11/24/2020 basketball Edit

2020-21 Player Preview: Khristian Lander

Alec Lasley • TheHoosier

Senior Writer

Don't miss out on any of our exclusive football, basketball and recruiting coverage. Get a 60-Day FREE trial to TheHoosier.com with promo code IU60

One of the biggest recruiting wins of Archie Miller's time at Indiana was with five-star point guard Khristian Lander. Lander, who was originally in the class of 2021, reclassified up a year and enrolled with the 2020 class.

Lander comes to IU with the reputation of being a highly skilled player, but it will take time to adjust to the college game. Despite that, Archie Miller knows he has a star in the making.

“I feel good about Khristian (Lander) adding to our mix, just watching him with our upperclassmen, these five to six workouts,” Miller said earlier this summer. “If I walked in, I wouldn’t know he was a 17-year-old kid. He’s got that going for him.”

"As a team I just want us to build chemistry fast so we can play at our best," Lander previously told TheHoosier.com. "I also want to get a Big 10 Championship."

TheHoosier.com continues its 2020-21 player previews with freshman guard Khristian Lander.

Five-star point guard Khristian Lander is looking to bring an added playmaking punch to IU. (IU Athletics)

High School Career:

The five-star point guard was one of the top players in the entire 2021 class and when he made his move to 2020 official, he remained at that five-star level. As a senior, he averaged 21 points, 6 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game. He totaled 1,314 points in his career.

Teammates with Anthony Leal and Trey Galloway for Indiana Elite, Lander averaged 10.6 points, 4.8 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game in his last AAU summer.

While you see players reclassify all of the time, there are always different reasons behind each move. For Lander, it was as simple as knowing he was good enough.

"What made it so appealing was that I felt like I was good enough to play with the college guys right now and contribute to any team I would have picked," Lander told TheHoosier.

Former Rivals' National Analyst Corey Evans broke down what Lander will bring to Archie Miller and IU.

"Lander is arguably the quickest guard in America and will be great for what Archie Miller likes and wants to do on the defensive end," Evans said. "He's arguably the most talented and impactful point guard that Miller will have coached at Indiana. He can be a playmaker, shoots, defends and finishes. Lander is the ideal two-way guard that IU has been in search of."

2020-21 Season Expectations:

So many people are ready to give Lander the keys to the car and let him run free, however, there will be some growing pains for the freshman point guard.

Expectations still have to be tempered a bit considering he is supposed to be a senior in high school, but there is no denying Lander's skill and that has shown in flashes early in practice for the Hoosiers.

“He’s a really explosive guard,” Trayce Jackson-Davis said of Lander at IU media day “High IQ, especially for how young he is.”

"You've got to be patient with him," Miller says. "He is so gifted on the court and has such a great feel that you can't teach... That's the one thing about him that I will say that he's always had and I still feel that way right now. He just has that 'It' factor, that feel factor with the ball and his ability to know how to play."

So while it's okay to have those high expectations, it will take time for the full-package to come together for Lander. One helpful part is that he will have upperclassman Rob Phinisee ahead of him. With IU's revamped offense and the ability for those two to play off of each other will really benefit Lander.

"I feel like we'll play really well together," Lander said of Rob Phinisee. "I feel like both of us can play on ball and off ball, so I feel like we can play off each other very well."

"It's going to help a lot," Phinisee says. "Just having another primary ballhandler allows me to be more off the ball. That will allow me to create more and do more things on offense."

So what is really fair to expect of the freshman? For starters, he's going to get minutes, he's going to score the ball - even have some really nice scoring games - and most importantly be a playmaker for IU. Seeing numbers around 18 to 20 minutes a game should be expected with stats of abound eight points, two rebounds and two assists per game.