2/4/2023 basketball Edit

This Type of Game is why Jalen Hood-Schifino Chose Indiana

Kevin Vera • TheHoosier

Staff Writer

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The hype around Indiana’s freshman class was among the most discussed elements surrounding Indiana’s 2022-2023 season.

Multiple highly rated recruits made their way to experience what it's like to play basketball in the state of Indiana and the city of Bloomington. On Saturday night, that all came full circle for the Hoosiers' Freshman of the Year candidate.

The first half for Jalen Hood-Schifino was on the quiet side, yet still efficient. Hood-Schifino had four points on 2-of-3 shooting alongside four assists. The stat sheet won't show it, but his role as the ball handler has grown to be larger throughout the season and it definitely came into play against Purdue. Indiana is still without Xavier Johnson, and going up against the number-one team in the country without your starting guard is no easy task.

Mike Woodson has asked a lot from his freshman guard to be the guy taking the ball up the court, but as the year has transpired it has been made clear:

Indiana is Hood-Schifino and Hood-Schifino is Indiana.

As the second half started to unravel we began to get a look at one of Hood-Schifino’s best performances. He began to take over in the second half when the Hoosiers needed it most in their biggest game of the season.

Indiana Hoosiers head coach Mike Woodson and guard Jalen Hood-Schifino (1) in the second half against the Purdue Boilermakers at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. (Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports)

12 of his 16 points came in the second half alone, all while playing every second of the final 20 minutes. A new boost of life came over the Indiana freshman as he found his groove. His mid-range shot seemed to be falling in every time he shot the ball. Multiple times we've seen Indiana’s offense rely solely on Hood-Schifino and Trayce Jackson-Davis and that was the case once again in the final minute against Purdue. But, this time it was by design.

25 seconds left on the clock and a screen by Race Thompson came Schifino's way, just over the three-point line, he drives to the right lane and goes up with the right hand to make it a five-point game.

That play had his name written all over it and in a crucial spot he wanted the bright lights to be on him.

“Jalen has been great here at home,” Woodson said. “He's had some good moments on the road and I've got to get everybody and we're out on the road to play like they do here at home . . . But you know, he asked for the ball coming down the stretch and drew up two plays to get it to him, and he delivered”

"I didn't know the play was going to go like that but when he called a time-out I told coach, I'm going to get this last bucket and as you can see, that's what happened," Hood-Schifino said. "Yeah, I was happy with it."

The game was a tale of two tapes. Jackson-Davis battled it out in the first half carrying Indiana to a 15-point lead. In the second half, Indiana saw some struggles but Hood-Schifino was the one to guide his team to another statement win.

“He lives for these big moments,” Jackson-Davis said. “In the first half, I was kind of carrying the load a little bit and then the second half he was carrying the load and that's something that we can do. We've got a lot of pieces on our team that are just interchangeable and they can do big things. He's a great player and I love it when he gets to that mainly because it's really unguardable.”

Indiana was able to defeat Purdue 79-74 for the second year in a row at Assembly Hall. The Hoosiers took down the number one team in the country and now have flipped the script from their early season struggles. The Hoosiers did it again.

The exclamation point? Hood-Schifino’s dunk to seal the deal against their forbidden rival.