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Top 40 Indiana basketball players of all-time: #33 Jeff Newton

By Connor O’Keefe

Apr 1, 2002; Atlanta, GA, USA; FILE PHOTO; Maryland Terrapins center Tahj Holden (45) and Drew Nicholas (12) defend Indiana Hoosiers center Jeff Newton (50) in the Championship game of the 2002 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at the Georgia Dome. Maryland defeated Indiana 64-52. Mandatory Credit: USA TODAY Sports
Apr 1, 2002; Atlanta, GA, USA; FILE PHOTO; Maryland Terrapins center Tahj Holden (45) and Drew Nicholas (12) defend Indiana Hoosiers center Jeff Newton (50) in the Championship game of the 2002 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at the Georgia Dome. Maryland defeated Indiana 64-52. Mandatory Credit: USA TODAY Sports /
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As Indiana basketball gets closer to a 30-day countdown to the tip-off of the 2022-23 season, we set our eyes on the No. 33 best Indiana basketball player of all-time. This Hoosier comes in as one of the more underrated players in IU history, especially because he came into Bloomington the same year that Bob Knight left.

Top 40 Indiana basketball players of all-time

Indiana basketball
ATLANTA, GA – MARCH 30: Head coach Mike Davis of Indiana University Hoosiers stands with two of his players Jeff Newton #50 (left) and Jared Jeffries #1 after the semifinal round of the NCAA Men’s Final Four game against the Oklahoma University Sooners at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia on March 30, 2002. Indiana defeated Oklahoma 73-64, advancing them to the championship game. (Photo by Craig Jones/Getty Images) /

Indiana basketball career stats: 9.0 PPG, 5.5 RPG, 1.5 BLK, 46.6 FG%

Jeff Newton came in as a freshman from Atlanta, Georgia, having been recruited by Bob Knight. But with the head coaching change from Knight to Mike Davis, Newton decided to stick through it and ended up being a huge part of the Hoosiers squad that lost in the 2002 National Championship game to #1 Maryland.

Newton would have been much more important to Indiana basketball if it weren’t for the immediate impact of Jared Jeffries (coming later in the countdown) in his freshman and sophomore seasons. Newton took a back seat to Jeffries and Kirk Haston in his junior and senior seasons.

In the 2002 Final Four game against 2-seeded Oklahoma, Newton came off the bench strong with 19 points, six rebounds, and four blocks, and was the leading scorer for the Hoosiers.

With four seasons under his belt in Bloomington, Jeff Newton ranks in the top 10 in the following statistical categories in IU history, despite starting 25+ games in a single season just once:

Games – 133 (tied for 3rd)
Offensive rebounds – 197 (7th)
Defensive rebounds – 429 (6th)
Total blocks – 227 (1st)
Blocks per game – 1.7 (6th)
Defensive win shares – 9.1 (2nd)
Total win shares – 12.7 (9th)

Adding onto that already impressive stat sheet above, Newton also has tied for the third most defensive rebounds in a single season (206 in 2002-03) and the seventh most blocks (70 in ) in a single season in Indiana basketball history. Though he went undrafted and didn’t pan into much of anything after college, Newton is one of the more under-appreciated Hoosier all-time greats.

What all-time great Indiana basketball player will land in the No. 32 spot as the Hoosiers inch closer to tipping off the 2022-23 season? Check back tomorrow!

Next. Top 40 IUBB players of all-time - #34 Dean Garrett. dark

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