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Published May 15, 2024
Scouting Report: What Langdon Hatton brings to the backup big spot for IU
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Zach Browning  •  TheHoosier
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BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - The penultimate scholarship for Indiana men's basketball was filled on Wednesday.

Bellarmine transfer center Langdon Hatton announced his commitment to Mike Woodson and the Hoosiers on his social media, Wednesday afternoon.

After spending three seasons between William & Mary and Bellarmine, Hatton has just a single season of eligibly remaining.

Hatton was brought to Bloomington to fill Indiana's void at the backup center spot. Let's take a look at what it is exactly that Hoosier fans should expect from the newest addition to the Indiana family.

***All of the stats used in this story are courtesy of Sports Reference and/or Synergy Sports***

With the addition of Hatton, Indiana continues to add to its already sizable class of incoming transfers. It's an incoming transfer class that ranks at or near the top of most rankings around the country.

A Georgetown, Indiana native, Hatton played his high school ball at North Harrison High School which is down near Louisville.

Out of high school, Hatton committed to William & Mary. With the Tribe, the 6-foot-10 big man appeared in 30 games as a freshman. Hatton averaged 4.4 points and 2.7 rebounds a night in his lone season on the east coast.

An unranked recruit out of high school, Hatton elected to transfer back closer to home after one year at William & Mary. Hatton spent the last two seasons about 20 miles away from his hometown at Bellarmine.

With the Knights, Hatton made 37 starts across 64 appearances during his two year stint in Louisville. A season ago, Hatton registered the best year of his collegiate career with the Knights.

The 240 pound center averaged 10.5 points, 7.1 rebounds and 0.8 blocks a contest, while shooting 48% from the floor last season. Hatton also shot 33.3% from deep -- on 1.5 attempts a game -- in his second of two seasons at Bellarmine.

Last season with the Knights, 68.2% of Hatton's field goal attempts came either at the rim or from 3-point range.

Working in the Bellarmine offense -- which focuses on ball and player movement -- Hatton proved to be adept at losing his defender around the basket for easy looks at the rim.

Whether the looks came off a pass from a teammate or from Hatton putting the ball on the floor and getting to the basket himself, the mobile 6-foot-10 big man shot 62.4% (72nd percentile) on shots at the rim a season ago.

An important, yet not fully developed part of Hatton's game, is his 3-point shooting. The former Bellarmine center went 15-45 (33.3%) from three a season ago, which coincidentally was the exact same amount of makes and attempts as Malik Reneau last year.

An overwhelming majority of Hatton's long balls last season were catch and shoot threes. The rising senior converted at a 31.8% clip on those looks from deep.

Interestingly enough, 90.1% of Hatton's catch and shoot triples were considered 'unguarded' last year. However, he still only managed to shoot 32.5% on those wide-open looks.

Coming out of high school, the 3-point shot wasn't apart of Hatton's repertoire. Over his first two collegiate seasons, the Indiana native went just 3-10 from long range.

One promising sign that Hatton's 3-point shot could continue to improve is his free throw percentage. He shot 67.5% from the line last year, better than any Hoosier big man.

When he wasn't all the way at the rim or launching from distance, Hatton was most often found in the low post, working from around 10 feet out. Hatton ranked in the 68th percentile in the country a season ago operating and scoring via post-ups.

Hatton isn't much of a screen-and-roll guy. A season ago with the Knights, Hatton operated as a screen setter in the pick-and-roll just 7.5% of the time -- around half as much as Kel'el Ware did with the Hoosiers last year.

One thing Hatton excels at on the offensive end of the floor is taking care of the basketball. His 9.2% turnover rate would've been the best on Indiana a season ago.

Hatton was also a strong rebounder during his junior campaign with the Knights. His 14.9% rebound rate and 21.7% defensive rebound rate last season came in just behind Ware's. Additionally, Hatton's 8.3% offensive rebound rate was better than Ware's was last year.

Next season in Bloomington, Hatton will be the backup big man for Indiana. Backing up Reneau and Oumar Ballo, Hatton will have plenty of opportunities to try and impact the game in a positive manner next year with the Hoosiers.

Check out some highlights from Hatton's junior season at Bellarmine below.

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For all of the latest updates with Indiana's offseason, keep tabs on TheHoosier.com's Offseason Tracker.


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