This March started for the Indiana Hoosiers like so many others lately had ended. Not happily, in case that isn’t clear.
The Hoosiers dropped their final two regular-season games, both of which they needed to feel secure Eastern Washington Eagles Jerseys about their first NCAA Tournament bid since 2016. They then began their last-chance opportunity Thursday, in the Big Ten Tournament second round, by falling into a 17-point deficit against the Michigan Wolverines.
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They hadn’t missed College Operation Hat Trick Apparel five consecutive March Madness events at any point since Bobby Knight was hired in 1971 and launched the Hoosiers toward an entirely new era of achievement, not even after Tom Crean arrived in 2008 to rebuild a program that was left with no veteran scholarship players by the time he coached his first game. Fewer than 13 minutes of this game remained.
What happened then?
How did IU go from staring at another empty, frustrating March to one of the great comebacks in the history of conference tournament basketball? How did the Hoosiers wind up with a 74-69 victory that resulted from their 31-9 surge to close the game?
IU star Trayce Jackson-Davis told reporters afterward that Abilene Christian University Wildcats shirt it was about what happened at halftime: Coach Mike Woodson challenged him. “He told me I wasn’t Eastern Illinois Panthers Jerseys playing up to my capabilities, but then he said, at the same time, basketball’s two halves.”
It maybe took a little while for all of that to sink in, as they say. Michigan outscored IU by four points over those first seven minutes, and the Wolverines would have been perfectly delighted for the game to continue in that fashion until the final buzzer.
Probably safely in the NCAAs but wanting to leave no doubt, the Wolverines began their collapse by failing to score for more than four minutes. In the midst of that drought, with 10:44 left, Jackson-Davis rebounded a UM layup that had been blocked by teammate Jordan Geronimo. From that moment on, here is what Jackson-Davis achieved: 13 points, three rebounds, three blocks and a steal.
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He’d had enough empty Marches, from the d UNC vs. Duke Rivalry shirt isappointment of seeing his freshman season — which probably would have included an NCAA Tournament appearance — ended by the pandemic to a sophomore season that produced a sub-.500 record. Jackson-Davis played like he was in control of his team’s future. Which, it turns out, he was.
“I think it started on the defensive end,” he said. “I was up, kind of getting in the passing lanes, the ball lanes, and then coming back (inside). And then on offense … getting easy lobs, I think that got me going.”
This doesn’t end the quest for the Hoosiers. They have a game in Texas vs. Oklahoma Rivalry shirt the quarterfinals against Big Ten co-champion Illinois. If they were to win that one — they were blown out at home in their one prior meeting — they’ll all but certainly be in the field. If they lose badly, they could be out. If they at least can be competitive, though, they’ll have a chance to survive the results of other teams in other tournaments and perhaps be presented a chance to play in the N Alabama State Hornets clothes CAA Tournament First Four next week in Dayton.
The Hoosiers own a 7-11 record against Quadrants 1 Eastern Washington Eagles clothes and 2 combined. They have four Quad-1 wins, which is four more than WVU vs. Pitt Rivalry shirt Houston as it competes for a top-four seed, two more than SMU as it tries for the same station on the bracket as IU.
They are not in, but they’re not out.
That was the main objective of the day.
