Indiana men’s basketball announced today that it would be playing an exhibition against Baylor on October 26 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. See the press release below:
Internet presale for tickets will run from August 26-28 before they become available to the general public on August 29th, per ticketmaster. It will be the second of two exhibition games Indiana plays in October, the other game being on October 17th against Marian.
It’s not clear whether this event will be televised, but based on the lack of streaming options for Indiana’s series in Puerto Rico, I wouldn’t count on this one being aired live. If it is, it would likely end up behind a paywall like past exhibition games on Big Ten Plus.
Whether it airs or not, Darian DeVries adding as many exhibition games as possible makes sense. He’s a new coach with a new roster, most of whom have never played together or under DeVries before. There is a lot of ‘breaking in’ to do for everybody.
Compared to the Marian exhibition, this is definitely the more interesting of the two. Not only will Baylor have a more talented roster, but they’re led by Scott Drew, one of the big names connected to the Indiana job opening before Scott Dolson hired DeVries.
The matchup also has the potential to be a barn-burner. Drew hasn’t had an offense outside of Kenpom’s top 25 since the 2017-18 season, and the Hoosiers have come out shooting in their three international exhibitions to this point.
At the end of the day, the results and highlights won’t matter. Indiana beat an elite eight team in a preseason exhibition against Tennessee last year, then failed to make the NCAA Tournament.
What is important is the fact that Indiana went out and got another chance to play against high-level competition before the games start to count. Whatever your individual expectations for the team may be, DeVries clearly does not want this team to look brand new when the season tips off on November 6th.
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