Indiana University Athletics
11/5/2026 8:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Bellarmine at Indiana
November 5th, 2026
Darian DeVries | Indiana Head Coach
On how he thinks the team played in the second half...
DD: 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 to. 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.
On perimeter defense...
DD: 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.
On Darren Harris's first two games...
DD: 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.
On Aiden Sherrell's consistency...
DD: Yeah, what I love about Aiden is that 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 number one 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 [Yigitoglu]. 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.
On finding the shots on offense…
DD: 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 [Darren Harris] have a breakout game and get 10 3-pointers 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.
On the play of Trevor [Manhertz]…
DD: 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.
Third-Year Guard Darren Harris | First-Year Forward Trevor Manhertz
On the offensive rhythm he found...
DH: Yeah, I think it starts with my teammates setting me up, keeping confidence in me. I didn't really shoot it well the last couple games, so I just really looked at film, knowing my shot better than anyone else. Just trying to look at film as much as I can, seeing what's natural and just making little tweaks.
On keeping a shooter's mentality...
DH: Yeah, it's a brand new situation, everything like you said. New arena, new team, new coach, new city, new school. Everything is new. A new role. I think just getting more comfortable and getting used to playing heavy minutes again. I knew that was going to be a little bit of a challenge for me, so that's really why I focused on the exhibition games, just getting used to playing heavy minutes.
Then yeah, just like you said, just sticking to my instincts. I know I'm a really good shooter, and when I get going like that, they seem to go in for me.
On getting significant minutes as a young player...
TM: Really I'm just trying to do my role, play defense. Offense will come. Everyone has good games, bad games. But defense travels. So if I don't play good defense, I can't get a role.
On how comfortable Trevor [Manhertz] looks...
DH: Yeah, he looks real comfortable. I think if you were to watch this team and not know anything about him, you wouldn't be able to tell he's a freshman out there. He's real versatile. He plays really hard. He does everything on the court. He's made a lot of growth since day one coming here.
On the progression of playing defense at this level...
TM: I would say it's been really hard. Coming out of high school, I was mainly just focused on my offense. Defense, I didn't really take much time into. But I think coming here and just talking with Coach Rod [Clark', who's pretty much my right-hand man, he's just emphasized defense. That really makes a big part just having someone like that emphasizing and trusting me.
On playing with Bryce [Lindsay]...
DH: Yeah, I think it's going to make us really hard to beat, let alone like two or three of us get going at the same time. It's going to be extremely hard for us to beat because we have so many weapons and we have so many ways we can beat you. We can beat you inside, outside, transition. We're a really good defensive team. I think when we get going at the level we can get going at, it's scary.
Q. On playing with Aiden [Sherrell]...
DH: I mean, Aiden is really versatile. We have a lot of players on the roster that are really versatile. What really stands out to him is he's really unselfish. He's always trying to make the right play. He could probably score one-on-one every time, but obviously teams are going to double him and he always makes the right play. We just try to reward him for that.
