Indiana University Athletics
DIPRIMIO: No Settling – Jackson-Davis Aims to Return to Form
1/17/2020 9:39:00 PM | Men's Basketball
By: Pete DiPrimio
IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Trayce Jackson-Davis will work through this slump. His Indiana teammates believe that. His coach expects it.
The freshman forward's nature is to push, not retreat; to battle and not concede.
Big Ten's bruising nature has hit hard, which is what happens to all players, even to hyper talented freshmen, as the 6-9, 245-pound Jackson-Davis is.
The conference learning curve left Jackson-Davis a non-factor at Rutgers (2-for-6 shooting, four points, six rebounds) and against Ohio State (1-for-3, six points, three rebounds). That reflected opponent scouting of him and Hoosier tendencies, and Indiana's continued lack of perimeter shooting that allows opponents to smother the inside.
It won't continue, of course. Jackson-Davis' upside is too great for that. He has, after all, won three Big Ten freshman-of-the-week awards. He rocked Northwestern for 21 points, seven blocks and two rebounds; just as he did Nebraska (25 points, 15 rebounds), Arkansas (20 points, 6), Florida State (15, 8) and others.
Could it change Saturday night, when Indiana (13-4 overall, 3-3 in the Big Ten) plays at Nebraska (7-10, 2-4)?
Jackson-Davis looms as the catalyst.
"At the end of the day," coach Archie Miller said, "he can't settle for anything other than his best. When he does that, he's going to be successful.
"We'll keep working to be better and he's got to continue to get better, but he's got so much ability and so much talent, that when he's engaged, he impacts the game a lot of different ways."
Jackson-Davis leads IU in scoring (14.0 points), rebounding (7.9), blocks (35), shooting (62.2 percent) and more. He also has five double-doubles.
"We've got to get Trayce back to being himself," Miller said. "It starts with his every day habits. Continuing to work to get better.
"He's one of the best players in this league overall, not as a freshman. He's an important part to what we do. When you are, you have to be there, mind, body, mentality, the whole deal.
"It doesn't have to be scoring a bunch of points, but don't give yourself out of what you can't do or what you're not doing.
"He plays a big role, not because of the play that we call, but because of his winning attitude and his effort level and the things that he brings that I can't teach him."
Senior guard Devonte Green understands the challenges. He's had his own Big Ten struggles, including an 0-for-4, zero-point effort at Rutgers. You have to adapt, he said.
"It's all in game reads," Green said. "You have to read what your defender does and how he plays, and adapt to that."
Green offers suggestions during games, and outside of them.
"It's tough, especially as a freshman, when you get scouted and it shows on the court. I tell him, 'Don't force anything that's not there. It will come to you.'"
Miller met with Jackson-Davis on Thursday night to talk him through his struggles and to get him to understand he is, and will be, a top priority for opposing coaches.
"The bottom line is, players evolve as the season goes on. Sometimes they have ruts. But the best players find a way to bring it on the biggest nights. We need Trayce to bring it on the biggest night and for him, that will be Saturday. He's got to be aggressive.
"In our first game against Nebraska, he effort level, what he was able to do, didn't come from me. It came from his ability to play hard and run, play to win, be aggressive.
"He always plays to win. That's the great thing about him."
Then Miller delivered his final message:
"If you're going to settle, I'll stop playing you as many minutes."
Indiana (13-4 overall, 3-3 in the Big Ten) needs a not-settling Jackson-Davis. It also needs the Hoosiers to find their outside shooting form.
Their perimeter attack all but disappeared at Rutgers (2-for-19 beyond the arc), partly became the Scarlet Knights have one of the nation's best defenses (and the Big Ten's stingiest by allowing 58.8 points), partly because outside shooting remains a Hoosier Achilles heel (the 28.6 percent average is 13th in the 14-team Big Ten).
Shooting woes have surfaced against Big Ten defenses. The Hoosiers are, swingman Jerome Hunter said, working to end them.
"As we keep shooting every day, as we keep playing more games, they are going to start falling," he said.
The Hoosiers want to get the ball inside and draw fouls, but Big Ten defenses are geared to prevent that.
"Half-court offense is tough in this league," Miller said. "You have to be strong with it and able to make good plays. We've got to get better at that."
Good luck with that on the Big Ten road. Home teams dominate in bruising fashion, and while there isn't a superpower (Michigan State has the best ranking, at No. 15), there is plenty of high-quality parity.
"The Big Ten is the toughest league in the country to win on the road with the venues, the styles, the coaches, the teams," Miller said. "You're starting to see a really deep league that's playing for a lot."
Eleven Big Ten teams are in kenpom.com's top 40, which suggests the conference will have a strong NCAA tourney presence -- if they can survive the next two months.
"The teams that you're playing are really good ," Miller said. "They're really well coached. The environments that you go in in the Big Ten are second to none. They're as hard as it's going to get.
"So it's not as if you're running into a place that's kind of like sleepwalking. Every place is charged up.
"You have to really do a great job of taking care of the ball, and you're going to have to find a way to generate some points off your defense.
"But more importantly than anything on the road, you're going to have to find a way to stick a couple shots. I mean you got to make a couple shots on the road to deflate the run, to create some space, whatever it may be. You're going to have to find a couple shots that go down on the road or a guy just have one of those days every once in a while where he makes four or five and it really helps. "
The best Hoosier to do that is Green, who has 27 three-point baskets and shoots 37.5 percent from beyond the arc. Al Durham is next with 18 and 36.0 percent.
Nebraska prospects revolve around the three-point shot. It is under-sized in every game it plays, and the size it does have is young.
The result -- it gets out-rebounded by 10 boards a game.
The Cornhuskers have a pair of freshmen inside power players in 6-9, 260-pound Yvan Ouedraogo and 6-8, 240-pound Kevin Cross.???????
Ouedraogo averages 6.1 points and 6.3 rebounds. Cross averages 7.1 points and 4.2 rebounds.
They combined for 17 rebounds and 12 points in the first meeting.
Nebraska tries to make up for its size disadvantage with three-point shooting. Seven players have attempted at lead 45 three-pointers, and four have made at least 20. They've made 145 while shooting 33.6 percent beyond the arc.
Nebraska had 12 three-pointers during December's overtime loss to IU at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.
Junior Thorir Thorbjarnarson is the top deep threat. He ranks second in the Big Ten in accuracy, at 48 percent from three-point range, with a team-high 27 three-point baskets.
The Cornhuskers are led by 6-5 guard Haanif Cheatham, who averages 12.9 points and 4.2 rebounds. Guard Cam Mack averages 12.5 points and 4.7 rebounds. He also has a team-leading 114 assists. Guard Dachon Burke averages 11.7 points.
Eight players average at least 5.4 points.
In the first meeting, Burke had 25 points. Cheatham added 21.
"They are very dangerous," Miller said. "They are hard to guard.
"Mack is one of the more unsung point guards in college basketball. He's a blur off the bounce. He's a fantastic passer. When they are successful, he pretty much dominates the game."
IU is 0-3 in Big Ten road games, losing by 20, 16 and nine points. Nebraska is 5-4 at Pinnacle Bank Arena.
"At home, (Nebraska is) going to play with a lot more confidence," Miller said. "They have our attention. They have our ultimate respect."
IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Trayce Jackson-Davis will work through this slump. His Indiana teammates believe that. His coach expects it.
The freshman forward's nature is to push, not retreat; to battle and not concede.
Big Ten's bruising nature has hit hard, which is what happens to all players, even to hyper talented freshmen, as the 6-9, 245-pound Jackson-Davis is.
The conference learning curve left Jackson-Davis a non-factor at Rutgers (2-for-6 shooting, four points, six rebounds) and against Ohio State (1-for-3, six points, three rebounds). That reflected opponent scouting of him and Hoosier tendencies, and Indiana's continued lack of perimeter shooting that allows opponents to smother the inside.
It won't continue, of course. Jackson-Davis' upside is too great for that. He has, after all, won three Big Ten freshman-of-the-week awards. He rocked Northwestern for 21 points, seven blocks and two rebounds; just as he did Nebraska (25 points, 15 rebounds), Arkansas (20 points, 6), Florida State (15, 8) and others.
Could it change Saturday night, when Indiana (13-4 overall, 3-3 in the Big Ten) plays at Nebraska (7-10, 2-4)?
Jackson-Davis looms as the catalyst.
"At the end of the day," coach Archie Miller said, "he can't settle for anything other than his best. When he does that, he's going to be successful.
"We'll keep working to be better and he's got to continue to get better, but he's got so much ability and so much talent, that when he's engaged, he impacts the game a lot of different ways."
Jackson-Davis leads IU in scoring (14.0 points), rebounding (7.9), blocks (35), shooting (62.2 percent) and more. He also has five double-doubles.
"We've got to get Trayce back to being himself," Miller said. "It starts with his every day habits. Continuing to work to get better.
"He's one of the best players in this league overall, not as a freshman. He's an important part to what we do. When you are, you have to be there, mind, body, mentality, the whole deal.
"It doesn't have to be scoring a bunch of points, but don't give yourself out of what you can't do or what you're not doing.
"He plays a big role, not because of the play that we call, but because of his winning attitude and his effort level and the things that he brings that I can't teach him."
Senior guard Devonte Green understands the challenges. He's had his own Big Ten struggles, including an 0-for-4, zero-point effort at Rutgers. You have to adapt, he said.
"It's all in game reads," Green said. "You have to read what your defender does and how he plays, and adapt to that."
Green offers suggestions during games, and outside of them.
"It's tough, especially as a freshman, when you get scouted and it shows on the court. I tell him, 'Don't force anything that's not there. It will come to you.'"
Miller met with Jackson-Davis on Thursday night to talk him through his struggles and to get him to understand he is, and will be, a top priority for opposing coaches.
"The bottom line is, players evolve as the season goes on. Sometimes they have ruts. But the best players find a way to bring it on the biggest nights. We need Trayce to bring it on the biggest night and for him, that will be Saturday. He's got to be aggressive.
"In our first game against Nebraska, he effort level, what he was able to do, didn't come from me. It came from his ability to play hard and run, play to win, be aggressive.
"He always plays to win. That's the great thing about him."
Then Miller delivered his final message:
"If you're going to settle, I'll stop playing you as many minutes."
Indiana (13-4 overall, 3-3 in the Big Ten) needs a not-settling Jackson-Davis. It also needs the Hoosiers to find their outside shooting form.
Their perimeter attack all but disappeared at Rutgers (2-for-19 beyond the arc), partly became the Scarlet Knights have one of the nation's best defenses (and the Big Ten's stingiest by allowing 58.8 points), partly because outside shooting remains a Hoosier Achilles heel (the 28.6 percent average is 13th in the 14-team Big Ten).
Shooting woes have surfaced against Big Ten defenses. The Hoosiers are, swingman Jerome Hunter said, working to end them.
"As we keep shooting every day, as we keep playing more games, they are going to start falling," he said.
The Hoosiers want to get the ball inside and draw fouls, but Big Ten defenses are geared to prevent that.
"Half-court offense is tough in this league," Miller said. "You have to be strong with it and able to make good plays. We've got to get better at that."
Good luck with that on the Big Ten road. Home teams dominate in bruising fashion, and while there isn't a superpower (Michigan State has the best ranking, at No. 15), there is plenty of high-quality parity.
"The Big Ten is the toughest league in the country to win on the road with the venues, the styles, the coaches, the teams," Miller said. "You're starting to see a really deep league that's playing for a lot."
Eleven Big Ten teams are in kenpom.com's top 40, which suggests the conference will have a strong NCAA tourney presence -- if they can survive the next two months.
"The teams that you're playing are really good ," Miller said. "They're really well coached. The environments that you go in in the Big Ten are second to none. They're as hard as it's going to get.
"So it's not as if you're running into a place that's kind of like sleepwalking. Every place is charged up.
"You have to really do a great job of taking care of the ball, and you're going to have to find a way to generate some points off your defense.
"But more importantly than anything on the road, you're going to have to find a way to stick a couple shots. I mean you got to make a couple shots on the road to deflate the run, to create some space, whatever it may be. You're going to have to find a couple shots that go down on the road or a guy just have one of those days every once in a while where he makes four or five and it really helps. "
The best Hoosier to do that is Green, who has 27 three-point baskets and shoots 37.5 percent from beyond the arc. Al Durham is next with 18 and 36.0 percent.
Nebraska prospects revolve around the three-point shot. It is under-sized in every game it plays, and the size it does have is young.
The result -- it gets out-rebounded by 10 boards a game.
The Cornhuskers have a pair of freshmen inside power players in 6-9, 260-pound Yvan Ouedraogo and 6-8, 240-pound Kevin Cross.???????
Ouedraogo averages 6.1 points and 6.3 rebounds. Cross averages 7.1 points and 4.2 rebounds.
They combined for 17 rebounds and 12 points in the first meeting.
Nebraska tries to make up for its size disadvantage with three-point shooting. Seven players have attempted at lead 45 three-pointers, and four have made at least 20. They've made 145 while shooting 33.6 percent beyond the arc.
Nebraska had 12 three-pointers during December's overtime loss to IU at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.
Junior Thorir Thorbjarnarson is the top deep threat. He ranks second in the Big Ten in accuracy, at 48 percent from three-point range, with a team-high 27 three-point baskets.
The Cornhuskers are led by 6-5 guard Haanif Cheatham, who averages 12.9 points and 4.2 rebounds. Guard Cam Mack averages 12.5 points and 4.7 rebounds. He also has a team-leading 114 assists. Guard Dachon Burke averages 11.7 points.
Eight players average at least 5.4 points.
In the first meeting, Burke had 25 points. Cheatham added 21.
"They are very dangerous," Miller said. "They are hard to guard.
"Mack is one of the more unsung point guards in college basketball. He's a blur off the bounce. He's a fantastic passer. When they are successful, he pretty much dominates the game."
IU is 0-3 in Big Ten road games, losing by 20, 16 and nine points. Nebraska is 5-4 at Pinnacle Bank Arena.
"At home, (Nebraska is) going to play with a lot more confidence," Miller said. "They have our attention. They have our ultimate respect."
Players Mentioned
Guard
/ Men's Basketball
Forward
/ Men's Basketball
Forward
/ Men's BasketballFB: Isaiah Jones Media Availability (12/2/25)
Wednesday, December 03
FB: Roman Hemby Media Availability (12/2/25)
Wednesday, December 03
FB: Kaelon Black Media Availability (12/2/25)
Wednesday, December 03
MBB: Inside IU Basketball with Darian DeVries (12/1/25)
Monday, December 01