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Rapid Reaction: Clutch performance by Trayce Jackson-Davis not enough as Indiana falls to FSU in OT
By Paul Harvey
Published:
Indiana proved up to the task Wednesday night in the road trip against No. 20 Florida State.
Taking on the Seminoles as a part of the B1G/ACC Challenge, the Hoosiers fought hard all game long. Florida State carried a slim lead into halftime but there was virtually no separation between the two teams all game long. With five minutes to go, the score was knotted at 52-all.
It looked like Indiana may secure the win in regulation with star big man Trayce Jackson-Davis scoring on a putback off a missed three by Rob Phinisee. That made it 61-59, but a made three by the Seminoles and a free throw for the Hoosiers had the game all tied up once again at 62.
With less than 45 seconds in regulation, it looked like disaster was about to strike for the Hoosiers as they allowed Florida State to secure three offensive rebounds, including one that gave the Seminoles a shot at the win with 6.6 seconds left. That shot was wide of the mark as the game headed to overtime.
The overtime period started beautifully with an and-1 hoop-and-foul for Jackson-Davis. Jackson-Davis also came up with a clutch block in overtime with the Hoosiers down two and 20 seconds left on the clock. He also tied the game with two free throws with eight seconds remaining, but an incredible layup by Scottie Barnes with 1.8 remaining gave the Seminoles the hard-fought victory.
Key Player: Trayce Jackson-Davis. In what was a truly clutch performance in every sense of the word, Jackson-Davis was a handful for Florida State to deal with all game long. He finished with a double-double and a game-high 25 points to go with 17 rebounds and two blocks while shooting 9-for-12 from the free-throw line. Barnes’ game-winning bucket was just out of the reach of another block attempt by Jackson-Davis as the Hoosiers lost their second game of the season.
Key Stat: 3-point shooting. Indiana did not shoot the ball well from deep, going 4-for-15 from three-point range. Meanwhile, Florida State shot 8-for-20 from three. That is hardly a hot night, but it was enough to make up for the huge performance by Jackson-Davis. For Indiana, Rob Phinisee and Al Durham combined to shoot 2-for-9 from deep and 5-for-20 overall.
What it means moving forward: Indiana’s two losses have come against top-25 teams, though Wednesday’s loss to Florida State was a much better performance than the blowout loss to Texas earlier in the season. Indiana still needs shooting help from the outside, but Jackson-Davis is a star to lean on this season. The Hoosiers’ next scheduled game is Sunday against North Alabama.
Paul is a lifelong fan and student of all things college football. He has been covering college football since 2017 and the B1G since 2018.