Illinois Basketball: Top 10 Games Every Illini Fan Wishes to Attend
March 5, 1989; Illinois vs. Indiana (Hoosier Meltdown)
This game was before my time, but it goes down as one of the historic games in Illinois basketball history.
Illinois had a great team in the 1988-89 season. They were ranked in the top 10 the entire year and finished ranked as the No. 3 team in the nation.
The Illini entered fake Assembly Hall in Bloomington, Indiana for a March 5 game against the Hoosiers. This was a matchup of the No. 8 Illini vs. the No. 3 Hoosiers.
The Hoosiers had the ball down two points with time slowly ticking off the clock. Jay Edwards received the pass about ten feet outside the three-point arc.
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With six seconds left on the clock, Edwards began his dribble to the left baseline. He quickly got double-teamed by the Illini but then did a side fade away shot and drained what many Hoosiers believed to be the game-winning shot with two seconds remaining.
Illinois then had the tough task of inbounding the ball from the baseline underneath the Hoosiers rim.
Illinois threw a great baseball pass to Nick Anderson with two seconds left.
Anderson caught the pass and took one dribble while turning around. He pulled up from about three to five feet outside the three-point arc and nailed the real game winning shot.
Indiana fans thought they had the game winning shot and they didn’t. I wish I could have attended this game to see all the Indiana fans faces when Anderson hit that shot.
Next: Next Game: National Championship