Keep Building – IU Remains in Big Ten Title Hunt

By Pete DiPrimio
IUHoosiers.com

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – It ain't over, this Big Ten title quest.

A week remains in the regular season and Indiana has a shot.

The same is true for a double bye in the upcoming Big Ten tourney.

Welcome to conference parity reality, where seven losses might earn a co-championship, which would be a Big Ten first.

The most losses for a regular season winner is six, which happened in 2020, when Maryland, Michigan State, and Wisconsin shared the title before the pandemic wiped out the postseason.

To share this title, the No. 15 Hoosiers (20-9 overall, 11-7 in the Big Ten) have to beat Iowa (18-11, 10-8) on Tuesday night and Michigan (17-12, 11-7) on Sunday. Both games are at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall, where Indiana is 14-1.

Then, No. 5 Purdue (24-5, 13-5) has to lose to Wisconsin on the road and to Illinois at home.

A cynic might focus on the improbability of all of that happening, but after what happened at Mackey Arena on Saturday, who needs cynicism?

Indiana is tied for second in the Big Ten with Michigan, Northwestern, and Maryland. The top four seeds get the conference tourney double bye and don't play until Friday, March 10.

The Hoosiers are a Big Ten-best 10-3 since their three-game losing streak in early January. They have adjusted to the loss of point guard Xavier Johnson to foot surgery, and of forward Race Thompson missing five games with a knee injury.

In forward Trayce Jackson-Davis and guard Jalen Hood-Schifino, they have potentially the Big Ten's most formidable inside-outside combo.

Hood-Schifino's 35-point Purdue performance was elite. It followed games of 21, 13, 13, and 16 points. He's also had 33- and 24-point games. Overall, he averages 13.6 points, but it's 15.4 in Big Ten play, along with 3.9 assists.

Beyond that, in five wins over ranked opponents, Hood-Schifino averages 17.6 points, 4.2 rebounds and 3.0 assists while shooting 56.5% from the field, and 90.0% from the line.

His play against the Boilers and Michigan State (averages of 25.5 points, 5.0 rebounds and 1.0 steals) earned him Big Ten player and freshman of the week honors. He's the first player to do that since Illinois' Kofi Cockburn in 2019. He also was named conference freshman of the week for the fourth time. Only Cody Zeller (seven), Noah Vonleh (seven) and Jackson-Davis (five) have won more at IU.

As far as running the offense, Hood-Schifino's assist-to-turnover ratio of 101-to-77 is good, but not at the 2-to-1 or better coaches want from their point guards. He's a freshman in a league and a position where experience rules, which is why coach Mike Woodson emphasizes Hood-Schifino is not yet the player he will be.

"He still has holes," Woodson says. "As he matures, he'll figure it out."

Then there's junior guard Trey Galloway, the Big Ten's most accurate 3-point shooter at 52.3% in conference games. He's made three 3-pointers in each of his last two games, scoring 11 and 13 points. He averages 7.3 points and has 51 assists and 18 turnovers, by far IU's best.

That doesn't count all the floor burns from diving for loose balls and overall full-throttle effort.

"He's always pressuring the ball," Jackson-Davis says. "We call him crazy man for a reason. He does all the little things. He's on the floor. He goes 110%. That's what we need from him."

Adds Hood-Schifino: "He's stepped up big on the defensive end as well as on offense. It's the energy he brings. He plays aggressive."

Woodson expects nothing less.

"He's been solid. He plays hard. He has a nice basketball sense. I'm happy with how he's played."

Jackson-Davis is coming off a sub-par -- for him -- performance at Purdue with 10 points, eight rebounds, and seven assists. He's fine with switching to a facilitator role when necessary.

"They threw the double team at me," he says. "I try to impact the game at different levels. Do the little things to help my team win."

Adds Woodson: "He stayed in the game mentally. A lot of great players, when they struggle, start complaining. He knew what was happening. He filled in nicely in the second half and helped us secure the win."

On Saturday, IU did to Purdue what the Boilers seek to do to others:

Dominate the first five minutes of the second half.

"They came out with more energy," Boiler forward Caleb Furst said. "We try to do that. We didn't do it."

Or, as Purdue center Zach Edey put it, "They made shots. We didn't."

For Woodson, it came down to effort and defense.

"We got stops and were making shots. That's a deadly combination."

The Hoosiers seek the same combination against Iowa, which arrives off a stunning rally to beat Michigan State 112-106 in overtime at Carver Hawkeye Arena. It made six 3-pointers in the final 90 seconds -- and four in the last 32 seconds -- to overcome a 13-point deficit, force overtime, and win.

Forward Kris Murray had 26 points. Guard Tony Perkins had 24 points. Guard Payton Sandfort made six 3-pointers for 22 points.

Murray leads Iowa in scoring (20.2 points) and rebounds (8.0), as well as in 3-point baskets (53).

Forward Filip Rebraca averages 13.9 points and 7.6 rebounds. Perkins is at 12.2 and 3.8. Sandfort averages 10.0 points with 49 3-pointers.

As for IU, sustaining the momentum from the Purdue victory -- its first sweep over the Boilers since 2013 -- would give it a title-and-double-bye chance.

"Purdue has a great team," Jackson-Davis says, "and we found a way and did something that hasn't been done in a long time. We have to keep building off of it."

Keep Building – IU Remains in Big Ten Title Hunt

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Players Mentioned

Trey Galloway

Jalen Hood-Schifino

Trayce Jackson-Davis

Xavier Johnson

Race Thompson