Indiana freshman forward De'Ron Davis' strong, consistent performances over the last week haven't been an accident.
The Aurora, Colorado, native has seen an expanded role across each of Indiana's last two games, and that comes as no surprise to IU head coach Tom Crean.
"He's getting more and more confident because he's getting in better shape. He's getting more used to it," Crean said after the Hoosiers' win over Southeast Missouri State last Sunday. "I think he is, as long as he can stay healthy and keep the conditioning going the way that he is, [going to] keep growing."
Davis arrived in Indiana in late August after having to complete summer classes required prior to getting on campus in Bloomington.
The Aug. 21 arrival put him well behind his freshman classmates and other teammates, who had been working out since arriving at IU during the first week of June. Crean has put Davis on a "hockey-shift" minutes limit in order to allow the freshman to get caught up, but Davis has still been very effective within that limit.
He posted 14 points in back-to-back games - wins over Southeast Missouri State and Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville for Indiana - playing 16 and 17 minutes off the bench in each of those games respectively while averaging 3.5 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game.
Davis said he feels like he's in much better shape than the beginning of the season three weeks ago.
"I've been working hard over the past couple of weeks to get myself in shape, in game shape," Davis said. "Coach [Crean] and I have been talking about me playing hockey minutes and stuff like that, me going hard and coming out and going in and out like that. Over this last week this long stretch I've been playing a lot more. So I think the conditioning is getting better but I can always get better."
Davis said the largest gap between the high school and college level so far has been the speed of the game.
"My teammates go at me pretty hard in practice," Davis said. "Coach makes me switch off on the guards, guard them. And just being able to move my feet, not taking any small steps on anything I do, running out to a screen or a post move. I think the speed of the game is probably the biggest difference."
Because of Davis' growth, Indiana has been able to experiment with lineups featuring both him and 6-foot-10, 255-pound sophomore center Thomas Bryant playing alongside one another in the frontcourt.
Crean said the next step for Davis is the ability to pass the ball away from the rim and the block area near the paint, because it's something IU will need moving forward but hasn't necessarily done often in practice yet.
As long as Davis continues to stay healthy and work on his fundamentals like he has so far this season, he'll continue to grow, according to Crean.
"I'm happy with his attitude and improvement," Crean said. "I know how much he wants it."