Fifth-year senior Tucker DeVries, who followed his father, coach Darian DeVries, from West Virginia to Indiana for the 2025-26 season, is off to a strong start in a Hoosiers uniform.
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He averaged 17.3 points per game during non-conference games, blending in with the 3-point-heavy team Darian DeVries wanted to build.
But when conference play began, his numbers declined in coordination with a significant drop in shooting. Tucker DeVries averages just 9.6 points per game in the Big Ten, shooting 24% from 3-point range. His season scoring average has dropped to 14.3.
There have been some small flashes that Tucker DeVries was returning to form: He hit his first 3-pointer at Michigan State, giving Indiana a lead at the time. He then went 0-for-6 the rest of the game, finishing 1-for-7 from 3-point range in what turned out to be a 20-point loss.
“He made the first one and I thought, you know, maybe that would be the start,” Darian DeVries said after that game at Michigan State. “But it has to happen. He has to find a way out of this.”
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This is also the first time Tucker DeVries has played hard in a major conference. He was a two-time Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year at Drake, but missed most of the Big 12 season at West Virginia after shoulder surgery.
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But Darian DeVries is confident that his son will find a way out of this crisis; the same as he hopes his team turns the corner after three consecutive losses in the conference.
“He’s certainly in one of those shooting moments that, you know, everyone goes through at some point, but… (his) has been dragged out here for a good, good period of time,” Darian DeVries said after Indiana’s loss to Iowa, dropping the Hoosiers to 3-4 in Big Ten Conference play. “He’s certainly been working in our practices and stuff, he’s shooting a ton. So it’s just one of those things. He’s got to make it work, and we’ve got to continue to find those better looks and opportunities so we can free him up a little bit more.”
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This article originally appeared in the Indianapolis Star: Tucker DeVries’ falling shooting hurts Indiana basketball’s offense and stats