The 2019-20 Indiana University men’s basketball season is right around the corner. To help get you ready, The Daily Hoosier is profiling every player on the 2019-20 IU roster. You can see all of our player profiles in one place here. If you are looking for the 2019-20 IU basketball schedule, you can find that here.
It has been a wild ride as De’Ron Davis approaches his final stop in Bloomington.
A top 50 recruit out of high school, Davis played in all 34 games as a true freshman during the 2016-17 season and made four starts while averaging 5.9 points and 3.1 rebounds per contest.
The future looked bright for the Park Hill, Colorado product when Davis hit a major setback. A mid-sophomore season torn Achilles ended the 6-foot-10 big man’s second campaign and played a big role in his junior year as well.
Davis averaged 9.6 points, 4.3 rebounds and shot 61.5% from the floor for the 2017-18 season before the injury as he continued to progress towards what appeared to be a couple strong seasons as an upperclassman.
Instead, Davis entered his junior season still in recovery mode, and a rash of additional prevented him from ever really getting on track.
Now Davis enters his senior season finally healthy again, but a different kind of obstacle stands in the way — competition.
Redshirt junior Joey Brunk and true freshman Trayce Jackson-Davis both figure to play significant minutes at the five position, and present just the latest challenge as Davis wraps up his IU career.
ESSENTIALS
- Height: 6-foot-10
- Weight: 255
- Position: Forward/Center
- Class: Senior
- Hometown: Park Hill, Colorado
- High School: Overland
2018-19 STATISTICS
- Minutes per game: 13.6
- Points per game: 5.4
- Rebounds per game: 2.5
- Blocks per game: .6
- Assists per game: .9
- FG%: 60%
- FT%: 57.7%
WHAT THEY ARE SAYING
IU head coach Archie Miller on what will determine the allocation of minutes for the big men —
“In my opinion and how these guys find that niche, will be their ability to defend together. That’s obviously the hardest part for two bigs on the floor. It’s not offense. You can run a lot of different types of offense, especially when you have some guys who can score the ball down low.
But could they play together and defend a team who doesn’t play traditional with bigs. That will be the quest. Can those guys exist on that end of the floor a little bit.”
De’Ron Davis on how he is feeling physically going into his senior season —
“Yeah, I feel I’m pretty good right now. I’m just taking better precautions to my body. Obviously continue to improve my diet.
But, yeah, like you said, overall healthy. I’m as healthy as I can be right now, so just continue to work hard in the gym, on and off the court, and I feel like if I can play a whole, full season, it would contribute to my team a little bit more; help us out a lot in the long run.”
VIDEO
WHAT 2019-20 SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE
Predicting what Davis can bring to this 2019-20 squad is difficult.
The trajectory of his career seemed promising prior to the Achilles injury, but now it isn’t entirely clear if Davis can get back to where he needs to be physically. Add in the competition for playing time, and Davis’ senior season could seemingly go in a lot of different directions.
There are a few things that seem likely, however.
Hitting more than 60% of his shots over the last two seasons, IU might not have a more reliable scorer in the paint, at least as far as its known commodities go. Davis seems to have a knack for hitting tough contested shots in one-on-one matchups on the block, and has shown good footwork down low as well. Those are things that should only get better if he is healthy. Davis could end up being a real go-to option when IU needs a bucket late in games.
On the defensive end, Davis needs to become less of a liability when he gets pulled out on to the perimeter. His lack of foot speed makes Davis vulnerable at times, especially when hedging on high ball screens.
Matchups are going to play a big role in Davis’ game-by-game minutes. He should see plenty of action against teams that play multiple big men. If he can continue to be a good passer out of the paint and become a better rim protector, his role should only expand.
Of course there are going to be plenty of games where foul trouble and injuries also lead to a expanded action for Davis. That is a luxury that IU hasn’t had in the paint in recent years, and Davis should be a strong, veteran presence when duty calls.
If Davis’ 2018-19 numbers serve as a floor for his senior season, and he becomes more of a high energy vocal leader on the court, his final campaign in Bloomington should be looked back on favorably.
Of course Davis could make major strides in year four. The potential has always been there. But until we see how his role shakes out and how his body cooperates, sitting here today that would be difficult to predict.
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