The incredible performances from senior Trayce Jackson-Davis has allowed Indiana Hoosiers men’s basketball get off to a hot start beating Nebraska, Miami, North Carolina, Jackson State, Little Rock, Xavier, Bethmune-Cookman and Morehead State while losing to Rutgers. They had a 7-0 start and were 11th in the country but a couple games later they fell down to the 14th spot. They are 8-2 and are seventh in the Big Ten.
They had a tough loss against Arizona on Saturday, Dec. 10, losing 89-75. Arizona went on a 17-0 run in the first half, outplaying the Hoosiers on both ends of the court. Although, against almost all of their other teams they won or had a close game.
Out of their first six matches, the only team they beat that had a winning record was the Xavier Musketeers. Early season games don’t usually show that a team is good enough to beat higher seeded teams. These early season games are meant to let head coaches evaluate new players, strategies and assistant coaches early in the season and under low stakes. Although it is pretty standard for better teams to play against worse teams early, it doesn’t show how well they will play in the future.
In the past IU has played generally well when they win their early games but there is a notable decrease in performance later in the season. In the 2021-2022 season, IU started off with a 7-1 record, just like they had this season, and ended with a 21-14 record as the ninth seed. The result of this season is unknown but it provokes the thought that this season may have a similarly impressive result, record wise.
During the 2021-2022 season, the Hoosiers had one of the best Big Ten defenses and had one of the best front courts in the Big Ten last year with Trayce Jackson-Davis and Race Thompson. The Hoosiers were also sixth in defensive rebounding percentage and fourth in turnover percentage. They had lots of upsides on defense and offense and they do this season as well. This season, the Hoosiers are the 14th best team and have the fifth best field goal percentage in all of College basketball at the time of their 16 point win against Nebraska.
Hopes are high for the Hoosiers and they have the potential to get to where they want to be. They have the talent, the coaching staff, the motivation based on high expectations, the work ethic that they need and on paper they are one of the best teams in the Big Ten. With that being said the team has a lot to prove and they are ready to exceed expectations.
