In a historic night for Trayce Jackson-Davis, Indiana picked up a much-needed 81-65 victory in Big Ten play over Nebraska. The Hoosiers now move to 1-1 in the conference, jumping back into non-conference play on Saturday in the Las Vegas Clash against No. 10 Arizona.
There were a lot of positives to takeaway from Wednesday night besides the Jackson-Davis triple double. The Hoosiers had a great 3-point shooting night, as they shot 11-for-25 (44%) from beyond the arc. But here are some other things that really stood out to me in last night’s Indiana win.
The passing ability from Jackson-Davis is night and day from last year
Last year when Jackson-Davis got the ball on offense, he often put his head down, would throw up a shot, and rely on his size and length to try and get a putback. This resulted in teams packing the paint and try to turn him over. But this year, Jackson-Davis’ vision is so much better, and may be a result of why this IU offense is off to such a hot start.
There were many times Wednesday night Jackson-Davis would make incredible passes, some with even one hand, which forced the defense to move around and get tired. If the Hoosiers can get this type of passing production from not only Jackson-Davis, but the other forwards as well, this is going to be a hard offense to slow down if they get hot.
Trey Galloway and Tamar Bates are finding their roles
Trey Galloway has been incredible these past few games, as he continued to shine Wednesday night with 20 points and shooting 7-for-10 from the field. But what really surprised me was his 4-for-6 clip from beyond the arc. Galloway isn’t known to be a 3-point shooter, only shooting a little over 20% last season. But if he can stay consistent from 3-point range and keep getting open looks, it just makes this offense that much better.
Tamar Bates has been someone who’s been inconsistent at times this season. But Wednesday night, Bates seemed much more confident in his all-around play, scoring 19 points off the bench. Bates had himself a day from downtown as well, shooting 5-for-8 from beyond the arc. This is the version of Bates the Hoosiers need to get some production while Xavier Johnson or Jalen Hood-Schifino are out of the game.
We will learn a lot about this team these next two games
It can be quite the turnaround from a Wednesday night home game to then going on the road and facing two elite basketball programs. The Hoosiers take on Arizona in Vegas on Saturday, which should be a very fun game to watch if you like a lot of scoring. The Wildcats pose some size to IU, so it will surely be a gritty game as well.
But after a week off, the Hoosiers will then travel to Allen Fieldhouse, where they will face the defending National Champion Kansas Jayhawks. KU has some of the pieces left from the team that won it all last year, as well as a very impressive freshman in Gradey Dick. So it sure will be interesting to see how IU fares against another top-10 team in one of the most historic college basketball venues in the country.
