The 1974–75 Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball team represented

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. *Indiana Universi ...

, led by fourth-year head coach

Bobby Knight Robert Montgomery Knight (born October 25, 1940) is an American former basketball coach. Nicknamed "the General", Knight won 902 NCAA Division I men's college basketball games, a record at the time of his retirement, and currently fourth all-t ...

. The team played its home games on campus in Bloomington at

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, and was a member of the

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. The Hoosiers finished the regular season with a 29–0 record, and won the Big Ten Conference by six games at They began the season third in the polls and were top-ranked since January 7. When combined with the following year, Indiana won 37 consecutive Big Ten games. The Hoosiers won their conference games by an average of 22.8 points. However, in an 83–82 win against Purdue on February 22, they lost consensus All-American forward Scott May to a broken left arm. The Hoosiers were so dominant that four starters – Scott May, Steve Green,

Kent Benson Michael Kent Benson (born December 27, 1954) is an American former collegiate and professional basketball player. Benson was a two time All-American at Indiana University, winning the 1976 Helms Foundation Player of the Year and helping lead t ...

, and

Quinn Buckner William Quinn Buckner (born August 20, 1954) is an American former professional basketball player and coach. He played collegiate basketball for the Indiana University Hoosiers, and won a national championship in 1976. He was a captain of both ...

– were named to the five-man All-Big Ten team following the regular season. With May's injury keeping him to seven minutes of play, the No. 1 Hoosiers lost to

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...

in the

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of the NCAA Tournament and finished the season at

Roster

Regular season game against Kentucky

On December 7, 1974, Indiana and

met in the regular season in Bloomington with a 98–74 Indiana win. Near the end of the game, Indiana coach

went to the Kentucky bench where the official was standing to complain about a call. Before he left, Knight hit Kentucky coach Joe B. Hall in the back of the head. UK's assistant coach Lynn Nance, a former FBI agent who was about 6 feet 5 inches, had to be restrained by Hall from hitting Knight. Hall later said, "It publicly humiliated me." Knight said the slap to the head was something he has done, "affectionately" to his own players for years. "But maybe someone would not like that", he said. "If Joe didn't like it, I offer an apology. I don't apologize for the intent." ... "Hall and I have been friends for a long time", Knight said. "If he wants to dissolve the friendship, that's up to him." Knight blamed the furor on Hall, noting in his inimitable style, "If it was meant to be malicious, I'd have blasted him into the seats."

NCAA tournament

Following the one-sided regular season game in early December, Indiana and Kentucky met again in the 1975 Elite Eight in

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, the Mideast regional final. Entering that game on March 22, the top-ranked Hoosiers had a 34-game winning streak and Kentucky (24–4) was ranked fifth. However, Indiana had lost star player Scott May to a broken arm in the regular season finale against Purdue. May scored 25 points in the regular season IU-UK meeting, but he managed only two points in seven minutes in the tournament game, which he played with a cast on his left arm. IU surged out to an early seven-point lead before UK rallied to tie it at 44 by halftime. Despite Indiana's

scoring 33 points (13-of-18) and grabbing 23 rebounds, Kentucky won by two points, 92–90. The game made ''

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''s list of the greatest NCAA tournament games of all time. The win put Kentucky in the Final Four in

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, where they dropped the NCAA title game to

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

in John Wooden's final game as head coach. The loss for Indiana prevented what could have been back-to-back undefeated seasons and national championships as the Hoosiers went on to take the national title in

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 ...

. Bob Knight would later say that this 1974–75 team was the best he ever coached, even better than the undefeated national champions of 1976.

Schedule and results

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Rankings

Team players drafted into the NBA

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1974-75 Indiana Hoosiers Men's Basketball Team

Indiana Hoosiers The Indiana Hoosiers are the intercollegiate sports teams and players of Indiana University Bloomington, named after the colloquial term for people from the state of Indiana. The Hoosiers participate in Division I of the National Collegiate Ath ...

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball seasons