INDIANA UNIVERSITY BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 5, 2026

Darian DeVries

Postgame Media Conference

Indiana 92, Bellarmine 69

Q. Darren talked about he hasn't had a couple of good shooting games in a row here, but just having the confidence to shoot through that. Especially when a guy is coming into a new team, a new arena, a new situation, do you do anything different with a shooter specifically there, or with a guy like that, or do you just sort of trust he knows how to find his shot, that it'll come eventually to him?

DARIAN DeVRIES: Yeah, for the most part, like we talked about, we've seen it all summer and fall and previously in his high school days. It was just a matter of time. We're in our second game. But it was great to see him have a breakout game and get 10 threes up and then connect on five of them.

Overall it was good for him. I'm sure he felt good about it. Like you said, you're part of a new team and got a new role and you want to do well, and he's a kid that really tries every day to give us what he can give. He wants to so bad. It was nice to see him have a great night.

Q. On Darren as well, it looked like Peach Jam Darren Harris or Chipotle National Darren Harris. What are your thoughts on what he can become for you guys and just how much potential as a shooter there is and how impactful that could be for you guys?

DARIAN DeVRIES: Yeah, and he's one of those guys you can run actions for too. We haven't done a lot of that yet. But he's a good movement shooter too. Not only the spot-up stuff, but once we get a little deeper into it and you start bringing him off some staggers and some pin-ins and some stuff like that where he knows the shot is coming from too, I think that confidence level, a large part of that comes from the effort he puts into working on it every day.

But I'm excited. I'll keep saying that. I'm excited about what he gives us as a shooter.

Q. After two games, what do you like about what you've seen with your team, and what maybe still you need work on?

DARIAN DeVRIES: After two games, I like my first half team. The first half team has been good. Second half, I feel like we've gotten away from our bench, and the communication has dropped defensively, especially in both the games.

For us, maintaining that focus when you have a lead is a quality you have to have too. I didn't think our intensity in both the second halves defensively was up to our standard.

Great first halves during stretches, both offensively and defensively, but we've got to continue to make sure that we can maintain that for a full 40 minutes.

Q. Monday night Jaeden Mustaf called Trevor Manhertz a pro. What have you seen from him, and how comfortable does he seem to you out there?

DARIAN DeVRIES: Yeah, Trevor is just so early in his college career, but I love just his knowledge of the game, his feel for the game, his length. You saw him today, he had a big block. There's just so much there.

For a young college player playing his first two college games, he's only going to continue to get better and better, and he works incredibly hard. He's not a very big thick guy, but he's not scared. He sticks his nose in there. He'll go mix it up, and that allows him even with his body type to get in there and show some physicality. He'll only continue to get better and better.

Q. You've obviously talked a couple times this season already just about the perimeter defense. Bellarmine is obviously a team that spreads you out a little bit. What did you see specifically about the perimeter aspect that really needs to be improved and more so what is the potential of this group defensively long-term and kind of how you want to mold that in with obviously your rebounding identity?

DARIAN DeVRIES: Yeah, I thought they did a good job of engaging all five of our guys and were having to chase them all around, and when you start to do that, you've got to be really disciplined to not only stay in front of the ball but the back-cuts and things because there is constant moving, so your gap integrity, all that stuff, it gets distorted a little bit because you are chasing guys off of actions and movements. We were trying to be aggressive. We didn't want them to just pass it around, so it opened up some of those back-cut opportunities.

Again, in the first half I thought they did a really good job of taking away what they were trying to get. In the second half, we gave up way too many of those.

Certainly very correctable. I think our team defense is going to continue to get better and better, especially as we get those bigs where they get to stay in there a little bit more and plug the paint.

Q. Sticking with defense, Trevor said that the defensive end is how he's going to get more minutes going forward. What kind of steps do you want to see from him to get a bigger role and more playing time here?

DARIAN DeVRIES: I think just continuing to do what he's doing. That length is going to be something he'll be able to utilize. The physicality will be an adjustment as he continues to get better and better. He'll learn how to fight back a little bit too and what he can get away with or not get away with.

But he's going to continue to fight, and I think even tonight, there was a couple times he got stuck down there. Just learning, hey, you can really be aggressive with your wall-ups and be physical and they're not going to call fouls down in the paint like that.

But his length will give him that opportunity.

Q. You've talked obviously about really wanting Aiden Sherrell to be a consistent guy game in and game out. When it's not maybe coming to him, the ball, early on in games like it was tonight, how effective was he just in terms of letting the game come to him, not forcing the issue, and what does that show you guys as a staff versatility-wise getting involved in a couple other ways?

DARIAN DeVRIES: Yeah, what I love about Aiden is Aiden could care less about stats in general. He's one of those guys that he's just all about winning. He's all about the team. The No. 1 thing he does for us is what really doesn't show up on the stat sheet on most nights is just defensively when you've got him in cement out there, that versatility of him being able to switch and provide some backside help along with Samet, and that rim presence, and we've seen it in some of our exhibition games where those two guys, when you're driving in the paint and they're guarding maybe a little bit more of a non-shooting big, their ability to just plug it up and make people have to score over the top of them -- I think by the end of the year he's going to be one of those guys that people are going to talk about as one of the better defenders in our league.

Q. You brought up Aiden on the interior. On the perimeter he was guarding a lot of guys around the perimeter. What do you like from him from that standpoint?

DARIAN DeVRIES: Yeah, that's where I think he's really done a nice job. It's the first time in a long time -- he's played a lot of 5, so he's been able to just sit back and be a rim protector. But the improvement he's made now of being able to switch on to guards and keep them in front and being able to come from the backside, that's a great luxury to have for us. You've got a guy that can guard guards and still be 6'11" and go block shots and give us all the rebounding presence that he provides.