James Blackmon Jr. Relives Indiana's Last Matchup Against Kansas in 2016

The Indiana Hoosiers and Kansas Jayhawks share rich college basketball history, and they'll matchup on Saturday at Allen Fieldhouse for the first time since 2016 in Hawaii. James Blackmon Jr. led the Hoosiers with 26 points, and he discussed that game with HoosiersNow.com this week.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Nine national championship banners decorate two of college basketball’s most iconic arenas that fill to capacity with some the sport's loudest fans.

What better setting to host a home-and-home series?

Chapter 15 of the Indiana versus Kansas series tips off at Noon ET inside Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence, Kan. on Dec. 17. No. 14 Indiana enters this game at 8-2 after a loss to Arizona in Las Vegas. The defending national champion Jayhawks are 9-1 and ranked No. 8 after a dominant win at Missouri. Kansas will travel to Assembly Hall in Bloomington, Ind. on Dec. 16, 2023 for part two of the home-and-home series.

Indiana and Kansas have faced off 14 times dating back to 1940, and the Hoosiers hold a narrow 8-6 advantage. Featured in this series are two national championship games, an Elite Eight clash in 1993, a Sweet 16 battle in 1991 and seven top-12 matchups.

Most recently, the Hoosiers and Jayhawks met in Honolulu, Hawaii for the Armed Forces Classic in the season opener on Nov. 11, 2016.

For Indiana guard James Blackmon Jr., the game had special meaning. About 11 months prior, Blackmon suffered a torn ACL 13 games into his sophomore season. He returned to Indiana with high expectations that year after averaging 15.7 points as a freshman, but he was sidelined for the rest of a 2015-16 season, which ended with a Big Ten title and Sweet 16 appearance for the Hoosiers.

“Getting hurt that second year was really hard on me mentally,” Blackmon told HoosiersNow.com in a phone interview on Tuesday. “So after just battling back from that, I had a lot of motivation and just wanting to prove myself and the team.”

After rehabbing from his injury, Blackmon remembers the team feeling relaxed going into the game against No. 3 Kansas because coach Tom Crean let the Hoosiers play freely without worrying about mistakes. It was the kind of environment and caliber of opponent that Blackmon always strived to perform his best against, but it wouldn’t be easy. In the other backcourt stood eventual National Player of the Year Frank Mason and first-team All-American Devonte’ Graham.

“I was just thinking [Mason] is one of the best guards in the country so I think I am, too,” Blackmon said. “So I wanted to apply that to that game."

It was a slow start for Blackmon, though, shooting 2-for-5 from the field with two fouls in the first 20 minutes. The Hoosiers entered the halftime locker room trailing 46-42, but 16 points from Thomas Bryant and 10 from OG Anunoby in the first half kept Indiana within striking distance.

And it was only a matter of time until Blackmon – a career 41.5 percent 3-point shooter at Indiana – found his rhythm. He scored the Hoosiers’ first points of the second half and drilled a 3-pointer with 14:33 remaining to tie the game for the first time since the 4:24 mark in the first half.

Indiana guard James Blackmon Jr. (1) passes the ball with Kansas' Frank Mason guarding him on Nov. 11, 2016. Indiana defeated Kansas 103-99 in overtime in the Armed Forces Classic in Honolulu, Hawaii

Indiana and Kansas traded baskets for most of the second half in an exciting, high-scoring affair. Blackmon scored 11 points in the final five minutes of regulation, but a costly foul with three seconds left allowed Mason to send the game into overtime tied 89-89.

The game remained tied midway through overtime as Blackmon caught the ball at the top of the key. He took two dribbles to size up his defender, Lagerald Vick, before drilling a tightly-contested 3-pointer from the left wing.

“I always felt like no one was really stopping me,” Blackmon said. “It was more of myself, so once I saw the ball go through a couple times, the rim just gets big for a shooter.”

Indiana freshman guard Curtis Jones stepped up in a major way in his collegiate debut, connecting on a 3-pointer of his own on the next possession. Jones scored seven points in the final two minutes, capping off the Hoosiers’ 103-99 overtime win with an emphatic slam dunk in transition.

"He came out confident,” Blackmon said of Jones. “And him being a scorer in that game the way Crean was just letting us play, he caught a rhythm. I wasn't really surprised because I've seen him make shots at a high rate before, and in that game we needed an extra spark off the bench.”

Blackmon led the Hoosiers with 26 points on 4-for-8 3-point shooting, followed by 19 points and 10 rebounds from Bryant. Jones scored 15 off the bench, and Anunoby contributed 13 points, seven rebounds and three blocks. Mason topped all scorers with 30 points, Graham added 16 and both Carlton Bragg Jr. and Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk scored 12.

"We were all celebrating in the locker room, a lot of photos, a lot of talking about how proud we were of each other and how big of a game that was," Blackmon said. "When we got back on campus, I think it opened a lot of people's eyes to the team we had and the players that we had on the team."

Indiana peaked at No. 3 in the AP poll and responded to a loss at Purdue-Fort Wayne with a 76-67 win over No. 3 North Carolina in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. But the Hoosiers began to struggle as the season went on, including a three-game losing streak starting in late December. A season-ending knee injury to Anunoby against Penn State on Jan. 18 made matters worse, and Indiana closed the 2016-17 campaign on a 5-10 skid. Crean was fired after nine seasons, two Big Ten titles and three Sweet 16 appearances.

“Injuries can change a lot,” Blackmon said. “I didn’t really think that, you know, because I thought other guys could step up, as well, and fill those places. I just think that in the beginning of the season in games like Kansas, we were playing very freely. Our offense was more, I mean, kind of like how coach Woodson's offense is this year. A lot of free flowing, ball screens, offense that puts a lot of pressure on a defense with guards who can make plays off the dribble and score. I think that's dangerous to play in.”

“A lot of things switched after that game in terms of injuries, but game plans changed and things like that. So that was a tough up-and-down season, but looking back I think that was a very great team with a lot of big-time players on it."

Indiana Hoosiers guard James Blackmon Jr (second from right) celebrates with teammates after scoring the winning shot during the second half against the Penn State Nittany Lions at Bryce Jordan Center. Indiana defeated Penn State 78-75 / Matthew O'Haren-USA TODAY Sports

Bryant, Anunoby and Juwan Morgan remain in the NBA from that Indiana team, and Blackmon is now playing in Turkey for Pinar Karsiyaka. He's rehabbing an injury that will keep him out until February, but Blackmon is still the same sharpshooter he was at Indiana. In each of his last three seasons in Europe, Blackmon has shot over 42 percent from 3-point range.

He returned to Assembly Hall for Indiana’s 77-65 win over North Carolina on Nov. 30 and liked what he saw from the Hoosiers in year two under coach Mike Woodson.

"Trayce [Jackson-Davos] obviously is a huge leader so they have older guys and then they have great younger guys who can add, too," Blackmon said. "Also the big thing that I think is huge is coach Woodson. People don't understand how much a coach can give you confidence and put you in position. 

"Just watching how their offense is and how they exploit mismatches and get their best offensive players going in ball screen situations, I was a fan of that. So I think that is going to be huge for them, and they have guys who can knock down shots, as well, that can guard, too. So I think that they have potential to be a good team, a really good team."

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