Former rivals Khristian Lander (IU), Brandon Newman (Purdue) leaders for Western Kentucky

INDIANAPOLIS — Khristian Lander and Brandon Newman, one-time rivals at Indiana and Purdue, respectively, were seated just a few feet from one another in a Gainbridge Fieldhouse locker room on Thursday morning.

These two are teammates now, leaders on a No. 15 seed Western Kentucky team that will be big underdogs on Friday in a first round NCAA tournament South Region game against No. 2 seed Marquette, a fashionable Final Four pick led by coach Shaka Smart. But the journey that brought Lander and Newman here together, in this locker room and with this team, have prepared them for the stage they will see on Friday.

“I would tell (a younger self) to go where you know you can make an impact and where the coaching staff knows you and loves you,” Newman said Thursday. “And don’t get too high or low on yourself. Just keep working and be ready to go. College is tough but you just have to stay resilient.”

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The 6-5 Newman, a former Valparaiso High School star who was runner-up for IndyStar Mr. Basketball in 2019 to Center Grove’s Tracye Jackson-Davis, spent four years at Purdue (he redshirted his first year), where he started most of his redshirt freshman year, then saw his playing time diminish, though he remained one of the team’s top defensive players for the next two seasons.

After graduating from Purdue, Newman found an opportunity at Western Kentucky, where he was reunited with Steve Lutz, who coached Newman as an assistant at Purdue before taking the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi job in 2021 and leading the Islanders to the NCAA tournament last season.

“I was looking for an opportunity to win and an opportunity to contribute to that,” Newman said. “And to get back to the tournament and have a little bit more influence.”

Newman found that with the Hilltoppers, averaging 10.5 points, 5.4 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game for a team that lost its final four regular-season games before catching fire as the No. 3 seed in the Conference USA tournament and earning the automatic bid with wins over New Mexico State, Middle Tennessee and UTEP.

“I’m still guarding the best perimeter (players) every night in the C-USA,” said Newman, who scored 15 points in both the semifinal and championship games of the conference tournament. “But it’s a more expanded role on offense, just being able to play the game and read defenses and take open looks when I get them when it’s there. Just playing basketball.”

For Lander, Lutz’s breakneck offensive pace (Western Kentucky averages the most possessions per game of any NCAA tournament team), is a good fit. Lander started 10 of 25 games, including the conference championship win over UTEP. He is fourth on the team in scoring (9.1 ppg) and third in 3-point percentage (38.5%).

“We run a lot and (Lutz) talks about our pace,” Lander said. “‘Keep going fast.’ It’s ingrained in us at this point.”

The the left-hander Lander was one of the most sought-after players in the country while at Evansville Reitz, ranked as one of the top point guards in the country in the 2021 class. He graduated early, announcing his commitment to IU in February of 2020 and the decision to reclassify to the 2020 class to enroll early for then-IU coach Archie Miller.

It did not work out, at least how Lander hoped. He averaged 2.1 points and 1.2 assists in 26 games, shooting just 25.7% from the field. Lander entered the portal, then decided to return when Miller was fired, and Mike Woodson was hired. He played in just 13 games, averaging 2.9 points.

In April of 2022, Lander announced his decision to transfer to Western Kentucky, where his father Keith had played football. He played about 11 minutes per game and 3.2 points last season on a team that went 17-16 and tied for sixth in the conference.

Rick Stansbury resigned after the season, opening the door for Lutz to take over as coach. Lander’s playing time jumped to 23 minutes per game and his production across the board is by far his best in four college seasons.

Why?

“I’ve got a coaching staff that finally believes in me,” Lander said. “They know I can hoop. That’s pretty much it.”

Lutz poured confidence into Lander, which paid off. The former Purdue assistant recruited Lander when he was with the Boilermakers, getting to know Khristian and his family.

“I knew that Khristian was a good kid from a good family, and obviously he had some bumps along the road,” Lutz said, “and I just told him that I believe in you, I know you’re talented, but if you’ll believe in us, we’ll believe in you, and I think that it could work out well. Thus far he’s done a great job.”

The Hilltoppers (22-11) have been through some ups and downs this season, including an eight-game losing streak that extended all of December and a four-game losing streak just before the conference tourney. But there are a lot of players on the team like Lander and Newman, including leading scorer Don McHenry, a 6-2 guard who transferred from Indian Hills Community College (Iowa), who played elsewhere prior to Western Kentucky.

“I think everything that I’ve been through so far, the adversity made me stronger at the end of the day,” Lander said. “I feel like it was good I went through it.”

Lander, ranked as the No. 26 player in the country coming out of high school, always knew he had the talent. His initial college experience came rushing at him, probably too fast, in a season with coach who desperately needed to win immediately.

“I feel like I’ve always been a pretty talented player,” he said. “I just needed to learn the small details on the offensive and defensive end. I feel like that’s helped a lot.”

Lander said Lutz “didn’t sugarcoat anything” when he was hired at Western Kentucky.

“He just kept it real with me,” Lander said. “He told me what I needed to do and what I needed to work on. That’s what I did. Once he saw that’s what I can do, he let me hoop like I know I can hoop.”

Lander said he’s learned that “things aren’t always what they seem.” But that reality led him to Western Kentucky and teammates like Newman. Lander said he knew of Newman in high school and obviously played against him as college rivals. But getting to know him as a teammate has been an entirely different experience.

“I’d say he’s a dog,” Lander said. “He’s a super hard worker in the gym at crazy hours of the day. He’s a really good teammate, for sure.”

Newman lost his father, Ronald Newman, a Chicago police officer, in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic in April of 2020. Newman, 59, contracted the virus while working and was hospitalized four days later. Brandon Newman had just finished his redshirt freshman season at Purdue at the time his father died.

“He was in my life up until his passing,” Newman said of his father. “A lot of what you see today, who I am today, is him.”

Newman said he has kept in touch with his former Purdue teammates, specifically this week with Fletcher Loyer and Mason Gillis reaching out to tell him good luck. Both Newman and Lander said they were pleased to see Indianapolis come up as the site on Sunday.

“I was,” Newman said. “But there’s a bunch of locations. I’m just happy we made it.”

Call Star reporter Kyle Neddenriep at (317) 444-6649.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Western Kentucky transfers Lander, Newman were rivals, now teammates