Freshman forward Trayce Jackson-Davis pounded his chest three times. The victory over No. 11 Michigan State was only 0.6 seconds away. He celebrated the defensive stance he and his team just made Thursday night en route to the 67-63 victory.
With 8.6 seconds, IU men’s basketball led Michigan State by two points. The Spartans had possession and called a timeout. IU head coach Archie Miller yelled out “blue”, which meant switch everything defensively.
“Three beats you,” Miller said. “Three beats you. And to be able to switch all ball screens, you take away hopefully the pick-and-pop.”
As Michigan State senior guard Cassius Winston dribbled the ball to the left and past the screen, Jackson-Davis switched. He was forced to guard the All-American, the reigning Big Ten Player of the Year, the savvy star who was 50% from the 3-point line during the game, and one more would've ended IU's chances at victory.
Jackson-Davis followed Winston into the lane. As Winston threw the ball to junior forward Xavier Tillman, Jackson-Davis deflected the ball in mid-air, and it hit off the backboard. Tillman got the offensive rebound and put up a shot, but he missed, and freshman forward Jerome Hunter grabbed the rebound.
When Hunter was fouled, Jackson-Davis and the crowd celebrated. There wasn’t enough time left for the Spartans to attempt a game winner. Frankly, it wouldn’t have even mattered after Hunter made both free throws to put IU up by four. It was the fifth straight win for IU at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.
“We have great fans here at Indiana, and they were out early today,” junior center Joey Brunk said. “They were rocking from the jump. We love playing in front of them. And this is a great place to play basketball.”
From the start, IU played with a high intensity that consistently fed off the crowd. IU forced a shot clock violation on the first Michigan State possession of the game. The crowd couldn’t get enough.
The Hoosiers eventually got out to a 15-point lead within roughly 11 minutes. But it was a lead that was short lived. Michigan State went on a 14-2 run as IU had another scoring drought.
The Spartans had the momentum with halftime closing in, but junior guard Al Durham changed it. He threw up a 3-point attempt as the buzzer sounded and drilled it to give IU the 7-point lead.
In just little over nine minutes, Michigan State finally took its first lead of the game after another made 3-pointer. IU had issues defending Michigan State.
“We had a harder time on the ball screens,” Miller said. “We didn't impact the ball as much. And when the ball gets zipped around with a team like that, they really stretched us from 3.”
Both teams traded shots down the stretch. But Durham came up clutch with another 3-pointer. This time he shot it off the pass in stride. He said it felt good as it left his hands.
After Durham hit the shot, the crowd reacted how one would expect. The energy continued in the final moments of the game. The Hoosiers stood strong and didn’t allow the Spartans to steal this one from them at the last moment. Jackson-Davis made sure of it.
“Proud of our team,” Miller said. “Very thankful we're playing at home this week. Can't do it without our crowd. And we can kind of sleep on this one, because we've got Maryland on Sunday. But proud of our guys.”
