My Two Cents: Jackson-Davis Has No Interest in Status Quo at Indiana

Trayce Jackson-Davis is Indiana's best player and its hardest worker. He's also a leader, and he's not about to accept losses anymore. This is a new Indiana in his eyes, and he doesn't mind speaking up about it.

Tom Brew | Dec 10, 2020

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — On the court, Trayce Jackson-Davis is doing things that no Indiana player has done in a long time. That's clear and obvious for all to see.

But what happened Wednesday night behind closed doors here at the Donald L. Tucker says far more about the 6-foot-9 sophomore forward than anything he's done with the ball in his hands.

Wednesday night, he was a leader. A leader with a message. And he delivered that message loudly and angrily to his teammates – and best friends — that losing was not acceptable. Not this way. Not now. Not at Indiana.

The Hoosiers lost 69-67 in overtime to No. 20 Florida State, but they had chances galore to pull off the upset. Typical of overtime games, it was one play here or one play there that made a difference. Florida State made one more than Indiana did.

For Jackson-Davis, that was not acceptable. This isn't status quo anymore, not in his eyes. The days are over with him as a leader where losses are accepted without any pain or consequence. That laissez faire attitude, it's over.

"I'm not going to lie. When I got in the locker room, I was angry,'' Jackson-Davis said. “I was really mad. In the past, I don't think of us as an IU team that we've had in the past 10 years. I'm trying to be different this year. I kind of got into some guys, but at the end of the day, it's all love.''

I'll dispute the time frame with him a bit, because the character guys on that very good 2013 Indiana team wanted to win more than anyone, they just didn't make open shots one night against Syracuse. But I'll give Trayce five years for sure. For too many Indiana teams and Indiana players the past few years — certainly post-Yogi Ferrell — losing really didn't matter. The losses, they didn't hurt. Some of them just went through the motions.

And they're gone now.

Indiana's Trayce Jackson-Davis blocks a shot late in the game vs. Florida State (Photo courtesy of IU Athletics)

Jackson-Davis had 25 points and 17 rebounds against the longest and biggest team that Indiana will see all year. It's the third time he's had at least 25 and 15 in the same game. Not a single other Hoosier has done that in the last 15 years. Not one.

That makes him different, by numbers alone. But his actions speak even louder. He can step up and point fingers, all for the bigger picture. He doesn't want to be part of a middling team anymore.

He wants something better. He doesn't want these kind of losses to be deemed acceptable. Not now. Not with this group.

“That was a very upset team,” Indiana coach Archie Miller said during his brief postgame comments. "That locker room was vastly different than a lot of locker rooms I've been in here. That was a very very upset team, an upset group. They poured their heart out. We have a together group, and we're looking forward to getting home.

“He was ready to play. He was a warrior for us,” Miller said about Jackson-Davis. “Clearly, he’s showing right now that he’s one of the best players in college basketball. He's just got to keep growing, and keep being a positive leader, which he is. Everyone else has to rise up just as well.”

No loss is necessarily a good loss, but it also has to be said that this was a very difficult matchup for Indiana. Florida State was bigger at all five spots. It is quick and relentless on defense, and it pressures you 94 feet for 40 minutes — or in this case 45.

Despite that, Jackson-Davis put up huge numbers, and did a great job of letting the game come to him. He picked his spots well on when to attack the rim, and his spin moves and screens helped him find some space. There's no doubt, five games in to what has probably been the nation's most difficult schedule so far, that he's getting better in every game.

He delivered, without question, especially on the boards.

"They're a huge team, and it was kind of the same way last year,” Jackson-Davis said. "I've been struggling on the boards a lot the first three games and I knew it wouldn't be easy for the guards to come and get rebounds tonight, so I knew I had to pick it up for this game. I tried to put a really big emphasis early on getting to the board.''

"They threw a lot of bigs at me, but they also do a lot of switching. So I was trying to set screens underneath to try to get them on my back so I could get high-low looks. Our guards did a phenomenal job of driving to kick, so big props to them on getting me the ball in certain areas.”

Indiana's defense kept them in this game, from start to finish. Florida State shot only 36 percent from the field. They gave themselves a shot at the end of the game.

"I give us probably a B-plus defensively. I thought we did a really good job of trying to keep them out of the paint,'' he said. "They are really big. Their point guard (freshman sensation Scottie Barnes) is 6-9 and Armaan (Franklin) is 6-4, so I was helping over on shots. I thought we did a really good job.

"Down the stretch, Barnes hit a tough three and he hasn't really done that this year. We struggled, but we'll live to fight another day.''

They certainly will. We've been able to learn a lot about this team early because their schedule has been so difficult.

What we now know is that this probably isn't a top-20 team, but they're good enough to beat a few top-20 teams along the way this season. That will happen, and they'll get plenty of opportunities to do that as tough as the Big Ten is.

But we have to remember that this is also a team with flaws. With Joey Brunk out, there is not enough depth up front. There isn't, at least not yet, a steady flow of perimeter shooting. Indiana has yet to make more than five three-pointers in a game, and that just won't work. That's an awful number in current-day college basketball.

And let's be clear — and very careful —about something else. So far, Miller hasn't gotten a lot out of this vaunted freshman class. Trey Galloway has been good and mostly steady, but in 20 minutes Wednesday, he missed three shots and didn't score. Last night's game seemed a little fast for him. Young point guard Khristian Lander played seven minutes and didn't score either, and Anthony Leal and Jordan Geronimo didn't play at all.

That's absolutely not meant to be a criticism of them, because I absolutely won't go there in 2020. There's been too much disconnect to this entire offseason to place any blame at all on freshmen not being ready. And I still firmly believe that all four will have fine careers at Indiana.

But what he hoped would come from that group this year was a boost in perimeter shooting, and so far we haven't seen that. They're a collective 4-for-25 from three-point range, just 16 percent. I'm still confident it will come, but we just haven't seen that yet. And we do have to be patient.

What we do know is this. Jackson-Davis is playing at a high level, an All-American level, and Race Thompson has had his moments. The three-guard set has helped with keeping turnovers down, and Al Durham, Rob Phinisee and Armaan Franklin have all done good things, but Indiana needs that group to start knocking down shots, too.

Status quo? Indiana has averaged nearly 15 losses a season the past four years, and that needs to end. I still think it will. So does Trayce. I still think this team will bounce in and out of the top-25 throughout the year. I still think this is a No. 5 to No. 7 seed in the NCAA Tournament, if the pandemic lets us get there. I still think, with the right matchups, that it can win multiple NCAA Tournament games.

I believe all those things. This is a good team, just not a great team. This is a together team, which is very refreshing. This is a team that will look very good on some nights.

Trayce Jackson-Davis knows what he wants. And the best thing about this version of Indiana basketball is that its best player is also its hardest worker.

So yes, it's a good thing that losses like this are no longer acceptable. They just need to keep getting better.

Can they do that? Of course they can, because their leader and best player isn't going to have it any other way.

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