Indiana basketball career stats: 19.8 PPG, 5.4 RPG, 55.9 FG%, 43.8 3P%, 132 GP
Still holding strong as the Big Ten Conference career points leader, Calbert Cheaney is easily one of the best scorers in Indiana basketball history, and even college basketball history as a whole. Cheaney averaged 20.0+ points per game in his sophomore and senior seasons and ranked top five in the Big Ten and NCAA in scoring in 1992-93.
Just like Scott May, Cheaney had a year that was completely dedicated to himself, 1992-93. The long list of awards for Cheaney’s career at Indiana includes the following: three-time All-Big Ten First Team selection; First Team Consensus All-American; Big Ten Player of the Year; AP Player of the Year; the Rupp Trophy; the Wooden Award; and the Naismith Award.
Calbert Cheaney has an argument to be rated as the best Indiana basketball player in program history, and he is ranked in the top 10 in a lot of the following statistical categories for career and single-season numbers:
- Points: 2,613 (1st)
- Points per game: 19.8 (6th)
- Games played: 132 (tied for 5th)
- Minutes played: 4,129 (6th)
- Field goals made: 1,018 (1st)
- Field goal attempts: 1,820 (1st)
- Field goal percentage: 55.9% (3rd)
- Free throws made: 429 (8th)
- Free throw attempts: 543 (9th)
- Free throw percentage: 79.0% (10th)
- Points (single season): 785 in 1992-93 (1st) & 734 in 1990-91 (4th)
- Minutes played (single season): 1,181 in 1992-93 (10th)
- Field goals made (single season): 303 in 1992-93 (2nd) & 289 in 1990-91 (3rd)
- Field goal percentage (single season): 59.6% in 1990-91 (5th)
After an insanely impressive 4-year college career at Indiana, Cheaney was drafted sixth overall by the Washington Bullets and spent 13 seasons in the NBA, scoring 7,826 career points in 825 games. The lefty then moved on and has now rejoined the NBA as an Assistant Coach/Player Development for the Indiana Pacers. Check out the video below!
#Pacers assistant coach Calbert Cheaney reflects on his storied playing career at IU, and details his work developing Indiana's young players. pic.twitter.com/xIQziMMeS6
— Bally Sports Indiana (@BallySportsIN) March 24, 2022
Unless Trayce Jackson-Davis has a 1,000-point season this year (scored 639 last season), nobody is coming close to touching Cheaney’s Big Ten or Indiana career scoring record. Cheaney absolutely has a case to be considered the best Indiana basketball player of all time, but coming up are the two best Hoosiers ever.