Kanaan Carlyle is ‘always bringing that energy’ on the defensive end for Indiana basketball and despite early offensive struggles, the message remains — ‘stay aggressive’

Defense and hard work have always come easy for Kanaan Carlyle. Even from a young age, Carlyle was more focused on that end of the floor and that ‘skill’, knowing what he did there would help him on the other end. Through three games in an Indiana basketball uniform, he’s made sure to continue that mantra as he slowly finds his exact fit on the offensive end.

While his role is still a bit ‘in flux’, one part of his game that is not is his energy. It’s contagious for everyone on the floor — and the fans.

“It’s a big part of my game … be a two-way player, play both ends of the court,” Carlyle said on Wednesday about his defensive effort. “And coming here (Indiana) I wanted to emphasize and focus on that. This team — we have a lot of scorers and a lot of people to put the ball in the basket. I wanted to be the one who they could depend on every single night to defend and pick up 94 feet.”

After showcasing his defensive ability at times last year at Stanford, Carlyle has made sure to get back to his roots this year.

It’s shown in the numbers, and passes the eye test. Last year, Carlyle had a defensive rating of 110.7. This year, albeit a small sample size, he’s down to 90.4. He’s also averaging over one steal a game, up from less than a half a game a year ago.

And, it didn’t take long to make his initial impact on the defense end of the floor. During IU’s season-opener, he sparked a run during a lethargic point in time for Indiana — all on the defensive end. He was picking up full court, making life extremely difficult on the opposing back court. Whether he was diving on the floor for loose balls, showing his quickness on switches or hounding the ball handler and forcing turnovers or disruption in the offensive set, it was exactly what Indiana needed; energy.

“He makes me want to be a better defensive player. I think I’m a pretty solid, pretty good defensive player,” Indiana basketball guard Myles Rice said of Carlyle. “Just to see it translates from practice to game, so when game time comes he’s just causing havoc and everything. Makes it easier to play with and for a guy like that.

“He’s always bringing that energy. Like you said, it sparks all of us. You saw when he got that defensive stop. They posted it on Instagram and everything. Like that’s who he is. He plays defense and he can do that. It just sparks the energy for all of us and I am just happy to have him on our team.”

Part of that defensive emphasis comes from his dad — who was also his trainer growing up.

The ability to create his own energy, and thus spark the energy of his team has always been something he’s tried to accomplish. That led to a nickname from his dad — one that translates even more to this season with his number.

“I got a nickname, my nickname is ‘Ka-nine’ — my dad gave it to me when I was younger by the way I play,” Carlyle said. “I’m a dawg on the court, 94 feet play hard all 40 minutes. So my dad named me Ka-nine. So when I came to Indiana and found out the rule change and able to change my number to nine, I was like ‘okay perfect. I can use that’.”

There’s no question that through the first two weeks of the season, Carlyle is the source of energy on the team — but especially defensively.

Now, it’s about finding his groove on the offensive end.

So far he’s averaging just 6.0 points per game while shooting 35 percent from the floor. He scored zero points in the opener and then six in the second game of the year. Then, he started to emerge last time on the floor.

He scored 12 points on 5-of-9 from the floor.

In the past two games, he’s 4-of-9 from three.

“I don’t think I was pressing,” Carlyle said about his early struggles. “My coaches and teammates have instilled in me to be aggressive. They’ve said for us to be successful I have to be aggressive looking to score and making plays for my teammates. And, that’s what I’m going out and doing every single night.

“Whatever I can do to help us win. Whatever my coaches need me to do, whatever my teammates need me to do, that’s what I’m going to do. From the beginning of the season, they’ve asked me to be aggressive so that’s what I’m going to do and keep doing that and the shots are going to fall eventually. I’m just going to keep playing my game.”

Carlyle is part of a massive roster overhaul for Indiana basketball this offseason that resulted in seven new faces on the IU roster. While there has certainly been a learning curve at times through the first three games, the potential is visible.

The potential is also high — let’s not forget the charity exhibition on the road at Tennessee as well.

And for Carlyle, he knows there will take time to find a good rhythm with everyone — but once everything clicks, he knows things will be ‘special.’

“I think every single day we are getting more comfortable,” Carlyle added. “We are all taking it day by day, learning from (Coach) Woodson and the coaching staff … keep trying to build our rhythm together. And, I think we can really be something special.”

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