1985–86 Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball team

The 1985–86 Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball team represented Indiana University. Their head coach was Bobby Knight, who was in his 15th year. The team played its home games in Assembly Hall in Bloomington, Indiana, and was a member of the Big Ten Conference.

1985–86 Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball
NCAA men's Division I tournament, Round of 64
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 14
AP	No. 16
Record	21–8 (13–5 Big Ten)
Head coach	Bobby Knight (15th season)
Assistant coaches	Ron Felling Kohn Smith Royce Waltman Joby Wright
Captain	Steve Alford Winston Morgan Stew Robinson
Home arena	Assembly Hall

1985–86 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings

	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 5 Michigan	14	–	4		.778			28	–	5		.848
No. 16 Indiana	13	–	5		.722			21	–	8		.724
No. 18 Michigan State	12	–	6		.667			23	–	8		.742
No. 19 Illinois	11	–	7		.611			22	–	10		.688
Purdue	10	–	8		.556			22	–	10		.688
Iowa	10	–	8		.556			20	–	12		.625
Ohio State	8	–	10		.444			19	–	14		.576
Minnesota	5	–	13		.278			15	–	16		.484
Wisconsin	4	–	14		.222			12	–	16		.429
Northwestern	2	–	16		.111			8	–	20		.286
Rankings from AP Poll

The Hoosiers finished the regular season with an overall record of 21–8 and a conference record of 13–5, finishing 2nd in the Big Ten Conference. IU was invited to participate in the 1986 NCAA tournament as a 3-seed; however, IU made a quick exit with a first-round loss to 14-seed Cleveland State.

The season was memorialized and popularized by A Season on the Brink, a 1986 book by John Feinstein. For the book, Bobby Knight granted almost unprecedented access to his team, as well as insights into his private life. The book was well received and is often referred to as "the bestselling sports book of all time." The book and season was later dramatized in a two-hour, made-for-ESPN movie of the same name that first aired in the spring of 2002.

Roster

No.	Name	Position	Ht.	Year	Hometown
11	Todd Jadlow	F/C	6–9	So.	Salina, Kansas
12	Steve Alford	G	6–2	Jr.	New Castle, Indiana
14	Magnus Pelkowski	C	6–10	RS So.	Bogota, Colombia
20	Ricky Calloway	G/F	6–6	Fr.	Cincinnati, Ohio
21	Winston Morgan	G/F	6–5	Sr.	Anderson, Indiana
22	Stew Robinson	G	6–1	Sr.	Anderson, Indiana
23	Delray Brooks	G	6–4	So.	Michigan City, Indiana
24	Daryl Thomas	F/C	6–7	Jr.	Westchester, Illinois
30	Todd Meier	F/C	6–8	Jr.	Oshkosh, Wisconsin
32	Steve Eyl	F	6–6	So.	Hamilton, Ohio
34	Andre Harris	F	6–6	Jr.	Grand Rapids, Michigan
35	Jeff Oliphant	G	6–5	RS Fr.	Lyons, Indiana
42	Kreigh Smith	G/F	6–7	RS So.	Tipton, Indiana
44	Joe Hillman	G	6–2	RS So.	Glendale, California
45	Brian Sloan	F/C	6–8	RS So.	McLeansboro, Illinois
52	Courtney Witte	F/C	6–8	Sr.	Vincennes, Indiana

Schedule/Results

Date time, TV	Rank#	Opponent#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Regular Season
11/30/1985*		Kent State	W 89–73	1–0	Assembly Hall  Bloomington, IN
12/3/1985*	No. 19	No. 11 Notre Dame	W 82–67	2–0	Assembly Hall  Bloomington, IN
12/7/1985*	No. 19	at No. 9 Kentucky Indiana–Kentucky rivalry	L 58–63	2–1	Rupp Arena  Lexington, KY
12/10/1985*	No. 18	Kansas State	W 78–71	3–1	Assembly Hall  Bloomington, IN
12/13/1985*	No. 18	Louisiana Tech Indiana Classic	W 84–63	4–1	Assembly Hall  Bloomington, IN
12/14/1985*	No. 18	Texas Tech Indiana Classic	W 74–59	5–1	Assembly Hall  Bloomington, IN
12/18/1985*	No. 17	at No. 16 Louisville	L 63–65	5–2	Freedom Hall  Louisville, KY
12/21/1985*	No. 17	Iowa State	W 86–65	6–2	Assembly Hall  Bloomington, IN
12/27/1985*	No. 17	vs. Idaho Hoosier Classic	W 87–57	7–2	Market Square Arena  Indianapolis, IN
12/28/1985*	No. 17	vs. Mississippi State Hoosier Classic	W 74–73	8–2	Market Square Arena  Indianapolis, IN
1/2/1986	No. 15	No. 2 Michigan	L 69–74	8–3 (0–1)	Assembly Hall  Bloomington, IN
1/5/1986	No. 15	Michigan State	L 74–77	8–4 (0–2)	Assembly Hall  Bloomington, IN
1/9/1986		at Northwestern	W 102–65	9–4 (1–2)	Welsh-Ryan Arena  Evanston, IL
1/11/1986		at Wisconsin	W 80–69	10–4 (2–2)	Wisconsin Field House  Madison, WI
1/15/1986		Ohio State	W 69–66	11–4 (3–2)	Assembly Hall  Bloomington, IN
1/23/1986		No. 15 Purdue Rivalry	W 71–70	12–4 (4–2)	Assembly Hall  Bloomington, IN
1/25/1986		Illinois Rivalry	W 71–69	13–4 (5–2)	Assembly Hall  Bloomington, IN
1/30/1986	No. 15	at Iowa	L 69–79	13–5 (5–3)	Carver-Hawkeye Arena  Iowa City, IA
2/1/1986	No. 15	at Minnesota	W 62–54	14–5 (6–3)	Williams Arena  Minneapolis, MN
2/6/1986	No. 18	Wisconsin	W 78–69	15–5 (7–3)	Assembly Hall  Bloomington, IN
2/8/1986	No. 18	Northwestern	W 77–52	16–5 (8–3)	Assembly Hall  Bloomington, IN
2/16/1986	No. 16	at Ohio State	W 84–75	17–5 (9–3)	St. John Arena  Columbus, OH
2/20/1986	No. 15	at Illinois Rivalry	W 61–60	18–5 (10–3)	Assembly Hall  Champaign, IL
2/23/1986	No. 15	at Purdue Rivalry	L 68–85	18–6 (10–4)	Mackey Arena  West Lafayette, IN
2/27/1986	No. 16	Minnesota	W 95–63	19–6 (11–4)	Assembly Hall  Bloomington, IN
3/2/1986	No. 16	Iowa	W 80–73	20–6 (12–4)	Assembly Hall  Bloomington, IN
3/5/1986  Lorimar	No. 16	at No. 17 Michigan State	W 97–79	21–6 (13–4)	Jenison Fieldhouse  East Lansing, MI
3/8/1986  CBS	No. 16	at No. 7 Michigan	L 52–80	21–7 (13–5)	Crisler Arena  Ann Arbor, MI
NCAA tournament
3/13/1986*  NCAA/ESPN	(3 E) No. 16	vs. (14 E) Cleveland State First Round	L 79–83	21–8	Carrier Dome  Syracuse, NY
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.