Indiana University Athletics
Indiana University
Illinois
NOTES: IU Visits No. 18 Illinois on Saturday
12/25/2020 10:33:00 PM | Men's Basketball
OPENING TIP
Indiana University is in its 121st season of competition in men's basketball and opens the doors of Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall for the 50th season. The Hoosiers will visit No. 18 Illinois in their Big
Ten road opener. IU and North Carolina will be the only Power 5 teams to play at least 5 of their 7 non-conference home games on an away or neutral court. IU is coming off a 74-67 loss at home to Northwestern in their Big Ten season opener. IU is rated 11th by KenPom in adjusted defense, 22nd overall and 47th in strength of schedule, which is the highest rated in the Big Ten. IU last played on December 26 in 1986 when they played Princeton in the Indiana Classic.
GAME INFORMATION
Saturday, Dec. 26 • 4 p.m. ET
State Farm Center • Champaign, Ill.
TV: FS1 (Brandon Gaudin and Stephen Bardo)
Radio: IU Radio Network (Don Fischer, Errek Suhr, Joe Smith) | TuneIn
Series History: Indiana leads, 93-88
Last Meeting: at ILL 67, IU 66; 3/1/20
THE COACHES
Indiana Coach Archie Miller is in his fourth season of guiding the Cream and Crimson and is 60-46 with the Hoosiers. He is 199-109 in nine+ years as a head coach, which includes six years at the University of Dayton. His Flyer teams made NCAA Tournament appearances in each of his last four seasons, including a trip to the Elite Eight in 2014. Illinois' Brad Underwood is in his fourth year and is 53-52 with the Illini.
JACKSON-DAVIS STARTS SEASON STRONG
Sophomore forward Trayce Jackson-Davis was named All-Tournament at the Maui Invitational and Big Ten Player of the Week (Dec. 7) and is averaging 21.0 points and 8.6 rebounds while shooting 53.8% from the field. His most dominant performance was a 25-point, 17-rebound effort at Florida State. He had a career-high 31 points in the win over Stanford in the 3rd place game at Maui. He is a Preseason All-Big Ten pick and has been named to several Preseason All-American teams and is on the watch lists for the Wooden, Naismith and Malone Awards. Last year, he was named third team All-Big Ten and was selected to the All-Freshman team. He had 12 double-doubles, the most since D.J. White had 20 in 2007-08. Davis, a Greenwood native and a graduate of Center Grove, was just one of four freshman nationally a year ago to lead his team in scoring, rebounds, FG percentage, FT made and FT attempted and blocked shots. The Hoosiers are 12-2 when he records a double-double. He is averaging 22.8 points and 9.4 rebounds in his last 5 games. He is the only Hoosier in the last 25 years to have 3 games of 25 points and 15 rebounds (at Minnesota, Nebraska). He is 2nd in the B1G in FTs made (53) and 1st in attempts (75). He had 21 points, 8 boards and a career-high 5 blocks against Butler and 22 points and 9 caroms against Northwestern.
ARMAAN'S HOT
Sophomore Armaan Franklin is averaging 18.3 points and is shooting 60.0% from long distance in the last 3 games.. He followed up his career-high 19-point performance against North Alabama with a 20-point effort against Butler. He hit 5 of 7 3-pointers and added 3 assists and two steals. In the last two games, he is averaging 19.5 points and 4 assists. He has hit 10 of 14 triples (71.4) in that time frame. He had 16 against Northwestern.
QUICK HITS
IU returns seven of its top nine scorers, including four starters. Last year, IU was on the brink of earning its first NCAA Tournament berth since 2016 before the COVID-19 pandemic halted post season play after one game. The Hoosiers finished the season with a 20-12 record.
