On Wednesday night, Trayce Jackson-Davis posted six blocks against Minnesota and passed Jeff Newton for the most blocks in Indiana basketball history.
Coming into Wednesday’s game against the Gophers, Jackson-Davis was tied with Newton for most career blocks in Indiana basketball history at 227. With 1:24 seconds remaining in the first half, Jackson-Davis logged his first block of the game and became the all-time leader in career blocks in Indiana basketball history.
To top it all off, Jackson-Davis added five more blocks in the second half and four of those came at critical times with five minutes remaining in the game.
Offensively, Trayce Jackson-Davis has been on another level and continues to prove his dominance night in and night out against some of the best defenses in the country. Yet, right now, it’s his defense and rebounding that’s standing out above the rest as the Hoosiers look to win their fifth straight game on Saturday night against Ohio State.
After his performance yesterday, and averaging 4.8 blocks during this four-game winning streak, the Naismith Trophy named Trayce Jackson-Davis to the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year Watch List. The Indiana basketball senior is joined by Zach Edey (Purdue), Oscar Tshiebwe (Kentucky), and Ryan Kalkbrenner (Creighton), among others as big men on the midseason watch list. Jackson-Davis is the only player on the list to average 2.5+ blocks and 10.0+ rebounds this season.
The only other player over the last 30 college basketball seasons to average 19.0+ points, 9.0+ rebounds, and 3.0+ blocks in a season was Tim Duncan (Wake Forest) back in his junior (1995-96) and senior seasons (1996-97).
No Big Ten player has ever won the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year trophy since it began in 2018 and a forward or center has won it just once, Walker Kessler (Auburn) in 2022.
Can Trayce Jackson-Davis continue his dominance defensively and earn himself another huge honor to add to his legacy for Indiana basketball?