Here's What Trayce Jackson-Davis and Jordan Geronimo Said After Defeating Wyoming in First Four
DAYTON, Ohio — Indiana forward Trayce Jackson-Davis is on fire in the post season as he led the Hoosiers to a 66-58 victory over Wyoming Tuesday night in the First Four of the NCAA Tournament.
Jackson-Davis scored 29 points and tallied nine boards as part of Indiana's 41.9 field goal percentage and 39 total rebounds.
Forward Jordan Geronimo came in off the bench to contribute 15 points and seven rebounds.
Here's what the forwards had to say in a post game press conference. Read their full transcript, or just watch the attached video.
Q: On Geronimo's play...
TRAYCE JACKSON-DAVIS: Honestly, even throughout the Big Ten Tournament, I think Geronimo has been a key to our run, so I wasn't surprised at all. He's an energy guy. He's going to go rebound.
He's going to go get things at the top of the backboard and dunk it hard, so I'm happy for him because he's performing at a really, really high level for us, and without him we probably would have lost that game, so credit to him.
Q. On Geronimo as a freshman...
TRAYCE JACKSON-DAVIS: JG always had a smile on his face. He was really goofy. His first year he struggled a little bit, but he stuck with it. This past summer he was working super hard, working on his jump shot, working on everything to get ready for this year, preparing for this moment.
I couldn't be happier for him because as you can tell the work he put in in the summer, he's reaping the benefits.
Q. On getting a win in the NCAA Tournament after a six-year drought...
TRAYCE JACKSON-DAVIS: It's huge. It's surreal. This environment, even just for the First Four game, it was a surreal environment. I've always dreamed about playing in this tournament and finally being able to live out that dream and just performing at the highest level, I'm truly grateful.
Q. On Geronimo's injury last Friday...
JORDAN GERONIMO: I give thanks to our team trainer, Tim Garl. He helped me through plenty of treatment sessions just getting my ankle right. Rehabbing and all that kind of stuff.
And just my teammates, just keeping me confident, and just telling me to breathe, calm down, because I'm going to be able to come back. I just kept that with me. I was able to come back.
Q. On when Geronimo knew he could play...
JORDAN GERONIMO: Like I said, Tim Garl has been doing a really good job getting me better. As the days went by I started feeling a lot better and better. I even surprised myself how good I felt today, and I just trusted my feeling, trusted how I felt. And I just played how I usually play, just explosive.
Q. On the contributions from the rest of the team...
TRAYCE JACKSON-DAVIS: It was all-around effort by all guys. It might not all be in the scoring column but there was tough shots that people hit down the stretch. I remember Parker hitting a pull-up jump shot.
And all the combo guards doing a really good job on their number — I can't think, what's his name? Hunter. Did a great job on him, especially with him backing down, he had his ball in his hands 80, 70 percent of the time. It's not always going to be your night offensively, but defensively I thought we did real good.
Q. On the tournament living up to Jackson-Davis's expectations...
TRAYCE JACKSON-DAVIS: It was honestly surreal. We didn't want to be in the play-in game, but sometimes the ball doesn't roll your way and some things happen. But just playing in front of our fans and almost like a home crowd one more time, I thought it was awesome. And then just being on this national stage, I thought it was really cool.
Q. On how a First Four game can prepare the team for Portland...
TRAYCE JACKSON-DAVIS: I honestly think that helped us a lot because I think the last three days before this or four days we were playing our best basketball. It's almost a sense of we get to step on the court before everyone else and we get to continue playing pretty well.
Even though shots didn't fall tonight, just being able to get our feet wet with the tournament, kind of what's going on with the balls and everything, I thought it was good for us.
Q. On Geronimo's summer work...
JORDAN GERONIMO: I guess one thing I tried to keep up was consistency, just trying to get in the gym every day no matter what I did. If it was free throws that day or getting shots up or working on my dribbling. Whatever it is, just trying to be consistent, because it goes a long way.
And every time I work out, I work out with Isaac Green, one of our trainers, he tells me to go hard every single time. I just kept at it. All the other trainers, the rebounders helping me out. I just had a whole support program with me. This program is really good at building their players up. So I just used what I had.
TRAYCE JACKSON-DAVIS: Kind of what he said. Just watching him the repetition, how hard he works and even doing things on the gun at night. Seeing him come in here work on that. I think it really just boosted his confidence. He comes into the game ice cold and he'll come in shooting that middy with all the confidence in the world and he hits it 95 percent of the time. You reap what you sow, and he's reaping the benefits.
Q. On how the tip dunk gets Geronimo going...
JORDAN GERONIMO: It does a lot for me. It gives me a lot of energy. Gives the team energy. And it's just an energy play. A tip dunk is an energy play, and it does a lot.
Q. On Geronimo's defense...
TRAYCE JACKSON-DAVIS: He's a freak, that's what we call him, freak of nature. Sometimes even in the huddle he'll do something and I'll look at him and say you're a freak. Because some of the things he does is just out of this world. He's blessed with God-given athleticism and talent, and you get to see it on display, and I think that's really cool.
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