, it’s gonna be for real. Indiana will open the 2026-27 season next Monday evening against Eastern Illinois at Assembly Hall in Bloomington.