Here's What Trayce Jackson-Davis Said After 30-Point Night in Loss to Iowa

Trayce Jackson-Davis had a big night at Iowa, scoring 30 points, but the Hoosiers let a big lead slip away and lost 91-89 at Iowa City. Trayce met with the media afterward and talked about the loss, and the injury to friend and teammate Race Thompson.

IOWA CITY, Iowa — Indiana senior Trayce Jackson-Davis scored 30 points, grabbed nine rebounds and had three blocked shots, but it wasn't enough in a 91-89 loss at Iowa.

Jackson-Davis, playing through the pain of a back injury that kept him out of the Hoosiers' last two games in late December, scored 30 points for the second time this season. He also had 30 points in the Hoosiers' win at Xavier in mid-November.

Jackson-Davis met with the media after the game, and talked about his injury not slowing him down, the tough loss after building a 21-point lead early in the first half the knee injury to his best friend, Race Thompson.

Here's the transcript of his video, which is attached:

QUESTION: Trayce, you are obviously in a lot of pain. Just how difficult is it to fight through injury adversity, game adversity, defensive adversity? How tall is the task?

JACKSON-DAVIS: It was a big task but at the same, injuries happen in basketball and you've just got to play through those things. I thought Coach Woodson had a great game plan for us. We executed it well throughout the game and then at the end of the game we got a little sloppy - picked up fouls and stuff of that nature but we've just got to be better in the last four minutes of the game. We can't have things transpire like they did last year where we start losing when its close over and over.

QUESTION: You guys were up 21 points in the first half. What do you think changed the most from that point going forward?

JACKSON-DAVIS: I just think we need to keep our foot on the gas and keep playing basketball. I thought they were running their 2-2-1 press and trying to slow us down. We were bringing it up too slowly and rushing our shots. I thought that was a big thing in the second half. Obviously they are a very good team and made a lot of shots. Credit to them. They make shots when it mattered.

QUESTION: Trayce, you look like you are in a lot of pain. Coming off the floor after the first half. What did you do in the locker room to get back in better shape and then have a great second half? 

JACKSON-DAVIS: I really just played through the pain honestly. Tim Garl put a little patch on my back - like Icy Hot - just to try to stabilize it but I really just kind of played through it especially when the team needs me.

QUESTION: In a game like that with the tight second half, Coach was saying you didn't really want to come out. How much did that matter to you - just wanting to have a part of every possession?

JACKSON-DAVIS: I mean, I get it. He's trying to find me a substitution method, but at the same time, especially when we are on a run and we call a time out I just didn't really feel like it was the right time so I told him that he had to ride me to the end unless we get a time out and I'll rest then. I just felt like my teammates needed me in that moment and needed me in the game.

QUESTION: How do you move forward from a game like this with everything that happened?

JACKSON-DAVIS: The great thing about Big Ten basketball is that you've got another game coming up real soon. We've got Northwestern coming into Assembly Hall and we have to prepare for them because they are a really good team and they are really hot right now.

QUESTION: I know Race and you have been great friends for a long, long time and when you saw what happened how hard was it to see your friend?

JACKSON-DAVIS: Yeah, so X and Race are my guys. Just to see that disappoints me a lot and I pray for the best. I hope that he is okay but it hits hard, I'm not going to lie to you.