Hoosiers' Dream Tourney Run Continues With 65-63 Win Over Top-Seed Illinois
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — Indiana's late lead had slipped away, but there was no way that junior forward Trayce Jackson-Davis was going to let it stay slipped away.
Whatever it was going to take, he was prepared to do.
Down by three with four minutes and change to go, the left-hander drove to his right and scored. And on the next possession, he caught the ball at the elbow and squared up from 15 feet away. He calmly hit the jump shot to give Indiana the lead, and they never looked back, sweating out several blow-by-blow final possessions to beat Illinois 65-63 on Friday.
It was Jackson-Davis' first win over Illinois in five tries, and it was the first time that Indiana had won back-to-back games in the Big Ten Tournament since 2003.
They did it thanks to Jackson-Davis overcoming his demons and beating monster Illinois center Kofi Cockburn. He scored 21 points and had seven rebounds, three assists and a block.
And hit a jump shot at the most critical time.
"I said 'Halleluah,' '' Indiana coach Mike Woodson said when asked about Jackson-Davis' jumper, something he's simply refused to add to his game on a regular basis. ''Listen, I tell Trayce to try to get two or three jump shots every game. He just won't shoot them, and then today he stepped out there and he shot it. He doesn't have a bad-looking shot and he shoots them in practice, but he made one (Friday) that really counted. That was a big shot that he made.''
It was a bold-face exclamation point for Indiana as well, a fragile team that lost close games late by the bushel this season, only to come to Indianapolis and beat two straight teams — Michigan and Illinois — that have had their number.
They made enough plays down the stretch to win again, and they did it with confidence and poise, unknown quantities with this team even just a few weeks ago.'
"Coach Woodson, he's got us to believe,'' said Indiana point guard Xavier Johnson, who was 5-for-15 from the field but had 13 points and only one turnover in 36 minutes. "Everybody believes that we can win. We were playing both sides of the ball well, and our defense has really picked it up for the last couple games, because that's really what's winning us games right now.
"I was just constantly trying to get downhill. They iced the ball screen pretty well and 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.''
The Hoosiers, the No. 9 seed in this tournament, are now a 20-win team and seem assured of an NCAA Tournament bid for sure now. They will play No. 5 seed Iowa, an 84-74 winner over No. 4 seed Rutgers on Friday afternoon, in Saturday's semifinal game.
They got there with yet another exceptional defensive effort, and an efficient-enough offensive performance. Aside from Jackson-Davis' 21 points, point guard Xavier Johnson had 13 points, four rebounds and six assists and senior forward Race Thompson added 10.
The Hoosiers also got a huge lift off the bench from sophomore guard Trey Galloway, who had eight points, and Rob Phinisee, who had six. The only downer off the bench was Jordan Geronimo leaving with a knee injury.
It was a war from the start, with neither team leading by more than five points in the first half, though both sides did lead by five at one point. Indiana went to the break trailing 33-31.
It was no different in the second half, with Indiana never leading by more than six, and Illinois never up by more than three. It was as back-and-forth as could be,
Jackson-Davis scored at the 3:24 mark to put Indiana ahead 60-59 and, after an Illinois miss, Galloway scored on a drive to put Indiana up three. Cockburn, who would finish with 23 points, made four free. throws sandwiched around a Xavier Johnson missed jumper, and Illinois led 63-62 with 33 seconds to go.
Indiana pushed the ball up quickly and got the ball to Jackson-Davis, who was immediately fouled with 26 seconds to go. (Illinois coach Brad Underwood said that was not the plan.)
Jackson-Davis, who has been a 68.5 percent free throw shooter this season. is fouled often and is 135-for-202 this season.
His 202 attempts are 12th-most in the country, and his 67 misses are second only to Vanderbilt's Scottie Pippen Jr. (His 135 makes are 42nd-most in America.)
None of that mattered when he stepped to the line with the game on the line and calmly — and confidently — knocked both of them down to give Indiana a 64-63 lead.
"It's just belief,'' Jackson-Davis said. "I've been working on my free-throw routine, and 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. That's what I did.''
Illinois brought the ball up past mid-court and called timeout. Underwood designed a play for fifth-year guard Trent Frazier to have the ball, but because of some miscommunication with forward Coleman Hawkins, he threw the ball away.
"We drew up a play for me to get downhill with a head of steam. I tried to get left, but (Jackson-Davis), he did a good job of forcing me off to the side,'' Frazier said. "They help out on strong side corners, so I thought Coleman (Hawkins) would be in the corner for an open three. That's what they've been doing all game.
"We had a little bit of confusion right there where he came up on top. But I made a bad decision. I'm disappointed in myself on that. I've got to just do a better job of at least getting the ball on the rim and just talking with my teammates. I'm very disappointed in that last turnover I had.''
It was the second straight game that had happened. Michigan did it on Thursday, too, with 14 seconds to go.
Indiana got the ball in to Miller Kopp, who is an 88.2 percent free throw shooter, good for top-25 in the nation. But he missed the front end of a one-and-one and Illinois' Andre Curbelo flew downcourt to the rim. His shot, contested by Jackson-Davis, rimmed off. Jackson-Davis rebounded and was fouled with 1.7 seconds to go. He made the first free throw and missed the second, but the clock expired during the scrum for the rebound.
NCAA Tournament ticket? It's punched for sure now. This is what Jackson-Davis came back for, to have a postseason run. They are making huge noise here in Indianapolis, and now they know for sure that they will be dancing next week as well.
And that's a wonderful thing.
"I just think the biggest thing for us, this was finally our chance to prove something, really,'' Jackson-Davis said. "I think after we let the Purdue game slip away from us (last Saturday), even though we lost, we lost by two and it was in Mackey Arena, which is one of the toughest environments in the country.
"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. It's big for us, honestly. 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.''
Saturday's game is at 1 p.m. ET and will be televised on CBS.
Related stories on Indiana basketball
- LIVE BLOG: Relive all the play-by-play from Indiana's dramatic 65-63 win over top-seeded Illinois on Friday. CLICK HERE
- 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
- TOURNAMENT RESULTS, SCHEDULE: Here are all the results from the Big Ten Tournament thus far, and the remaining schedule. CLICK HERE
