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IU basketball officially began practice for the 2025-26 season last week, and the Hoosiers are dealing with several injuries with just over two weeks to go until their exhibition opener against Marian University.
Darian DeVries opened practice to the media at Assembly Hall on Tuesday, September 30, and several Hoosiers did not participate.
Junior wing Nick Dorn, a transfer from Elon, continues to work his way back from surgery to repair a Jones fracture in the offseason and was involved only in non-contact portions of practice.
However, the 6-foot-7 Dorn appears to be ramping up his activity ahead of the start of the regular season in early November.
“He’s working his way back, we haven’t had an opportunity to see a lot of the basketball piece,” DeVries said of Dorn. “A lot of it has been shooting, some light movement stuff, but he’s certainly getting closer and closer to full health before we get into more of that live contact.”
Junior guard Jason Drake, a transfer from Drexel, missed the Puerto Rico trip in early August with a toe injury. While he wasn’t wearing a boot at Tuesday’s practice, Drake did not participate in any basketball activities.
Last season at Drexel, Drake averaged 11 points, 3.1 assists and three rebounds per game, but he has missed significant time this offseason. The 6-foot-1 guard wasn’t on the floor for IU’s open practice ahead of the Puerto Rico trip in late July at Cook Hall.
Sophomore forward Josh Harris, a transfer from North Florida, wore a boot on the sidelines Tuesday, as did freshman Serbian guard Aleksa Ristic. Both Harris and Ristic played in IU’s exhibition games in Puerto Rico.
Harris, a 6-foot-8 forward, was recruited to provide frontcourt depth behind Reed Bailey and Sam Alexis.
“Josh brings some very good physicality for us and he works incredibly hard,” DeVries said. “He’s another one of those guys that unfortunately is out, so we’ll see what that means for him here in the short term.
“But we really liked his approach every day. He’s one of those guys that’s in the gym working, and he’s trying to develop his game. Again, from an injury standpoint, we’ll see how that shakes out here for us for the next foreseeable future.”
With Drake and Ristic unavailable and Jasai Miles out due to an illness, IU’s scholarship guard depth was limited on Tuesday to Lamar Wilkerson, Tayton Conerway and Conor Enright.
The Hoosiers had just eight scholarship players available for Tuesday’s practice. DeVries, who was hired as Mike Woodson’s replacement in March, joked that the program is “investors in boots right now.”
“Certainly our practice depth has been cut into immensely here,” DeVries said. “So it’s made some things challenging from a practice standpoint.”
“We have a few of the guys that are getting closer to getting back. One guy out with some sickness today, so that’s a minor one. One is out with a sprained ankle. But with these new roster limits and stuff, there’s not a lot you can do to even add to that so it does make things a little challenging.
“We’re hopeful we’re getting out this out of the way in the preseason and working our way back to getting healthy.”
(Photo credit: IU Athletics)
See More: Media, Aleksa Ristic, Jason Drake, Josh Harris, Nick Dorn
