Indiana Beats Alford, Iowa
By halftime, Steve Alford had gone from returning hero to just another coach trying to beat the home team.
By game's end, Bob Knight's Indiana Hoosiers had just enough to beat Iowa 74-71.
By the time Knight left a postgame news conference, his face was as red as his shirt.
"You people have got to understand that I've coached a thousand games in my career, and the only ones that I remember that are any different than other ones are some real heartbreaking losses we've had. And it's only different because of what happened in the game. I wish somebody would believe me when I say that," Knight said, clearly upset about all the hype surrounding the return of Alford and their supposed rift.
One of the greatest players in Indiana history, Alford returned to Assembly Hall for the first time as an opposing coach. Before the game, instead of coming out from the hallway to the Indiana locker room, Knight walked onto the court from the visitors' hallway and exchanged handshakes with Alford.
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It didn't always appear that comfortable. The two hadn't talked since Alford became the coach at Iowa last spring, not even during the Big Ten preseason media day in Chicago. Knight said it was a problem of miscommunication, not bad feelings.
"If Alford wants to sit down and talk to me instead of holding press conferences about a lot of bull, I'll be glad to sit down and talk to him and explain things to him a little bit," Knight said. "If that's what in fact he wants to do, instead of going through a lot of bull in press conferences.
"That's enough," the Indiana coach said. "I'm going to leave this one comment: Alford has never asked me to do anyhing that I haven't done. Period. And I'm a little bit tired of the bull that's attached to this."
Minutes after Knight left the press conference, he walked back in the room, shouting to the media.
"Why didn't I talk to him at the Big Ten meeting? There were 10 other coaches there and I didn't get a chance to speak to seven of them. Six other guys besides him I didn't talk to."
Alford, too, saw little significance in their long silence.
"It's been a whirlwind for both of us," Alford said. "We just haven't had a chance to talk."
Before the game, the fans gave Alford a standing ovation. At the end, the cheers were for Kirk Haston and A.J. Guyton, who scored 25 and 20 points for No. 11 Indiana (14-2, 4-1 Big Ten).
There were 10 lead changes in the second half before a basket by Guyton put Indiana ahead for good at 66-65. The Hoosiers pushed the lead to six points before a free throw and 3-pointer by Dean Oliver pulled Iowa (7-9, 1-4) within 73-71.
Lynn Washington finished Indiana's scoring with a free throw with two seconds to go, and a 3-point attempt by Iowa's Rob Griffin was off the rim at the buzzer.
"They did a good job of just staying there, making it tough," Knight said. "I didn't think we played particularly well, but the other guy always has something to do with that.
"I thought their effort was better than ours," he said.
With the dapper Alford crouched or standing in front of the Iowa bench, a mere glance over his right shoulder away from Indiana's five big red NCAA championship banners, the Hawkeyes stayed close the entire game.
Indiana never led by more than three points in the first period and fell behind by as many as six following an eight-point run by Iowa. A 3-point basket by Kyle Galloway and two baskets and a free throw by Rod Thompson put the emotion-charged Hawkeyes ahead 25-19.
In contrast to Alford, Knight rarely rose from his chair and sat almost expressionless while the Hoosiers began hitting their shots, slowly working their way back into the game.
A basket by Michael Lewis, a 3-point play by Haston and a 3-point basket by Luke Jimenez off an assist by Lewis put Indiana ahead 27-25 with under three minutes to go, and there were two ties before a basket by Larry Richardson gave the Hoosiers a 32-30 lead at halftime.
Iowa's leading scorer for the season, senior Jacob Jaacks, had only two points in the first half and heard boos from the crowd every time he touched the ball. Last year, pressured by Jaacks on an inbounds play, Lewis threw the ball into Jaacks' face to avoid a five-second penalty. No call was made against Indiana, but an Iowa assistant was given a technical foul after he stormed out of his chair.
There was no call this time, either, when Jaacks flung an elbow in Haston's face late in the game.
With Jaacks still defended well by Haston, Indiana began pullinaway early in the second half, but it didn't last long. After two baskets by Guyton and one by Haston put the Hoosiers ahead 40-32, an 11-2 run capped by Oliver's 3-point play gave the Hawkeyes the lead once more and had Knight pacing the sideline.
The Hawkeyes built the lead to 57-51, but Guyton and Haston combined for 19 of Indiana's next 23 points.
Oliver led Iowa with 24 points and Griffin added 18. Jaacks finished with nine points before fouling with two seconds to go.
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