‘Everyone thought Jalen wouldn’t be a one and done’: Jalen Hood-Schifino’s quick rise caught Mike Woodson, Indiana basketball by surprise

Jalen Hood-Schifino was the first Big Ten Freshman of the Year for the Indiana basketball program since Noah Vonleh — a decade earlier. The talented five-star guard had a sensational season in Bloomington but his career at Indiana was gone in the blink of an eye — even for head coach Mike Woodson.

When Woodson recruited Hood-Schifino, he clearly knew the potential he would bring with him to Bloomington. But, as Woodson admitted on Tuesday, the thought of him being a one-and-done player didn’t cross his mind.

“When I recruited Gabe (Cupps), the deal was — everyone thought Jalen wouldn’t be a one and done. That was the whole deal,” Woodson said. “You had X (Xavier Johnson) and you knew Gabe would come in and be a third point guard behind two veteran guys with Jalen being a sophomore. When we knew Jalen was leaving, we desperately tried to find a backup point guard or starting point guard (in the portal) to go along with Xavier and Gallo (Trey Galloway).”

While Hood-Schifino had a terrific freshman season, it didn’t start that way. He started just 6-of-21 shooting in his first three games and shot less than 25 percent from the floor in four of his first eight games. Then, everything changed.

Xavier Johnson went down with a broken foot against Kansas on Dec. 17, opening up the door for Hood-Schifino. He would go on to set career-highs in each of his next four games, including one of his two 30-point performances on the season.

In the nine games playing alongside Johnson, he averaged 9.0 points on 34.7 percent shooting with 4.1 assists and 2.9 turnovers per game. In the 24 games after the Johnson injury, Hood-Schifino saw his averages jump to 15.0 points on 43.3 percent shooting with 3.5 assists and 2.8 turnovers per game.

In total, he finished averaging 13.5 points, 4.1 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game.

“Us losing Xavier Johnson was huge, and it just threw him right to the wolves basically,” Woodson said of Hood-Schifino during the 2023 NCAA Tournament. “He had to grow up awfully fast. And in doing that, he’s been great for us, man. He’s done a lot of great things for us to put us in this position.”

Hood-Schifino was the first Indiana basketball player to have multiple 30+ point games in his first season since Eric Gordon. His 35 points against Purdue were the second-most points by an Indiana freshman. It was also the first time in the last 25 years for a freshman to score at least 35 points in a road victory over an AP top-5 team.

That catapulted him into a near-lottery pick in the 2023 NBA Draft, selected No. 17 overall by the Los Angeles Lakers.

“Me being a freshman, he allowed me to have the ball in my hands and make plays,” Hood-Schifino said this summer. “So it was a great experience.”

When Hood-Schifino announced his intention to leave for the NBA, Indiana struck out on a handful of potential guard replacements. It left Mike Woodson and Indiana basketball with just Gabe Cupps and Xavier Johnson as the two lone point guards on the roster.

“We explored (the transfer portal), we talked to different guard and guys went to other places based on they thought that was a better fit,” Woodsons said on Tuesday. “So basically came into this season hoping like hell X didn’t get hurt and Gabe would get an opportunity to learn slowly. And that hasn’t been the case.”

Xavier Jonson has missed 11 games this season — seven with a foot injury and the last four with an elbow injury. In his 14 games, however, he’s struggled, averaging just 8.3 points 40.7 percent shooting with 2.1 assists and 1.9 turnovers per game.

For Cupps, he’s started 14 games this season and has averaged 2.8 points and 1.4 assists while shooting 39.4 percent from the floor.

“He’s been thrown to the wolves basically as a freshman … I think he’s had a good freshman season considering,” Woodson said of Cupps. “He hasn’t shot the ball very well but the other night he made two 3s and defensively, I think he’s been solid from day one in trying to deal — especially in the big ten where every team’s point guard is pretty damn good.”

Cupps is coming off one of his best overall games as a Hoosier where he scored eight points and played a huge role in holding Northwestern guard Boo Buie to 3-of-14 shooting — his second-lowest field goal percentage game this season.

Indiana basketball is 14-11 overall and 6-8 in Big Ten play. And, unfortunately an NCAA Tournament at-large bid is off the table.

The Hoosiers have six games remaining this season.

SEE ALSO: Mike Woodson says Indiana basketball hoping to get Xavier Johnson back in ‘next week or two’

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