5/20/2022 basketball Edit

Trayce Jackson-Davis announces he will return to Indiana

Alec Lasley • TheHoosier

Senior Writer

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Indiana All-Big Ten forward Trayce Jackson-Davis announced on Friday that he will be returning to Indiana for his fourth season.

Jackson-Davis had entered his name in the NBA Draft process and was invited to the NBA Draft Combine. Following a positive Covid test the week before the combine, Jackson-Davis missed all of the individual testing and interviews with teams.

As a junior this past season, Jackson-Davis averaged 18.3 points, 8.1 rebounds, 2.3 blocks and 1.9 assists per game. He also shot a career-high 58.9 percent from the field.

This season he became just the second player in Indiana basketball history to reach the following milestone: 1,500 points, 750 rebounds and 150 blocks. He joined Alan Henderson as the only Hoosiers reaching those marks.

In his three seasons at Indiana, Jackson-Davis is currently averaging 16.9 points, 8.5 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game.

Coming into this season, Jackson-Davis had hinted that this would be his final season and throughout the season that was the impression. His main goal was to return Indiana to the NCAA Tournament, something he helped the Hoosiers accomplish this season. Indiana went on to beat Wyoming in the First Four matchup in Dayton.

"It was honestly surreal," Jackson-Davis said after IU's win over Wyoming. "We didn't want to be in the play-in game, but sometimes the ball doesn't roll your way and some things happen. But just playing in front of our fans and almost like a home crowd one more time, I thought it was awesome. And then just being on this national stage, I thought it was really cool."

Jackson-Davis struggled coming down the stretch of the regular season but come March, he elevated his play.

Following his performance in the Big Ten Tournament where he averaged 25.3 points and 8.3 rebounds while shooting 66.7 percent on 17 attempts per game in three games, he caught the eye of ESPN NBA Draft analyst Mike Schmitz.

"One of the biggest winners of the Big Ten Tourney in terms of draft stock: Trayce Jackson-Davis," Schmitz said. "Known commodity but to lead Indiana deep carries weight with the NBA teams. Showed he's a vertical threat who can beat a switch in the post, pass and protect the rim."

During Indiana's run in the Big Ten Tournament, Jackson-Davis set program records for total points (61) and total rebounds (22) in a single Big Ten Tournament

Indiana finished the 2021-22 season 21-14 overall and 9-11 in the Big Ten. It was Indiana's first NCAA Tournament since 2016.