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Indiana's Freshmen Continue To Dominate Big Ten Awards

Guard Armaan Franklin is the Big Ten's Freshman of the Week, an award that his teammate, Trayce Jackson-Davis, has been winning with regularity this season.
Tom Brew|
Indiana's Freshmen Continue To Dominate Big Ten Awards
Indiana's Freshmen Continue To Dominate Big Ten Awards

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Another week, and another award for an Indiana freshman from the Big Ten office. This time, though, it's guard Armaan Franklin and not forward Trayce Jackson-Davis.

Franklin earned the honor Monday after hitting the game-winning 3-pointer that lead Indiana to a 62-60 victory over Notre Dame in the Crossroads Classic at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis on Saturday. He scored a career-high 17 points in only 14 minutes of playing time, making 4-of-5 3-pointers on the day to earn the honor.

He shared the weekly award announced Monday with Ohio State's D.J. Carton. The league's weekly overall players of the week were Gabe Kalscheur of Minnesota and D'Mitrik Trice of Wisconsin.

This is the fourth time this season that an Indiana player has been honored with one of the Big Ten's weekly awards. Jackson-Davis — Indiana's team leader in points (15.0 per game), field goal percentage (65.6), rebounds (8.9) and blocks (2.0) — has won the Freshman of the Week award three times, on Nov. 18, Dec. 2 and Dec. 16. 

"Our freshmen came up big with a couple of key plays,'' Indiana coach Archie Miller said of his two youngsters after the Hoosiers rallied late to beat Notre Dame to go to 11-1 on the season. "Trayce was able to finish underneath out of bounds, and Armaan, who was big all day, really kind of showed his courage and just what he means to the team in terms of how he's sort of embraced his role this year.

"He's a terrific player. He's a great kid, good teammate. I'm happy for him.''

Miller has been proud of Franklin's growth on the floor, and he's hoping a big game like this will help him be more vocal on the floor.

"He's reserved, he's quiet, on the court, but he's a vibrant kid, so if he has the ability to show that vibrance more on the floor, I think it would be infectious,'' Miller said. "He's gotten better defensively. As a young player you're out there sometimes and you're at the mercy of the other coach, but he's answered the bell.

"He's made solid plays and he's not afraid, and as he's gotten older,  the bigger the lights of the game, he's been able to step up, like against Florida State, where he made some huge plays.''

The Hoosiers have had to rely a lot on their two freshmen, and Miller has loved how Franklin and Jackson-Davis have responded so far.

 "The experience he's getting right now as a freshman, he and Trayce in particular, they play a vital role for us,'' he said. "His greatest attribute is the type of person he is. He's a terrific kid. There are no bad days with him. All in all, I couldn't be happier for him.''

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Tom Brew
TOM BREW

Tom Brew has been the publisher of “Indiana Hoosiers on SI’’ since 2019. He has worked at some of America's finest newspapers as an award-winning reporter and editor for more than four decades, including the Tampa Bay (Fla.) Times, Indianapolis Star and South Florida Sun-Sentinel. He operates seven sites on the “On SI’’ network. Follow Tom on Twitter @tombrewsports.

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