INDIANA SUFFERS WORST EVER LOSS IN TOURNEY HISTORY, 86-61
St. John's Defense Too Much For Hoosiers

March 13, 1999 - Second Round of the NCAA Tournament
                 Orlando Arena - Orlando, Florida

 #9 (3)St. John's Red Storm 86 (27-8)
#19 (6)INDIANA HOOSIERS     61 (23-11)


ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) - Indiana coach Bobby Knight was right about St. 
John's. The Red Storm, seeded third in the South Regional, were every 
bit as tough, athletic and difficult to play as Knight feared as they 
handed the Hoosiers their worst-ever defeat in the NCAA tournament, 
86-61, Saturday.

Bootsy Thornton had 17 points and Lavor Postell added 16 and 10 
rebounds to lead a balanced attack that overwhelmed Indiana just two 
days after the sixth-seeded Hoosiers scored 108 for their highest 
point total ever in a post-season game.

"They're just a lot better team than we are. If we played them five 
more times, I'm not sure we could beat them," Knight said. "Of the 
teams we've played against this year, this was the most impressive."

The victory sends St. John's (27-8) into the round of 16 for the 
first time since 1991. Meanwhile, Indiana (23-11) fell in the second 
round for the second straight year after three straight first-round 
exits.

First-year St. John's coach Mike Jarvis is not sure his team can top 
Saturday's performance. The Red Storm frustrated Indiana with a 
suffocating zone, using principles Jarvis said came from a book 
Knight wrote more than 30 years ago.

"I think this was as well as we've played when you take all the 
factors into consideration ... Hopefully we can get better. I don't 
know if we can," Jarvis said.

St. John's trailed 15-9 before using a 13-0 run to take control. A 
seven-point burst build the Red Storm lead to 15 and the closest the 
Hoosiers got after that was their 45-30 halftime deficit. Indiana has 
struggled against zone defenses all season, and falling behind forced 
the Hoosiers to rely on perimeter shooting.

"It was nothing complicated," Jarvis said. "I'm not going to be hired 
to give any lectures about how to play zone."

Nevertheless, it was effective.

"It's a tough zone because of how quick and athletic they are. I 
don't think we were able to adjust to it," said Indiana's A.J. 
Guyton, who hit one of the three 3-pointers that helped the Hoosiers 
to their early lead.

"We were staying in the game, doing the things we wanted," Knight 
said. "And then they just kind of got away from us."

There was no letup in St. John's in the last 20 minutes. The Red 
Storm began the second half with a 10-2 spurt to increase their lead 
to 55-32. Indiana got more production out of its interior game in the 
second half, but not enough to come close to turning its fortune 
around.

William Gladness scored 10 points for Indiana, which shot 40 percent. 
All five of St. John's starters scored at least 12. Tyrone Grant had 
14 points and 12 rebounds, while Ron Artest scored 13 and Erick 
Barkley finished with 10 points and six assists. 

INDIANA (23-11)

Gladness 5-8 0-1 10, Washington 1-4 0-0 2, Haston 6-11 4-5 16,
Recker 3-8 0-0 9, Guyton 4-10 0-0 9, Randle El 1-1 0-0 2, Fife
0-5 0-0 0, Jimenez 0-2 0-0 0, Turner 0-2 2-2 2, Lewis 0-2 0-0 0,
Odle 3-6 3-4 9, Geyer 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 24-60 9-12 61.

ST. JOHN'S (27-8)

Artest 5-13 0-2 13, Postell 4-6 6-6 16, Grant 6-8 2-7 14, Barkley
3-9 4-4 12, Thornton 7-10 1-3 17, Gray 1-3 0-0 3, Syed 0-0 0-0 0,
Charles 1-1 0-0 2, Emanuel 0-0 0-0 0, Jessie 2-3 1-2 5,
A.Richardson 2-2 0-1 4. Totals 31-55 14-25 86.

Halftime-St. John's 45, Indiana 30. 3-point goals-Indiana 4-18
(Recker 3-8, Guyton 1-3, Lewis 0-1, Turner 0-1, Jimenez 0-2, Fife
0-3), St. John's 10-20 (Artest 3-10, Postell 2-2, Thornton 2-2,
Barkley 2-3, Gray 1-3). Fouled out-None. Rebounds-Indiana 31
(Haston 10), St. John's 38 (Grant 12). Assists-Indiana 12 (Lewis
4), St. John's 21 (Barkley 6). Total fouls-Indiana 16, St. John's
13.

A-14,185.


Coach Knight's Postgame Comments
Courtesy of the Indianapolis Star/News 

"We played as we would have liked to have played for the first eight 
minutes. I'm not sure what the score was, I think we were down 22-20. 
And we're staying in the game, we're doing what we want to do, and 
then it just kind of got away from us. It got away from us because we 
made some defensive mistakes. Their zone defense was a lot better 
than our zone offense. That combination of things just got us in a 
bind that we couldn't get out of. All that as it may be, they're just 
a lot better team than we are. That's a better basketball team than 
we've got. And if we played them five more times, I'm not sure we 
could beat them and particularly with them playing this well. Artest 
is as good a kid as I've ever watched at keeping everyone involved, 
and talking to kids. The guy really is impressive. What he does, I 
think they have a lot of kids that do. They talk, they're 
competitive, they remind each other of things, and they were I think, 
of the teams I've seen play ... Against us this year, this was the 
most impressive team that I've seen. I mean all the way across the 
board." 

(Q-Coach, as difficult as it might have been being down 15 at the 
half, and at the outset of the second half I know is a period of time 
you like to get back in the basketball game, and yet they go on a 12-
4 run prior to the first timeout. Could you comment on that period of 
time?) 

"Well it would probably be best explained by they played a lot better 
than we did during that time. You want to do things, and you want to 
get started out well, and the other guy does, too. And sometimes the 
other guy just plays better than you do. We had some opportunities in 
there. In fact I commented later in the game about that particular 
stretch. We went from 15 down to 21 down. And we missed some shots 
inside. We made a couple of bad plays defensively. If we make the 
plays that were available we might have had a 9 or a 10 point 
deficit. But we didn't. And they made the plays. They outplayed us in 
that stretch of the ballgame." 

(Q-Coach, you make your first three 3-pointers against the man, and 
then you went 1-for-15 against the zone. What is it about the zone 
that gives this team so much trouble?) 

"I think the zone is probably a defense where a couple of things that 
have to happen to help you in zone offense. One is to get the ball 
out and getting it down quickly, and we didn't do a particularly good 
job of that. We didn't get the ball. We don't play against the zone 
well on top. We don't get the ball where we need to on top and that's 
something that we really have got to change and improve." 

(Q-Mr. Knight, Coach Jarvis is with this group for the first year and 
I was wondering, as a coach, in working with a player in his first 
year what's the biggest challenge as far as working with them?) 

"There isn't any particular challenge. The challenge is always to get 
kids what they have to do to win. And he's done a great job with 
that. He's really gotten these kids to play to win, working to win, 
playing unselfishly. But playing hard, and doing things .... If I 
were to say one thing about them I think that they concentrate on 
winning as well as a team can." 

(Q-Coach, can you talk about the team's intensity compared to the 
George Washington game the other night?) 

"I don't think our team's intensity was any different. I think the 
result was different." 

(Q-Coach, your antagonists like to bring up that you haven't gotten 
out of the sub-regional in a while. Does that get to be tough for you 
personally for you?) 

"A lot of people haven't ever been in the sub-regional. When my 
antagonists agree with me then I'll think I'm in trouble." 

(Q-Coach, does the score really matter in a game like this, or does 
it hurt more that it was in the NCAA Tournament history?) 

"If the score really matters, then we leave Guyton and Recker in to 
the bitter end, and try to score some points. But play matters to me, 
and how you play, and what you're able to do from the standpoint of 
what you're trying to do makes a lot more difference to me than the 
score or even the outcome of the game." 

(Q-Coach Knight, how do you feel about the way your team played 
looking back on the whole season, from October up until now. Do you 
walk away feeling that they played pretty well?) 

"I think that we've had a lot of moments where we played well. I 
think there we a lot of games....This game gets away from us today 
completely where we have absolutely no chance to win it. But this 
team was able to comeback and they won five overtime games. It came 
back from some other major deficits to win games. We had a couple of 
games slide away from us as well. I think all in all, these kids did 
some things that I think are symbolic of them having worked pretty 
hard at playing." 

(Q-Coach I wouldn't pretend to guess when you're going to call it 
quits, or whenever that is, as it approaches are you becoming 
thoughtful of the legacy that you're going to leave or i.e. what 
people, or history looks back thinks of Bobby Knight and your 
regime?) 

"The only think I've ever really given a lot of thought to is where 
I'm going fishing next."


Pregame breakdown of Indiana vs St. Johns in Second Round of NCAA Tournament


                          St. Johns Red Storm    Indiana Hoosiers  
Averages Per Game 
  Points                         81.3                  74.8 
  Rebounds                       39.2                  32.8 
  Assists                        16.3                  16.7 
  Blocked shots                   3.3                   3.7 
  Steals                         11.1                  10.0 
  Turnovers                      14.4                  13.8 
  
Percentages 
  Field goal %                   48.0%                 46.3% 
  Three point %                  35.5%                 37.9% 
  Free throw %                   64.0%                 67.3% 


Pregame stats courtesy of the CBS Sportsline
Story courtesy of the Associated Press
Pictures courtesy of the Indianapolis Star/News