Indiana honored a beloved bit of college basketball history Sunday, dusting off the chair Bobby Knight famously threw across the Assembly Hall court and giving it to coach Mike Woodson for an enormous game against rival Purdue.
This was perfect, given that the late Knight’s famous toss in protest of a call he didn’t like happened 40 years earlier to the day. That was against Purdue, too. Also, it was a loss for an Indiana team that didn’t end up making the NCAA Tournament — which is exactly how things were playing out through one half of basketball.
To the credit and great benefit of these Hoosiers, they refused to repeat the first part of that history Sunday. Which means they might be able to avoid the second part. Down 37-25 at the half, Indiana flipped the game by attacking the interior and rolling 73-58 — a valuable upset that puts Woodson’s last IU team (16-11, 7-9 Big Ten) right on the NCAA Tournament bubble.
A quick 7-0 run by @IndianaMBB to start the half 💨#B1GMBBall on CBS 📺 pic.twitter.com/EWXjeeHWXA
— Big Ten Men’s Basketball (@B1GMBBall) February 23, 2025
It also means four straight losses for Matt Painter’s No. 13 Boilermakers (19-9, 11-6) to essentially end their Big Ten title hopes. Purdue looked like the favorite and a strong NCAA No. 2 seed contender not long ago, but opponents are hammering its primary weakness and providing a blueprint for those who may see the Boilers in March.
Purdue came in 331st out of 355 Division I teams in opponents’ 2-point percentage (55.5 percent) and 341st in block percentage (5.8 percent). In other words, the Boilermakers can’t defend the interior. That’s where big man Zach Edey’s presence is most missed.
The Hoosiers dominated with 44 points in the paint, getting a combined 27 points on 12-for-14 shooting from interior scorers Oumar Ballo and Malik Reneau. Indiana was a whopping 24-for-35 (68.6 percent) on 2-point tries, an extraordinary number even in light of Purdue’s season-long struggles.
Indiana also forced 16 turnovers, six from Purdue point guard Braden Smith (2-for-8, eight points, five assists), in a performance that could hurt his Big Ten Player of the Year hopes. That’s how Indiana outscored Purdue 48-21 in the final 20 minutes.
So Woodson, whose tenure will end when the season ends, may yet get this underachieving team to the NCAA Tournament. This is the Hoosiers’ second gigantic Quad 1 win in the past two weeks, including a win at Michigan State. Those are also Indiana’s only two wins since Jan. 17. Sunday marked IU’s first home win since Jan. 8.
Indiana will wrap up its regular season with Penn State and Ohio State at home, plus a West Coast swing to face Oregon and Washington. Wins in three of the four games would have Indiana on the right side of the bubble entering the Big Ten Tournament.
As far as the infamous Knight chair, Woodson told reporters that he got it from the family of former Indiana tennis coach Scott Greer after Greer died in 2022. He said of bringing it to the arena Sunday, “I wasn’t going to throw the chair, but I did want to sit in it.”
This Rivalry Just Means More 👀@IndianaMBB ⚔️ @BoilerBall #B1GMBBall on CBS 📺 pic.twitter.com/Vz6vZvWl31
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) February 23, 2025
Required reading
(AP Photo / Doug McSchooler)
