# 1974–75 Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball team

The 1974–75 Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball team represented Indiana University, led by fourth-year head coach Bobby Knight. The team played its home games on campus in Bloomington at Assembly Hall, and was a member of the Big Ten Conference.
The Hoosiers finished the regular season with a 29–0 record, and won the Big Ten Conference by six games at 18–0. 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, and Quinn Buckner – 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 92–90 in the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament and finished the season at 31–1.

## Roster

| No. | Name | Position | Ht. | Year | Hometown |
| 20 | Bobby Wilkerson | G/F | 6–7 | Jr. | Anderson, Indiana |
| 21 | Quinn Buckner | G | 6–3 | Jr. | Phoenix, Illinois |
| 22 | Wayne Radford | G/F | 6–3 | Fr. | Indianapolis, Indiana |
| 24 | Steve Ahlfeld | G | 6–1 | Sr. | Wabash, Indiana |
| 25 | Doug Allen | F | 6–6 | Sr. | Champaign, Illinois |
| 30 | John Kamstra | G | 6–1 | Sr. | Frankfort, Indiana |
| 31 | John Laskowski | G/F | 6–5 | Sr. | South Bend, Indiana |
| 32 | Mark Haymore | F/C | 6–8 | Fr. | Shaker Heights, Ohio |
| 33 | Tom Abernethy | F | 6–7 | Jr. | South Bend, Indiana |
| 34 | Steve Green | F | 6–7 | Sr. | Sellersburg, Indiana |
| 40 | Jim Wisman | G | 6–2 | Fr. | Quincy, Illinois |
| 42 | Scott May | F | 6–7 | Jr. | Sandusky, Ohio |
| 43 | Don Noort | C | 6–8 | Jr. | Worth, Illinois |
| 45 | Jim Crews | G | 6–5 | Jr. | Normal, Illinois |
| 54 | Kent Benson | C | 6–11 | So. | New Castle, Indiana |

## Regular season game against Kentucky

On December 7, 1974, Indiana and Kentucky met in the regular season in Bloomington with a 98–74 Indiana win. Near the end of the game, Indiana coach Bobby Knight 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 Dayton, Ohio, 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 Kent Benson scoring 33 points (13-of-18) and grabbing 23 rebounds, Kentucky won by two points, 92–90. The game made USA Today's list of the greatest NCAA tournament games of all time. The win put Kentucky in the Final Four in San Diego, where they dropped the NCAA title game to UCLA 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. 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

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site city, state |
| Non-conference regular season ||||||
| 11/30/1974* | No. 3 | Tennessee Tech | W 113–60 | 1–0 | Assembly Hall Bloomington, Indiana |
| 12/4/1974* | No. 3 | at No. 7 Kansas | W 74–70 $^{OT}$ | 2–0 | Allen Fieldhouse Lawrence, Kansas |
| 12/7/1974* | No. 3 | No. 15 Kentucky Indiana–Kentucky rivalry | W 98–74 | 3–0 | Assembly Hall Bloomington, Indiana |
| 12/11/1974* | No. 3 | at No. 11 Notre Dame | W 94–84 | 4–0 | Joyce Center Notre Dame, Indiana |
| 12/14/1974* | No. 3 | vs. Texas A&M | W 90–55 | 5–0 | Market Square Arena Indianapolis |
| 12/16/1974* | No. 3 | Toledo | W 92–70 | 6–0 | Assembly Hall Bloomington, Indiana |
| 12/20/1974* | No. 2 | Creighton Indiana Classic | W 71–53 | 7–0 | Assembly Hall Bloomington, Indiana |
| 12/21/1974* | No. 2 | Nebraska Indiana Classic | W 97–60 | 8–0 | Assembly Hall Bloomington, Indiana |
| 12/26/1974* | No. 2 | vs. Florida Rainbow Classic Quarterfinals | W 98–84 | 9–0 | Neal S. Blaisdell Center Honolulu, HI |
| 12/27/1974* | No. 2 | vs. Ohio State Rainbow Classic Semifinals | W 102–71 | 10–0 | Neal S. Blaisdell Center Honolulu, HI |
| 12/30/1974* | No. 2 | vs. Hawaii Rainbow Classic Championship | W 69–52 | 11–0 | Neal S. Blaisdell Center Honolulu, HI |
| Big Ten regular season ||||||
| 1/4/1975 | No. 2 | at Michigan State | W 107–55 | 12–0 (1–0) | Jenison Fieldhouse East Lansing, Michigan |
| 1/6/1975 | No. 2 | at No. 17 Michigan | W 90–76 | 13–0 (2–0) | Crisler Arena Ann Arbor, Michigan |
| 1/11/1975 | No. 1 | Iowa | W 102–49 | 14–0 (3–0) | Assembly Hall Bloomington, Indiana |
| 1/13/1975 | No. 1 | Minnesota | W 79–59 | 15–0 (4–0) | Assembly Hall Bloomington, Indiana |
| 1/18/1975 | No. 1 | at Northwestern | W 82–56 | 16–0 (5–0) | Welsh-Ryan Arena Evanston, Illinois |
| 1/20/1975 | No. 1 | at Wisconsin | W 89–69 | 17–0 (6–0) | Wisconsin Field House Madison, Wisconsin |
| 1/25/1975 | No. 1 | No. 20 Purdue Rivalry | W 104–71 | 18–0 (7–0) | Assembly Hall Bloomington, Indiana |
| 1/27/1975 | No. 1 | Illinois Rivalry | W 73–57 | 19–0 (8–0) | Assembly Hall Bloomington, Indiana |
| 2/1/1975 | No. 1 | at Ohio State | W 72–66 | 20–0 (9–0) | St. John Arena Columbus, Ohio |
| 2/3/1975 | No. 1 | Michigan | W 74–48 | 21–0 (10–0) | Assembly Hall Bloomington, Indiana |
| 2/8/1975 | No. 1 | at Iowa | W 79–56 | 22–0 (11–0) | Iowa Field House Iowa City, Iowa |
| 2/10/1975 | No. 1 | at Minnesota | W 69–54 | 23–0 (12–0) | Williams Arena Minneapolis |
| 2/15/1975 | No. 1 | Northwestern | W 82–58 | 24–0 (13–0) | Assembly Hall Bloomington, Indiana |
| 2/17/1975 | No. 1 | Wisconsin | W 93–58 | 25–0 (14–0) | Assembly Hall Bloomington, Indiana |
| 2/22/1975 | No. 1 | at Purdue Rivalry | W 83–82 | 26–0 (15–0) | Mackey Arena West Lafayette, Indiana |
| 2/24/1975 | No. 1 | at Illinois Rivalry | W 112–89 | 27–0 (16–0) | Assembly Hall Champaign, Illinois |
| 3/1/1975 | No. 1 | Ohio State | W 86–78 | 28–0 (17–0) | Assembly Hall Bloomington, Indiana |
| 3/8/1975 | No. 1 | Michigan State | W 94–79 | 29–0 (18–0) | Assembly Hall Bloomington, Indiana |
| NCAA Tournament ||||||
| 3/15/1975* | No. 1 | vs. UTEP Quarterfinals | W 78–52 | 30–0 | Memorial Coliseum Lexington, Kentucky |
| 3/20/1975* | No. 1 | vs. Oregon State Sweet Sixteen | W 81–71 | 31–0 | University of Daytona Arena Dayton, Ohio |
| 3/22/1975* | No. 1 | vs. No. 5 Kentucky Elite Eight | L 90–92 | 31–1 | University of Dayton Arena Dayton, Ohio |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. ||||||

## Team players drafted into the NBA

| Year | Round | Pick | Player | NBA Club |
| 1975 | 2 | 30 | Steve Green | Chicago Bulls |
| 1975 | 2 | 32 | John Laskowski | Chicago Bulls |
| 1976 | 1 | 2 | Scott May | Chicago Bulls |
| 1976 | 1 | 7 | Quinn Buckner | Milwaukee Bucks |
| 1976 | 1 | 11 | Bob Wilkerson | Seattle SuperSonics |
| 1976 | 3 | 43 | Tom Abernethy | Los Angeles Lakers |
| 1977 | 1 | 1 | Kent Benson | Milwaukee Bucks |
| 1978 | 2 | 27 | Wayne Radford | Indiana Pacers |