BLOOMINGTON — Indiana basketball is gearing up for the 2025-26 season with a short-handed roster.
The Hoosiers had four scholarship players — Jason Drake, Aleksa Ristic, Jasai Miles and Josh Harris — sidelined during an open practice at Assembly Hall on Tuesday. Elon transfer Nick Dorn was also held out of all 5-on-5 periods of practice.
While Miles was a one-off, illness-related absence, the others are all working their way back from lower body injuries.
“It looks like we’re investors in boots right now,” DeVries said. “Some of them are very short term, some are a little bit longer term. Our practice depth has been cut into immensely, it’s made some things challenging from a practice standpoint, a few of the guys are getting closer to being back.”
Drake’s injury forced him to stay behind during IU’s foreign tour to Puerto Rico. The junior guard signed with the Hoosiers after a series of one-year stops at Cleveland State, Butler Community College and Drexel. Last season, he averaged 11.1 points, 3.1 assists and three rebounds in 33 games.
Harris had a boot on his right foot and Ristic walked into practice on crutches with his left foot in a boot. The freshman was a late arrival to the team after wrapping up his international obligations with the Serbian U20 team.
He walked right off the plane and onto the court in Puerto Rico where he turned heads with a strong performance in a 93-71 comeback win over Mega Superbet.
Dorn practiced with the team on Tuesday, but stood off to the side as the team scrimmaged 5-on-5. He’s making progress on his return from a Jones fracture (a broken bone on the outside of the foot) that he dealt with last year at Elon and required surgery.
In an interview with the Field of 68, DeVries said the 6-foot-7 guard needed to have the procedure redone.
Dorn had a standout sophomore season at Elon last year as one of six Division I players to average at least 15.0 points per game, make 70 3-pointers, and make 90 free throws while playing less than 1,000 minutes.
The Hoosiers will make their public debut with an open scrimmage Friday at Assembly Hall. They also have a pair of exhibition games scheduled in October — they face Marian at home on Oct. 17 and Baylor in Indianapolis on Oct. 26 — before their season-opener against Alabama A&M on Nov. 5.
“We’re hopeful we are getting this out of the way during the preseason and we are on our way back to being healthy,” DeVries said.
Michael Niziolek is the Indiana beat reporter for The Bloomington Herald-Times. You can follow him on X @michaelniziolek and read all his coverage by clicking here.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Why Indiana basketball has been short-handed during recent practices
