My Two Cents: Thriller Over Michigan Defines a Career for Trayce Jackson-Davis

Trayce Jackson-Davis has caught a lot of heat over the past couple of months when the losses started to pile up for Indiana. But he was All-American-like exceptional on Thursday in the comeback win over Michigan, and he's probably off to his first NCAA Tournament now because of it.

Tom Brew | Mar 10, 2022

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — It's been a rough seven weeks for Indiana junior Trayce Jackson-Davis. Just once since the middle of January, over the span of 13 games, has he scored more than 20 points in a game.

During that time, his Hoosiers — and make no mistake, this is his team — lost eight times. This was supposed to be a different year with Mike Woodson now at the helm, but during this stretch, Indiana had a we've-seen-this-before look.

Jackson-Davis was right in the middle of that, of course. His numbers were way down in those 13 games, and he averaged just 13.3 points per game if you take one the one big one, the 30 points against Wisconsin.

People criticized constructively, hand raised. He wasn't doing much late in games, and his teammates weren't helping that either. Breaking down his second-half disappearing acts became must-do stories.

And then came Thursday.

On a day when his teammates and coaches needed him most — and when a once-proud program teetered on mediocrity and national anonymity yet again — Jackson-Davis became a star once again. He scored 19 points in the second half and was a. terror on the defensive end as well, helping the Hoosiers erase a 17-point deficit and winning 74-69 in the second round of the Big Ten Tournament.

"We knew Trayce could give us more, and he did. He played really well, said Indiana sophomore Trey Galloway, a surprise contributor who missed the last five games with a groin injury but played 28 huge minutes.’’Trayce, even when he’s not going, not scoring, he’s still a great teammate. I really liked his fight today. I loved his intensity, and today he showed how much he really wants to win.’'

For a portion of the Indiana fan base — and you know who you are — it's easy to rip on Jackson-Davis when things aren't going well, either for him or the team, or both. He has a lot of skills that no other big man in the country possesses, but he's limited in other areas too.

What he proved in the second half Thursday was that he can still take over games — especially when the stakes are enormous.

He was that good. And the bad times? Rear-view mirror.

"Basically, for me just struggling, even this game in the first half, not having it go my way, you can't get too down on yourself, you've got to keep playing,'' Jackson-Davis said. "And then my guys were always picking me up. I think the fans were big too, even in the first half they were still cheering for us, so that was huge for us.

"And then going into the halftime, having my teammates believe in me, that's big for us and that's way big for our team. It's believing we can win and believing we have opportunities to succeed.''

Believing they can win hasn't been easy for this team. They have let leads slip away in the final minutes more than a half-dozen times this year. Woodson inherited a fragile team and he's been trying ''to get them over the hump'' all year.

He got them over the hump on Thursday. That big second half erased a lot of the talk from the past few months. They are probably in the NCAA Tournament field now, and they aren't done here yet, either. They'll be ready for top-seed Illinois on Friday.

"No, it's huge,'' Woodson said of Jackson-Davis' performance. "I mean, this game was huge for this program. We lose today and I don't know what the committee is going to do or say about Indiana University basketball. We've been so competitive over the course of this season. And a lot of games that we've lost, we just, we didn't get rewarded for it, you know. I've felt — even at halftime, I told the guys that we still had a shot to win the game. And these guys came out and they just played and played and played themselves back into the game and was able to pull it out.

"Our guys, not just Trayce, everybody that played tonight contributed in some way and we going to need that the rest of the way. Illinois is a good team and they kind of had their way in Bloomington as well. So we've got to go back, break this team down tonight and learn from our mistakes in this game and get ready for Illinois.''

What has helped Jackson-Davis get better is that he's also getting some help lately. He doesn't have to feel that pressure of carrying the full load. He got a lot of help Thursday, from Trey Galloway and Jordan Geronimo off the bench, and mostly from point guard Xavier Johnson, who had 17 points, eight rebounds and seven assists, and was a demon defensively.

The last time Indiana played at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, against Notre Dame in the Crossroads Classic in December, several Indiana ''fans'' booed Johnson off the court for his turnovers and poor decision-making.

And now? He's probably been their best player the last three weeks. He controlled this game from the top, and he and Jackson-Davis worked well together. It was a sight to behold.

Woodson has been hard on Johnson all year, as he always is with point guards. And he just keeps getting better and better.

His turnovers are down, his defense is much better and he's making shots as well.

He also keeps his teammates calm and in check. You saw that today down the stretch, in some crazy intense moments.

"I thought coming down the stretch, even when they made the run to cut it to two, I just saw steadiness,'' Woodson said. "Like we've been here and we've struck out so many times that we're not going to let it happen tonight, and we came out of the timeout and we executed, we made plays that we needed to make to secure the win.

"I couldn't be more proud of a group of guys because we've been striking out. When you think about all the close games that we've had this season, this is really gratifying in terms of getting over the hump on a major stage, a big game that we had to win. But hey, I didn't play, those guys in the locker room played and they made it happen, so that's what it's all about at the end of the day.''

Yes it is. We saw Trayce Jackson-Davis as his best in that second half on Thursday. It means that this Big Ten Tournament continues, and that's something because, as he said during his interview, he's ''never played here on a Friday.''

That NCAA Tournament bid? It's probably in the bag now and for someone like Jackson-Davis, who has played a lot of great basketball here in three years, he deserves that trip to the Big Dance.

And don't think the Hoosiers are satisfied to just pack it up here. They got revenge against Michigan from that 80-62 loss in Bloomington in late January. They'd like to do the same with Illinois, which beat them at home too a few weeks later.

"To me, it's just another game as well, just next step to what our goal is as a team,'' Johnson said. "We want to win this whole thing, and that's what we plan on doing.''

Yes, whatever happens here in Indy going forward is just gravy. Indiana has never one this tournament, and only played in the finals once. It's nice to dream.

We saw something new on Thursday, so who knows, right?

It's easy to be genuinely happy for Jackson-Davis after a game like this. He gets my ultimate respect always for being a stand-up kid. Even when Indiana loses, he never shies away from answering questions. He's a leader, and a great teammate that everyone from top to bottom respects.

After these past several weeks, he needed a game like he had on Thursday. It might have been the most important game he's played in at Indiana.

But now, thanks to that huge victory, there will be even more important wins down the road.

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