Indiana freshman point guard Khristian Lander announces he will return to Indiana and take his name out of the transfer portal.
Lander, who entered the portal following the announcement of Archie Miller's firing, announced his intentions to stay at IU on Monday.
"After much thought with coach Woodson and my family, I feel it is in my best interest to conintue my basketball and academy career with Indiana basketball," Lander said. "I want to be one of the reasons Indiana basketball gets back to being great again.
"I'm putting my trust into my team, coach Woodson and the staff he is assembling. Let's work."
The former five-star point guard averaged 2.1 points and 1.2 assists per game in 10.1 minutes per game this season.
Lander was originally part of the class of 2021 but reclassified to 2020 and joined the Hoosiers this past summer.
Appearing in 26 games this season, Lander played spot minutes for the first half of the season. In the last 11 games he played in, he averaged 13.9 minutes per game, including nine games with double-digit minutes. In the first 15 games he played in, he had four such games.
Lander's best performance came in the Michigan State game in East Lansing when he played 22 minutes and finished with seven points, three rebounds and two assists.
While Lander had higher expectations that what should have been the case for a freshman reclassifying up a year, and without a true summer to adjust to the college game, he struggled to find his shot all season. He shot 23.1 percent on 2's and 27.3 percent on 3's. 12 of his 18 made field goals were from the perimeter.
Lander was part of a four-man recruiting class that was ranked No. 13 in the country. The Evansville native was ranked No. 26 in the Rivals150 class of 2020.
Lander joins junior guard Parker Stewart as two IU players to return to Indiana after putting their name in the transfer portal. All-American forward Trayce Jackson-Davis also announced his decision to return to Indiana for his junior season.
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