IU basketball begins its three-game exhibition tour in Puerto Rico on Wednesday night. The games won’t be streamed, televised or broadcast on radio, but Inside the Hall reporter Josh Pos will be in San Juan providing coverage all week.
Here are the key storylines to follow as the Hoosiers prepare to play three games over six days:
A look at how Darian DeVries views the hierarchy of his team
More than three months remain on the calendar before the Hoosiers tip off the 2025-26 regular season at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.
Plenty could change between this week’s games and the games that matter beginning in November, but the exhibitions will offer a current snapshot of how Darian DeVries views his team based on the starting lineup he uses.
In last week’s open practice at Cook Hall, the current first five appeared to be Conor Enright, Tayton Conerway, Lamar Wilkerson, Tucker DeVries and Reed Bailey.
Will that be the lineup DeVries goes with when IU tips off in Puerto Rico on Wednesday at 7 p.m. ET against Universidad de Puerto Rico Bayamón?
Who will be available to play?
One of the notable points from last week’s open practice was the injuries the Hoosiers are currently dealing with.
Two of the program’s transfer portal additions – Nick Dorn and Jason Drake – did not practice last Wednesday. Dorn is not expected to be available until later in the fall, with Drake’s setback believed to be more short-term.
“The timeline on both of them is a little up in the air, I guess,” DeVries said last week. “We’ll see where that leads. We’re obviously hopeful that both of them will be back in a relatively good timeline. But I don’t anticipate — with Nick, especially, that would be something more in the fall. So we’ll see how that shakes out as we move forward.”
The roster did get another player late last week as Serbian guard Aleska Ristic arrived on campus.
With Dorn out for Puerto Rico and Drake’s status uncertain, the addition of Ristic should give DeVries at least 10 healthy scholarship players for the trip.
A first glimpse at a new-look offense
A significant takeaway from last week’s open practice was the emphasis on ball movement and perimeter shooting. The Hoosiers want to…