Senior forward Trayce Jackson-Davis has accomplished plenty in his Indiana career, but one important thing on his list remains unfinished: defeating Rutgers.
The No. 24-ranked Scarlet Knights have won six straight matchups against the No. 18 Hoosiers dating back to the start of Jackson-Davis' time at Indiana. Only graduate forwards Race Thompson and Miller Kopp have seen victories over Rutgers in their collegiate careers, and Kopp’s came in a Northwestern uniform.
Rutgers is Indiana’s first repeat opponent of the 2022-23 season, as the Hoosiers and Scarlet Knights faced off Dec. 3 in Piscataway, New Jersey. Kopp had his best game from an offensive standpoint, scoring nearly half of Indiana’s points on five 3-pointers and 8-12 shooting from the field.
Jackson-Davis — who was nursing both a hand and back injury at the time — had a 13-point, 11-rebound double-double, but it didn’t come in nearly as dominant a fashion as his recent outings. Indiana still had graduate point guard Xavier Johnson, but freshman guard Jalen Hood-Schifino did not play against the Scarlet Knights due to a back injury.
The Hoosiers walked out of Jersey Mike’s Arena with their first loss of the season, 63-48, against a team that has recently been a difficult opponent. But Tuesday night in Bloomington, they have a chance to finally get the most elusive win of most of their roster’s career.
The context of the two matchups this year are very similar. The first came after Indiana’s highest-ranked win at the time over then-No. 18 University of North Carolina in an electric game at Assembly Hall. The second immediately follows the Hoosiers’ first win over a No. 1-ranked Purdue in arguably their best outing of the season.
Still, Indiana head coach Mike Woodson was focused on the Scarlet Knights after Saturday’s win, and he made sure that his players’ focus was in the same direction.
“Our next game is against Rutgers, a team that we've struggled against that's kind of had their way,” Woodson said after the Purdue game. “We've got to start preparing and preparing for them now. This game is behind us. I told the guys they can celebrate for about an hour and then we've got to start thinking about Rutgers.”
Jackson-Davis was also adamant about shifting the team’s attention to its next game despite the emotional win Saturday night.
“(Rutgers is) a great team, and they play very, very hard on defense,” Jackson-Davis said after the win. “They kind of bring that trap, kind of like Purdue did. We have to make adjustments and watch film and get ready for them.”
There are many logistical implications of this matchup; the Scarlet Knights sit in second place in the Big Ten, and the Hoosiers can tie their opponent’s conference record with a win Tuesday night. Attaining the hard-fought victory over Rutgers would boost Indiana’s resume and conference standings come March.
Still, the emotional gratification that would come from a win against the Scarlet Knights, who most recently spoiled the Hoosiers’ 2022 senior night, would come as a major relief to everyone in the program. The hangover game after Purdue just might be one of Indiana’s largest tests in a season that has already been chock-full of trials.
