Indiana University Athletics
DIPRIMIO: 'Confident’ Khristian Lander Making His Freshman Move
2/10/2021 2:41:00 PM | Men's Basketball
By: Pete DiPrimio
IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Growing pains, learning curve, Khristian Lander has it covered.
Nobody said coming to college after skipping your high school senior season would be easy, even for a five-star prospect. Talent gets you in the door, but doesn't get you on the floor.
That has to be earned. You get knocked down instead of knocking others into misery. You sit while others play, watch while others do.
And then you learn, take coaching to heart and, when opportunity comes, and it is coming more and more for this heralded Indiana freshmen, you deliver.
In the last two games, the 6-2, 185-pound Lander has nine points, five assists and 34 minutes. He provides an off-the-bench boost that could get even bigger when IU (10-8 overall, 5-6 in the Big Ten) plays at Northwestern (6-10, 3-9) late Wednesday afternoon.
"Once I get the opportunity," he says, "I'm proving myself."
You can see the talent, the quickness, the potential instant offense. A year of maturing, weight lifting, film watching, defending and taking scouting to heart will provide a clearer sense of how good this former Evansville Reitz High School standout can be.
For now, though, "It's just putting extra work in, extra lifts, extra skill workouts," he says. "I feel like the work is paying off. It's getting me more opportunity."
Opportunity came sparingly from mid-December to mid-January, when in nine games Lander played 29 total minutes.
Now he's played 45 minutes in the last three games.
As you might expect for a freshman, the difference is defense. Lander is more consistent, although still a work in progress.
"Coach (Archie Miller) let me know I had to be better on the defensive end," he says. "It was the smaller things I didn't know coming into college. It wasn't about my physical ability. It was about using my head, being smart, knowing where to be at certain times."
Teammates have seen this in practice. Now, sophomore guard Armaan Franklin says, it's transitioning into games.
"We've seen him grow a lot. He's made major improvement with confidence and defensive wise. He's making shots. His decision making is getting better.
"He can bring a lot. He can shoot. He can get hot really quick. And he's not afraid to shoot. He's real confident in himself. He's able to distribute. In practice we see a lot of what he can do for us. We know in time he'll get better. He just turned 18. He's a young guy."
Miller says he's seen a big change since the first Iowa game. Lander only played four minutes, but had a steal and was defensively aware.
Coach and player had a heart-to-heart talk afterward.
"You can do that once, you can do it twice. Why can't you do that at practice every day and build on it?" Miller said he told Lander via his Monday night radio show. "You go from wanting to play to playing, to then wanting to play well, and now you've got to play to win. Now you're impacting the whole ball of wax when you're out there."
Figure more impact is coming.
"Confidence is a scary thing," Miller told Voice of the Hoosiers Don Fischer during his radio show. "He's trying to find his way.
"The game is very physical. From a defensive standpoint you want to trust your guys. Offensively, he's always been very talented. We've seen glimpses. He has a different gear. He can get by people.
"Now he has to play to win. He's way better defensively than he was two weeks ago. He's made our team better."
IU will need to be better in a lot of areas, Miller says, if it is to beat Northwestern, which won at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall at the start of Big Ten play.
"We are trying to continue to build on where we are at," Miller says. "Our team's effort level has been good. Our defensive intensity is right there. We are still trying to become a better team at finishing and being a little tougher at the little things of execution and being tougher at the little things like body language, huddles when things matter the most."
Nine straight losses haven't stripped Northwestern of its competitiveness. In its last three games it lost by three to Penn State, by eight to No. 25 Rutgers and by five to No. 24 Purdue.
The Wildcats were an early season juggernaut, bolting to a 6-1 start with victories over Michigan State, Indiana and Ohio State to open Big Ten action.
They haven't won since.
Miller Kopp leads with a 13.2 scoring average. Chase Audige is at 12.2 points. Pete Nance averages 12.1 points and 6.8 rebounds.
IU hopes to build momentum from Sunday's victory over then No. 8 Iowa. It hasn't won consecutive games since beating Penn State on Dec. 30 and Maryland on Jan. 4.
"We have to continue to push the way we have been pushing and get ready for Northwestern who caused us a lot of problems in our first game," Miller says. "That seems like a long time ago, but we are going to have to be much better against these guys then we were the first time."
IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Growing pains, learning curve, Khristian Lander has it covered.
Nobody said coming to college after skipping your high school senior season would be easy, even for a five-star prospect. Talent gets you in the door, but doesn't get you on the floor.
That has to be earned. You get knocked down instead of knocking others into misery. You sit while others play, watch while others do.
And then you learn, take coaching to heart and, when opportunity comes, and it is coming more and more for this heralded Indiana freshmen, you deliver.
In the last two games, the 6-2, 185-pound Lander has nine points, five assists and 34 minutes. He provides an off-the-bench boost that could get even bigger when IU (10-8 overall, 5-6 in the Big Ten) plays at Northwestern (6-10, 3-9) late Wednesday afternoon.
"Once I get the opportunity," he says, "I'm proving myself."
You can see the talent, the quickness, the potential instant offense. A year of maturing, weight lifting, film watching, defending and taking scouting to heart will provide a clearer sense of how good this former Evansville Reitz High School standout can be.
For now, though, "It's just putting extra work in, extra lifts, extra skill workouts," he says. "I feel like the work is paying off. It's getting me more opportunity."
Opportunity came sparingly from mid-December to mid-January, when in nine games Lander played 29 total minutes.
Now he's played 45 minutes in the last three games.
As you might expect for a freshman, the difference is defense. Lander is more consistent, although still a work in progress.
"Coach (Archie Miller) let me know I had to be better on the defensive end," he says. "It was the smaller things I didn't know coming into college. It wasn't about my physical ability. It was about using my head, being smart, knowing where to be at certain times."
Teammates have seen this in practice. Now, sophomore guard Armaan Franklin says, it's transitioning into games.
"We've seen him grow a lot. He's made major improvement with confidence and defensive wise. He's making shots. His decision making is getting better.
"He can bring a lot. He can shoot. He can get hot really quick. And he's not afraid to shoot. He's real confident in himself. He's able to distribute. In practice we see a lot of what he can do for us. We know in time he'll get better. He just turned 18. He's a young guy."
Miller says he's seen a big change since the first Iowa game. Lander only played four minutes, but had a steal and was defensively aware.
Coach and player had a heart-to-heart talk afterward.
"You can do that once, you can do it twice. Why can't you do that at practice every day and build on it?" Miller said he told Lander via his Monday night radio show. "You go from wanting to play to playing, to then wanting to play well, and now you've got to play to win. Now you're impacting the whole ball of wax when you're out there."
Figure more impact is coming.
"Confidence is a scary thing," Miller told Voice of the Hoosiers Don Fischer during his radio show. "He's trying to find his way.
"The game is very physical. From a defensive standpoint you want to trust your guys. Offensively, he's always been very talented. We've seen glimpses. He has a different gear. He can get by people.
"Now he has to play to win. He's way better defensively than he was two weeks ago. He's made our team better."
IU will need to be better in a lot of areas, Miller says, if it is to beat Northwestern, which won at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall at the start of Big Ten play.
"We are trying to continue to build on where we are at," Miller says. "Our team's effort level has been good. Our defensive intensity is right there. We are still trying to become a better team at finishing and being a little tougher at the little things of execution and being tougher at the little things like body language, huddles when things matter the most."
Nine straight losses haven't stripped Northwestern of its competitiveness. In its last three games it lost by three to Penn State, by eight to No. 25 Rutgers and by five to No. 24 Purdue.
The Wildcats were an early season juggernaut, bolting to a 6-1 start with victories over Michigan State, Indiana and Ohio State to open Big Ten action.
They haven't won since.
Miller Kopp leads with a 13.2 scoring average. Chase Audige is at 12.2 points. Pete Nance averages 12.1 points and 6.8 rebounds.
IU hopes to build momentum from Sunday's victory over then No. 8 Iowa. It hasn't won consecutive games since beating Penn State on Dec. 30 and Maryland on Jan. 4.
"We have to continue to push the way we have been pushing and get ready for Northwestern who caused us a lot of problems in our first game," Miller says. "That seems like a long time ago, but we are going to have to be much better against these guys then we were the first time."
Players Mentioned
Guard
/ Men's Basketball
Guard
/ Men's BasketballIUWBB Highlights vs. UIC
Saturday, November 08
IUBB Postgame Press Conference
Wednesday, November 05
Darian DeVries Postgame Press Conference
Wednesday, November 05
MBB: Postgame Press Conference - Alabama A&M (11/5/25)
Wednesday, November 05