March is the month of memorable basketball moments. Sometimes you triumph; other times, you're conquered, and the hopes of making a magical conference or NCAA tournament run die when the buzzer sounds. Indiana men's basketball has experienced and dealt with both.
From Rutgers' Ron Harper Jr. bowing near Indiana's logo in Assembly Hall after hitting a game-winner, to Iowa's Jordan Bohannon ending Indiana's Big Ten Tournament run with a last-second banked 3-pointer, it's safe to say Indiana has undergone its fair share of crushing defeats.
It was the same storyline again on Saturday against No. 5 seeded Iowa, as it's been the entire season. Indiana had a halftime lead, and it fell through the ice despite all the arduous effort to not let that happen once more. The same result even occurred in the January 83-74 road defeat against the Hawkeyes earlier this season.
I can go through Saturday's loss. Indiana's 26% 3-point shooting, Miller Kopp and Parker Stewart shooting 3-for-16 from the field, and Iowa nailing almost every shot from deep it felt like on the back of Keegan Murray.
But none of that matters now. What's noteworthy is what came in between the two heartbreaks; a conference tournament run for the ages that showcased true fight and grit from an Indiana team that struggled to close out games all season long.
Indiana was losing badly by 17 points to Michigan in the second round, and its March Madness hopes looked grim. Yet the Hoosiers still managed to crawl their way back, win, and upset top-seeded Illinois the following day.
Boom. In two days, The Hoosiers had revenge on two teams who severely punished them on their home court in the regular season. In two days, Indiana had gone from on the brink of being absent from the field to securing a spot.
Even more satisfying, Indiana's Trayce Jackson-Davis had back-to-back 20-point performances against Michigan's Hunter Dickinson and Illinois' Kofi Cockburn, two forwards that played exceptionally well in the regular-season victories over Indiana.
On Saturday, Jackson-Davis looked virtually unstoppable and earned a double-double with 31 points and 10 rebounds, tied for the second-most number of points he's scored in a game this season. He also had two blocks and one steal.
During Saturday’s game, Jackson-Davis set a program record for the most points and rebounds in a single Big Ten Tournament and finished the weekend, scoring 76 points and bringing in 25 rebounds.
You want your team to peak when the postseason hits in any competition and Jackson-Davis is doing precisely that. The conference tournament was the first time Jackson-Davis has had three consecutive 20 plus-point performances since Dec. 22 to Jan. 6 earlier this year.
Xavier Johnson also had a great weekend and capped it off with a 20-point performance with a near-season-high nine assists. He also set a program record for most assists in a single Big Ten Tournament and finished with 22.
That's the type of form you want your All-Big Ten forward and senior point guard to be in as March Madness approaches. In fact, that's the form they have to be in if you want to go anywhere.
The offense looked shaky and lifeless without Jackson-Davis or Johnson on the court on Saturday. However, when they returned, the offense had motion, flow, and most importantly, confidence. And as of late, Johnson's point guard play and selflessness is leading the team to its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2016.
Which is also where Woodson comes in. In his first year as a college head coach, he led Indiana to its first win over Purdue since 2016 and first conference tournament semifinal appearance since 2013. It's also the first time a No. 9 seed made it to the semifinals since 2002.
That's a hefty resume, and for context, I'm a student reporter, and that was the year I was born.
Indiana punched its ticket with a win over Illinois, and while it would have been nice to reach the next station, it's at least going to be dancing in March, something it hasn’t done in a long time. Now that was a tournament run for the history books.
