BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – All eyes were on the heavyweight matchup between All-Americans Trayce Jackson-Davis and Zach Edey when Indiana traveled to Mackey Arena last February. But through the first 28 minutes, the scoring column read zero next to Jackson-Davis’ name. Indiana must have been down by 20, right? Quite the opposite. By the time Jackson-Davis scored his first points, a pair of free throws at the 11:44 mark of the second half, Indiana led No. 5 Purdue 55-48 in one of college basketball’s most daunting road environments. At that point, Mackey Arena started to lose its juice. Indiana’s lead grew as large as 13 points with 8:38 to play, when freshman point guard Jalen Hood-Schifino hit yet another mid-range jumper over Purdue’s defense. The Hoosiers kept the Boilermakers at arm’s length from then on, always leading by at least eight points and sweeping the season series with a 79-71 win on Feb. 25. It should forever be remembered as the game when Hood-Schifino cemented his status as a one-and-done, first-round NBA draft pick. He finished the game with a career-high 35 points and went 14-for-24 from the field, 1-for-2 from 3-point range and 6-for-7 at the line. Just for good measure, he added seven rebounds, two assists, a block and a steal as he carved up the Purdue defense. Hood-Schifino was absolutely unstoppable that night, making it the top individual performance for an Indiana men’s basketball player in 2023.
Jackson-Davis carried the load for Indiana much of last season – he still managed 10 points, eight rebounds and seven assists against Purdue – but he knew it was Hood-Schifino’s night to shine. “We feed off of him, and I told him before the game even started that he was going to get his opportunities,” Jackson-Davis said. ”I told him, ‘Get them up, and score the ball.’ Coach Woody was trying to get me baskets, and I told him, ‘Coach, not right now. We’re riding him right now, and when a guy is hot like that, you’ve got to keep giving him the ball.’”
Purdue held the nation’s No. 1 ranking for seven weeks and earned a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament last season, which made Hood-Schifino’s performance even more impressive. Purdue’s bigs were coached to sag off Indiana’s ball screens, with the idea being to limit Hood-Schifino’s drives and never stray too far away from Jackson-Davis down low. To counteract that, Hood-Schifino exposed Purdue’s drop-coverage defense with mid-range jumper after mid-range jumper. When Hood-Schifino found those pockets of open space and pulled up for a shot, Edey was often too slow to close out and Indiana’s ball screens made it difficult for the trailing defender to recover in time. Hood-Schifino earned Big Ten Player of the Week honors after that performance, which highlighted his Big Ten Freshman of the Year campaign. He went on to become the 17th overall draft pick by the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Boilermakers should feel much better about this year’s matchups against Indiana, knowing that Hood-Schifino isn’t around to pick them apart.
Leave a Reply