No Shannon, no victory for Illini
Illinois falls to No. 14 Indiana as leading scorer sits
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Trayce Jackson-Davis quickly caught and surpassed his coach on Indiana’s career scoring list Saturday. It took the senior more time to help the No. 14 Hoosiers surpass Illinois.
Jackson-Davis finished with 26 points, 12 rebounds, five blocks and added yet another milestone to his expansive list, while Jalen HoodSchifino made the go-ahead free throws with 30.7 seconds left to finally give Indiana the lead and a 71-68 victory.
“It’s an accomplishment,” Jackson-Davis said. “I’m just glad we found a way to get that one. They were without one of their best players and those dudes showed a lot of heart. So just finding a way down the stretch and getting stops, that was big for us.”
Jackson-Davis and the Hoosiers (19-8, 10-6 Big Ten) have won nine of 11 and 15 in a row on their home court. And thanks to the last of Hood-Schifino’s 13 points and Jackson-Davis’ final basket — a breakaway dunk in the waning seconds — Indiana had just enough to erase a nine-point deficit over the final 12½ minutes.
Illinois guard Jayden Epps could have tied it with 16.7 seconds left but missed the first of two free throws. RJ Melendez could have forced overtime with a 3-pointer at the buzzer, but the clean look was off the mark.
And while Jackson-Davis could have celebrated after finishing the game with 2,081 points — 20 more than Hoosiers coach Mike Woodson scored during his college career — it was the second-year coach who seemed most appreciative of the feat.
“I’ve been sitting in that spot for a long time, and for him to surpass it, man, it’s special,” Woodson said. “But he can’t stop there. It’s just points. He’s still staring at two things, aBigTentitleandanationaltitle,and that’s where I’m trying to get him.”
The latest win should help Indiana’s case. At halftime, the NCAA Tournament selection committee announced it had projected Indiana as the overall No. 13 seed.
Matthew Mayer and the Fighting Illini (17-9, 8-7) certainly had other plans — even with their top scorer, Terrence Shannon, in the concussion protocol. Mayer scored 16 of his 24 points and made all four of his 3-pointers in the first half. Epps added 12 points.