1978–79 Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball team

The 1978–79 Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball team represented Indiana University. Their head coach was Bobby Knight, who was in his 8th year. The team played its home games in Assembly Hall in Bloomington, Indiana, and was a member of the Big Ten Conference.

1978–79 Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball
National Invitation Tournament, Champions
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Record	22–12 (10–8 Big Ten)
Head coach	Bobby Knight (8th season)
Assistant coaches	Gerry Gimelstob Jim Crews Tom Miller
Captain	Mike Woodson
Home arena	Assembly Hall
Seasons ← 1977–78 1979–80 →

1978–79 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 3 Michigan State	13	–	5		.722			26	–	6		.813
No. 15 Purdue	13	–	5		.722			27	–	8		.771
No. 20 Iowa	13	–	5		.722			20	–	8		.714
Ohio State	12	–	6		.667			19	–	12		.613
Indiana	10	–	8		.556			22	–	12		.647
Michigan	8	–	10		.444			15	–	12		.556
Illinois	7	–	11		.389			19	–	11		.633
Wisconsin	6	–	12		.333			12	–	15		.444
Minnesota	6	–	12		.333			11	–	16		.407
Northwestern	2	–	16		.111			6	–	21		.222
Rankings from AP Poll

The Hoosiers finished the regular season with an overall record of 22–12 and a conference record of 10–8, finishing 5th in the Big Ten Conference. Coming off an NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen appearance, Indiana missed out on an invitation to the 1979 NCAA Tournament. Instead, IU was invited to participate in the 1979 NIT, where Bobby Knight and the Hoosiers advanced to the championship game and won their first NIT title.^[1]

Roster

No.	Name	Position	Ht.	Year	Hometown
20	Steve Reish	G	6–2	Fr.	Union City, Indiana
23	Don Cox	G/F	6–6	So.	Indianapolis, Indiana
24	Randy Wittman	G/F	6–6	Fr.	Indianapolis, Indiana
25	Tommy Baker	G	6–2	So.	Jeffersonville, Indiana
30	Ted Kitchel	F	6–8	Fr.	Galveston, Indiana
31	Scott Eells	F	6–9	Sr.	Hoopeston, Illinois
32	Landon Turner	F/C	6–10	Fr.	Indianapolis, Indiana
33	Eric Kirchner	F	6–7	So.	Edelstein, Illinois
34	Steve Risley	F	6–8	So.	Indianapolis, Indiana
40	Glen Grunwald	F	6–9	Jr.	Franklin Park, Illinois
41	Butch Carter	G	6–5	Jr.	Middletown, Ohio
42	Mike Woodson	F	6–5	Jr.	Indianapolis, Indiana
43	Jim Roberson	C	6–9	Sr.	Rochester, New York
44	Phil Isenbarger	F	6–8	So.	Muncie, Indiana
45	Ray Tolbert	F/C	6–9	So.	Anderson, Indiana

Schedule/Results

Date time, TV	Rank#	Opponent#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Regular Season
11/24/1978*	No. 10	vs. Pepperdine Sea Wolf Classic	L 58–59	0–1	Buckner Fieldhouse  Anchorage, AK
11/25/1978*	No. 10	vs. Texas A&M Sea Wolf Classic	L 49–54	0–2	Buckner Fieldhouse  Anchorage, AK
11/26/1978*	No. 10	vs. Penn State Sea Wolf Classic	W 86–65	1–2	Buckner Fieldhouse  Anchorage, AK
12/2/1978*	No. 20	Morehead State	W 80–37	2–2	Assembly Hall  Bloomington, Indiana
12/6/1978*		vs. No. 20 Georgetown	L 54–60	2–3	Capital Centre  Landover, Maryland
12/9/1978*		vs. Bradley	W 80–64	3–3	Market Square Arena  Indianapolis
12/16/1978*		No. 6 Kentucky Indiana–Kentucky rivalry	W 68–67 OT	4–3	Assembly Hall  Bloomington, Indiana
12/18/1978*		Davidson Indiana Classic	W 101–64	5–3	Assembly Hall  Bloomington, Indiana
12/19/1978*		Washington Indiana Classic	W 73–56	6–3	Assembly Hall  Bloomington, Indiana
12/27/1978*		vs. Washington Far West Classic Quarterfinals	W 71–57	7–3	Memorial Coliseum  Portland, Oregon
12/28/1978*		at Oregon Far West Classic Semifinals	W 68–60	8–3	Memorial Coliseum  Portland, Oregon
12/30/1978*		vs. Michigan State Far West Classic Championship	L 57–74	8–4	Memorial Coliseum  Portland, Oregon
1/4/1979		No. 4 Illinois Rivalry	L 61–65	8–5 (0–1)	Assembly Hall  Bloomington, Indiana
1/6/1979		Purdue Rivalry	W 63–54	9–5 (1–1)	Assembly Hall  Bloomington, Indiana
1/11/1979		at Minnesota	L 63–80	9–6 (1–2)	Williams Arena  Minneapolis
1/13/1979		at Iowa	L 61–90	9–7 (1–3)	Iowa Field House  Iowa City, Iowa
1/18/1979		at No. 6 Michigan State	L 58–82	9–8 (1–4)	Jenison Fieldhouse  East Lansing, Michigan
1/20/1979		Northwestern	W 74–45	10–8 (2–4)	Assembly Hall  Bloomington, Indiana
1/25/1979		Wisconsin	W 82–61	11–8 (3–4)	Assembly Hall  Bloomington, Indiana
1/27/1979		at No. 10 Ohio State	L 63–66 OT	11–9 (3–5)	St. John Arena  Columbus, Ohio
2/1/1979		Michigan	W 68–62	12–9 (4–5)	Assembly Hall  Bloomington, Indiana
2/3/1979		No. 7 Ohio State	W 70–62	13–9 (5–5)	Assembly Hall  Bloomington, Indiana
2/8/1979		at Northwestern	W 82–57	14–9 (6–5)	Welsh-Ryan Arena  Evanston, Illinois
2/10/1979		at Michigan	L 59–60	14–10 (6–6)	Crisler Arena  Ann Arbor, Michigan
2/15/1979		No. 8 Michigan State	L 47–59	14–11 (6–7)	Assembly Hall  Bloomington, Indiana
2/17/1979		at Wisconsin	W 68–62 OT	15–11 (7–7)	Wisconsin Field House  Madison, Wisconsin
2/22/1979		No. 12 Iowa	W 64–62	16–11 (8–7)	Assembly Hall  Bloomington, Indiana
2/24/1979		Minnesota	W 71–46	17–11 (9–7)	Assembly Hall  Bloomington, Indiana
3/1/1979		at No. 19 Purdue Rivalry	L 48–55	17–12 (9–8)	Mackey Arena  West Lafayette, Indiana
3/3/1979		at Illinois Rivalry	W 72–60	18–12 (10–8)	Assembly Hall  Champaign, Illinois
NIT
3/8/1979*		at Texas Tech First Round	W 78–59	19–12 (10–8)	Lubbock Municipal Coliseum  Lubbock, Texas
3/12/1979*		Alcorn State Second Round	W 73–69	20–12 (10–8)	Assembly Hall  Bloomington, Indiana
3/19/1979*		vs. Ohio State Semifinals	W 64–55	21–12 (10–8)	Madison Square Garden  New York City
3/21/1979*		vs. No. 15 Purdue Championship	W 53–52	22–12 (10–8)	Madison Square Garden  New York City
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.

Notes

• During the NIT, Indiana and Ohio State both received byes during the quarterfinals and advanced directly to the semifinals.

Awards and honors

• Butch Carter, NIT co-Most Valuable Player
• Ray Tolbert, NIT co-Most Valuable Player