Indiana's Trayce Jackson-Davis and Xavier Johnson Said 'Coach Woodson Got Us to Believe.'
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — Indiana forward Trayce Jackson-Davis and guard Xavier Johnson are headed to the Big Ten Tournament semifinals with their No. 9-seed Hoosiers after defeating No. 1-seed Illinois 65-63.
Jackson-Davis totaled 21 points while Johnson contributed 13 in the Hoosiers' big win. Here's what the pair had to say in a postgame press conference. Read their full transcripts, or just watch the attached video.
Q. On being in the NCAA tournament field...
TRAYCE JACKSON-DAVIS: It's big for us, honestly, but what X told you guys yesterday, we didn't pack for two days, we didn't pack for three days, we packed to win the Big Ten, and that's what Coach Woodson's put a big emphasis on this year. I'm glad we got this W today to solidify our spot, but at the same time, we want to play two more games.
Q. On if Thursday's game was a confidence booster for Jackson-Davis...
TRAYCE JACKSON-DAVIS: Most definitely. There's been a lot of talk, especially the last two years of me not showing up at the end of the season, so I'm trying to change that narrative. I think that team is honestly the team that got me in the slump that I've been in the last month, and when we played them on February 5th, it took a lot of my confidence away.
So Illinois was a bully today and I think we took care of that problem. So I'm just going to keep playing the way that I am and then we'll go from there.
Q. On guarding Kofi Cockburn...
TRAYCE JACKSON-DAVIS: Well, he's a great player. He's an All-American, but at the same time, we knew that we were going to try to slow him down, but in the second half late, he started getting a lot of buckets, but we really shut their guard play down. So basically we were just trying to let me play one-on-one with him and then have our guards be taking away, and that's what we did. So our guards did a great job stepping up and not letting him pitch threes.
Q. On what this win means...
TRAYCE JACKSON-DAVIS: I think our team right now is playing with a lot of confidence, and Coach Woodson said it all year. He said this isn't last year's team. And I think yesterday, finally getting over that hump, proves that we're a new team with a lot of new pieces, like X over here. But we're just going to keep playing our solid basketball and hopefully that keeps transitioning to wins.
Q. On Illinois defending Johnson...
XAVIER JOHNSON: I was just constantly trying to get down hill. I mean, they iced the ball screen pretty well. They play really good defense. I was just trying to get downhill and make other players better, because that's one of my jobs. That's one of my favorite jobs to do on this team.
Q. On the composure...
XAVIER JOHNSON: Coach Woodson got us to believe. Everybody believes that we can win. We were playing both sides on the ball well. Our defense really picked it up for the last couple games, because that's really what's winning us games right now.
Q. On how the team stayed together coming out of the regular season...
TRAYCE JACKSON-DAVIS: I just think the biggest thing for us, this was finally our chance to prove something, really. I think after we let the Purdue game slip away from us, even though we lost, we lost by 2 and it was in Mackey Arena, which is one of the toughest environments, and it just proves that we can compete with anyone. So coming into this tournament, we kind of had a chip on our shoulder to prove ourselves, and I think we've done that so far.
Q. On what this win means...
TRAYCE JACKSON-DAVIS: It's really big for me, honestly, and our program, because a lot of us, I know I haven't, beat Illinois throughout my whole career. So finally getting that one like Michigan, I think it's just getting another thing off my chest and then getting ready for whoever we play tomorrow, it's going to be a great game.
Q. On Jackson-Davis going one-on-one with Cockburn...
TRAYCE JACKSON-DAVIS: Coach Woodson gave me confidence. My teammates gave me confidence, and I think after I got in that rhythm, I got two buckets early in the first half. The rest goes from there. I felt like I could score, so I was just doing my job.
Q. On what to say to the doubters...
XAVIER JOHNSON: I don't have anything to say to them, honestly. It's just us, honestly. We've been about us all year, and we're going to be about us when we're successful.
Q. On going to the free throw line in the final minute...
TRAYCE JACKSON-DAVIS: It was just belief. I've been working on my free-throw routine, and it was something that I shoot a hundred free throws with some of our coaches every day, so I was just thinking of practice and trying to get that scenario in my head, that I'm just in practice knocking them down, so that's what I did.
Q. On the second straight day of getting a late turnover....
XAVIER JOHNSON: I mean, when we turned it over there was 10 seconds left and Miller came in. Miller's a great free throw shooter. He missed, but we just came back in, played defense and we got the stop we needed, and we came down and got the rebound and Trayce...his free throws.
TRAYCE JACKSON-DAVIS: Piggy-backing off of what X said, I think that's big for us because it's always been one stop, one key stop, one key rebound that it's been the last seven or eight games where we haven't gotten those. So finally getting some of those breaks I think has been good for us.
Q. On Johnson's jump shot...
XAVIER JOHNSON: Coach is always believing in me, keep shooting. He's not going to tell me to stop shooting. I just get in the gym and he see me always just working on my game. I'm always working on my craft every day and now it's just starting to come.
Related stories on Indiana basketball
- INDIANA VS. ILLINOIS PHOTO GALLERY: Look inside Gainbridge Fieldhouse at 30 photos from Indiana's 65-63 win over the No. 1-seed Fighting Illini. CLICK HERE.
- LIVE BLOG: Indiana tries to win consecutive games in the Big Ten Tournament for the first time since 2003 on Friday when it takes on the No. 1 seed Illinois at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Here's our live blog, straight from press row. CLICK HERE.
- HOW TO WATCH INDIANA VS. ILLINOIS: Indiana beat Michigan 74-69 on Thursday thanks to a great second-half comeback, and now No. 1 seeded Illinois is next on Friday in a quarterfinal game. The last time Indiana won two games in the Big Ten Tournament? You have to go all the way back to 2003. Here's how to watch, with gametime and TV information, lineups, bios and more. CLICK HERE.
