IU fans follow derogatory, slur-laced game with challenge of Kentucky coach John Calipari

On Saturday, IU had six players on the floor. But even the extra help couldn’t bring the Hoosiers a victory.

The sold-out crowd in Assembly Hall screamed, cheered and yelled, but the signs, chants and stripe-out couldn’t help the Hoosiers squeak past the No. 4 Kentucky team.

Saturday’s game was the Hoosiers’ first rivalry match and the first against a ranked team.

Before the game, the players said a loud crowd would be important for the weekend. Even though IU lost 90-73 to Kentucky, the crowd’s intensity was another sign that IU basketball is on its way back.

Handmade signs mostly referenced Kentucky coach John Calipari’s term as head coach of Memphis, when his Final Four appearance was taken away after the NCAA determined his star freshman Derrick Rose allegedly did not take his own SAT.

Fans across from the UK bench chanted “cheater” and “S-A-T” toward Calipari, who is in his first year in Lexington.

Some of the anti-Calpari signs included:

Finals week: Cal help me cheat

I took Wall’s SAT

Coach Cal, can you get someone to take my finals for me?

Calpari borrowed my SAT
 
Not surprisingly, Calipari said in his post-game press conference that Assembly Hall was a “hostile environment.”

The environment didn’t only affect the Wildcats. Both freshman forward Derek Elston and freshman guard Jordan Hulls said the team had trouble hearing themselves on the court.

“Most of the first half, I couldn’t even hear what play they were calling,” Elston said.

This wasn’t the first time this season that Assembly Hall has been a hotbed of insults. Student fans were as loud on Dec. 1 against Maryland, but their chants included racist and derogatory slurs toward Maryland senior guard Greivis Vasquez of Venezuela and sophomore forward Jin Soo Choi of South Korea. This time, the yells were mostly targeted at Calipari.

Wildcat forward Patrick Patterson said he and his teammates noticed the rabid IU fans but tried to ignore their chants.

“We read the signs,” he said. “We saw the signs, but no one let it faze them.”

If any of Patterson’s teammates felt differently, they didn’t let it show. Kentucky outscored the Hoosiers by 48-32 in the second half, out-rebounded them 49-24 and had seven blocks.

Even Crean said he didn’t pay attention to the signs or chants during the game. Despite the crowd chanting “asshole” or “bullshit” at times, he said he didn’t find anything wrong with the crowd’s intensity.

“That is one of the best atmospheres in college basketball,” Crean said.
Elston said he knew the game would be one of the biggest of the team’s schedule, but it only hit him once the game began.

“You don’t really realize it until you’re on the court,” Elston said.

Hulls, a Bloomington native, said growing up in town and listening to his grandfather’s stories about the two teams made this game more than just another on their schedule.

“Growing up here, it’s almost as big as Purdue,” Hulls said. “Everybody had this marked on their calendar.”

Because of the opponent, Hulls said the loss hurt a little more than usual.

“Being the rivalry that it is,” he said, “it just made it worse.”