Indiana University Athletics
Young Bigs and Poised Play Key to Win at Minnesota
2/21/2020 2:21:00 PM | Men's Basketball
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Indiana head coach Archie Miller was very clear about what he expected from freshman Trayce Jackson-Davis when the Hoosiers traveled to Minnesota to take on the Golden Gophers Wednesday night.
"I told him after we got home from Michigan, 'You can't be the best player on any given night and, for whatever reason, you don't feel like traveling with us. You don't have to travel with us to Minnesota.' " said Miller, referencing Jackson-Davis' less-than-stellar outing vs. Michigan last weekend. "He's my guy, and tonight, he delivered."
Jackson-Davis scored a career-high 27 points on 11-of-15 shooting to go with a career-high 16 rebounds in a critical 68-56 win in Minneapolis. Indiana rallied from a 10-point first-half deficit and outscored Minnesota 40-25 in the second half to cruise to its second road victory of the season.
It was a big win. Following a lackluster performance at Michigan over the weekend, Indiana needed to bounce back with a road win that could bolster the team's NCAA Tournament resume. Jackson-Davis gave Indiana a focal point, and his work was by design.
"Our main focus tonight was to get Trayce going early," Miller said. "He's so important to our team, and he responded with a great performance."
But Jackson-Davis didn't do it alone. He also got plenty of help inside from redshirt sophomore Race Thompson. Thompson, a Minnesota native, played 25 minutes off the bench and scored nine points to go with 10 rebounds, and he played fantastic defense. A lot of his work didn't show up in the box score, and as he has gained experience, Thompson has become a key cog to the Hoosiers' success.
"Race is a blue-collar guy," Miller said. "He players hard, and he's our most physical guy in terms of being able to put his body in front of people. You saw three or four times around the basket, he's just in the right position. He walls up. He keeps his arms straight and doesn't foul. Per minute, he's a great rebounder for us."
Jackson-Davis and Thompson combined to go 14-of-21 from the field, and although Jackson-Davis was the focus of the offense, neither player could have been nearly as successful without the Hoosiers' guards doing a great job of feeding the post. Guards Aljami Durham, Rob Phinisee, and Devonte Green handed out 12 of IU's 15 assists—on 24 made baskets, an impressive ratio in its own right—and the fact IU was able to dictate the game in the halfcourt allowed the Hoosiers to play to their strengths and follow Miller's game plan.
"We didn't freelance as much tonight," Miller said. "We didn't let our transition game start to take over where a lot of guys were handling the ball. I thought we controlled it for the most part in that our guards did a really good job of keeping things under control. If you look at our assists, we had 15 assists vs. 10 (turnovers) on the road, that was big. Getting (Jackson-Davis) more involved with touches was big, but he had to do his part, too."
The result was a more poised Indiana team away from home. For a ballclub that came into the game with just one win in six trips away from Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall, simply playing under control was critical. Even when IU fell behind 23-13 midway through the first half, the Hoosiers didn't go into panic mode. The team fell into that trap on road games at Wisconsin, Ohio State, Penn State, and Michigan, but when Indiana found itself on the brink of another road struggle, the team pulled together and kept a cool head.
"We slowed down," Miller said. "We weren't as reckless with the ball. Sometimes in transition, that's what really gets us. We're sort of driving a care on a wet road. The conditions have been a little bit too slick, and we're driving too fast. The next thing you know, the game gets away from us. Tonight, we were much more under control, and I thought part of being under control is our guards were really strong. We executed, we got the ball where we wanted to, and that's all we could ask."
Indiana's victory gave IU two wins in its last three outings, and it will face a challenge when Penn State comes to Bloomington Sunday afternoon. The Nittany Lions have been strong this season but are coming off a loss to Illinois, which means the Hoosiers better be focused if they're going to avenge a Jan. 29 loss.
With the season drawing to a close, Miller and the Hoosiers hope they can bottle the success they found away from home and use the win as a springboard into late February and early March.
"At this time of the year, you have to be numb (to fatigue)," Miller said. "We have, obviously, a really, really good Penn State team, and home opportunities are the ones you want to get. There's so few of them left, so we have to be ready to go on Sunday."
"I told him after we got home from Michigan, 'You can't be the best player on any given night and, for whatever reason, you don't feel like traveling with us. You don't have to travel with us to Minnesota.' " said Miller, referencing Jackson-Davis' less-than-stellar outing vs. Michigan last weekend. "He's my guy, and tonight, he delivered."
Jackson-Davis scored a career-high 27 points on 11-of-15 shooting to go with a career-high 16 rebounds in a critical 68-56 win in Minneapolis. Indiana rallied from a 10-point first-half deficit and outscored Minnesota 40-25 in the second half to cruise to its second road victory of the season.
It was a big win. Following a lackluster performance at Michigan over the weekend, Indiana needed to bounce back with a road win that could bolster the team's NCAA Tournament resume. Jackson-Davis gave Indiana a focal point, and his work was by design.
"Our main focus tonight was to get Trayce going early," Miller said. "He's so important to our team, and he responded with a great performance."
But Jackson-Davis didn't do it alone. He also got plenty of help inside from redshirt sophomore Race Thompson. Thompson, a Minnesota native, played 25 minutes off the bench and scored nine points to go with 10 rebounds, and he played fantastic defense. A lot of his work didn't show up in the box score, and as he has gained experience, Thompson has become a key cog to the Hoosiers' success.
"Race is a blue-collar guy," Miller said. "He players hard, and he's our most physical guy in terms of being able to put his body in front of people. You saw three or four times around the basket, he's just in the right position. He walls up. He keeps his arms straight and doesn't foul. Per minute, he's a great rebounder for us."
Jackson-Davis and Thompson combined to go 14-of-21 from the field, and although Jackson-Davis was the focus of the offense, neither player could have been nearly as successful without the Hoosiers' guards doing a great job of feeding the post. Guards Aljami Durham, Rob Phinisee, and Devonte Green handed out 12 of IU's 15 assists—on 24 made baskets, an impressive ratio in its own right—and the fact IU was able to dictate the game in the halfcourt allowed the Hoosiers to play to their strengths and follow Miller's game plan.
"We didn't freelance as much tonight," Miller said. "We didn't let our transition game start to take over where a lot of guys were handling the ball. I thought we controlled it for the most part in that our guards did a really good job of keeping things under control. If you look at our assists, we had 15 assists vs. 10 (turnovers) on the road, that was big. Getting (Jackson-Davis) more involved with touches was big, but he had to do his part, too."
The result was a more poised Indiana team away from home. For a ballclub that came into the game with just one win in six trips away from Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall, simply playing under control was critical. Even when IU fell behind 23-13 midway through the first half, the Hoosiers didn't go into panic mode. The team fell into that trap on road games at Wisconsin, Ohio State, Penn State, and Michigan, but when Indiana found itself on the brink of another road struggle, the team pulled together and kept a cool head.
"We slowed down," Miller said. "We weren't as reckless with the ball. Sometimes in transition, that's what really gets us. We're sort of driving a care on a wet road. The conditions have been a little bit too slick, and we're driving too fast. The next thing you know, the game gets away from us. Tonight, we were much more under control, and I thought part of being under control is our guards were really strong. We executed, we got the ball where we wanted to, and that's all we could ask."
Indiana's victory gave IU two wins in its last three outings, and it will face a challenge when Penn State comes to Bloomington Sunday afternoon. The Nittany Lions have been strong this season but are coming off a loss to Illinois, which means the Hoosiers better be focused if they're going to avenge a Jan. 29 loss.
With the season drawing to a close, Miller and the Hoosiers hope they can bottle the success they found away from home and use the win as a springboard into late February and early March.
"At this time of the year, you have to be numb (to fatigue)," Miller said. "We have, obviously, a really, really good Penn State team, and home opportunities are the ones you want to get. There's so few of them left, so we have to be ready to go on Sunday."
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