The loudest cheers in Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall didn’t come after a dunk from junior forward Justin Smith, a three-pointer from senior guard Devonte Green or a block from freshman forward Trayce Jackson-Davis.
In fact, a basketball wasn’t even present as the cheers echoed through the arena.
The roars from the crowd occurred during the halftime show when three dogs — Sprocket, Cobra and California Crush — did tricks while catching Frisbees.
When the crowd of 17,222 fans filed into Assembly Hall, they were hoping for a statement performance from the Hoosiers after two ugly showings against Wisconsin and the University of Connecticut.
Instead of the reassuring rebound performance the Hoosier faithful were hoping for, they got to see IU struggle all night against a Nebraska team that has already lost to the University of California Riverside, Southern Utah University and George Mason University, while squeaking out a 96-90 victory.
The sad reality of the game is that neither IU nor Nebraska had the best performance on the court of Assembly Hall. That honor goes to halftime performers of Sprocket, Cobra and California Crush.
An overtime game is usually fun and entertaining, but when the whole thing is a combination of both teams shooting poorly and turning over the ball, the excitement is something to be desired.
While IU could barely pass the ball at points throughout the game, Sprocket and the other dogs were putting together a highlight reel of tricks.
Unlike the Hoosiers who seemed to barely move on offense — especially in the second half — all three dogs were hustling up and down the court.
Sprocket opened the show, and after some early jitters dropping a few Frisbees, he kicked off a halftime performance that will be able to rival the fan-favorite Firecrackers.
After weaving through his owner’s legs for a few seconds, Sprocket took off sprinting the length of the court before leaping into the air and grabbing the Frisbee. On his return trip down the court, Sprocket’s owner knelt down and unleashed the frisbee into the air as he leapt from his back and, with a twirl, snatched the frisbee out of the air.
Next up was flashy Cobra. Sound familiar?
Cobra had a lot of Green in him. Everything Cobra attempted was highlight-reel-worthy, the problem was he only converted a sliver of his opportunities.
Just as Green only shot 2-7 from the field and made just one of his five three-pointers, Cobra only came down with one deep pass from his owner as it took him three tries to complete his finale of jumping off his owner’s back and then flipping to catch the final frisbee.
The finale of the halftime show was just a precursor to the actual game, just with a little more of a “wow” factor.
The only person — or furry friend — that could upstage sophomore guard Rob Phinisee and Jackson-Davis’ stellar performances was California Crush.
Just like Phinisee and Jackson-Davis, that dog never seemed to miss.
After an impressive display of deep catches and flips, the finale brought the crowd to its feet just like IU’s final possession of overtime.
After launching off his owner’s back, California Crush caught one frisbee while flipping, a leaping grab at the other end of the court and finished it off by jumping into his owner’s arms and catching the final disc while being spun around. The type of flawless execution the Hoosiers could only dream about on the court.
In the game, IU was sloppy and looked lost on the court in an embarrassing performance it probably should have lost.
The only impressive thing to come out of Assembly Hall were three four-legged friends that rocked the hall before winter break.
