Aleksa Ristic Arrives in Bloomington, Officially Joins Indiana Basketball

Indiana men's basketball freshman guard Aleksa Ristic has arrived in Bloomington and joined the team Thursday, his advisor at Agency 55, Stevan Petrovic, told Indiana Hoosiers On SI.

Petrovic added that Ristic is expected to travel with the Hoosiers during their week-long trip to San Juan, Puerto Rico, which spans Aug. 5-12 and features three games against international opponents.

The Hoosiers face a Puerto Rican All-Star team Aug. 6 before two contests with Serbian professional team Mega Superbet on Aug. 9 and Aug. 11.

Ristic hails from Nis, Serbia, and he spent the summer with the Serbian National Team. The 19-year-old Ristic led Serbia to a fourth-place finish in the FIBA Under-20 EuroBasket tournament.

Across seven games in the tournament, Ristic ranked 32nd league-wide in scoring with an average of 11.3 points per game, and he finished fourth in assists with 6.3 per game. He played a tournament-high 224 total minutes and had an impressive 44 assists to just 17 turnovers, a 2.6 assist-to-turnover ratio.

Ristic struggled with efficiency. He shot only 33.8% from the floor, which placed 35th out of 45 qualified players, and his 22.5% mark from 3-point range was outside the top 50 qualified shooters.

The 6-foot-4, 200-pound Ristic played for KK Dynamic, a professional team in Serbia's top league, this past season. He averaged 13.8 points, 4.2 assists and 3.2 rebounds per game in 19 appearances while shooting 46.2% from the field, 38.6% from distance and 83.7% at the foul stripe.

Indiana coach Darian DeVries said in a press release July 8 he believes Ristic has the versatility to play both on and off the ball in Bloomington.

"He is a competitive kid that has high-level experience playing in FIBA events," DeVries said. "We think he has the ability to handle the basketball and make plays out of the pick-and-roll while also being an efficient shooter that will add tremendous depth to our backcourt."

Following Indiana's open practice Wednesday, DeVries joked Ristic and fellow international signee Andrej Acimovic would be tired upon arriving in Bloomington, but he likes the depth both players add to the roster.

Acimovic is still working to secure his visa, but Ristic is now officially a Hoosier. However, whether he makes his on-court debut in Puerto Rico remains to be seen.

"We'll get him acclimated as quickly as possible," DeVries said about Ristic. "If that means he gets the opportunity to play in Puerto Rico, great. If we can't get him close enough there, the last thing we want to do is put him in a position where he's just not ready."

Now, the acclimation process begins.