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As the days keep rolling by and we get closer to the college basketball season, the hype for Indiana basketball only keeps increasing. Right in the middle of all that hype is pre-season all-American forward Trayce Jackson-Davis. Jackson-Davis is returning to Indiana for his senior year after testing the NBA waters this off-season and received some evaluation about his shooting game.

One of the reasons Jackson-Davis opted out of the draft is to improve his overall shooting. This past Indiana basketball media day, he made it clear that's where he has focused this offseason.

Jackson-Davis, alongside the Indiana Hoosiers, are projected to have a great season; their best in recent years. Indiana is the betting favorite in the Big Ten conference and Jackson-Daivs has already earned pre-season honors and is looked to be one of the best players in the upcoming season.

Jackson-Davis’s 2021-22 campaign put him in the conversation of one of the best players in all of college basketball. The Indiana forward averaged 18.3 points per game, 8.1 rebounds, 1.9 assists, and 2.3 blocks per game a season ago.

As dominant as Jackson-Davis was in the paint, the one area that Jackson-Davis lacked was the outside shooting. Jackson-Davis only attempted three three-pointers in the entire 2021 season, missing all three. In his first three years as a Hoosier Jackson-Davis did not even attempt a shot outside the arc. Jackson-Davis received criticism about his shooting from NBA scouts earlier this year. For that reason, Jackson-Davis wants to add more versatility to his game and begin to take out shots across the entire court.

“The biggest thing for me really when I was out there, it was just shooting. That's all I was doing was shooting, from everywhere, whether it be threes, twos, free throws. It's all basically emphasis on shooting, just off the drive, off the catch. That was the biggest emphasis that my agents wanted me to do.” Jackson-Davis said. “It was every day for two straight months of just shooting, so that's basically . . . that's what they said they wanted to see. That's what the scouts said they wanted to see. So that's what I was doing.”

Jackson-Davis isn't the only one that has high expectations for his shooting. Head coach Mike Woodson also went into detail about Jackson-Davis's shooting, touching on the fact that the floor is wide open for his star player.

"He'll be in a position where he catches it out there and has an opportunity to shoot it. If he shoots it, fine." Woodson said. "Everybody looks at this thing where he's got to be a three-point shooter. I think if he makes a 15 to 17-foot shot, it's just as effective. That's kind of how I look at it."

Jackson-Davis spent time in California and Chicago working on his shooting and Woodson expects that time spent in the gym will pay off this upcoming season.

"I think this summer, the work that he's put in, he's shown that he can make that shot, and he has made them in our little pickup games and things of that nature. He's just got to carry it over to the real game when it counts." Woodson said.

Indiana added several new faces for the 2022 season including one of the most highly anticipated freshman classes in all of college basketball. With a new, fully loaded team, there are several players that can balance out the offense with Jackson-Davis. The addition of freshman Malik Reneau and the return of both senior Race Thompson along with sophomore Logan Duncomb will all help add a new light to the Indiana offense.

“Obviously, last year I think I had the green light, but at the same time, my presence was needed inside, but now we've got some other players like Malik and Logan who's coming along really strong that I'll be playing a lot more for this year and be able to showcase my abilities from three,” Jackson-Davis said. “It's all about repetitions. I'm getting a lot of shots up in scrimmages and practice, so those are going to translate to game shots.”

A lot of new pieces and a handful of departed players have put Indiana in a position to be a brand new team offensively. As the off-season and the months go by, we will see how Jackson-Davis prepares from range for the upcoming season.

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