Season on the brink, IU basketball rides Trayce Jackson-Davis to 74-69 comeback win against Michigan in Big Ten Tourney, probably sealing an NCAA bid.
There’s TJD, sitting courtside at the Big Ten Network studio, the postgame guest of honor after his whopper of a second half. And IU fans in the Gainbridge Fieldhouse crowd, sitting everywhere, multiplying at this point as they come closer to the court to see this, are shouting for TJD and cheering for TJD and he’s looking around and nodding and … there it is.
We’re getting ahead of ourselves, because nobody has given the Hoosiers an NCAA bid yet. At-large bids are awarded on Selection Sunday, though IU can jump the line by winning three more games in three more days, starting Friday at 11:30 a.m. against Illinois, to get the Big Ten’s automatic bid.But IU has faced some long odds before. Thursday, for example. Less than 12 minutes left. Down 17 points.
But Xavier Johnson was so damn good, too. More than good — he had 17 points, eight rebounds and seven assists — Johnson was fearless. The other Hoosiers opened this game timid if not downright bored in the first half, starting with TJD, the malaise hitting almost everyone but Johnson, who was playing so hard he drew two fouls and played just nine minutes before halftime.
“I don't know if he's even going to come back,” Woodson said. “I'm going to be honest with you guys. He hasn't really been able to practice. Finally, a word for the coach, for Mike Woodson, who gets all the scrutiny and lots of the blame and little of the credit. He’s skilled at calling the right play out of timeouts — Jackson-Davis’ dunk off a Johnson lob, pulling IU within 62-58, comes to mind — and while you can argue Woodson didn’t have the Hoosiers ready to play Thursday, he pushed the right buttons down the stretch.
Jackson-Davis was 99.44% pure the final 10 minutes, though, scoring 15 points and not missing a shot from the field. It helps when you’re dunking — he had three in that stretch, growing more and more belligerent with every dunk — but he also was tipping in a shot and scoring with his left hand over Dickinson and muscling through the bigger Dickinson for another bucket.
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