Through the first 2 games of its basketball season, a couple things have become apparent for Indiana.

1) Indiana has better pieces this season than in recent years past, so Mike Woodson will be given a chance to mold the Hoosiers into a well-rounded unit that’s capable of consistency in the Big Ten.

2) That development remains a work-in-progress.

IU is 2-0 after beating a couple directionals in Assembly Hall, first hanging on vs. Eastern Michigan for a 6-point victory then blowing out Northern Illinois by 36. The margins don’t matter all that much, but the results do, as the Hoosiers try to mix a bunch of parts together for their 2021-22 edition, one they hope will mark a significant step forward in only the first year of the Woodson Era.

Indiana would have liked to have gotten that work done in the summer, when much of the installation of Woodson’s offensive and defensive systems were installed. But that’s hard to do when nearly double-digit players — transfers Miller Kopp, Xavier Johnson and Michael Durr being 3 of the most important — were out at times due to injury or illness. So instead, the Hoosiers are doing that now. The win over NIU Friday marked the first time in months that everyone was available to Woodson.

The breakdown?

Not bad.

All-America forward Trayce Jackson-Davis has been exactly what was anticipated, averaging a double-double (20 points and 10 rebounds) through the 2-0 start. But Jackson-Davis’ play was a given this season, as he’s been the only consistent guy in a sea of inconsistency the last 2 seasons.

Speaking of …

Point guard has been a wasteland for the Hoosiers lately, but Johnson has looked the part through his first 2 games in an IU uniform. The former Pitt Panther has combined for 27 points and 6 assists, with only 5 turnovers in 43 minutes. Johnson has been the one newcomer who has slid into his role with the Hoosiers without issue.

The others — Parker Stewart, Kopp and Durr — haven’t seen such an easy transition. Steward, a 3-point specialist, has made only 2 of his first 8 attempts and has scored only 6 points through 2 games. Kopp, who Indiana needs to be a secondary scorer, as he was at Northwestern, has scored only 7 points while missing his first 4 3-pointers. And after missing IU’s first game, Durr, a big body on an otherwise undersized Indiana roster, came off the bench to score 2 points without a rebound.

There’s still a long ways to go.

The Hoosiers have not shot the ball particularly well, an echo of the same story from last season, although Game 2 was an improvement over Game 1. In 2 games, IU is shooting 45 percent from the floor, which is OK, but only 25.5 percent from 3-point range, which is not. The Hoosiers were a streaky perimeter shooting team under the coaching of Archie Miller, some of which was related to personnel and some to scheme. The offense then had an over-reliance on low-efficiency scoring, like an abundance of long 2-pointers.

It’s yet to be seen whether Woodson’s system makes better analytical sense, but one would hope so considering his long history in the NBA. But even if so, the Hoosiers have to hit them. One would suspect Kopp and Stewart will find their range at some point.

IU hopes that “some point” is soon, because the schedule improves from directionals to competitors quickly. Although Indiana has a user-friendly schedule — as a first-year coach like Woodson might desire — IU takes on St. Johns in Assembly Hall on Wednesday for the Gavitt Games, then travels for the first time 2 weeks later to take on Syracuse in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge.

By months end, we’ll see if the pieces are starting to fit.