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‘You can’t win if you don’t make shots’: Darian DeVries bringing ‘modern playing style’ of offense to IU basketball and it revolves around shooting 3s

Darian DeVries priorities shooting 3s and playing a modern style of basketball. He’s bringing that and more to the IU basketball program.

Published

3 days ago

March 19, 2025

Alec Lasley

Darian DeVries priorities shooting 3s and playing a modern style of basketball. He's bringing that and more to the IU basketball program. (Ben Queen-Imagn Images)

It was made clear on Wednesday that during the head coaching search for IU basketball, a ‘modern’ style of play was a point of emphasis. After spending much of the last decade playing a slower, pack-it-in and inside-out style of basketball, Athletic Director Scott Dolson knew a change was needed to scheme and system. Enter Darian DeVries. And during DeVries’ initial remarks to Indiana fans, he also made it clear what his offensive philosophy is.

“Shooting is a critical piece,” said DeVries.

From shooting to ‘modern’ basketball, Indiana has lacked in those two specific areas for much of the last decade. Whether it was the lack of shooters, lack of shot attempts or a system that revolved around two bigs, the Hoosiers’ offense wasn’t very complex or difficult to defend. Part of that revolved around the lack of shooting, regardless of who was on the floor.

Indiana shot 33.6 percent from three over Mike Woodson’s four years in Bloomington, averaging just 5.7 made 3s a game. This past season was the highest rate at which Indiana shot 3s during his tenure, but ranked just 320th in attempts per game and 323rd in percent of points off 3s. In 2024 IU ranked 352nd and 355th in the same categories. 2023 was 352nd and 345th and 2022 was 321st and 324th in those respective categories.

DeVries didn’t mince words when talking about putting together a roster that can win games. And, it all comes back to shooting.

“As we move forward and build a roster and roster construction, we want plenty of depth in the shooting areas because I think you can’t win if you don’t make shots,” DeVries said. “That’s a huge priority for us.”

While Indiana prioritized paint touches and a more deliberate style of play, that’s not how DeVries-led offenses have been put together. During DeVries six seasons at Drake, his teams averaged 21.2 attempted 3s a game and shot 36 percent as a team — making 7.7 3s a game. No team made less than seven 3s a game across any season.

Last year at West Virginia, the Mountaineers shot just 32.6 percent but made 8.7 3s a game. They ranked in the top-45 in both attempts and percent of points from three. The numbers were a bit skewed, however. Before Tucker DeVries went down with a shoulder injury, the Mountaineers were shooting 35.3 percent as a team. So, it was another year where a Darian DeVries offense was going to revolve around perimeter-oriented players, and shooters.

Six of West Virginia’s top seven scorers were guards or wings — including the top two being Javon Small and then DeVries, a vast difference from Indiana’s roster.

While shooting headlines the DeVries offense, so does guard play. And again, that goes back to the philosophy of the new IU basketball head coach.

“I think it’s critical in how we want to play because in the ideal world on a missed shot, turnovers, we would like to score in those first 12 seconds,” DeVries said. “That’s how we played. I was an assistant coach at Creighton University for a long time under Greg McDermott. Took that offensive philosophy with me to Drake, and then to West Virginia. We feel like the best way to score is on a broken floor before the defense is set, so that’s our main priority from an offensive standpoint.

“Then if you don’t score in those first 12 seconds, now we want to get the best shot available, whenever that may come.”

So as DeVries begins to put together his roster at Indiana, he’ll do so with shooting and guard play in mind.

It has already started with the expectation that his son Tucker, a career 36.7 percent shooter and 47.3 percent shooter this year, will be receiving a waiver to play one more year and do so at Indiana. Add in the potential to receive another year from Luke Goode, a 39.2 percent shooter for IU this season, and the ‘depth’ at the position is starting to round into shape.

So looking ahead, IU basketball will be playing a vasty different brand of basketball — and something that fans haven’t seen in nearly a decade. And that’s exactly how they want it.

“He really understands and coaches modern offense in a tough blue collar defense. It fits here,” Dolson said. “One of the things that we learned, recruits really want to play in the type of system he runs, and that was evident, as well.

“We wanted an experienced, successful coach that had a blueprint for winning. We wanted to make certain that we had someone that really understands and really equally importantly has embraced modern roster construction. That’s huge. A proven evaluator and developer of players. We wanted to make certain that we had a modern playing style. We have to have a head coach that understands where things are going.”