Trayce Jackson-Davis Understands Sense of Urgency For Indiana in NCAA Tournament

Trayce Jackson-Davis' basketball career at Indiana is one loss away from being over, and no one knows that better than he does. That's why he knows every possession matters on Friday night when the Hoosiers begin their NCAA Tournament journey against Kent State.

Tom Brew | Mar 16, 2023

Trayce Jackson-Davis Understands Sense of Urgency For Indiana in NCAA Tournament /

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ALBANY, N.Y. — Trayce Jackson-Davis has built one of most impressive resumes in Indiana basketball history. He's the school's all-time leading shot blocker and rebounder, and he's third all-time in scoring.

He's one of the greats, for sure.

But there's something lacking, and he knows it. You know it, too. Everyone does, for that matter.

Unlike just about all of the other Hoosiers greats, Jackson-Davis has never enjoyed a national tournament run. He's only won one NCAA game in his career, and that was a First Four game at Dayton last year that a lot of pessimists don't really count.

And now, here we are in Albany, with the NCAA Tournament just a day away for Jackson-Davis and his mates. They're a No. 4 seed in the Midwest Region, and they take on No. 13-seed Kent State Friday night at approximately 9:55 p.m. ET

The Hoosiers are 22-11 overall and just 6-5 in their last 11. They've been on a win-one, lose-one run for a month, and that doesn't work this weekene.

They need to win two, and Jackson-Davis knows. He also knows it starts with Kent State, the Mid-American Conference tournament champions who are 28-6 and scary good.

It's a whole new ballgame. Win, or go home. They've had six days since losing to Penn State in the Big Ten Tournament and they're rested and ready to go, a rapid departure from the frenetic pace of last year's tournament.

"I think the biggest thing for us is just preparation. We've had a lot of time to prepare,'' Jackson-Davis said when he met with the media on Thursday. " You've just got to take it one game at a time. Obviously it's a win or go home, so we've just got to play as hard as we can each and every game. It starts with Kent State, and that's all we're worried about right now.

"Right now we have to focus on Kent State, and if we lose, yes, it is our last game. So that's all we've got to focus on. We can't focus on anything else past that. They're a great team, and we're ready to get to work.''

Jackson-Davis is a consensus All-American this season. He's averaging 20.8 points, 10.9 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 2.7 blocks per game. If not for Purdue's Zach Edey, he might very well have been the national player of the year.

He's a major challenge to guard, and that's the case for Kent State, too, They're small, but very aggressive defensively. And Jackson-Davis is going to get all of their attention.

"He's such a good player that if you just do one thing against him, he's too good of a player to let you do that,'' Kent State coach Rob Senderoff said. "He'll figure you out and make you pay. You have to do different things to have a chance to win against one of the best teams in the country.''

Jackson-Davis does have a year of eligibility left, but he's been very clear for the last month or so that this is it, so the idea of taking one last ride has been on his mind for a while. Winning Friday night, in his mind, is a must. So is getting through Sunday's second-round game, against either No. 5 seed Miami or No. 12 Drake.

It's like do or die. You can't get around it. I'm not ready to go home, and I hope the players feel the same way,'' Indiana coach Mike Woodson said. "It's the little things that will make a difference. I put on the board every game, "simple plays win basketball games", and they do. You can't over-complicate things. You can't change who you are.

"We've won a lot of games with our defense this year, and when we've added some good offense with our defense, we've really, really been good. So (Friday) night, it's not going to change. We're playing a damn good basketball team, and we've got to come ready and committed, you know what I mean? Because you win, you go on, you lose, you go home, and have to deal with it over the summer and think about all the things you probably should have done to extend your season.''

Woodson and his players need to make all those adjustments in real time on Friday. Kent State plays aggressively on the defensive end — "they junk it up, they run around, they trap. A lot of it seems a little chaotic at times, but it looks like they have a sense of how they're rotating and stuff,'' Indiana forward Miller Kopp said — and. they'll have to deal with and make good decisions in real time.

They can't give Kent State points in easy transition. And they definitely can't let them do that in bunches.

"Every night that we play, even when we step on the practice floor, I'm always stressing take care of the basketball,'' Woodson said. "The key to winning and beating any team, you have to defend and rebound the ball, and you can't turn it over. If you do those three things, you're going to put yourself in position to win. I don't care who you play.

"Kent State is a great team. They're well coached. They've had a great season up until this point, just like we have. I don't want to go home, and I'm sure his coach is saying the same thing, he doesn't want to go home, either. I want to extend this season as long as we can for Trayce Jackson-Davis and the surrounding pieces because I think that they deserve that. So in order to get that done, we've got to commit for 40 minutes when we step out on that floor tomorrow night and see what happens.''

For Jackson-Davis, he feels great after nearly a week without games. That's a rapid departure from last year, where they played three Big Ten games in three days just to earn a spot in the NCAA field, but then had to bus right away to Dayton for the First Four game and then fly through the night across the country to Portland, Ore., where they got blown out one night later by Saint Mary's.

This year, it's completely different. They've had time to prepare, which means a lot.

"Absolutely. I think last year was just kind of just a cluster. It was very, very rushed,'' Jackson-Davis said. "We were in the Big Ten Tournament and then we just had to get on the road, drive to Dayton, play a game the next day, then fly out that night at 4 in the morning and get there at 9:00 then do what we're doing right now, then play a game.

"Everything was so on top of each other. We didn't even get a chance to enjoy what being in this tournament and what it's truly about. So I think just getting here four days early, having preparation, having rest, I think it's huge for us and our team. I think it will help us for this game.''

Kopp agreed completely.

"Obviously we're in a different spot physically and mentally. We've had some time off from the Big Ten Tournament. It hasn't been such a quick turnaround. Mentally also, there wasn't the question marks of if we would get in at all, so that's kind of given us a boost of energy in terms of our preparation too. So it's definitely a better spot to be in.''

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