Indiana At Mackey: Epic Battles Between Legends Bob Knight And Gene Keady

Tight games, controversy, great performances and two titans on the sideline defined two decades of the Indiana-Purdue rivalry.
Indiana coach Bob Knight gave Gene Keady, his Purdue counterpart at the time, a poke in the ribs as they coach on the floor at Mackey Arena in 1983
Indiana coach Bob Knight gave Gene Keady, his Purdue counterpart at the time, a poke in the ribs as they coach on the floor at Mackey Arena in 1983 / Frank Oliver/Journal & Courier via Imagn Content Services, LLC

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Part two of the Indiana at Mackey Arena series focuses on the period that represents the essence of the rivalry: Bob Knight vs. Gene Keady.

Between them, they have 1,452 combined wins. Their combined winning percentage when taking just their Indiana and Purdue careers into account is .697. Knight won 11 Big Ten championships, and Keady won six. They shared a Big Ten championship in 1987.

It doesn’t get better than when Knight and Keady matched wits on the court. It was compelling right out of the chute.

The battle gets off to a hot start

When the teams met in the 1981 season, the game at Purdue was the second of the two matchups that season. The first, a 69-61 victory for Indiana at Assembly Hall, was wild. Four technical fouls and 53 personal fouls were called in the first of 41 Knight-Keady matchups.

The rematch was only a week later in West Lafayette. It wasn’t quite as contentious, though it was exciting. Purdue rallied to earn a 68-66 triumph over the eventual national champion Hoosiers.

After Kevin Stallings made the winning free throws with five seconds left, Isiah Thomas was called for a double dribble just after he crossed midcourt.

“I’ve watched Isiah Thomas play basketball for three years and I’ve never seen him double dribble,” said Knight, who chased the official off the floor at the end of the game.

Thomas had been on Knight’s mind before the game. In the matchup in Bloomington, Thomas had been accused of sucker punching Purdue’s Roosevelt Barnes.

Knight had a statement prepared that was handed to the media … at halftime of the game at Mackey Arena. Two days after the game, Knight pulled game film that he felt demonstrated Thomas had not initiated the incident and railed against the “Purdue mentality.”

It was an explosive start to Knight and Keady’s rivalry.

Knight takes two in a row in the mid-1980s

Purdue won again in 1982 before Knight conjured his only winning streak against Keady at Mackey Arena in 1983 and 1984.

In 1983, Indiana showed coolness under pressure at the free throw line. Ted Kitchel made all six free throws, Randy Wittman made all four and Jim Thomas was perfect on two at the line as Indiana – leading by 10 with nine minutes left – held off Purdue for an 81-78 victory, Indiana’s first at Mackey Arena since 1976.

In 1984, Knight had his easiest victory on Purdue turf. With Purdue leading the Big Ten and Indiana a game-and-a-half behind, the Hoosiers blitzed the Boilermakers with a 78-59 victory.

The Hoosiers shot 62.8% from the field. Stew Robinson set the tone with 22 points on 7 of 8 shooting. Uwe Blab was 7 of 13 for 18 points. Todd Meier and Dan Dakich also shot the ball well as Indiana outscored Purdue 42-25 in the second half.

Gene Keady, Bob Knight
The rivalry wasn't always contentious. Purdue coach Gene Keady and Indiana coach Bob Knight both enjoyed golf and they were both part of a charity event from the 1980s. / Purdue Debris yearbook

Always looking for a reason to put a chip on his shoulder, Knight spared no one – not even the governor of Indiana in 1984, Robert Orr.

Orr had sent a message to a Purdue pep rally prior to a first-place Big Ten showdown with Illinois that said Purdue played “with more heart” than any team in the state.

“I saw the other day where the governor said that the Purdue team seemed to play harder than any team around here has in a long, long time,” Knight railed. “And I would think that there are a hell of a lot of Indiana fans throughout the state who think Indiana plays pretty hard too.”

“They might even think about that when another November comes around. Even governors say dumb things occasionally,” Knight finished.

Purdue would sweep the series in 1985 before the teams each protected their home courts from 1986-88.

Indiana wins three in five seasons when both teams were loaded

The Hoosiers’ next win at Mackey Arena came in 1989. The 1989 Indiana team won the Big Ten, and their run had its roots in an early January win in West Lafayette.

In a scenario reminiscent of the 1983 game, the Hoosiers had a 10-point lead in the second half, only to have the Boilermakers rally. Purdue sliced its deficit to two in the final minute, but Indiana’s free throw shooting – particularly Joe Hillman’s – carried the day.

Hillman made five of his final six free throws to keep Purdue at bay. Jay Edwards was also 10 of 12 at the line and led Indiana with 22 points. Hillman had 18 points and Eric Anderson had 14.

By 1991, Indiana’s galaxy of stars included Calbert Cheaney, Damon Bailey, Greg Graham and Anderson among many others. Purdue was a year away from having its big star of the 1990s – Glenn Robinson.

In yet another game where Indiana held off a Purdue rally, the Hoosiers prevailed, 65-62. Anderson scored eight of his team-high 15 points in the final minutes.

Purdue won at Mackey in 1992 before a clash of titans in 1993. Indiana was ranked No. 2 and Purdue was ranked No. 13. Five future NBA players – Cheaney, Graham and Alan Henderson for Indiana; Robinson and Cuonzo Martin for Purdue – took the court along with current Purdue coach Matt Painter, the Boilermakers’ point guard.

Despite the star power, it was a cold shooting night for both teams with one exception – Cheaney.

The senior was 11 of 15 from the field and scored 33 points and also had 10 rebounds. It was one of 13 times Cheaney scored 30 or more for the Hoosiers – befitting the Big Ten’s all-time leading scorer.

One last win at Mackey for Knight

After the Cheaney class moved on after 1993, Indiana struggled to regain the same glory. Purdue won the Big Ten from 1994-96 and finished ahead of the Hoosiers from 1994-98. The Boilermakers also won every game at Mackey Arena in that period.

The 1999 season was the last time Indiana finished ahead of Purdue in the Big Ten race with Knight and Keady leading their respective schools. The game at Mackey Arena is one reason the Hoosiers finished two games ahead of their rivals.

Indiana was the lower-ranked team going into the January matchup. The Hoosiers were ranked 23rd, and the Boilermakers were 13th.

No matter. The Hoosiers’ leading scorers of the time – Luke Recker (24 points) and A.J. Guyton (21 points) were at their best, but so were Indiana big men William Gladness and Lynn Washington.

Lynn Robinson
Lynn Robinson, shown here in a file shot from a game at Assembly Hall in the 1998-99 season, was a big reason Indiana won at Purdue in 1999. / Indiana University archives.

Gladness had 13 points and 10 rebounds, and Washington had 12 points and 10 rebounds as the Hoosiers controlled the game to the tune of an 87-76 victory.

“They played like it was their home court,” Keady said about Gladness and Washington.

Washington only averaged 5.5 points and 3.2 rebounds in his two-year Indiana career, so this was a real high-water mark for the junior college transfer.

“We played Washington because of his mobility. He’s been kind of up and down. It’s hard for a junior college kid to come in here and understand that this is a hell of a different level,” Knight said.

Knight could not have known it would be his last victory at Mackey Arena. He coached one more season before he was fired in September 2000. In all, Knight won eight times inside Mackey, six of them while matching wits with Keady.

Keady was 14-6 against Knight on Purdue’s home floor and had the overall edge by a hair with a 21-20 overall record against Knight.

Regardless of the numbers, win or lose for either side, there were some great battles between the pair of legendary coaches.

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Todd Golden
TODD GOLDEN

Long-time Indiana journalist Todd Golden has been a writer with “Indiana Hoosiers on SI” since 2024, and has worked at several state newspapers for more than two decades. Follow Todd on Twitter @ToddAaronGolden.