{"id":545386,"date":"2026-01-18T21:13:21","date_gmt":"2026-01-18T21:13:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/545386\/"},"modified":"2026-01-18T21:13:21","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T21:13:21","slug":"trayce-jackson-davis-talks-indianas-curt-cignetti-fernando-mendoza-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/545386\/","title":{"rendered":"Trayce Jackson-Davis talks Indiana’s Curt Cignetti, Fernando Mendoza"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN FRANCISCO \u2013 Trayce Jackson-Davis<\/a> once enjoyed a title reserved exclusively for basketball players at Indiana University. He was the big man on campus, the star athlete in the Hoosier state\u2019s biggest sport.<\/p>\n

While his powerful slams and stellar play helped IU<\/a> reach the NCAA Tournament in both his junior and senior years, the football team was a doormat in the Big Ten and an afterthought on campus.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But three years after the Greenwood, Indiana native graduated and began his NBA career with the Warriors, a lot has changed in Bloomington.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jackson-Davis is now the Bay Area\u2019s biggest fan of college football\u2019s preeminent juggernaut, a proud supporter of coach Curt Cignetti and former Cal quarterback and current Heisman winner Fernando Mendoza.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Even though he will be duking it out with the Heat on Monday evening as the Hoosiers take on another Miami team in the Hurricanes for the national championship<\/a>, that\u2019s nothing new for Jackson-Davis.<\/p>\n

When Indiana upset Ohio State for the conference title in early December, the Warriors only caught part of the second half on a projector in the Cleveland locker room. Jackson-Davis was only able to watch the first half of Indiana\u2019s 56-22 demolition of the Ducks last week before taking on Sacramento.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Even though he will be busy during the game, that did not stop the Warriors\u2019 big man from offering up his prediction.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIndiana Hoosiers 35, Miami Hurricanes 24,\u201d Jackson-Davis told the Bay Area News Group when asked for a final score prediction.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"IndianaIndiana head coach Curt Cignetti watches against Notre Dame during the first half in the first round of the NCAA College Football Playoff, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024, in South Bend, Ind. (AP Photo\/Darron Cummings)\u00a0<\/p>\n

Should Indiana win, it would cement the Hoosiers as one of the sport\u2019s all-time improbable turnarounds.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Well, improbable to everyone except Cignetti, who famously told reporters during his 2024 introductory press conference, \u201cI win; Google me.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

The bravado made many laugh, including Warriors coach Steve Kerr, who has watched the press conference several times since then.<\/p>\n

I remember laughing when I saw him at his press conference and he said \u2018Google me.\u2019 I remember laughing like, \u2018Man, this guy\u2019s got some you know what, and he was right,\u2019\u201d Kerr said. \u201cLike hell yeah, that guy\u2019s awesome.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Some dismissed Cignetti\u2019s declaration, but it turned Jackson-Davis into a fan.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe way he was talking and how he was chatting, it was bold, but I was like, \u2018If he\u2019s gonna say it, then he\u2019s gonna say it.\u2019 He stood on business, and I like people who stand on business,\u201d said Jackson-Davis, who met the coach shortly after the press conference.<\/p>\n

And don\u2019t dare call Jackson-Davis a bandwagoner. He went to his fair share of football games as a student, and was in the stands when Indiana secured one of its four wins of the 2022 season on a 51-yard Charles Campbell field goal as time expired against Western Kentucky.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But although his Hoosiers are on top of the college football world, Jackson-Davis is sure to show proper deference when identifying the state\u2019s premier football program. It will take a while to rip that mantle away from the storied university in South Bend.<\/p>\n

\"KrisIowa forward Kris Murray (24) makes contact with Indiana forward Trayce Jackson-Davis (23), who was bringing the ball up court during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023, in Bloomington, Ind. (AP Photo\/Doug McSchooler)\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like saying Purdue, having had recent success in basketball, is now the premier something in the state,\u201d Jackson-Davis said derisively, sure to get a shot in at the rival Boilermakers. \u201cUntil we get a few of them, I\u2019m still going to say Notre Dame. But we\u2019re on the come up, and I wouldn\u2019t be surprised if we pass them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jackson-Davis\u2019 fervor for his university naturally comes with being an alumnus of the school, according to the center who has carved out a role as a rim-running big man. He recently wore a sweater embroidered with \u201cIndiana vs. Everybody\u201d after one game, and said that kind of school spirit is not out of the ordinary for Hoosiers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Social media was abuzz when the red-clad Indiana fans seemingly outnumbered Oregon fans 10-to-1 in Atlanta a week ago.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jackson-Davis said to expect the fanbase to show up in droves again on Monday, even as the Hurricanes will be playing in their hometown.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all represent cream and crimson, and we travel,\u201d Jackson-Davis said. \u201cWhenever you\u2019re successful, it shows because that alumni and fan base will move heaven and earth to support their Hoosiers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"QuarterbackQuarterback Fernando Mendoza #15 of the Indiana Hoosiers reacts after a touchdown against the Alabama Crimson Tide in the second half of the 112th Rose Bowl CFP quarterfinal playoff football game in Pasadena on Thursday, January 1, 2026. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News\/ SCNG)\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN FRANCISCO \u2013 Trayce Jackson-Davis once enjoyed a title reserved exclusively for basketball players at Indiana University. He…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":545387,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3786],"tags":[7,159,160,479,164,4025,4024,155,165,6,161,162,163,66,255,158],"class_list":{"0":"post-545386","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golden-state-warriors","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-bay-area","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-golden-state","12":"tag-golden-state-warriors","13":"tag-goldenstate","14":"tag-goldenstatewarriors","15":"tag-inside-sports","16":"tag-latest-headlines","17":"tag-nba","18":"tag-peninsula","19":"tag-san-francisco","20":"tag-san-francisco-county","21":"tag-sports","22":"tag-warriors","23":"tag-warriors-hq"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115918170808919968","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545386","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=545386"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545386\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/545387"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=545386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=545386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=545386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}