TJD: Trayce Just Dominated

The headline says it all. On November 27th, 2021 in Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall (SSAH) Indiana University (IU) defeated Marshall University (MU) 90-79 behind the record breaking performance of Forward/Center Trayce Jackson-Davis (TJD). No player, IU or opponent, had ever scored more in a game in SSAH. I’ve seen some pretty remarkable players, and performances in that building, so that kind of surprised me. But even if they had, I’m not sure they could have outshone what we witnessed TJD do last night. He played 37 minutes, scored 43pts. on 18-24 shots from the field and 7-9 from free throw line. He also had 5rebs. 5blks. and 4ast.

Despite MU coming into the game with the NCAA Division 1’s leading shot blocker, they had absolutely no answer for TJD. The Thundering Herd chose to play him straight up for 2/3 of the game and I assume felt like one guy couldn’t beat them. And for much of the first half that philosophy was paying off. Right up until the point that IU point guard Xavier Johnson decided to amp up the pressure defensively, as well as driving the ball aggressively to the basket on offense.

Indiana has been a pretty solid defensive team thus far, and although they struggled some early on last night with the high ball screens that MU was using, they finally figured it out, and that all started with Johnson. Let’s be clear here, when Xaiver Johnson gets that edge about him and decides to turn up the defensive pressure, he changes the game. The defense as whole feeds off of him and then IU goes from a pretty good defensive team, to a damned good defensive team. Aside from lapses on a few MU possessions after Johnson cranked up the pressure, IU was really solid on that end of the floor.

As for TJD, he was solid, and I use that term extremely loosely because he was pretty much a beast from the get go. The growth in this young man from last year to this year is remarkable. Not necessarily in his ability, although I think that has improved too, but just in his awareness, and his aggressiveness. He is starting to read the double team so much better, and that coupled with having some capable shooters and players cutting with a purpose, has not only created a monster, but will give opposing coaches nightmares in trying to game plan against IU.

This group of Hoosiers are game by game becoming more comfortable with each other. They are reading each other on the court, as well as feeding of each other’s success, as well as celebrating and encouraging it. They really seem to be enjoying playing the game, and each other. That hasn’t been the case in the recent past which is why I mention it. They have also bought into the system that coach Woodson has installed. When they are dialed in, they are a very hard to team to play against. Being dialed in for 40 minutes should be the next goal to check off of the list to becoming a very good team.

TJD is not going to get 43 every night, but the beauty is he and everyone else knows he’s capable of going off at any moment. And he has a more than capable group, a group he trusts, surrounding him if teams decide to try to double and triple team him to take away his effectiveness. Last night was another example of this when MU finally decided to double team TJD and the rest of the shooters stepped up and made shots. In some cases wide open spot up shots. The Hoosiers had five players hit a 3 pointer and finished 8-15 (53.3%) from 3pt. range as a team.

MU was a step up in the caliber of competition (112 KenPom), and although IU wasn’t sharp for 40 minutes, they made adjustments within the game and finally pulled away from the Thundering Herd. The competition ramps up even more on Tuesday when the Hoosiers travel to New York to face Syracuse (59 KenPom) in the Carrier Dome. The dome and Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim’s famous zone defense will be a challenge, as will the Orange’s length. The Orange also have a player, Buddy Boeheim, that is fully capable of exploding at any moment too, so the Hoosiers could very well be in a battle. Will they win? No idea. Will they lose? No idea. Will they battle? There’s no doubt in my mind.

The Hoosiers are off to a 6-0 start to the season, which makes head coach Mike Woodson 6-0 in his college career. He’s learning the college game as we go, but his willingness to call a timeout immediately following a timeout to make players aware of what he expected was very reminiscent of someone else who used to patrol the sidelines of Assembly Hall. The the things about that sequence that stood out the most to me were seeing his intensity, and also seeing every player in the huddle engaged and paying attention to a teaching moment. Coach Woodson demands respect and he has it with this group of players. It’s a beautiful thing to see…again!

The “Hysteria” is slowly creeping back into the Indiana program and the seats of SSAH. Injuries have already happened. The shooting may come and go at times. The competition will only get better. They will face adversity at times. But I don’t feel like a lack of effort will ever be a problem. And just like Trayce Jackson-Davis’s performance was last night, all of those are also beautiful things.

Congratulations to Trayce Jackson-Davis for making Indiana basketball history. Hats off to his teammates for being unselfish and continuing to feed him the ball and riding his back until Marshall decided that what they were doing wasn’t going to work. And thank you to all of those in charge of helping bring this program back to prominence and for making Indiana University basketball fun again.

GO HOOSIERS, BEAT THE ORANGE!!!