Indiana University Athletics
‘Sky’s the Limit’ – Jackson-Davis has Winning on His Mind
10/24/2022 9:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
By Pete DiPrimio
IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Trayce Jackson-Davis dares to lead. Not everyone does. Not everyone wants the burden. Not everyone has the game to deserve the burden. Doing so means saying hard truths, making clutch plays, blasting past comfort zones.
And, sometimes, nasty dunking.
Let's explain.
Miller Kopp contemplates Jackson-Davis' leadership style. The senior forward has all the All-American and Big Ten accolades. He has individual numbers that by March will put him among the most elite of Hoosier elites, huge for such a tradition-rich program.
But difference-making leadership goes deeper than that. It produces a championship, which is glaringly missing from Jackson-Davis' resume.
He is aware.
Sports truth says title-winning teams are, in the end, player led. Coaches have immense roles, but players are the ones getting it done. The best players deliver word-and-deed examples.
Jackson-Davis dares to lead, and Kopp, a senior forward, offers this example.
Flash back eight months or so. IU is in the midst of a grueling late-season run that will lead to its first NCAA tourney berth since 2016. But at this point, nothing is guaranteed except fatigue and pain.
"We were going through a stretch of tough games, road games, traveling a lot," Kopp says. "Practicing is tough. There was still a lot ahead. We'd played so much our bodies and minds were feeling it."
Only the toughest can handle it, and Jackson-Davis delivers a message no one missed.
"We had an early morning practice after a game," Kopp says.
"Everybody is feeling it. It was during one of our drills. Every time Trayce was near the rim, instead of laying it up, he would dunk. Not just dunk, it was like it was his first time ever dunking. He was dunking it and his head was at the rim. He would do a spin and windmill it, then windmill it again. He'd dunk as hard as I've ever seen him. He was trying to break the rim."
Every Hoosier watches. It makes an impression without explanation.
"I don't know why he was doing it," Kopp says. "Maybe he was feeling extra athletic. I think it was to show, without saying it, that there is no excuse to feel tired or sorry for ourselves that we had played like three games in seven days, and have three more in the next eight.
"It was like, Geez oh man, my legs feel like jello and this guy's head is at the rim every 5 seconds."
Motivating?
Absolutely.
Daring to lead?
In a season rich in title potential, that's what it's all about.
*****
Jackson-Davis arrived after an Indiana Mr. Basketball career at Center Grove High School with one-and-done expectations. Most five-star high school prospects aim for a quick transition to the NBA. It's almost perceived a failure if they stay in school rather than enter the NBA Draft.
It's not, of course. Not everyone is LeBron James, who likely was NBA ready at age 16. It takes time to develop the skills, the strength, the maturity.
Jackson-Davis was great as a freshman, but he wasn't NBA ready. He was great as a sophomore and junior, but wasn't NBA ready.
Last spring, like most elite players, Jackson-Davis entered the NBA draft to get a sense of what teams thought of him, where he might get drafted and what he needed to improve.
He worked out for scouts and agents, but missed the NBA Combine because of Covid-19, and decided to stay for a fourth and final college season.
For this, Hoosier Nation gave thanks.
"It puts us in a better place," coach Mike Woodson says.
Woodson, an NBA success as a player and a coach, was a big reason Jackson-Davis stayed.
"I think just trusting his process and doing a little bit more out on the floor is going to be huge for me," Jackson-Davis says.
NBA workouts were enlightening.
"It was shooting from everywhere, whether it be threes, twos, free throws," Jackson-Davis says. "It was all an emphasis on shooting, off the drive, off the catch. It was every day for two straight months of just shooting. That's what the scouts said they wanted to see, so that's what I did."
The left-handed Jackson-Davis has an elite inside offensive game, but prospects for NBA success depend on his outside shooting. He doesn't have to be a Steph Curry-type three-point shooter, but he does need to be a threat from there, and anywhere beyond 15 feet.
Woodson says he wants Jackson-Davis to develop a perimeter game. Jackson-Davis has only taken three three-point shots in his college career, and made none, but he has shown the ability in practice and in high school.
"He's really put a lot of work shooting the mid-range, the three-point shot," Woodson says. "I've never told him not to shoot it. In the game, he's got to figure out when is the right time to take it."
Previous outside shooting reluctance came, Jackson-Davis says, because of IU's inside needs. That's changed with the arrival of heralded 6-9 freshman Malik Reneau and the development of 6-10 sophomore Logan Duncomb.
"Now that we've got players like Malik and Logan, who's coming along really strong," Jackson-Davis says, "I'll be playing a lot more (outside) and showcase my abilities from three.
"With our offense, everything is interchangeable. It's going to be good for us. We're more spread out and more people are going to do more things."
Meanwhile, Jackson-Davis continues to work.
"It's all about repetitions. I'm getting a lot of shots up in scrimmages and practice, so those are going to translate to game shots."
*****
Legacy beckons and Jackson-Davis embraces it.
He will rate among IU's best-ever players, although where depends on perspective and the one defining achievement that eclipses all others:
Championships.
At the moment, Jackson-Davis doesn't have any, although that could change this season. The Hoosiers are Big Ten favorites with a No. 13 national preseason ranking. They have talent and depth not seen since Cody Zeller and Victor Oladipo led the Cream 'n Crimson way a decade earlier.
Jackson-Davis will finish among IU's career leaders in scoring (he currently has 1,588), rebounding (797) and blocked shots (178). His 16.9-point career scoring average ranks 19th in school history. His career 55.8 shooting percentage ranks seventh.
Jackson-Davis and Alan Henderson are the only Hoosiers with more than 1,500 points, 750 rebounds and 150 blocks.
And yet …
Jackson-Davis, the preseason Big Ten player of the year, has made multiple preseason All-America lists. He was a third-team All-America as a sophomore, and generated all-conference acclaim in each of his first three years.
Last season, he averaged 18.3 points, 8.1 rebounds and 58.9 percent shooting while sharing the Big Ten lead with 81 blocks. He has 32 career double-doubles and two 30-point, 10-rebound games.
"He's a workhorse for us," Woodson says. "He does a lot of things. He blocks shots, he rebounds, he pushes the ball on the break. He's a great passer out of the double-team."
And yet … IU hasn't had a winning Big Ten record since 2016, when it won the conference title with a 15-3 mark. It didn't win more than nine conference games during Jackson-Davis' first three seasons.
Ask him about his legacy and it comes down to one word:
Winning.
"I think I have set the stone of my individual legacy, being an All-American and doing all those things, but those don't really matter if you don't win something here.
"Winning is a big thing here, so winning a national championship and a Big Ten tile are my two main goals. If I do that, everything else will take care of itself."
*****
How does Jackson-Davis compare to previous Cream 'n Crimson standouts?
Let's take a look.
No Hoosier was better for a single season than All-America forward George McGinnis, whose 29.9-point scoring average is the program record. He also averaged 14.7 rebounds, and led the Big Ten in both categories for the 1970-71 season, the year before Bob Knight arrived to forever alter the Big Ten.
Standout four-year players include Calbert Cheaney, the Big Ten's career scoring leader with 2,613 points; Alan Henderson, the IU rebounding record holder (1,091) while blocking 213 shots and scoring 1,979 points; Steve Alford (2,438 points, 178 steals, 385 assists); Don Schlundt (2,192 points, 23.3-point career scoring average) and Yogi Ferrell (1,986 points, school-record 633 assists and 114 steals).
Walt Bellamy was a ridiculously good rebounder, getting as many as 33 in a game, averaging 17.8 as a senior in 1961 and 15.5 for his career along with a 20.6 scoring average.
Archie Dees averaged 22.7 points and 13.4 rebounds over three dominant seasons in the 1950s.
Jeff Newton's 227 career blocks are the program record, 14 more than Henderson.
Alford has a national championship -- and perhaps college basketball's best jump shot -- on his resume. So do Schlundt, Isiah Thomas, Scott May and Bobby Leonard.
Cheaney and Henderson never won a national title, but did claim a couple of Big Ten championships, and reached the 1992 Final Four.
But we digress.
Woodson was an IU All-America and Big Ten MVP. He's one of five Hoosier 2,000-point scorers (Jackson-Davis could be the sixth). He understands, perhaps better than anyone, how good Jackson-Davis is, how much better be can be and where he might wind up among Hoosier greats.
"The sky's the limit for him. I'm trying to push him in the right direction."
*****
Jackson-Davis took a huge step during last March's Big Ten tourney in Indianapolis. The Hoosiers beat Michigan and Illinois, teams that had handled them during the regular season. Jackson-Davis had never beaten Michigan, and had been dominated in his last game against 7-foot Illini center Kofi Cockburn.
During IU's three-game run to the semifinals, he averaged 25.3 points and 8.3 rebounds while shooting 66.7 percent from the field.
Against Illinois, he had 21 points on 9-for-13 shooting and seven rebounds. Against Michigan, he had 24 points, eight rebounds and for blocks.
"The biggest thing for me was confidence," he says. "After the Michigan game, my confidence was at an all-time high. Then Coach talked to me and said, Kofi has had your number. It's time to give it back to him."
Jackson-Davis did. He scored on Cockburn to open the game and finished with 21 points on 9-for-13 shooting and seven rebounds.
"It was a battle through the game," Jackson-Davis says, "and then I got the upper hand."
The Hoosiers hope to extend that upper hand to this season. Much of their prospects depend on their elite freshman class of Reneu, Jalen Hood-Schifino, CJ Gunn and Kaleb Banks. Jackson-Davis has a big role in their development.
"It's a hard adjustment sometimes as a freshman," he says, "but I know they're going to do great things here. I can't wait to watch them succeed."
Under Woodson, the Hoosiers have become a fierce defensive team. Last season, KenPom rated their defense the Big Ten's most efficient (24th nationally). They held opponents to a conference-low 39.6 percent shooting.
Jackson-Davis, with his shot-blocking prowess, is a big part of that.
Woodson calls Jackson-Davis the "missing piece, the major piece," to a potential title team.
"I've got to get him to the next level, to the point where if we handle our business in terms of winning, everything else will take care of itself."
Jackson-Davis dares to lead, and it includes accountability for all.
"I know our guys are going to do the right thing. We're going to be locked in because we have big aspirations and goals."
After exhibitions against Marian University (this Saturday) and St. Francis (Nov. 3), those goals start for real with the Nov. 7 season opener against Morehead State.
"Our team is hungry," Jackson-Davis says. "We're ready to play."
IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Trayce Jackson-Davis dares to lead. Not everyone does. Not everyone wants the burden. Not everyone has the game to deserve the burden. Doing so means saying hard truths, making clutch plays, blasting past comfort zones.
And, sometimes, nasty dunking.
Let's explain.
Miller Kopp contemplates Jackson-Davis' leadership style. The senior forward has all the All-American and Big Ten accolades. He has individual numbers that by March will put him among the most elite of Hoosier elites, huge for such a tradition-rich program.
But difference-making leadership goes deeper than that. It produces a championship, which is glaringly missing from Jackson-Davis' resume.
He is aware.
Sports truth says title-winning teams are, in the end, player led. Coaches have immense roles, but players are the ones getting it done. The best players deliver word-and-deed examples.
Jackson-Davis dares to lead, and Kopp, a senior forward, offers this example.
Flash back eight months or so. IU is in the midst of a grueling late-season run that will lead to its first NCAA tourney berth since 2016. But at this point, nothing is guaranteed except fatigue and pain.
"We were going through a stretch of tough games, road games, traveling a lot," Kopp says. "Practicing is tough. There was still a lot ahead. We'd played so much our bodies and minds were feeling it."
Only the toughest can handle it, and Jackson-Davis delivers a message no one missed.
"We had an early morning practice after a game," Kopp says.
"Everybody is feeling it. It was during one of our drills. Every time Trayce was near the rim, instead of laying it up, he would dunk. Not just dunk, it was like it was his first time ever dunking. He was dunking it and his head was at the rim. He would do a spin and windmill it, then windmill it again. He'd dunk as hard as I've ever seen him. He was trying to break the rim."
Every Hoosier watches. It makes an impression without explanation.
"I don't know why he was doing it," Kopp says. "Maybe he was feeling extra athletic. I think it was to show, without saying it, that there is no excuse to feel tired or sorry for ourselves that we had played like three games in seven days, and have three more in the next eight.
"It was like, Geez oh man, my legs feel like jello and this guy's head is at the rim every 5 seconds."
Motivating?
Absolutely.
Daring to lead?
In a season rich in title potential, that's what it's all about.
*****
Jackson-Davis arrived after an Indiana Mr. Basketball career at Center Grove High School with one-and-done expectations. Most five-star high school prospects aim for a quick transition to the NBA. It's almost perceived a failure if they stay in school rather than enter the NBA Draft.
It's not, of course. Not everyone is LeBron James, who likely was NBA ready at age 16. It takes time to develop the skills, the strength, the maturity.
Jackson-Davis was great as a freshman, but he wasn't NBA ready. He was great as a sophomore and junior, but wasn't NBA ready.
Last spring, like most elite players, Jackson-Davis entered the NBA draft to get a sense of what teams thought of him, where he might get drafted and what he needed to improve.
He worked out for scouts and agents, but missed the NBA Combine because of Covid-19, and decided to stay for a fourth and final college season.
For this, Hoosier Nation gave thanks.
"It puts us in a better place," coach Mike Woodson says.
Woodson, an NBA success as a player and a coach, was a big reason Jackson-Davis stayed.
"I think just trusting his process and doing a little bit more out on the floor is going to be huge for me," Jackson-Davis says.
NBA workouts were enlightening.
"It was shooting from everywhere, whether it be threes, twos, free throws," Jackson-Davis says. "It was all an emphasis on shooting, off the drive, off the catch. It was every day for two straight months of just shooting. That's what the scouts said they wanted to see, so that's what I did."
The left-handed Jackson-Davis has an elite inside offensive game, but prospects for NBA success depend on his outside shooting. He doesn't have to be a Steph Curry-type three-point shooter, but he does need to be a threat from there, and anywhere beyond 15 feet.
Woodson says he wants Jackson-Davis to develop a perimeter game. Jackson-Davis has only taken three three-point shots in his college career, and made none, but he has shown the ability in practice and in high school.
"He's really put a lot of work shooting the mid-range, the three-point shot," Woodson says. "I've never told him not to shoot it. In the game, he's got to figure out when is the right time to take it."
Previous outside shooting reluctance came, Jackson-Davis says, because of IU's inside needs. That's changed with the arrival of heralded 6-9 freshman Malik Reneau and the development of 6-10 sophomore Logan Duncomb.
"Now that we've got players like Malik and Logan, who's coming along really strong," Jackson-Davis says, "I'll be playing a lot more (outside) and showcase my abilities from three.
"With our offense, everything is interchangeable. It's going to be good for us. We're more spread out and more people are going to do more things."
Meanwhile, Jackson-Davis continues to work.
"It's all about repetitions. I'm getting a lot of shots up in scrimmages and practice, so those are going to translate to game shots."
*****
Legacy beckons and Jackson-Davis embraces it.
He will rate among IU's best-ever players, although where depends on perspective and the one defining achievement that eclipses all others:
Championships.
At the moment, Jackson-Davis doesn't have any, although that could change this season. The Hoosiers are Big Ten favorites with a No. 13 national preseason ranking. They have talent and depth not seen since Cody Zeller and Victor Oladipo led the Cream 'n Crimson way a decade earlier.
Jackson-Davis will finish among IU's career leaders in scoring (he currently has 1,588), rebounding (797) and blocked shots (178). His 16.9-point career scoring average ranks 19th in school history. His career 55.8 shooting percentage ranks seventh.
Jackson-Davis and Alan Henderson are the only Hoosiers with more than 1,500 points, 750 rebounds and 150 blocks.
And yet …
Jackson-Davis, the preseason Big Ten player of the year, has made multiple preseason All-America lists. He was a third-team All-America as a sophomore, and generated all-conference acclaim in each of his first three years.
Last season, he averaged 18.3 points, 8.1 rebounds and 58.9 percent shooting while sharing the Big Ten lead with 81 blocks. He has 32 career double-doubles and two 30-point, 10-rebound games.
"He's a workhorse for us," Woodson says. "He does a lot of things. He blocks shots, he rebounds, he pushes the ball on the break. He's a great passer out of the double-team."
And yet … IU hasn't had a winning Big Ten record since 2016, when it won the conference title with a 15-3 mark. It didn't win more than nine conference games during Jackson-Davis' first three seasons.
Ask him about his legacy and it comes down to one word:
Winning.
"I think I have set the stone of my individual legacy, being an All-American and doing all those things, but those don't really matter if you don't win something here.
"Winning is a big thing here, so winning a national championship and a Big Ten tile are my two main goals. If I do that, everything else will take care of itself."
*****
How does Jackson-Davis compare to previous Cream 'n Crimson standouts?
Let's take a look.
No Hoosier was better for a single season than All-America forward George McGinnis, whose 29.9-point scoring average is the program record. He also averaged 14.7 rebounds, and led the Big Ten in both categories for the 1970-71 season, the year before Bob Knight arrived to forever alter the Big Ten.
Standout four-year players include Calbert Cheaney, the Big Ten's career scoring leader with 2,613 points; Alan Henderson, the IU rebounding record holder (1,091) while blocking 213 shots and scoring 1,979 points; Steve Alford (2,438 points, 178 steals, 385 assists); Don Schlundt (2,192 points, 23.3-point career scoring average) and Yogi Ferrell (1,986 points, school-record 633 assists and 114 steals).
Walt Bellamy was a ridiculously good rebounder, getting as many as 33 in a game, averaging 17.8 as a senior in 1961 and 15.5 for his career along with a 20.6 scoring average.
Archie Dees averaged 22.7 points and 13.4 rebounds over three dominant seasons in the 1950s.
Jeff Newton's 227 career blocks are the program record, 14 more than Henderson.
Alford has a national championship -- and perhaps college basketball's best jump shot -- on his resume. So do Schlundt, Isiah Thomas, Scott May and Bobby Leonard.
Cheaney and Henderson never won a national title, but did claim a couple of Big Ten championships, and reached the 1992 Final Four.
But we digress.
Woodson was an IU All-America and Big Ten MVP. He's one of five Hoosier 2,000-point scorers (Jackson-Davis could be the sixth). He understands, perhaps better than anyone, how good Jackson-Davis is, how much better be can be and where he might wind up among Hoosier greats.
"The sky's the limit for him. I'm trying to push him in the right direction."
*****
Jackson-Davis took a huge step during last March's Big Ten tourney in Indianapolis. The Hoosiers beat Michigan and Illinois, teams that had handled them during the regular season. Jackson-Davis had never beaten Michigan, and had been dominated in his last game against 7-foot Illini center Kofi Cockburn.
During IU's three-game run to the semifinals, he averaged 25.3 points and 8.3 rebounds while shooting 66.7 percent from the field.
Against Illinois, he had 21 points on 9-for-13 shooting and seven rebounds. Against Michigan, he had 24 points, eight rebounds and for blocks.
"The biggest thing for me was confidence," he says. "After the Michigan game, my confidence was at an all-time high. Then Coach talked to me and said, Kofi has had your number. It's time to give it back to him."
Jackson-Davis did. He scored on Cockburn to open the game and finished with 21 points on 9-for-13 shooting and seven rebounds.
"It was a battle through the game," Jackson-Davis says, "and then I got the upper hand."
The Hoosiers hope to extend that upper hand to this season. Much of their prospects depend on their elite freshman class of Reneu, Jalen Hood-Schifino, CJ Gunn and Kaleb Banks. Jackson-Davis has a big role in their development.
"It's a hard adjustment sometimes as a freshman," he says, "but I know they're going to do great things here. I can't wait to watch them succeed."
Under Woodson, the Hoosiers have become a fierce defensive team. Last season, KenPom rated their defense the Big Ten's most efficient (24th nationally). They held opponents to a conference-low 39.6 percent shooting.
Jackson-Davis, with his shot-blocking prowess, is a big part of that.
Woodson calls Jackson-Davis the "missing piece, the major piece," to a potential title team.
"I've got to get him to the next level, to the point where if we handle our business in terms of winning, everything else will take care of itself."
Jackson-Davis dares to lead, and it includes accountability for all.
"I know our guys are going to do the right thing. We're going to be locked in because we have big aspirations and goals."
After exhibitions against Marian University (this Saturday) and St. Francis (Nov. 3), those goals start for real with the Nov. 7 season opener against Morehead State.
"Our team is hungry," Jackson-Davis says. "We're ready to play."
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