Trayce Jackson-Davis Ready To Carry Heavy Load For Indiana as Big Ten Season Restarts

Now that the Big Ten season is ready to start up again, Indiana is going to rely on big man Trayce Jackson-Davis even more, and he's all for it. Increased minutes? Bring it on. He'll play all 40 if that's what his teammates and coaches need.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Indiana All-American Trayce Jackson-Davis is averaging 31.7 minutes a game so far during the Hoosiers' 10-2 start to the season. But now that the Big Ten season is here, expect that work load to go up.

Like way up.

Like maybe 36 minutes? Could be. Or 38? Possibly. And a full 40 minutes? Whatever it takes, he said.

And don't worry. Playing time is not an issue for the 6-foot-9 junior center from Greenwood, Ind. He's ready to play every single minute if he has to. He's in the best shape of his life, and he's more than willing to do whatever it takes to win.

Every darn minute.

"Yeah, I can definitely play as much as coach needs me,'' Jackson-Davis said Friday ahead of Indiana's Big Ten game at Penn State on Sunday afternoon. "That was one of the main reasons why I stayed, because Coach (Mike) Woodson told me that most of these games, you're going to be playing 38-40 minutes a game and you're not coming out.

"I'm not worried about it. I did it some last year, and I wasn't nearly in as good of shape last year as I am this year. I'm ready to take on that challenge. Whatever my team needs and my coaches need from me, I'm ready to do it.''

Jackson-Davis is averaging 19.3 points and 8.5 rebounds per game, tops on the team. He and forward Race Thompson have been holding down the fort inside, and the two log more minutes than anyone on the team. (Thompson averages 26.7) 

Woodson and Jackson-Davis allowed us to read between the lines a little bit during the media availability on Friday. When asked about playing Jackson-Davis and 7-foot backup center Michael Durr together, Woodson basically dismissed it, calling Jackson-Davis a center himself and that he's never really played two centers together. 

Durr, who's been slowly recovering from offseason knee surgery, is averaging just 8 minutes per game.

What we thought might happen when the Hoosiers had to start banging with all the huge centers in the Big Ten was that we'd see Durr and Jackson-Davis on the floor together, with Jackson-Davis at the four, and playing more of a perimeter or mid-range game.

Apparently, that's not going to happen, or if it does, it'll be a rare occurrence.

"I haven't played two centers like that pretty much in my whole career as a head coach because we've always had a nice, big, powerful center in the NBA that could pretty much hold their own,'' Woodson said. "That's hard for me to even say right now. I look at Purdue, and they play the big seven-footer (Zach Edey), then they come out back with (Trevion) Williams as the backup center. I'm going to try Michael on their second center, their second unit like we've been playing.

"But for Mike, we just have to get him in a little better shape. He's been working in that area based on him coming off the injury that he had. He will play now that we're getting ready to go through this Big Ten (schedule), and deal with some of these big guys because he's got a big body and he likes to bang a little bit, too. He's just got to be ready to go because I'm going to play him some. But I don't know if I'll play the two together. I just don't know that yet.''

Much like his first two years, the vast majority of Jackson-Davis' points have come right at the rim. He's quick for a big man, and has great feet and post moves. Single coverage doesn't work against him, even with the best defenders.

But he's also an All-American and gets a ton of attention from defenses, which isn't unexpected. He sees a lot of double-teams, in a lot of variety, and that's part of his preparation for every game, especially now that the Big Ten season is here.

"What we see in practice, Penn State doubles from the baseline, so they come from the bottom side,'' Jackson-Davis said. "I'm going to have to take the ball toward the middle more, and we'll have cutters, with Race going to the rim or Miller (Kopp) being open on the back side.

"I just basically take what the defense gives me, The last couple of games, I think I've handled the double teams pretty well, so it's important to just get better position under the bucket so they don't have a chance to double-team me.''

Indiana hasn't played since Dec. 22 because Wednesday's game with UNC Asheville had to be cancelled because of COVID-19 issues inside the Bulldogs' program. The extra prep time for Penn State has been good, Jackson-Davis said, and rest and preparation over rust wasn't a bad thing.

"I think at this point in the season, there can't be rust. I think the time off, it was big for us,'' he said. "UNC Asheville, they're a good team, but at the same time, getting those extra practices in before our next Big Ten game was crucial. Even playing against each other, getting more guys active, it helped a lot, too. I think it was more of a positive than a negative.''

Jackson-Davis said he's been working on being more patient in the post, that most of his misses come from hurrying things. 

"The biggest thing with me, what I've been doing poorly the last few games especially against bigger guys, is that I'm going up to quick,'' he said. "I'm thinking everyone's going to block my shot, and I'm going up too fast. I just need to relax when I'm under the basket. When I do that, I play really well.

"Just taking my time at the basket, and not hoisting them up, I need to do that and finish at the basket.''

Indiana is 1-1 so far in the Big Ten, winning at home against Nebraska and losing at Wisconsin. Penn State is 0-2 in the league, taking double-digit losses from Michigan State and Ohio State, and the Nittany Lions are 5-5 overall under first-year coach Micah Shrewsberry, a former Purdue assistant.

Last week, sophomore guard Anthony Leal got his first start after Woodson benched Parker Stewart for an undisclosed disciplinary reason. Jackson-Davis hinted that Leal starting might continue when he was asked about Leal's work ethic on Friday.

"He's always working on his shot, and and you can see, it's showing because he's starting now,'' he said. "We need to keep getting that from him.''

This is Indiana's third road game of the season, and they've yet to win outside the state of Indiana. They've lost to Wisconsin, and fell to Syracuse in double-overtime.

Winning games on the road is paramount to making a run in the Big Ten. Woodson knows that all too well. 

"We just have to put a 40-minute game together,'' he said. "I thought, against Wisconsin, that we played well all the way up to a minute and 40 where we were up two, got the ball, and we lose the ball, they come down and (Johnny Davis) hits a three. We didn't recover from it.

"To me, when you're out on the road, you've got to play all the way through. You can't think that you're just going to win it in 38. It's a 40-minute game, man. We just didn't complete the game against Wisconsin. We got to put a 40-minute ballgame together, period, from beginning to the end.''

And the first chance at that starts on Sunday.

Watch Trayce Jackson-Davis' full interview

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