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IU basketball transfer portal hot board 2.0: Priority positions, names to know

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IU basketball transfer portal hot board 2.0: Priority positions, names to know


BLOOMINGTON – College basketball’s transfer window will emerge from its Final Four-enforced slowdown at the end of this week, when the dead period lifts and visits can resume.

Indiana, still light six scholarship players with plenty of work to do, will dive right back in. The Hoosiers are lining up visitors for the coming weekends, with a heavy emphasis on positions and roles of need. IndyStar examines those needs, and some names to know as IU’s roster-building efforts accelerate.

‘He works his tail off’: How IU’s Will Sheehey has made an impact on Golden State’s staff

Needs

Backcourt impact: An already thin guard rotation lost Xavier Johnson (eligibility) and CJ Gunn (portal) once the season ended. Trey Galloway gives Mike Woodson proven ball-handling and creativity, but he cannot run a one-man show.

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Indiana needs shooting and scoring punch, both, here. Players who can get on the ball and make plays, for themselves or others, and players who can stretch the floor in ways last season’s roster too often could not. Myles Rice hands Woodson a point guard with as many as three years of eligibility remaining, upping the Hoosiers’ depth of creativity and giving Woodson another lead guard around which to build his ball-screen offense. Now, Indiana must add players for whom Rice can create.

Backcourt depth: Simplistic, yes. But there’s an extent to which Indiana just needs bodies in its backcourt. Galloway and Gabe Cupps are the only guards returning to play at least 50% of available minutes last season. The growth of Anthony Leal’s role in Big Ten play shouldn’t be overlooked, but it’s not by itself a cure-all. Rice should see serious minutes. He shouldn’t be alone.

Floor spacing: It’s long past time Indiana had the tools necessary to shoot 3-pointers with both accuracy and efficiency. That means adding at least two players with an established track record shooting the ball well. It also means bolstering the roster with players used to the kind of volume the Hoosiers so desperately need.

Rim protection: Whether Woodson intends to play Malik Reneau at the four or the five next season remains unclear. But the Hoosiers need length and rebounding impact in any event, whether from the bench or in the starting lineup. Woodson has always valued a shot-altering center who could rebound at volume, particularly at the defensive end. Whether that player starts or sees major bench minutes, IU needs at least one big addition here.

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Names to know

We’ll group these names by position, and list them alphabetically. The usual disclaimer: This is by no means an exhaustive list, and it will be updated. The portal moves fast. Circumstances change rapidly in college basketball. Just ask Mitch Barnhart. Let’s roll.

COMMITMENTS

The reigning Pac-12 freshman of the year, Rice pulled the strings for surprise package Washington State during the Cougars’ best season in a decade and a half last winter. He averaged 14.8 points, 3.1 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game in his first competitive collegiate season. Rice was not just one of Washington State’s best players — if not the Cougars’ best — but also among the Pac-12’s best creators.

Now, Rice is Bloomington-bound. If Woodson had a wish list at point guard, Rice probably topped it. That’s one wish come true.

GUARDS

It’s not surprising to see a lot of IU’s focus right now trained on the backcourt. As previously discussed, the Hoosiers need both depth and impact as they rebuild their guard rotation, and that could mean trying to take as many as four guards out of the portal this cycle.

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Kanaan Carlyle

The Stanford transfer made honorable mention All-Freshman Team in the Pac-12 last winter, averaging 11.5 points and 2.7 assists per game. He appeared in 23 games for the Cardinal in his lone season in Palo Alto, making close to 78% of his free throws along the way. Carlyle shot just 32% from 3 (a clean 32-of-100), and he needs to improve his finishing on 2s as well. But he would add some creativity — he finished conference play last year 11th in assist rate and a remarkable third in possessions used. He’s comfortable with the ball in his hands.

Carlyle has a visit scheduled for next weekend.

Ryan Conwell

The Pike grad started his college career at South Florida before transferring to Indiana State, and now he’s in the portal following Josh Schertz’s exit for Saint Louis. It stands to reason some of Schertz’s players will follow him from Terre Haute, but if Conwell is interested in IU, it seems likely IU would reciprocate. He checks a lot of boxes for the Hoosiers, who would like to get him to campus.

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Connor Essegian

Essegian is an interesting case. He was a revelation for Wisconsin two years ago, averaging 11.7 points per game while shooting a tick under 36% from behind the arc. All that dried up last winter, when the Central Noble grad saw his minutes average cut from 27.4 per game to just 7.3. Essegian never found his 3-point shot or his scoring touch as a sophomore, and he didn’t play double-digit minutes in any of the Badgers’ last 11 games. He undeniably ticks certain boxes (shooting chiefly among them) for Indiana, but the Hoosiers would need to be confident last season was the exception, not the rule. Essegian has already taken a handful of visits, though none to Bloomington, at least not yet.

Connor Hickman

There’s an argument Hickman might have been a high-major guard out of Bloomington South in 2021, if COVID hadn’t disrupted that class’s recruiting timeline so dramatically. Hickman landed at Bradley, where he scored 953 points and hit 37.3% of his 3-pointers across three seasons. Last winter was his best — Hickman averaged 14.5 points and nearly three assists per game, for a 23-win Bradley team that finished third in the Missouri Valley Conference and reached the NIT.

Hickman wrapped his Indiana visit Sunday, then followed that with a planned trip to Cincinnati. It’s widely believed those are his final two, with a decision likely to come soon.

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Leland Walker

Another Indianapolis native on this list, Walker popped up early in the portal cycle in connection with Indiana. The North Central grad averaged 15.4 points and 4.1 assists per game last season as a sophomore at Eastern Kentucky, and his two-year numbers suggest he’s ready for a step up in competitive level.

Things have since slowed with Walker and the Hoosiers (not uncommon in a calendar that moves in fits and starts), but there are plenty of ways Walker fits what IU needs. This recruitment could come down to roster spots and playing time, as much as anything.

WINGS/FORWARDS

IU already has good options here, with Mackenzie Mgbako confirmed returning and five-star Bryson Tucker inbound after a whirlwind recruitment culminated in his commitment last week. Indiana’s need here might be style-dependent — if Woodson wants to play a smaller, more positionally fluid brand of basketball next season, more wing depth is a requirement.

Ben Humrichous

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It’s been a remarkable rise for Humrichous. The Tipton native was playing at Huntington University two years ago, then spent last year starring at Evansville before portaling this window. In 23 games with the Purple Aces, Humrichous hit 53-of-126 3s (42.1%) while finishing 2s at a respectable rate and taking on an increased load in conference play. A 6-9 forward with tweener skills, Humrichous finished last season with a true shooting percentage of 0.613, which would’ve ranked him second among Hoosiers behind only Kel’el Ware in 2023-24.

Adou Thiero

Thiero was once a target for Indiana from the high school ranks. After two seasons at Kentucky — the second more productive than the first — Thiero is in the portal, and it’s no surprise to see IU among the schools interested. Thiero has a fascinating backstory as a late-blooming high school recruit still perceived to be scratching at his potential in college. He may only need one more year, with NBA teams eyeing him as a potential draft prospect in 2025.

Cade Tyson

Officially listed as a guard/forward, Tyson is one of the most intriguing and sought-after up transfers in the portal right now. The 6-7 North Carolina native averaged 16.2 points and 5.9 rebounds last season at Belmont, hitting 46.5% of his 3s. That was after shooting 41.7% from distance as a freshman in Nashville. Does Indiana still need the kind of impact wing presence Tyson would provide, with Mgbako back and Tucker in the fold? Tough to say, but best practice if Tyson was interested would probably be to take talent first, ask questions later.

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CENTERS

Not a ton of names here, which isn’t surprising. IU might only really need one out-and-out five, and it’s not clear (as previously discussed) whether that player would be an automatic starter. But there are a couple meaningful names here, including confirmed visitors, and Woodson’s defensive setup has always relied at least one rim-protecting high-volume rebounder.

Oumar Ballo

The Arizona transfer is among the most recognizable big men in the country. A dominant force, particularly defensively and on the glass, for the Wildcats across the last two seasons, Ballo is considered among the best transfers in his class, if not the best, full stop. Ballo is reportedly considering a handful of schools, with visits set up for this week. He arrived in Bloomington for the first of those Sunday night and by Monday was posting from his trip on social media. Indiana could be in as good of a spot to land the 7-foot center as any team in the country.

Pharrel Payne

IU’s staff will know Payne well, having planned for him these past two seasons at Minnesota. Payne was rarely a volume scorer in the post in Minneapolis (though he did average 10 points per game last winter). But he was an outstanding rebounder at both ends of the floor — third in the conference in offensive rebound rate in Big Ten games, 13th in defensive rebound rate — and a functional shot blocker as well. He also finished nearly 64% of 2s across a pair of seasons with the Golden Gophers.

The question with Payne might be whether IU lands Ballo. If they do, would Payne still consider the Hoosiers knowing he’d probably play from the bench in Bloomington? If so, that would hand Woodson enviable 4/5 depth. Whether Indiana recruited him to start or serve as a key reserve, he fits a lot of what the Hoosiers need from a player in his position.

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Amari Williams

A senior with his COVID year remaining, Williams has been on Indiana’s radar since he hit the portal last month. Williams averaged 12.2 points and 7.8 rebounds per game last season, and he’s been a remarkably efficient defensive presence for most of his career. He finished top-30 nationally in defensive rebound rate in each of the last three seasons, and he’s never posted a single-season block rate lower than 8.3%. Williams is expected in Bloomington next weekend. He certainly ticks a lot of the boxes Woodson needs at the five.

Follow IndyStar reporter Zach Osterman on Twitter: @ZachOsterman.



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The Pelicans lose their 13th in the last 14 games vs. the Pacers in Indiana

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The Pelicans lose their 13th in the last 14 games vs. the Pacers in Indiana


INDIANAPOLIS — Pascal Siakam scored 22 points and Tyrese Haliburton added 21 points and 10 assists to lead the Indiana Pacers past the struggling New Orleans Pelicans 119-104 on Sunday.

Andrew Nembhard had 17 points, and Myles Turner finished with 14 points and four blocks as the Pacers won for the third time in four games.

Brandon Boston scored 20 points to lead five Pelicans players in double figures. Dejounte Murray and Herbert Jones each scored 19 points while Murray had seven rebounds and seven assists.

New Orleans had 18 turnovers and was 10 of 33 from 3-point range in its fourth straight loss. The Pelicans have lost 13 of 14 since mid-November.

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Indiana swung the game with its second-quarter defense. New Orleans scored only 14 points in those 12 minutes, falling into a 59-42 halftime deficit. The Pacers extended the lead to as many as 23 points in the third quarter and coasted through the fourth.

Haliburton and Obi Toppin each made four 3s, accounting for half of Indiana’s 16 3s.

Pelicans-Pacers takeaways

Pelicans: A rash of injuries has hit New Orleans hard, and Sunday’s contest was yet another illustration. It was overwhelmed as last season’s highest-scoring offense seems to be rounding into form.

Pacers: Nembhard’s return from injury has helped Indiana put together its best stretch of the season. When both Pacers guards playing fast and free, they roll. If they keep it up, their season could soon get back on track.

Key moment

New Orleans scored just two points over the final 4:15 of the first half, and Indiana took full advantage by extending an eight-point lead to 17 at the half.

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Key stat

Indiana finished the game with nine blocks, eight in the first half when they pulled away.

Up next

New Orleans returns to action Thursday at Houston. Indiana begins a three-game trip Thursday at Phoenix.



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Inconsistent Play Driving Poor Start For Indiana Pacers

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Inconsistent Play Driving Poor Start For Indiana Pacers


CHICAGO — The Indiana Pacers took on the Chicago Bulls last Friday, and the Pacers mood as a group was largely positive before the game. Players were focused on their upcoming task at hand after a lengthy morning shootaround session. They took a hard look at their offense, spacing, and movement in an attempt to figure out what they needed to do to recapture their offensive potency. Players were light and jovial about one hour before tipoff.

That night, the Pacers scored 132 points and earned their first win without clutch time all season. They made 18 three-point shots and kept the Bulls away. It was the team’s third-highest scoring game this season, and Indiana earned a much-needed win on the same day that they focused on re-establishing their offensive identity.

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Two days later, that same Pacers team was at home hosting the lowly and banged-up Charlotte Hornets. Head coach Rick Carlisle shared before the game that his team went through all of their offensive keys again before the action, just like they did in Chicago. Indiana had a chance to win two-straight games before having four days off to practice, and the group had a similar pregame vibe.

Yet the results were different that night. The Pacers scored just 109 points in a loss against the shorthanded Hornets, dropping the team’s record to 10-15. They weren’t able to keep rolling offensively, and that inconsistency had defined this Pacers campaign.

“We’re struggling in the margins of the game,” Carlisle said after his team lost in Charlotte. “Put two hands on the ball. Avoiding avoidable turnovers. Simple things within our defensive system that we control, we’re not doing a good enough job on those. We’ve got to, probably, communicate a lot better.”

Why have the Indiana Pacers been inconsistent?

Indiana has been all over the place. In a way, they are similar to last year — their best level is extremely high, yet their lowest performances look like one of the worst teams in the league. The Pacers have beaten Boston, Dallas, New York, Miami, and Orlando this season. That’s three of the Eastern Conference’s top-four teams, missing only a Cleveland group that the Pacers haven’t played yet. The Mavericks were in the NBA Finals last season. At their best, the blue and gold can hang with, and beat, contenders.

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At their worst, they can’t beat anyone. Charlotte (twice), New Orleans, Philadelphia, Toronto (twice), and Brooklyn have already taken down the Pacers this season. Picking up those games was supposed to be Indiana’s way of improving from last year. Instead, they are inconsistent and have a lower ceiling. They have rarely strung together good play, even within one game.

“We’re human. When bad things happen, people are gonna hold their head down. Energy shifts. When we’re cooking, when we’re up, when we’re making shots. Of course our vibe is gonna be there,” Pacers forward Jarace Walker said the night his team lost to Charlotte in Indy. “We’ve just got to figure out how to keep that even keel, that level head when things do go south. So I feel like that’s where we’re struggling right now, and we’ll figure it out eventually.”

Two days ago, after several days off and multiple practices, the Pacers went to Philly and stomped the 76ers. It was another reminder of the team’s highest level — at their best they look like a postseason threat. The ball moved well, and Indiana’s defense found success all night. Games like that make their low points so confusing. They can have a night where they appear to one of the worst teams in the league right in the middle of stronger outings.

Indiana’s results display this information well, but so do their per-possession numbers. Per pbpstats, the Pacers are 14th in offensive efficiency at about 1.14 points per possession this season. Yet they have finished a game with an offensive rating over 120 eight times (7-1 in those games) and concluded action with an offensive rating under 110 nine times (0-9). 17 of the team’s 26 games fit into either extreme. They’ve been all over the place — last year, Indiana only had 14 games the entire season with a points per 100 possessions figure below 110. They’re on pace for 28 this season. The Pacers reached the 120 mark 45 times in 2023-24, yet they’re only tracking to hit 25 this season.

That’s a lot of numbers that all point to the same thing — the blue and gold have been inconsistent this season, and it’s largely due to their offense. On defense, the team is similarly poor compared to last season. In general, they have been slightly better on the less glamorous end of the floor. But with the rock, the Pacers were a machine last year. They hit a high peak in over half of their games. This year, they’ve fallen flat just as often as they had an easy night when it comes to scoring.

“It’s a good question. I feel like just focusing on the little things, really. Getting guys healthy, obviously not an excuse,” guard T.J. McConnell said of the team’s inconsistencies. He’s been one of the team’s steadiest performers. “But I think just focusing on the small details, especially on a defensive end. We just have to be better.”

The Pacers need to play better, as McConnell said. That’s obvious, reaching their peak more often would lead to more wins. But they may get equal, if not more, value by reducing the frequency of their poor outings. In general, that is what has felt different about the team this year compared to the most recent full campaign — they have far more outings where they look like they have no scoring capability, even against weak opponents.

What does it take to shake that kind of issue? It’s hard to say. If the Pacers knew why they were inconsistent, they would address it and not have these problems in the first place.

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Some of it comes down to their many injuries, including a few that are likely season ending. Their pace hasn’t been as breathtaking compared to the rest of the NBA like it was last season. Tyrese Haliburton, the team’s star player, has been up and down — just like the team as a collective.

It’s hard to predict what version of the Pacers will show up, but less frequent peaks and more visible lows has the team at 11-15 with a tough stretch of opponents coming up. Some would argue that inconsistent is synonymous with bad when it comes to the quality of an NBA team, and that may be true in some cases. Indiana will hope they can prove that to be false and get back to the season they hoped to have.



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Indiana vs Notre Dame: The football rivalry that wasn’t takes center stage in CFP first round

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Indiana vs Notre Dame: The football rivalry that wasn’t takes center stage in CFP first round


BLOOMINGTON — Notre Dame has mostly rebuffed Indiana football’s efforts to bring the teams together despite the schools being separated by less than 200 miles.

Was it intentional? That’s up for debate.

Notre Dame had other priorities as it looked to build nationally focused schedules in support of its iconic brand while juggling a series of traditional rivalries. The Hoosiers never fit into those plans outside of a one-off game in 1991.

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The schools have a future home-and-home series on the books that is anything but certain given the changing landscape of college football, but that’s not a concern this week after the College Football Playoff put the programs on a collision course.

The No. 8 Hoosiers (11-1; 8-1 Big Ten) will visit South Bend for a first-round CFP matchup on Friday, Dec. 20 at 8 p.m. in a game that could define the future of football in the Hoosier State.

While Indiana hasn’t reached anywhere near the same heights of Notre Dame on the gridiron — the Irish have more national titles (11) than IU has bowl wins (three) — coach Curt Cignetti labeled the program an “emerging superpower” after guiding the Hoosiers to a historic eight-win turnaround.

“I think all the pressure to win the game is on Notre Dame,” Indiana’s former athletic director Fred Glass said. “A lot of people nationally don’t even think IU belongs in the College Football Playoff. Under all those circumstances, if Indiana beats Notre Dame at Notre Dame, and knocks them out of the national championship playoff, I think that would be a historic humiliation of epic proportion for Notre Dame. I think the pressure is completely on them.”

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It might be enough to even kick off a true rivalry between the schools.

Indiana and Notre Dame football separated by more than just distance

Indiana athletic director Scott Dolson has a unique perspective on the IU-Notre Dame series as a Michigan City native who regularly attended football games in South Bend during his childhood.

Dolson went on to become a fixture in IU’s athletic department after graduating from the school. He famously spent time as a student manager for Bob Knight and worked his way up from various fundraising roles. 

“When I came down to Bloomington, Notre Dame felt like it was in another part of the United States in some ways,” Dolson said. “There was so much focus on Indiana and Purdue, and we didn’t have a series, it just didn’t feel like they were in the same state. Obviously, they aren’t in a conference, I think that makes it different as well. It just was always different.”

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Many football alums feel the same. 

Indiana assistant athletic director for alumni relations Mark Deal, who was a member of IU’s famed 1979 team that won the Holiday Bowl, grew up stepped in Hoosiers’ lore. His father, Mutt, was a captain for the 1945 team that won the Big Ten and regaled him with stories of his decorated career.

The team’s trip back to South Bend in 1941 when Mutt was a then sophomore didn’t conjure the same enmity as battles against Purdue or Michigan State.

“He never even talked about it, hell, I grew up 50 minutes from Notre Dame,” Deal said. “I went to Notre Dame games as a kid. It’s just not a bitter rivalry. You didn’t hate Notre Dame, you admired them. They were just another team you kind of watched from afar.”

There was talk through the years about scheduling a series, but it wasn’t until Dolson initiated talks in 2021 that they locked down dates. The schools agreed to play a 2030 game in South Bend and 2031 game in Bloomington.

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Those conversations came as the Big Ten was requiring teams to schedule at least one non-conference Power Five opponent annually, a requirement the league has since dropped.

Indiana rolled out a series of scheduling announcements that year including a home-and-home series against the University of Virginia (2027 and 2028), future games at Memorial Stadium against Old Dominion (2025) and Colorado State (2026), and a 2026 game against UConn.

“There were a lot of moving parts on our schedule, it was like a bunch of moves on a chess board,” Dolson said. “That was interesting how it all fell into place, but we just thought it would be a great thing to add that kind of marquee game.”

It was the first discussions between the schools since Glass, Dolson’s predecessor, made similar overtures to Notre Dame when he took over in 2009. He took the job the same year his friend and former law partner, Jack Swarbrick, was named Notre Dame’s athletic director.

“The IU job came out of nowhere for me, and I called him to ask is this a good gig? Is this something I want to do?” Glass said. “He strongly encouraged me to take it. We had worked together with each other for 15 years prior to that on a variety of initiatives for the city of Indianapolis. When I was pursing the Super Bowl, I pulled in Jack to help me with it.”

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That rapport didn’t prompt any change in Notre Dame’s ambivalence about scheduling the Hoosiers.

“Jack is a Bloomington boy, so he’s generally sympathetic to IU, but it became clear pretty quickly it wasn’t going to work out,” Glass said.

Dolson said he always felt Notre Dame simply “didn’t have room” for Indiana given its list of rivalry games that include Navy (97 games), USC (95 games) and a handful of other Big Ten teams.

Notre Dame plays trophy games against Purdue (88 games) and Michigan State (79 games). Its rivalry with Michigan that predated all of them.

The first matchup between the schools was in 1887.

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After a lengthy hiatus, Notre Dame and Michigan became must-see television starting with “The Reunion Game” in 1978. They played almost annually after that through 2014.

Some of those rivalries were upended when Notre Dame agreed to play 60 games against ACC teams from 2014 to 2025. That left even less room for a potential game against Indiana.

“I didn’t consider it dismissive,” Glass said, with a pause. “It just wasn’t going to happen given the schedule that Notre Dame needed to pursue, but I’m a little skeptical of whether they would have scheduled it cause it feels like there would be a lot of downside and not a ton of upside.”

Indiana and Notre Dame basketball can’t bridge the divide

As Indiana’s football coach, Lee Corso brought a surprise guest to practice before the 1979 team’s opener. 

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“We were doing two-a-days, and out comes Digger Phelps,” Deal said. 

The then-Notre Dame basketball coach was friends with Corso, and stopped practice to give the team a pep talk. His message was simple — there was nothing stopping the Hoosiers from reaching a bowl game for the first time in more than a decade. 

In the years that followed, Phelps joked with Corso that he should have received a bowl ring for IU’s 38-37 win over BYU in the Holiday Bowl.

Phelps was also friends with former IU basketball coach Bob Knight and their friendship ensured the programs were a fixture on each other’s schedule.

“They always looked forward to playing each other,” former IU sports information director Kit Klingelhoffer said. 

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Their first matchup came after the dedication ceremony at a newly-built Assembly Hall in 1971 — Knight and Phelps’ first seasons at their respective schools. The Hoosiers won, 94-29.

The series produced some other memorable moments.

During Indiana’s undefeated 1975-76 season, the Hoosiers escaped with a 63-60 win in a thriller. The Irish returned to Assembly Hall two years later as the undefeated No. 2 in the country. IU guard Wayne Radford’s free throws with four seconds to go gave the Hoosiers a 67-66 win.

“That was a hell of a game, Adrian Dantley versus Scott May,” Deal said. “Those games were always in December before Christmas and always had a packed house.”

The schools remained frequent sparring partners after the coaches left — Knight ended up with a 14-5 record against Phelps — and they would later take part in the Crossroads Classic, an annual tournament at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, alongside Purdue and Butler. 

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It highlighted the positive relationships between the athletic departments, but it never opened the door to bringing the football teams together on a more frequent basis.

 “There’s an inverse relationship between IU football and basketball and Notre Dame football and basketball,” Glass said. “Notre Dame has a national following, crazy fan base with a lot of success in football, but in basketball not so much. Indiana has traditional been a blue-blood power house in basketball, but not so much in football.”

1991 Indiana-Notre Dame game was a glimpse at what could have been

Leading up to Selection Sunday, Indiana’s legendary play-by-play voice Don Fischer had a lot of fans asking him who he hoped IU would draw. 

“I want to play Notre Dame, are you kidding me?” Fischer would ask. “I was excited about that possibility.” 

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Fischer has called more than 2,000 Indiana football and basketball games. He’s called four NCAA men’s basketball title games and all but one of IU’s 13 bowl appearances — the 1968 Rose Bowl predated his tenure — but he’s only called one IU-Notre Dame football game. 

The prospect of a return to South Bend was thrilling. 

“It’s Notre Dame,” Fischer said. “They are a national program and they’ve been a national program as long as I’ve been alive.” 

Fischer was on the call when Indiana opened the 1991 season against Notre Dame in their first meeting in 33 years. The game pitted IU coach Bill Mallory against fellow Woody Hayes’ disciple Lou Holtz — they spent the 1968 season together on Ohio State’s staff. It was the first Irish game that aired on NBC as part of the school’s ground-breaking television contract with the network.

“There was a tremendous amount of excitement,” Fischer said. “It was huge, it was the opening game of the season on top of that, so everybody was all jacked up.”

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Glass was working in the Governor’s office at the time as the chief of staff for Evan Bayh. It was such a big game in the state that it helped grease the wheels for a long-requested construction project from fans who regularly made the trek up to South Bend to fix what he described as a “notorious pinch point” on a railroad track north of Kokomo.

The Hoosiers had a talented team with Trent Green at quarterback and Vaughn Dunbar in the backfield. Dunbar, who set a single-season school rushing record that year with 1,805 yards, had 33 carries for 161 yards in the game.

The Irish won 49-27, but the game was more competitive than the final score indicates. There were five lead changes in the first half and the Irish didn’t pull away until scoring back-to-back touchdowns at the end of the second quarter that were separated by a surprise on-side kick. 

“There’s been a lot of years where IU wasn’t competitive, but they would’ve had a chance to beat Notre Dame if they played more regularly in those (Bill) Mallory years,” Fischer said. “Mallory’s teams were really physical, tough teams.”

Klingelhoffer, who retired in 2012 after spending four decades in IU’s athletic department, agrees. He looked wondered what the result would have been had it taken place towards the end of the 1991 season. 

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“We installed a new (4-3) defense, but we got better as the year went on,” Klingelhoffer said.

As exciting as was for fans, that game didn’t lead to further discussions about extending the series, Klingelhoffer said. The one-off IU-Notre Dame game was agreed to in 1983 with the agreement predating both Mallory’s and Holt’z tenure at the schools.

It’s why you won’t Klingelhoffer hear use the word rival when talking about the College Football Playoff matchup.

“The facts are facts,” Klingelhoffer said. “You got to play a team over and over again, just like for us with Purdue and Michigan State. It was more of a rivalry game for us against Kentucky.”

As for why the teams remained on their respective sides of the state, Fischer prefers to believe the theory he most-often hears from Hoosier fans. 

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“The joke has always been they are just too scared,” Fischer said, with a laugh. “That’s really why they don’t want to schedule us.”

Michael Niziolek is the Indiana beat reporter for The Bloomington Herald-Times. You can follow him on X @michaelniziolek and read all his coverage by clicking here.





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