No. 17 Indiana men’s basketball entered Saturday’s contest at No. 5 Purdue in hopes of completing a regular season sweep of its in-state rival. The Hoosiers ultimately defeated the Boilermakers 79-71 despite a cold offensive showing from its star player.
Indiana began the contest riding a jarring abnormality: senior forward Trayce Jackson-Davis did not attempt a shot until the 10:08 mark of the first half. The Hoosier offense remained fairly stagnant during the opening minutes of the game without Jackson-Davis in the mix, but the preseason All-American still made good use of his presence, pushing the ball in transition and getting his teammates open looks across the court.
“They threw the double-team at me, so I tried to get my teammates the ball, especially when I wasn’t scoring that much,” Jackson-Davis said. “Just trying to impact the game on different levels.”
Freshman guard Jalen Hood-Schifino, who had 16 points and four assists in the first meeting between the teams, notched 10 points in the first nine minutes of play. Graduate forward Miller Kopp also helped spark an Indiana run in the middle of the first half with a crafty layup in traffic and a 3-pointer off a Jackson-Davis assist.
Still, Purdue junior center Zach Edey proved why he’s Jackson-Davis' biggest competition for multiple player of the year awards. Edey had a dominant 13 points and eight rebounds in his first 18 minutes of play, sizing up his Hoosier counterparts in the post for seemingly effortless spin moves and hook shots.
Indiana kept the game close all half, though, tying it at 30 after a Kopp 3-pointer with just under five minutes to play. Kopp’s 8 points in the first half and junior guard Trey Galloway’s 3 points came as the only scoring production outside of Hood-Schifino.
The freshman guard put on an offensive masterclass, recording 23 points on 60% shooting while carrying Indiana all 20 minutes of the first half.
“It just shows his maturity,” Jackson-Davis said. “He plays the game at his own pace. Tonight, he just did an excellent job. He’s a freshman, but coming into a hostile environment like this, doing this just shows what kind of kid he is.”
The biggest surprise came with Indiana finding itself in just a four-point deficit heading into the locker room after Jackson-Davis had a passive 0-3 outing on offense. He grabbed four rebounds to go along with one block and one assist, but his overall impact on the game was scarce.
“Hell, to be on the road, be down four, you should be pretty happy, but you can't be satisfied,” Woodson said. “I told them the first four, five minutes to start the half was going to be critical.”
Indiana took its first lead of the game — 41-40 — at the 17:16 mark of the second half. The Hoosiers rode a momentum-swinging 10-0 run spanning just over three minutes, fueled by 8 points and aggressive defense from Galloway.
“He’s been solid,” Indiana head coach Mike Woodson said. “He plays hard — that’s what I like about him. He’s does a lot of nice things — dirty things — that most players don’t like to do, and that’s play defense and get into people.”
Jackson-Davis notched his much-anticipated first points of the game with a pair of free throws at the 11:36 mark, placing him in sole possession of fourth place on the Indiana all-time leaderboard. Immediately looking vastly more comfortable than before, he executed a perfect pick-and-roll with Galloway to give the Hoosiers their largest lead thus far.
[Related: Trayce Jackson-Davis continues breaking records, moves into fourth in Indiana scoring]
Jackson-Davis went on an offensive spurt resulting in 6 quick points but picked up his fourth foul guarding Edey shortly thereafter. Woodson sent his senior standout to the bench, but the Hoosiers gained and maintained a 13-point lead in Jackson-Davis' absence.
Indiana held onto its lead for the remainder of the game, only allowing Purdue to come within 8 points at the very end of the second half. Hood-Schifino and graduate forward Race Thompson iced the game with free throws, and Jackson-Davis scored four more to enter double digits.
Edey — by way of statistics and the eye test — bested Jackson-Davis in the battle of the bigs. The Boilermaker’s 26-point, 16-rebound outing overshadowed the Hoosier’s stat line of 10 points, eight rebounds and seven assists.
But Indiana’s starting backcourt, who has struggled on the road recently, rose to the occasion, combining for 61 points. Hood-Schifino notched a new career-high of 35 points, Galloway added five assists and Kopp made three 3-pointers in a 47% team outing from beyond the arc.
“I’m happy with everybody,” Woodson said. “This was a total team effort. We beat a great team tonight that was well coached.”
In a conference where road wins, especially against a top-5 team in the country, are so difficult to come by, the Hoosiers had a tall task ahead of them leading up to Saturday’s game. Instead, resilience was the story in a massive rivalry victory, boosting Indiana to some crucial momentum approaching the end of the regular season.
