What Jalen Hood-Schifino, Trayce Jackson-Davis Said After Indiana Lost to Northwestern

Indiana lost to Northwestern 84-83 at Assembly Hall on Sunday, despite a freshman-record 33 points from Jalen Hood-Schifino and 24 rebounds from Trayce Jackson-Davis, the most by an IU player since 1971. They met with the media afterward, and here is what they had to say, with full transcript and video attached.

Becky Rigel | Jan 8, 2023

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BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Indiana lost to Northwestern 84-83 at Assembly Hall on Sunday, despite a freshman-record 33 points from Jalen Hood-Schifino and 24 rebounds from Trayce Jackson-Davis, the most by an IU player since 1971.

They met with the media afterward, and here is what they had to say, with full transcript and video attached.

QUESTION: What are you seeing that's breaking down a little bit for you guys right now? It's been I think four straight games against high major opponents over 1.1 points per possession allowed.

TRAYCE JACKSON-DAVIS: I think that obviously we need to quit fouling. We gave up about seven, eight fouls in the first 10 minutes, and then they're shooting bonus the rest of the way, and I also think that we're getting straight-line drived a lot, and it's requiring guys to get out of position and help, and it gives up open threes, and they're getting wide-open looks and they're knocking them down.

I think fouling and then just honestly straight-line drives are the biggest things for us.

Q: Jalen, it was a good game but there were 16 turnovers by the team, led to 25 points for Northwestern. When you go into the process of trying to eliminate your own turnovers, what do you work on and what do you want to see improved going forward?

JALEN HOOD-SCHIFINO: I mean, just got to stop turning the ball over. There's not really too much you can do. I think first half, that killed us, especially with me; I had some turnovers, and they had some lay-ups and everything and converted off it.

We've just got to be better with the ball, and we've got a long way to go, but we'll get there.

Q: Trayce, Jalen had 33 tonight, the most by a freshman since Eric Gordon in 2007. Can you speak of his offensive prowess tonight and what he gave you guys, and what might we see down the road with him?

JACKSON-DAVIS: Yeah, obviously he's one of our best players, and he's going to have the ball in his hand, especially with X out, and we need him to make plays. That's what he did tonight. He made big shot after big shot, and props to him because he really helped put the team on his back and carry us when we needed scoring. Without him, it could have been a 10-, 15-point game.

Q: Trayce, big picture, you guys, early in the year, you win at Xavier, a good team, beat Carolina here. Last two games, you lose a 21-point lead at Iowa, lose at home to Northwestern. What's happened as things have started to falter a little bit?

JACKSON-DAVIS: Well, obviously we've just got to regroup. We can't count on guys going down, but at the same time, it's the game of basketball, and we've got to have guys step up. We come out really strong against Iowa and then we lay an egg and come out flat here, and you can't have that when you're playing against Big Ten competition.

We've got to come out strong, and guys got to be ready to play, and that's the easiest way to put it. I've got to do a better job leading them to do that.

Q: Trayce, you guys are scoring a lot of points, scored 89 at Iowa but in a loss, scored a lot of points today. Defensively there has been a shift from last year to this year. I asked Coach what he thought he could do, and he just said that we have to work harder. What do you see what you guys need to do to do that? Where do you need to work harder?

JACKSON-DAVIS: I just think sometimes we kind of get discombobulated almost, where we're not playing our type of defense. Like the straight-line drives we got nail help, and sometimes the nail guy is not there, and we're just not going our coverages. Coach had a great game plan and I don't think we followed it at all, honestly. We didn't switch when we needed to switch, and it's mental errors.

When you don't listen to your coaches, that's going to really hurt you because obviously they were getting whatever shot they wanted.

Q: Jalen, obviously Trayce had 18 and 24 tonight and was really battling out there. What's it like seeing him put that kind of effort out there, and is it kind of frustrating still coming up short when you see him battling the way he is?

HOOD-SCHIFINO: Yeah, I mean, he's giving it to us every night. He's a dominant player and one of the best players I've played with.

For a guy to go out there and play his heart out and for us to still come up short is definitely tough, a tough pill to swallow, but at the end of the day, we've just got to keep working. It's a grown man's league, so every single night we're going to play a tough team and it's going to be tough. We've just to go back to the drawing board, just keep working, clean up the little things, and we'll be fine.

Q: Trayce, Coach was just in here talking, maybe you guys need to play a little bit harder. I don't think he was talking about you; obviously you played all 40 minutes. As a leader on this team, how do you maybe talk to guys just about the concentration and trying to avoid these lapses you seem to be having within certain games and maybe play closer to a complete 40 minutes?

JACKSON-DAVIS: Yeah, I just got to talk to them. Some of these guys, they haven't ever been put in this position, especially with X and Race out. We've got guys coming in that have never been playing in Big Ten basketball games, like CJ Gunn coming in, Jordan Geronimo starting. Those are guys that haven't been put in this position, and they've got to learn, but they've got to learn fast.

I've just got to do a better job in getting them ready and prepared mentally to go because they have all the physical attributes to be ready, they've just got to get that mental block out of their system and then they'll be good.

Q: Trayce, we've asked you about this in different ways, but where are you physically when you're playing? I think it was 38 and Coach said you basically refused to come out in the second half at the Iowa game; you played all 40 tonight. What's the physical challenge for you right now knowing you've been banged up?

JACKSON-DAVIS: I'm really just, I get -- it's the Big Ten. I get treatment, and that's all I do. I get treatment and then I play. That's what I do. That's what I've got to do; if I've got to play 40 minutes, I've got to play 40 minutes. That's the biggest thing for me is I've got to be ready and get myself as good as I can to play in the next game, and that's what I'm going to keep doing because I know my team needs me.

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