Mac's Boys: Here We Go Again, Part 2

Note: IU Athletics is partnering with IU Press to share chapters from some of their recently-published books on IU Sports. The following is the second half of a chapter from Jason Hiner's book, Mac's Boys: Branch McCracken and the Legendary 1953 Hurryin' Hoosiers, published by IU Press in 2006. Additional details about this book can be found here.

The first half of this chapter can be read HERE.

Following their Monday night victory over Valpo in the opener, the Hoosiers had all week to prepare for their Saturday showdown with Notre Dame in South Bend. Mac had them spend extra time working on their free throws after their poor showing at the line against the Crusaders, and he did some fine-tuning on defense, especially with Schlundt. Mac had assistant coach Ernie Andres work with Schlundt on moving his feet and keeping his hands and arms up. Andres kept drilling it into Schlundt that he could cause a lot of problems for other teams if he just kept active and used the right body mechanics. "I'd keep after him and after him," said Andres, "and a lot of times he'd look at me like he didn't want to shuffle his feet faster or lift up his arms. He was one of the first guys that big that could play. If he just moved a little and held his arms up, you can imagine how he'd cause some problems for the opposing offense." On Saturday, December 6, at 10:00 am, the Hoosiers hopped into a DC-3 and flew to South Bend for their 8:00 pm game with the Fighting Irish, who were itching to take on their cross-state rival. IU had beaten Notre Dame five straight times and the Irish hadn't won a game in the series since 1946. The 1952–53 Notre Dame squad returned several veterans, including 6' 5" senior center Norb "Gooch" Lewinski, the team captain, and 6' 5" junior forward Dick Rosenthal.

They also had some talented newcomers and the home-court advantage (the previous five IU–Notre Dame games were played on a neutral floor at the Butler Fieldhouse in Indianapolis).

"Playing Indiana was always a thrill," said Dick Rosenthal, "and was probably always the number one game on our schedule. It was always a game that we tried to get up for." This game had added significance. Notre Dame assistant coach Mickey O'Conner had contracted polio and was relegated to a hospital bed. In the locker room before the game, Coach John Jordan read his team a message from O'Conner: "Let me wish you luck in tonight's game. We are all aware that Notre Dame has not beaten Indiana since 1946, and my only desire is to see you end this famine tonight. Go on out there and win this one for me. I'll be pulling for you all the way." With five thousand fans packed into the tiny "cracker box" Notre Dame Fieldhouse—some having paid as much as $10 for tickets—the Fighting Irish tore out of the locker room and rushed onto the court to slay the eighth-ranked Hoosiers.

IU scored the game's first five points—on a pair of free throws from Schlundt and a field goal and a free throw from Leonard—and held the lead for much of the first quarter before the Irish pulled ahead 16-14 at the end of the first ten minutes. The game continued to seesaw until Notre Dame led 25-24 with six minutes left in the second quarter. That's when the Irish made their move. Gooch Lewinski got hot, buried six of eight field goals, and Notre Dame went on a 16-4 run to grab a commanding 41-28 lead at the half. McCracken tried to slow down Lewinski by replacing Schlundt with Lou Scott, but it didn't work. Lewinski scored on tip-ins, layups, hook shots, and even some long one-handers. He had nineteen points at the half and also helped the Irish completely dominate the boards in the first half, which grounded the IU running attack.

Lewinski scored nine more points in the third quarter to keep the Irish in front 57-50, but he also picked up his fourth foul and Indiana started to get its offense in gear. With Lewinski on the bench, Don Schlundt, playing in his hometown, went to work. After Schlundt scored a couple of quick ones to open the quarter, Bobby Leonard and Burke Scott started pounding the ball into him from different angles.

Three minutes into the fourth quarter, Schlundt scored to tie the game at 59-59, then scored again to put IU ahead 61-59 with 6:30 remaining.

After Indiana's 11-2 run, Notre Dame fought back and tied the game at 63-63, but Schlundt scored a field goal and a free throw to give IU a 66-63 advantage. During the Indiana run, Lewinski reentered the game for Notre Dame, but he quickly picked up his fifth fouland returned to the bench without having scored at all in the fourth quarter. Then the Hoosiers upped the lead to four points at 69-65 with 1:30 remaining.

But Lewinski's replacement at center, Dick Wise, threw in an unexpected hook shot to cut the lead to 69-67. Next, Bobby Leonard was fouled and missed the first free throw but made the second to push the lead to 70-67. Reserve guard Jack Reynolds kept Notre Dame's hopes alive when he sliced in for a layup with fifteen seconds remaining to cut the Indiana lead to one point. As the Hoosiers brought the ball up the court on the ensuing inbounds play, Notre Dame's Joe Bertrand was called for a foul as he tried to steal the ball from IU forward Jim DeaKyne, who had helped trigger the fourthquarter run with six points. Normally a solid free throw shooter, DeaKyne stepped to the line and missed both shots, setting the stage for one finaldramatic play.

The rebound from DeaKyne's second free throw bounced into the hands of Notre Dame's Jack Reynolds, who turned and whipped a pass ahead to guard Junior Stephens at midcourt. Stephens then rushed the ball toward the Hoosier basket with two of his Irish teammates filling the lane on either side. Notre Dame had a three-on-two fast break as the final seconds were ticking away. As Stephens reached the free throw line, two IU defenders held their ground, evenly spaced, ten feet away from the basket. Both of them figured Stephens was going to dump the ball off to one of his wing men and they were ready to stop them from scoring. But Stephens sensed them waiting for the pass and made the split-second decision to do the one thing they weren't expecting: he went right down the middle. Splitting the two defenders—who were a fraction of a second late in collapsing on him—Stephens went right at the basket and lofted a short little layup off the board and in with only two seconds remaining. The Notre Dame Fieldhouse erupted in a frenzy of joy and disbelief as the last two seconds ticked away without the Hoosiers even getting off a final shot. Fans spilled onto the court and paraded Stephens around on their shoulders to celebrate Notre Dame's stirring 71-70 victory.

In the locker room afterwards, the five Notre Dame starters, who had played almost the entire game, collapsed in exhaustion. Meanwhile, in the visitors' locker room, Coach McCracken was visibly irritated that his team had given away the game in the final minute, but for the sake of his young squad he tried to strike a positive note. "I was proud of the way they came back," Mac grumbled. "[Notre Dame] had us on the ropes in the second quarter, and they could have broken us wide open. But we came back, and we'll have to come back other times. Now I know we can do it. We didn't shoot very good. And we forgot a few things in the last minute. But it was a tough one and it was a toss-up. We did well to be in there after that slow start."4 The things the Hoosiers forgot in the final minutes were free throws and ball control. IU missed three of four free throws at the end that would have sewed up the victory, and the Hoosiers also didn't do a good job of controlling the ball and keeping it away from the Notre Dame defenders in the final minute. Some IU supporters were saying that if IU had had a ball handler like Sam Miranda or Sammy Esposito, they probably would have pulled out the win.

Still, IU nearly stole a road win in one of the toughest venues in the country (one of the things that made it so tough was that the Notre Dame band was situated right behind the visitors' bench, which meant the players couldn't hear anything the coach said during timeouts).

IU was also badly outrebounded 49-37 by the shorter Fighting Irish squad, and the Hoosiers got little production from their two starting forwards, Dick Farley and Charlie Kraak, who combined to shoot 3-for-10 from the field. In fact, McCracken replaced Farley and Kraak with Jim DeaKyne and Jim Schooley for most of the fourth quarter. Despite all that, IU outscored Notre Dame 42-30 in the second half and controlled the game right up until Stephens's final basket.

Schlundt led the Hoosiers with twenty-three points (fourteen in the fourth quarter) and twelve rebounds, while Leonard scored thirteen, but shot only 3-for-17 from the field. Gooch Lewinski had game highs of twenty-eight points and thirteen rebounds for the Fighting Irish, while Dick Rosenthal added twelve points and nine rebounds.

After the game, the IU squad went out to eat at the Old Chinese Inn, a block away from the Oliver Hotel where the team was staying in South Bend. As everyone was finishing up their meal, Mac stood up and said, "About that game, there's nothing to be ashamed about.

We came back like real champions.... Who would have ever thought that after being 16 points behind, we would charge right back? I want every man to analyze his mistakes.... That's what will make us great.

This Notre Dame outfit is tough on their home floor. I doubt if they've lost three or four games on that floor in the last five years, and they probably won't lose a single game at all there this year. It's better to lose a game now than to drop one over at Ohio State later. This defeat ought to make us mad, fighting mad [and Mac shook a fist as he said that]. It ought to make us determined not to lose another one. So let's pick up our heads.... It was a tough one to lose, but the cause is far from lost." McCracken and his Hoosiers had another full week to prepare for their next big road game against Kansas State on Saturday, December 13, in Manhattan, Kansas. Like the Fighting Irish the previous week, the Wildcats couldn't wait for their matchup with the Hoosiers. Kansas State, the Big Seven favorite, returned most of its roster from the team that had blown an eight-point lead to IU in the final minutes and lost 80-75 in overtime the year before in Bloomington. Overall, Indiana had defeated K-State three straight times, including a 58-52 win that spoiled the dedication game for the new Kansas State fieldhouse in 1950—the only loss the Wildcats had suffered in twenty two games in the new gym. Kansas State also featured two former Indiana high school stars from Anderson in their backcourt, senior Bob Rousey and junior Gene Wilson. Both Rousey and Wilson had been Indiana all-stars, Rousey in 1949 and Wilson in 1950.

If all that wasn't enough motivation for Kansas State, there was also the fact that the Wildcats had come out flat in their season opener, barely edging out a badly overmatched Drake team 79-73 in overtime. Thus, coach Jack Gardner cracked the whip against his second- ranked Kansas State team heading into its big showdown with IU. The K-State–Indiana matchup was one of the most highly anticipated interconference college basketball games in the country during the preconference season, and it wouldn't disappoint.

While the Hoosiers were preparing for Kansas State, Illinois opened its season on Wednesday, December 10, with a 71-57 win over previously undefeated Loyola of Chicago. Illinois was powered by 6' 10" center Johnny Kerr, who broke loose for a game-high thirty-four points. That was Illinois's only preconference game before starting Big Ten play against Michigan, although the Fighting Illini mixed in a couple of non-conference opponents later in December.

On Friday morning, the IU team flew from Bloomington to Topeka, Kansas, and then took a fifty-mile bus ride from Topeka to Manhattan, where the team worked out on the Kansas State floor that night. Before the team left Indiana, McCracken declared that he was sticking with the same starting lineup he had used in the first two games, and he said, "The boys are in good mental and physical condition.

They really want to win this one."6 The game was expected to be a battle between two large and talented frontcourts. To match up against the Hoosiers' Schlundt, Kraak, and Farley, Kansas State sent 6' 6" center Dick Knostman, an All-American candidate, 6' 7", 240-pound forward Jack Carby, and 6' 5" forward Jesse Priscock.

At 8:00 pm on Saturday, December 13, a sellout crowd of 12,500 watched one of the first great college basketball games of the season.

From wire to wire, the game was hard-fought and well played by both teams. The first quarter ended with Kansas State ahead 19-18, but the bad news for Indiana was that Don Schlundt picked up three fouls in the quarter and had to sit down with 3:30 left in the opening period.

However, Lou Scott stepped up and played one the best games of his career at a key moment. At the 5:10 mark of the second quarter, Scott and Dick Farley scored on consecutive possessions to give IU a 37-30 lead—the largest lead of the game for either team. Big Lou scored eight points in the first half and IU led 44-38 with 2:01 left in the half, but Dick Knostman rallied the Wildcats on an 8-0 run to close the half, and they led 46-44 at the break. Knostman, one of the top returning scorers in the Big Seven, had twenty points in the first half.

In the third quarter, Lou Scott scored eight more points while holding Knostman to just a pair of free throws, but Kansas State clung to a 65-64 lead going into the final period. Schlundt returned for the Hoosiers at the start of the fourth quarter and keyed a 9-3 spurt to put IU back in front 73-68. Naturally, the Wildcats charged back.

Guard Marvin Mills drove in for a layup and beefy forward Jack Carby, who was benched at the start of the game, made a free throw and then nailed a set shot to tie the score at 73-73 with 4:21 left.

Schlundt quickly made a hook shot to put IU back in the lead, but Knostman responded by drawing the fourth foul on Schlundt and burying a free throw to pull the Wildcats within a point. Forward Jim Smith grabbed an offensive rebound and hit a follow-up shot as Kansas State took back the lead 76-75 with 3:15 to go, and Knostman buried a baseline jumper to push the lead to 78-75. Then it was IU's turn for another spurt. Phil Byers nailed a clutch shot from the outside and Schlundt came back and swished a short face-up jumper to give IU a 79-78 advantage with 1:51 remaining. Bobby Leonard then made one of two free throws with thirty-two seconds left to put Indiana ahead 80-78. That was IU's final point and its last lead.

Kansas State worked for a quick shot and found guard Gene Stauffer on the baseline, where he calmly sank a one-hander to tie the game with fifteen seconds remaining. The Hoosiers rushed the ball up the court and got off a potential game-winning shot, but it missed the mark and the Wildcats rebounded with less than ten seconds remaining.

Then, for the second-straight game, Indiana watched its chance at a valuable road win disappear with one final spectacular play.

The Wildcats' big forward, Jack Carby, dribbled the ball across the midcourt line, paused, looked up at the clock, and then, unpredictably, positioned himself for a two-handed set shot from forty feet away. As the clock ticked down to five seconds, Carby released a high arching shot that sailed way above the backboard and looked as if it might soar over the entire basket. In the air, the ball had a slightly odd side-to-side spin to it, rather than a standard end-over-end rotation.

When it finally descended from the rafters, the ball barely caught the upper right side of the backboard and then jumped to the left just enough to twist its way right through the net. The K-State crowd exploded with a rapturous roar as their Wildcats pulled out an 82-80 victory.

It was a poetic end to a highly entertaining game that sported fourteen ties and fifteen lead changes. Afterwards, Kansas State coach Jack Gardner said, "I guess we were just destined to win."7 Of course, to Branch McCracken and the Hoosiers, it was almost too farfetched to believe that they could lose a second-straight game on a miraculous play in the final seconds. And with all the narrow scrapes with destiny that Indiana had suffered in the preceding years, "There was a feeling that 'Here we go again,' " said senior manager Ron Fifer.

But Branch McCracken was not superstitious. He had seen some good things out of his team that he believed could translate into a competitive run in the Big Ten. He also needed to make sure his young squad maintained its confidence in the face of two gut-wrenching defeats. In the locker room, he told his boys that they had showed improvement over their performance against Notre Dame. They played more consistently, they rebounded better, and they had much better scoring balance. He also told them that even though they had lost two tough ones in a row, playing competitive teams such as Notre Dame and Kansas State would benefit them much more in the long run than if they had simply racked up two easy wins over small schools.

Mac also said, "The boys played a terrific ball game, but we were beaten at the free throw line."9 Statistically, he was exactly right. Indiana scored thirty-two field goals, while Kansas State scored twenty eight.

However, Indiana was 16-for-20 (.800) from the free throw line, while Kansas State was 26-for-36 (.722). Indiana was whistled for twenty-five fouls, while Kansas State was called for only sixteen. In the pivotal second half, Indiana went to the free throw stripe only five times.

The Wildcats' Dick Knostman led all scorers with twenty-seven points. Dick Farley was the Hoosiers' high scorer with eighteen, while Bobby Leonard and Lou Scott added sixteen points each. Lou Scott also chipped in twelve rebounds, while Charlie Kraak posted eleven points and fifteen rebounds and Don Schlundt added ten points and thirteen rebounds in only seventeen minutes of play. Overall, IU outrebounded Kansas State 61-57. Still, the loss dropped Indiana to 1- 2, the first time the Hoosiers had fallen below.500 since the 1947– 48 season. Even Coach McCracken, who was always reticent about his teams' championship prospects, figured this team wouldn't be saddled with a losing record for long. However, he certainly could not have anticipated the type of winning streak this team was about to begin.

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