INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana Hoosiers pulled up in Indianapolis for the Crossroads Classic with some freshmen from the Indianapolis metro area that proved to Archie Miller and the IU faithful that they were worth the recruitment. Trayce Jackson-Davis (Center Grove) and Armaan Franklin (Cathedral) put in crazy work down the stretch to push the Hoosiers past Notre Dame 62-60 in a thriller.
Franklin led the Hoosiers with 17 points and Jackson-Davis dropped off 14. Davonte Green finished with 11 points.
The Fightin’ Irish couldn’t hit water if they’d fallen out of a boat but managed to keep it interesting.
The Indiana Hoosiers jumped out of the ride and went on as 7-0 run to start the game. Notre Dame was still trying to get the license plate of the red Impala sitting on “them thangs” that side swiped them.
The Irish finally got on the board on a John Moony free throw to open the can for them.
The Hoosiers were on fire during the first 9 minutes of play shooting 54 percent from the field and 50 percent (6-11) from behind the arc (1-2).
Notre Dame continued to fight their way back into it even though they couldn’t hit an elephant in the butt with a base fiddle (shooting only 25 percent from the field and 12.5 percent from behind the arc.). With 8:33 left in the half the Hoosiers were only up 17-15 over the Fightin’ Irish. That’s NUTS!!!
Then the Hoosiers went on a 10-1 run to open the joint up 27-16. The three ball started to fall and Notre Dame was shook down 32-20 as IU’s Armaan Franklin snapped on a three-pointer with 2:25 left in the half. At the break the Hoosiers were up 34-23.
It was amazing that Notre Dame was only down 11 points shooting as badly as they shot in that first half. They shot 27 percent from the field and only 13 percent from behind the arc.
IU came out of the break on a 10-2 run ignited by a monster dunk by Trayce Jackson-Davis after he got a steal on the other end of the floor. The Irish were looking for answers to close the flood gates as they looked up and were down 46-30 after another amazing alley-oop dunk by Jackson-Davis.
After the timeout Notre Dame seemed to get their composer back and went on a 6-0 run before the Hoosiers answered with a bucket by Armaan Franklin.
All of a sudden the Irish went on a 9-0 run to pull to within 5 making it 48-45 with 8:14 left to play and I need you to keep in mind that they still couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn with a ’76 Eldorado.
Notre Dame took it’s first lead of the night on a Dane Goodwin three-pointer to go up 55-54 with 4:59 left to play. IU slowly started to wet the bed as the Irish went up 57-54.
Armaan Franklin knocked down a three-ball to make it 59-57 2:49 left. Trayce Jackson-Davis blew the roof off of the joint with another monster dunk to tie it up at 59-59 with a minute left. Then the other fabulous freshman, Armaan Franklin, knocked down a another three-pointer to put the Hoosiers up 62-60 with 15.7 seconds left. NUTS!!!
Next ND possession down the floor IU’s Trayce Jackson-Davis gets a block and it was ball game!!! The IU freshman showed up and showed out!!! Great game for the first of two games at Crossroads Classic.