1986–87 Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball team

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Ranking
Coaches	No. 2
AP	No. 3

1986–87 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 3 Indiana	15	–	3	.833	30	–	4	.882
No. 7 Purdue	15	–	3	.833	25	–	5	.833
No. 6 Iowa	14	–	4	.778	30	–	5	.857
No. 11 Illinois	13	–	5	.722	23	–	8	.742
Michigan	10	–	8	.556	20	–	12	.625
Ohio State	9	–	9	.500	20	–	13	.606
Michigan State	6	–	12	.333	11	–	17	.393
Wisconsin	4	–	14	.222	14	–	17	.452
Minnesota	2	–	16	.111	9	–	19	.321
Northwestern	2	–	16	.111	7	–	21	.250

As of March 30, 1987^[1] Rankings from AP Poll

The 1986–87 Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball team represented Indiana University. Their head coach was Bobby Knight, who was in his 16th year. The team played its home games in Assembly Hall in Bloomington, Indiana, and was a member of the Big Ten Conference. The team is noted for having achieved much success without much NBA talent.

The Hoosiers finished the regular season with an overall record of 24-4 and a conference record of 15-3, finishing 1st in the Big Ten Conference. As Big Ten Conference co-champions with Purdue, IU was named a one-seed in the 1987 NCAA Tournament.^[2] They won solidly over Fairfield, Auburn, and Duke in NCAA play, but they needed Ricky Calloway's rebound lay-in to beat LSU, 77-76, to get to the Final Four. Once there, Indiana beat one-seed UNLV, 97-93, despite ten 3-pointers by UNLV guard Freddie Banks, which is still the Final Four record.

In the championship game versus Syracuse, which featured three future long-time professional players, Indiana trailed 73-70 in the last minute. However, two late shots by Keith Smart, including the last at 0:05, won the game for Indiana.

"The greatness in this team", coach Bob Knight said, "may be the greatness no other team here has had, to the degree that this one did – almost a total resolve not to recognize or be a part of defeat. This team played the last five minutes of critical games as well as I've ever seen a team play."^[3]

Roster

No.	Name	Position	Ht.	Year	Hometown
10	Tony Freeman	G	5–7	Fr.	Westchester, Illinois
11	Todd Jadlow	F/C	6–9	RS Jr.	Salina, Kansas
12	Steve Alford	G	6–2	Sr.	New Castle, Indiana
14	Magnus Pelkowski	C	6–10	So.	Bogotá, Colombia
20	Ricky Calloway	G/F	6–6	So.	Cincinnati, Ohio
22	Dean Garrett	C	6–10	Jr.	San Clemente, California
23	Keith Smart	G	6–1	Jr.	Baton Rouge, Louisiana
24	Daryl Thomas	F/C	6–7	Sr.	Westchester, Illinois
30	Todd Meier	F/C	6–8	Sr.	Oshkosh, Wisconsin
31	Dave Minor	F	6–5	Fr.	Cincinnati, Ohio
32	Steve Eyl	F	6–6	Jr.	Hamilton, Ohio
35	Jeff Oliphant	G	6–5	Fr.	Lyons, Indiana
42	Kreigh Smith	G/F	6–7	So.	Tipton, Indiana
44	Joe Hillman	G	6–2	So.	Glendale, California
45	Brian Sloan	F/C	6–8	So.	McLeansboro, Illinois

Player stats

Player	Games	Field Goals	Three Pointers	Free Throws	Rebounds	Blocks	Steals	Points
Steve Alford^[4]	34	241	107	160	87	3	39	749
Keith Smart^[5]	34	148	12	74	100	2	30	382

Schedule/Results

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Regular Season
11/29/1986*	No. 3	Montana State Billings	W 90-55	1-0	Assembly Hall Bloomington, Indiana
12/2/1986*	No. 3	at Notre Dame	W 67-62	2-0	Joyce Center Notre Dame, Indiana
12/6/1986*	No. 3	No. 13 Kentucky Indiana–Kentucky rivalry	W 71-66	3-0	Assembly Hall Bloomington, Indiana
12/9/1986*	No. 2	at Vanderbilt	L 75-79	3-1	Memorial Gymnasium Nashville, Tennessee
12/12/1986*	No. 2	UNC-Wilmington Indiana Classic	W 73-72	4-1	Assembly Hall Bloomington, Indiana
12/13/1986*	No. 2	East Carolina Indiana Classic	W 96-68	5-1	Assembly Hall Bloomington, Indiana
12/20/1986*	No. 8	Morehead State	W 84-62	6-1	Assembly Hall Bloomington, Indiana
12/23/1986*	No. 8	Louisville	W 67-58	7-1	Assembly Hall Bloomington, Indiana
12/26/1986*	No. 8	vs. Princeton Hoosier Classic	W 83-54	8-1	Market Square Arena Indianapolis
12/27/1986*	No. 8	vs. Illinois State Hoosier Classic	W 82-58	9-1	Market Square Arena Indianapolis
1/4/1987	No. 6	at Ohio State	W 92-80	10-1 (1-0)	St. John Arena Columbus, Ohio
1/8/1987	No. 4	at Michigan State	W 79-60	11-1 (2-0)	Jenison Fieldhouse East Lansing, Michigan
1/12/1987	No. 4	at Michigan	W 85-84	12-1 (3-0)	Crisler Arena Ann Arbor, Michigan
1/15/1987	No. 4	Wisconsin	W 103-65	13-1 (4-0)	Assembly Hall Bloomington, Indiana
1/17/1987	No. 4	Northwestern	W 95-43	14-1 (5-0)	Assembly Hall Bloomington, Indiana
1/22/1987	No. 3	at No. 1 Iowa	L 88-101	14-2 (5-1)	Carver–Hawkeye Arena Iowa City, Iowa
1/24/1987	No. 3	at Minnesota	W 77-53	15-2 (6-1)	Williams Arena Minneapolis
1/28/1987	No. 4	No. 12 Illinois Rivalry	W 69-66	16-2 (7-1)	Assembly Hall Bloomington, Indiana
1/31/1987	No. 4	No. 4 Purdue Rivalry	W 88-74	17-2 (8-1)	Assembly Hall Bloomington, Indiana
2/4/1987	No. 2	Michigan State	W 84-80	18-2 (9-1)	Assembly Hall Bloomington, Indiana
2/8/1987	No. 2	Michigan	W 83-67	19-2 (10-1)	Assembly Hall Bloomington, Indiana
2/11/1987	No. 2	at Northwestern	W 77-75	20-2 (11-1)	Welsh-Ryan Arena Evanston, Illinois
2/16/1987	No. 2	at Wisconsin	W 86-85 ^3OT	21-2 (12-1)	Wisconsin Field House Madison, Wisconsin
2/19/1987	No. 2	Minnesota	W 72-70	22-2 (13-1)	Assembly Hall Bloomington, Indiana
2/21/1987	No. 2	No. 7 Iowa	W 84-75	23-2 (14-1)	Assembly Hall Bloomington, Indiana
2/26/1987	No. 3	at No. 6 Purdue Rivalry	L 64-75	23-3 (14-2)	Mackey Arena West Lafayette, Indiana
3/1/1987	No. 3	at No. 14 Illinois Rivalry	L 67-69	23-4 (14-3)	Assembly Hall Champaign, Illinois
3/7/1987	No. 4	Ohio State	W 90-81	24-4 (15-3)	Assembly Hall Bloomington, Indiana
NCAA Tournament
3/12/1987*	No. 3 (1)	vs. No. (16) Fairfield First Round	W 92-58	25-4 (15-3)	Hoosier Dome Indianapolis
3/14/1987*	No. 3 (1)	vs. No. (8) Auburn Second Round	W 107-90	26-4 (15-3)	Hoosier Dome Indianapolis
3/20/1987*	No. 3 (1)	vs. No. 17 (5) Duke Sweet Sixteen	W 88-82	27-4 (15-3)	Riverfront Coliseum Cincinnati
3/22/1987*	No. 3 (1)	vs. No. (10) LSU Elite Eight	W 77-76	28-4 (15-3)	Riverfront Coliseum Cincinnati
3/28/1987*	No. 3 (1)	vs. No. 1 (1) UNLV Final Four	W 97-93	29-4 (15-3)	Louisiana Superdome New Orleans
3/30/1987*	No. 3 (1)	vs. No. 10 (2) Syracuse NCAA Championship Game	W 74-73	30-4 (15-3)	Louisiana Superdome New Orleans
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.

Awards and honors

Steve Alford, Big Ten Player of the Year
Dean Garrett, Big Ten Freshman of the Year
Bobby Knight, Naismith College Coach of the Year
Keith Smart, NCAA Men's MOP Award^[6]

Team players drafted into the NBA

Year	Round	Pick	Player	NBA Club
1987	2	26	Steve Alford	Dallas Mavericks
1987	6	116	Daryl Thomas	Sacramento Kings
1988	2	38	Dean Garrett	Phoenix Suns
1988	2	41	Keith Smart	Golden State Warriors

^[7]

References

^ "1986-87 Big Ten Conference Season Summary". sports-reference.com. Retrieved February 4, 2018.
^ "Indiana Basketball Men's Database". IndyStar. Retrieved November 15, 2015.
^ Hammel, Bob (1999). Glory of Old IU. United States: Sports Publishing Inc. pp. 190–191. ISBN 1-58261-068-1.
^ "Steve Alford Past Stats, Playoff Stats, Statistics, History, and Awards". Databasebasketball.com. 1964-11-23. Retrieved 2010-05-22.
^ "Keith Smart Past Stats, Playoff Stats, Statistics, History, and Awards". Databasebasketball.com. 1964-09-21. Retrieved 2010-05-22.
^ "Final Four Most Outstanding Players". cbs.sportsline.com. Retrieved 31 March 2008.
^ "1987 NBA Draft on Basketballreference.com". Databasebasketball.com. Retrieved 2010-05-22.

[1] "1986-87 Big Ten Conference Season Summary". sports-reference.com. Retrieved February 4, 2018.

[2] "Indiana Basketball Men's Database". IndyStar. Retrieved November 15, 2015.

[3] Hammel, Bob (1999). Glory of Old IU. United States: Sports Publishing Inc. pp. 190–191. ISBN 1-58261-068-1.

[4] "Steve Alford Past Stats, Playoff Stats, Statistics, History, and Awards". Databasebasketball.com. 1964-11-23. Retrieved 2010-05-22.

[5] "Keith Smart Past Stats, Playoff Stats, Statistics, History, and Awards". Databasebasketball.com. 1964-09-21. Retrieved 2010-05-22.

[Tourney_History-6] "Final Four Most Outstanding Players". cbs.sportsline.com. Retrieved 31 March 2008.

[7] "1987 NBA Draft on Basketballreference.com". Databasebasketball.com. Retrieved 2010-05-22.

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v t e Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball
Venues	Old Assembly Hall (1900–1917) Men's Gymnasium (1917–1928) The Fieldhouse (1928–1960) New Fieldhouse (1960–1971) Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall (1971–present) Cook Hall (practice)
Rivalries	Illinois Kentucky Purdue
Culture & lore	2011 Kentucky upset A Season on the Brink (film) Blue blood status Crimson Guard Crossroads Classic "Indiana, Our Indiana"
People	Head coaches NBA draftees Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
NCAA national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics