Trayce Jackson-Davis continued his string of dominant performances Tuesday night with 20 points, including the 2,000th of his career, and 18 rebounds as No. 18 Indiana grinded out a 66-60 Big Ten Conference win over No. 24 Rutgers in Bloomington, Ind.
Miller Kopp added 18 points for the Hoosiers (17-7, 8-5), which tied the Scarlet Knights for second place in the conference with their seventh win in eight games. Jackson-Davis added six assists and could have achieved a triple-double if his teammates had converted some makeable shots.
Clifford Omoruyi scored 15 points for Rutgers (16-8, 8-5) and Cam Spencer added 14, but the Scarlet Knights made just 39.7 percent of their shots. In the second half, they were even worse, hitting only 10 of 31.
Jackson-Davis dunked his own miss with 11:09 left for a 54-44 lead, putting him at 2,001 points for his career. It was the last Indiana field goal for nearly nine minutes, but his putback with 2:26 remaining helped hold off a late Rutgers surge.
The Hoosiers' main advantage came at the foul line, where they were 17 of 24 as opposed to the Scarlet Knights' 6 of 10.
Indiana set an early tone behind tough defense and improved execution on offense against an opponent that beat it in the previous six matchups. Playing through Jackson-Davis, the Hoosiers spent the first 11 minutes carving up one of the nation's top defensive teams.
Kopp, a talented shooter who hasn't hunted his shot often this season with the emphasis on feeding Jackson-Davis, canned a jumper and a 3-pointer back-to-back to force a Rutgers timeout at the 8:59 mark with Indiana leading 25-14.
But the Scarlet Knights worked their way back into the game as they forced some turnovers and got nine points off the bench from Oskar Palmquist, all on 3-pointers. When Aundre Hyatt drilled a 3-pointer with 27 seconds left, Rutgers trailed just 38-35 at halftime.
The Hoosiers shot 60.9 percent in the half and drew 10 assists off 14 baskets. They went on to shoot just 32.0 percent in the second half.
--Field Level Media
Rutgers | Indiana | |
Clifford Omoruyi 15 | Scoring | Trayce Jackson-Davis 20 |
Paul Mulcahy 5 | Assists | Trayce Jackson-Davis 6 |
Caleb McConnell 8 | Rebounds | Trayce Jackson-Davis 18 |
Clifford Omoruyi 3 | Free Throws Made | Trayce Jackson-Davis 4 |
Paul Mulcahy 3 | Steals | Miller Kopp 2 |
Caleb McConnell 1 | Blocks | Trayce Jackson-Davis 1 |