2024-25 IU basketball player profile: Jakai Newton
With the start of college basketball season approaching, we’ve moved from our look at other Big Ten programs to our player-by-player previews of the 2024-25 Indiana roster.
Today, our player profiles continue with redshirt freshman Jakai Newton.
Previously: Bryson Tucker
Injuries have derailed Jakai Newton’s career for several years, but the IU redshirt freshman is hopeful he’ll be ready to go this winter in Bloomington.
The 6-foot-3 guard from Covington, Georgia, committed to the Hoosiers in October of 2021, less than a month before the start of his junior season at Newton High School. It was a major recruiting win for Indiana, which beat out schools like Alabama and Auburn for the four-star guard.
As a junior in high school, Newton averaged 14.3 points, 5.2 rebounds and 1.7 assists. However, the injury issues began in 2022 during his final summer of grassroots basketball with Atlanta Xpress and continued into his senior high school season. He missed significant time during his senior season.
Newton arrived in Indiana in June 2023, and in August 2023, Indiana announced that he had undergone a procedure on his knee.
“Indiana freshman guard Jakai Newton underwent a procedure to treat a pre-existing injury today,” the statement read. “There is no timetable for his return at this point.”
Newton never suited up for the Hoosiers in his first season and utilized a redshirt due to the injury. Near the conclusion of last season, Newton did dress for a couple of games and went through warmups, which signaled that he might be on the other side of the injury.
Thus far in the preseason, there have been conflicting messaging on Newton’s status, with the start of the regular season a little more than a month away.
At media day last month, Indiana coach Mike Woodson said Newton’s recovery is still ongoing.
“He still hasn’t fully recovered,” Woodson said. “He’s had some good days, but we can’t consistently keep him in practice and on the basketball floor yet. And that’s been frustrating for him. But he’s just got to keep working through it, that’s all I can tell him.
“And medical people are telling him the same thing, that you’ve just got to keep working until you can get back to where you can constantly stay on the floor and play basketball. That’s kind of been his hang-up right now.”
In interviews with the media on the same day, Newton said he was 100 percent health-wise and ready to go.
“I’m good now, I’m all the way good,” Newton said when asked about his status.
We may not have a clear answer on Newton’s status until Indiana’s Hoosier Hysteria scrimmage later this month. If he’s healthy and able to play this season, the redshirt freshman will face stiff competition for minutes in a revamped Indiana backcourt. There’s no denying Newton’s physique and athleticism but the depth chart in Bloomington looks much different than a winter ago.
The Hoosiers brought in Myles Rice from Washington State and Kanaan Carlyle from Stanford to play major minutes. Gabe Cupps and Trey Galloway are also back, as is Anthony Leal. But Newton is embracing the challenge to earn minutes in what appears to be a crowded backcourt on paper.
“I just know there’s a lot of different things I can do on the court when I’m healthy,” Newton said. “I’ll just play my role and let everything else figure itself out.”
Bottom line: Newton’s film in high school before his injury showed a player with immense talent and potential. He was explosive offensively and attacked the rim relentlessly. In transition, he was able to use his size and his body to bully past defenders to the rim. He could also pressure the ball defensively and get into the passing lanes. After a long rehab process, there’s hope that Newton will return to the floor and make an impact in his second season in Bloomington.
Quotable: “The physical and just mental part of it, being in pain every day. Having to get up, do school and rehab every day. It’s so repetitive. It’s hard to stay focused and attack it every day. That was the hardest thing. Especially when it’s been going on for so long. You can only control what you can control, so when stuff keeps happening, it kind of makes it hard.” – Newton at media day on the challenges of the rehab process.
Media day interview with Newton:
Filed to: 2024-25 season preview, Jakai Newton