Indiana faces No. 24 Marquette on Wednesday at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. Back in May when this contest was first announced we took a look back to the last meeting between the programs.
It was announced last night that Indiana will host Marquette in the 2018 Gavitt Tipoff Games in November. It will be the first meeting between the programs since 2001 and the 10th all-time contest.
Hoosier fans couldn’t know it at the time, but a frustrating 50-49 loss to Marquette at the Great Alaska Shootout in 2001 would end up being a very interesting game to look back on years later on many levels. For starters of course, Marquette’s coach at the time was none other the Tom Crean, who would go on to coach Indiana for nine years before being fired in 2017.
Marquette also had some significant star power on its roster. Hoosier fans got a chance to witness the national emergence of freshman Dwyane Wade. As discussed below, he had a big game against Indiana on this night. He would go on to average 17.8 points, 6.6 rebounds and 3.4 assists that year, catapulting him towards his NBA hall of fame career.
The Marquette roster also included Travis Diener, who would go on to play five years in the NBA.
While it surely seemed disappointing at the time to lose to Marquette while only scoring 49 points, the Golden Eagles would go on to post a 26-7 record and finish the season ranked in the Top 20. The next season was their magical run to the Final Four — a performance that would ultimately land Crean at IU.
Of course these were the 2001-02 Indiana Hoosiers as well. Just one season removed from the firing of legendary head coach Bob Knight, Indiana was still finding its way under Mike Davis. While generally thought to have a solid roster, no one had Final Four visions for this team. Their pre-conference play did little to change that, with early losses to Butler, Southern Illinois and Miami to go with a bad loss to rival Kentucky.
The Hoosiers muddled through their pre-conference slate struggling to score points. Mike Davis appeared to be on the hot seat. Of course all of that would change for IU with a magical March run of their own.
NOVEMBER 23, 2001
The game was a defensive struggle throughout. The No. 20 ranked Hoosiers would run out to a lead in the 1st half. Dane Fife’s jumper with 1:25 left in the first segment gave the Hoosiers their biggest lead, 23-15. Indiana forced Marquette to commit 10 turnovers and held them to 28 percent from the field in the 1st half.
Wade took over in the 2nd half, scoring 17 of his 21 points, including a lay up with 11 seconds left, to lead Marquette to a 50-49 victory.
Jared Jeffries had managed to strip the ball on Marquette’s game-winning possession, but Wade had positioned himself under the basket. He grabbed the loose ball and put it in, leaving IU with one more chance.
The Hoosiers turned the ball over on their final possession on a pass from Tom Coverdale to Kyle Hornsby that appeared to be catchable.
Indiana had led for most of the game. Jeffries hit two free throws with 1:55 remaining to put IU up 49-46, but Indiana never scored again.
Jeff Newton led Indiana with 11 points.
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