Indiana Basketball: Top 10 games of the decade, #9

As the Indiana basketball team rolls into the new decade its time to take a look back over the past ten years. We rank the top ten games of the decade and today we look at number nine.

Christmas is almost here and the New Year is a week after that and a new decade will be upon us. As we get ready to jump into 2020, we take a look back at the top ten basketball games of the past decade. Wednesday we looked at the upset win over Notre Dame in the 2017 Crossroads Classic when Juwan Morgan went off during the last eight and a half minutes of the game. Today we look at another win against a rival but this time in the NCAA tournament.

Here is game number nine on the top ten basketball games of the decade.

Indiana 73 Kentucky 67

NCAA Tournament Round of 32, 2015-16

The Indiana and Kentucky rivalry normally produces great games or performances and this was no different. While this wasn’t the best game between the two schools during the decade (the best will be profiled later) it was still a great game.

Kentucky entered the game as the number four seed with a 27-8 record while Indiana was the five seed with a 26-7 record. The Wildcats, like normal, had the better talent on paper but Indiana had the fight.

Kentucky looked like it was going to impose its will early as they jumped out to a quick 9-2 lead. After Indiana fought back to take a 10-9 advantage, Kentucky jumped back up by seven when Tyler Ulis hit a layup to make the score 22-15.

The Hoosiers could have folded after a second Kentucky run but they finished the half on an 18-10 run to take a one-point lead into the half. For the first half that the Wildcats mostly controlled, the Hoosiers were fortunate to be close, better yet with the lead.

After the Hoosiers jumped out to a quick six-point lead to start the second half, the next 12 minutes were played extremely close and tight. That is when the Hoosiers turned up the heat and went on a quick four-minute run that saw them take a ten-point lead. It was a 17-4 run that got the Hoosiers in that position and they would need all of that lead.

The Wildcats would crawl back to within two with just 11 seconds left, but Thomas Bryant, who had a monster end to the game, hit two free throws to seal it. Bryant would score 15 of his 19 points in the last eight minutes of the game (similar to what Juwan Morgan did against Notre Dame) to help the Hoosiers pull out the win.

It might not have had overtime or a last-second shot, but it was a great game for an overmatched Hoosiers team to win. It would be the first time in three years that the Hoosiers made it to the Sweet 16 and it eliminated a hated rival.

In a game that could have been a Final Four game, the Hoosiers showed the reason they had won 27 games on the year. They may have come up short in their next game against North Carolina, but eliminating Kentucky is always going to be a great game.