Jackson-Davis, Edey Create Unique All-American Matchup in Indiana-Purdue Rivalry

Purdue's Zach Edey and Indiana's Trayce Jackson-Davis, arguably the best players in all of college basketball, match up for a second time this season when the Hoosiers travel to Mackey Arena on Saturday.

Jack Ankony | Feb 24, 2023

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BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – One stands at 7-foot-4, towering over and dominating any opponent in sight. The other, though smaller at 6-foot-9, features high-flying dunks, blocked shots and a newly-enhanced playmaking acumen.

Together, yet uniquely their own, Purdue's Zach Edey and Indiana's Trayce Jackson-Davis construct a matchup between college basketball's best on Saturday at Mackey Arena.

It's the kind of competition Mike Woodson lives for as a coach and fans crave.

"You sit and you just marvel at guys," Woodson said, "There was a lot of people that were tuned into that Purdue-Indiana game here at Indiana, you can rest assured that, and just to see the matchup. [Edey and Jackson-Davis] didn’t fail anybody who was watching because both of them played extremely well, and I can’t help but think it’s going to be the same way come Saturday.”

In past years, both players might have been off to the NBA by now, which makes their second battle rare and one to appreciate while it lasts.

To find an Indiana-Purdue rivalry game featuring two consensus All-Americans, you'd have to go all the way back to the 1992-93 season, 30 years ago, when Calbert Cheaney led Indiana to a pair of wins over Glenn Robinson and the Boilermakers. But even in those games, Cheaney and Robinson didn't necessarily go one-on-one every possession like Edey and Jackson-Davis will on Saturday.

Jackson-Davis, in his fourth and final year at Indiana, has developed into one of the program's all-time greats. Jackson-Davis set Indiana's all-time blocked shots record on Jan. 25 at Minnesota, and he became the only player in program history to score 2,000 points and grab 1,000 rebounds on Feb. 7 against Rutgers. He tied A.J. Guyton for fourth place on Indiana's all-time scoring list by scoring 19 points on Tuesday at Michigan State, and he has a good chance of finishing in third place by the end of his career.

But when Woodson became the head coach before the 2021-22 season, he wasn't happy when he flipped on Jackson-Davis' film. The Greenwood, Ind. native decided to stay at Indiana for his junior season, and Woodson was quick to challenge him. Over the past two years, Woodson has seen Jackson-Davis buy into coaching, which sends a message to the rest of the team to follow his lead.

"[Jackson-Davis] and probably Xavier [Johnson] probably caught more hell than anybody on this team, and rightfully so," Woodson said. "X is your leader in terms of running your team, and big fella is the engine. We feed off of what [Jackson-Davis] does. When he’s not doing what is expected of him, he’s got to be told and he’s got to be coached. I call it coaching."

Jackson-Davis has absorbed Woodson's lessons, and it's led to noticeable development in multiple areas. Jackson-Davis has more than doubled his blocks per game from his sophomore to junior season, and his assists have gone from 1.4 per game to 3.6.

He's now comfortable bringing the ball up and distributing open looks to his teammates, and on the defensive end, Jackson-Davis' 2.9 blocks per game lead the Big Ten. Jackson-Davis feels he's always had the ability to block shots and make plays for others, but Woodson's coaching style has amplified that.

"With coach [Archie] Miller, and that's not a knock on coach Miller, but he always wanted me boxing out with the help-side guy," Jackson-Davis said. "In game situations in my first two years, they wanted me to rim run, pass it to the guard and rim run, it's just the offense they play. I feel like when coach Woodson came in, he really unlocked a lot of parts of my game that were always there, they just didn't necessarily get recognized because I was trying to do a different role."

While Jackson-Davis hasn't developed an outside shot that some have wanted to see across his four years, he's still managed to become 17th in the nation in scoring, fifth in rebounding and sixth in block shots. Averaging 20.5 points, 11.1 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 2.9 blocks with a 57.5 field goal percentage as a senior, Jackson-Davis quite literally put the Hoosiers on his back to win eight of nine games from Jan. 14 to Feb. 11.

During that stretch, Jackson-Davis totaled at least 25 points in five games, as well as four games with 15-plus rebounds, four games with five or more blocks and four games with at least five assists. He was named Big Ten Player of the Week four consecutive times, the longest streak of any player this season.

"You just don't see the dominant guys stay in college as long as they have, but I think it's great for the game," Purdue coach Matt Painter said. "I think it's great for our conference. We just don't face somebody with that kind of size, that kind of skill and that kind of quickness. When you're Zach's size, you're not supposed to do some of the things that he does. When you're Trayce Jackson-Davis' size, you're not supposed to be able to do some of the things he does."

Heading into Saturday's game, Jackson-Davis is widely considered to be second in the national player of the year race behind Edey, who's also experienced significant development at the college level.

As a freshman in 2020-21, ranked No. 440 in his recruiting class, Edey played 14.7 minutes per game and averaged 8.7 points as the backup for Trevion Williams. Edey moved into a starting role last season and scored 14.4 points with 7.7 rebounds per game, but he only played 19.0 minutes compared to Williams' 20.5 off the bench.

With Williams graduating, Edey's minutes have jumped to 31.4 as a junior. He's averaging a Big Ten-high 22.1 points and 12.7 rebounds, tied for first in the nation with Kentucky's Oscar Tshiebwe and Southern Indiana's Jacob Polakovich. Despite a huge increase in minutes, Edey has learned to stay out of foul trouble, dropping his fouls per game from 2.3 to 1.7 from his freshman to junior year.

Jackson-Davis has battled Edey in some capacity for the last three seasons and has been impressed by his growth.

"Being able to play the whole game at 7-4 is remarkable," Jackson-Davis said. "He's really trained himself and conditioned himself to do so, and it's hard when he's out there because he's huge. Everyone, he's a defensive focal point. But just having that motor running like he does and just being able to go over both shoulders at 7-4, it's a really tough cover. So props to him because he's done a great job with his body coming into this year."

And now, Edey has been the frontrunner for national player of the year since November, when he led Purdue to wins over No. 10 Marquette, No. 12 Gonzaga and Duke in a two-week span. Behind Edey's dominance, Purdue can clinch a share of its 25th Big Ten title with a win over Indiana on Saturday.

"He’s a nightmare for a lot of teams, not just us," Woodson said. "You can’t give him angles because he’s good at both, with both hands at making plays. He’s good. That’s all I can tell you. I like him.”

In the first matchup on Feb. 4, Woodson thought Indiana's game plan on Edey worked well in the first half. The Hoosiers put heavy pressure on Purdue's guards and made it difficult for the Boilermakers to get in a rhythm, offensively.

Jackson-Davis said the key to guarding Edey is not letting him catch the ball deep in the paint, where he can make a quick move to the rim. He felt the Hoosiers had success against Edey when they pushed him out of the lane and brought a double-team when he caught the ball. Edey scored 15 points in the first 20 minutes, but Indiana jumped out to a 50-35 lead at halftime.

With Edey dominating the second half, Purdue made it a one-point game in the final two minutes. But after a costly Braden Smith turnover, Jalen Hood-Schifino converted a layup over Edey to seal the Hoosiers' 79-74 win.

Edey finished the game with 33 points and 18 rebounds, but his five turnovers proved costly. Jackson-Davis racked up 25 points, seven rebounds and five blocks to take down the Boilermakers, ranked No. 1 at the time.

Heading into round two of the Indiana-Purdue rivalry on Saturday, all eyes will be on the battle between Edey and Jackson-Davis. But much like the first matchup, Woodson understands the importance of not letting the other Boilermakers get going.

"I haven’t seen very many teams stop [Edey] this season in watching him on film," Woodson said. "He’s going to demand the ball, and they’re going to go to him a lot. Our bigs are just going to have to battle as much as they can, and we’ve got to get them some help as much as we can and not let the rest of the supporting pieces get away from us. I thought that was a really big difference in the game here.”

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