INDIANA UNIVERSITY BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

January 4, 2026

Darian DeVries

Postgame Media Conference

Indiana 90, Washington 80

Q. Coach, obviously a number of different things there. Conor and Lamar both get 20 and 22. Your thoughts on those guys and the halves that they provided for you?

DARIAN DeVRIES: Yeah, I thought they were both vital to us winning. Tayton getting us off to a great start there in the first half with them in a little bit of a triangle and two. He goes four-for-four from three. Conor hit a couple in there, as well.

In the second half I thought a combination of Lamar and Trent really carried us there in the second half as things got a little tight. I thought they were the ones that both individually gave us a nice little burst to get it back up there again.

Q. You only played a handful of close games one way or the other this season. A new team. Not a lot of reps. As a coach, how tough is it to find the right lineup combination, push the right buttons when you obviously get 33 of these in 15 games?

DARIAN DeVRIES: I think the hard part is, you got a little bit of a feel from practices and stuff, but to your point, how are they going to respond when it's two minutes left and we need a possession or you're getting fouled late. We have all the analytics from where they were before. Those are the type of things you just learn every time you go out there.

I thought the guys did a really good job of managing the game down the stretch there. I don't think we had any turnovers in those last three or four minutes. For the most part we stepped up, knocked down our free throws.

If I had one complaint, we put them at the free-throw line a little too much there, in the second half especially.

Q. You talked about the defense Washington was in early. It seemed like you had to pivot away from Lamar and Tucker in the first half. How important is it for this team to learn that it can find its offense even if a team is overplaying those top two scorers?

DARIAN DeVRIES: Yeah, I thought the guys did a nice job of getting into actions and using Lamar and Tucker at times as sort of decoys, but using the attention they were getting to take advantage of some other things.

I thought that's where Trent, Nick Dorn even had a couple opportunities there as well. I thought Reed and Sam had some nice cleanup things there that were good for us.

I just thought our movement was pretty good for most of the night. There's always some spots in there that maybe we weren't quite as clean. Overall offensively I was really pleased with how the game went.

Q. On Conor, he had 12 and 9, probably the most involved he's been. How much does it help you when he's playing at that level? What kind drove his outing?

DARIAN DeVRIES: I think Conor, he just understands what we're trying to do. Part of it from being with us before. But the things he does, and they lead just to winning.

There's a spot, Lamar just hit a three. Maybe a couple possessions later Conor has the ball in transition. He finds him. He just knows how to hunt those guys down so that they can stay in the zone and find those shooters. He just has such a great feel and understanding of the game. All he cares about is winning. That's what makes him so special.

Q. I think after Conor made that circus shot, you kind of slammed your arm a little bit. What does it say about him that he can provide the energy for the team?

DARIAN DeVRIES: Yeah, Conor, he brings is every day. He plays the game with great enthusiasm, great energy, great passion. I love that about him. Your team needs a guy like that. Obviously fans love having a guy like that, as well.

It's what he does every day. Every day in practice, as well. He's a guy that hardly ever gets to sit out. He's always giving that max effort defensively. Doesn't matter how many days in a row we practice, he's going to bring it. That just raises the standard for everybody else to try to match.

Q. How much do you trust Trent as a freshman right now?

DARIAN DeVRIES: Yeah, I got great faith in Trent. He continues to get better and better. Some nights there's going to be more opportunity than other nights.

I thought tonight he gave us a huge lift. We rode him for as long as we could there, until I think he got a little gassed. We had to give him a little rest.

That's great for him. I think that says a lot about him, too. He's continued to stay confident throughout it. He's put in the work, too.

During the break and stuff, he spent extra time in the gym. A lot of the guys did. Getting some of their player development, their shooting and things like that. I thought the guys overall really handled this break well. Came back, they were ready to go.

To come back and have a pretty good performance, I was pretty pleased because sometimes after those long layoffs, you never know what might happen.

Q. We've asked you about offensive rebounding concerns several times. It wasn't an issue at all tonight. Trent said that was a big area of focus coming into the game. How pleased were you with how that went?

DARIAN DeVRIES: Yeah, I was really pleased. I mean, we spent a lot of time on it during this break in our practices of increasing our physicality and doing a better job there. Just more of getting that mindset.

They're big. They play around the rim a lot with their fours and fives or their guards. Sometimes it's easier when someone takes a three to go hit a guy because he's out in space. When it's just all under there, it's a lot of bodies and stuff, somebody's got to come out with the ball. I thought our guys did a good job of staying with it, pursuing the ball.

We gave up a few, but that's going to happen. For us to give up eight, for us to get 11, I think it says a lot about the job the guys did on the glass tonight.

Q. Conor and you both mentioned how you handled the 13 days off. Now we're into the Big Ten grind. How well-prepared do you feel like you are now to step into that, especially come Wednesday with a game on the road?

DARIAN DeVRIES: Yeah, I think the guys prepared well. I mean, every night's going to be a different game, a different night, different opportunity. You just focus on that next one.

Now our focus is on Maryland. Get some rest tonight. Get a good two days of practice together, get ready to go on the road.

Every night, it's a rock fight. We know that. We have to be ready for that. I think our guys understand that. The non-conference season I think has gotten us ready. The few conference games we've had have gotten us ready. Now it's about going out and doing it.