Film Session: Ohio State
On the backs of a hot hand from Jalen Hood-Schifino (6-of-7 from deep) and a 15-0 run to close it out, Indiana’s first-half offense helped the Hoosiers to a double-digit lead (16 points) at halftime.
The Buckeyes never got closer than 11 the rest of the way.
While Hood-Schifino made some individual plays for his 3-pointers — a pull-up in transition, a deep look in the pick-and-roll — along with him hitting from the corner on a baseline out-of-bounds play, his three other first-half makes came due to Ohio State sending extra attention to both Jackson-Davis and Malik Reneau’s post touches.
And as Jackson-Davis continues to lead Indiana’s break after he pulls down defensive boards, his playmaking skills also came up big during Indiana’s 15-0 run to end the half.
Saturday night’s performance (1.32 points per possession) indicated that Indiana’s offense has finally arrived in the Jackson-Davis era. His dominance has always run the show. But the lefty’s improved passing and playmaking coupled with newfound off-ball movement and elite shotmaking around him makes IU deadly when it’s rolling.
We’ll take a look at the aforementioned three 3-pointers from Hood-Schifino as well a Jackson-Davis assist during the 15-0 run in the latest edition of Film Session:
This possession starts with Jackson-Davis bringing the ball down the floor. He executes a dribble handoff into a screen for Miller Kopp on the left wing. Kopp is stopped on his drive, so he passes to Galloway up top. Jackson-Davis then posts on the left low block, so Hood-Schifino tells Galloway to feed him the ball. Galloway does, then cuts through the paint, a move we’re consistently seeing Indiana’s perimeter players do after entering the ball to Jackson-Davis.
Hood-Schifino then comes over to the left wing on the replace. Isaac Likekele digs off Hood-Schifino down to Jackson-Davis. It’s a simple pass back out to Hood-Schifino and he knocks home the 3-pointer.
Hood-Schifino is now hitting 47.2 percent (17-of-36) from 3-point range in conference play, which ranks fourth. With Ohio State opting to try and take away Jackson-Davis, it essentially left a 50 percent 3-point shooter wide open and he made them pay.
This time, we see Reneau playing the Jackson-Davis role as Indiana’s senior stole a little rest before the under-8 timeout. Hood-Schifino enters the ball to Reneau on the right low block and this time the dig comes from the top of the key instead of the wing with Roddy Gayle Jr. helping off Tamar Bates.
So Reaeau makes the pass out to Bates. With both Gayle Jr. and Brice Sensabaugh rotating out to Bates, he makes a wise decision. Instead of rising up and firing, he steps in on a drive down the middle, further drawing the defense to him. From there, he passes to Hood-Schifino on the right wing, who bangs home another one.
Selfless play from Bates here to pass up a good shot for a better one.
On our third and final Hood-Schifino 3-pointer, we see Jackson-Davis bring the ball down the floor after a rebound. Because of this, Zed Key is steps behind him in transition and ends up having to pick up Hood-Schifino on defense instead of sticking with Jackson-Davis. Key then finds himself drifting down to the paint as Jackson-Davis makes a move in the post, the gravitational pull of Indiana’s senior too much to overcome.
Jackson-Davis’ attempt is well off the mark, but he’s able to grab the rebound on the other side of the hoop. Key simply sticks in the lane as this happens, allowing Hood-Schifino plenty of daylight beyond the arc. Jackson-Davis makes the pass to him and it’s too much ground for Key to make up to challenge the shot. It’s another triple that falls for Hood-Schifino.
There’s nothing set or planned here from the Hoosiers. Just Jackson-Davis going to work off a rebound, the defense following him and allowing space for Hood-Schifino to fire.
On our last play, we again see Jackson-Davis bringing the ball down the court after a rebound. And the setup looks similar to our first play from this Film Session where he handed off and screened for Kopp. Except for this time around he’s on the right wing and it’s Galloway in the Kopp role.
Anticipating this action from the Hoosiers, Sensabaugh jumps the handoff, looking to go over Jackson-Davis’ screen.
But it doesn’t happen.
Galloway cuts backdoor instead and Jackson-Davis throws the pass. Galloway goes up and under for the difficult score during Indiana’s 15-0 run.
High-level stuff from Jackson-Davis here, working the counter with Galloway to perfection.
Filed to: Ohio State Buckeyes, Trayce Jackson-Davis