Race Thompson knew the moment all too well.
Tie game. Clock winding down. Ball in the opponent’s hands with a chance to win. Thompson’s final game at Assembly Hall.
Or so he thought.
Despite going through senior day procedures on March 2, 2022, Thompson’s final game in Bloomington would end up coming almost exactly one year later. But had it not been for one devastating, soul-crushing 3-pointer from Rutgers then-senior guard Ron Harper Jr. — the game-winning shot where Thompson’s hand-in-the-face came too little too late — he probably wouldn’t have come back in 2023.
“The way that the game ended last year here on senior night was something that I'll never forget and part of the reason I came back, really,” Thompson said after Sunday’s game.
He certainly made the most of his second chance.
On Sunday against Michigan with a tie game, the clock winding down, the ball in the hands of the opposing team’s star player pulling up for what would be a game-winning 3-pointer, Thompson was once again at the epicenter of the action.
But things went differently this time.
As Michigan junior center Hunter Dickinson pulled up from beyond the arc and his shot hit the back of the rim, Thompson leaped up to grab the rebound, stifling any Wolverine hopes of a putback attempt.
He had a solid showing in regulation, recording 14 points, eight rebounds and three steals. In fact, his third steal also came at a 69-69 tie with just 29 seconds remaining. Thompson stripped Dickinson, who was backing down Indiana senior forward Trayce Jackson-Davis in the low post.
And as overtime began, Thompson picked up exactly where he left off, making winning plays that sealed Indiana’s dramatic victory.
“I told Trayce (Jackson-Davis). I told Jalen (Hood-Schifino). ‘I’m not losing this game. I can’t lose this game,’” Thompson said.
The super-senior captain scored the Hoosiers’ first points of the extra period with a turnaround jumper over Dickinson and grabbed a defensive board on the next possession. Then, with just over a minute to play and the shot clock winding down, Thompson’s suffocating perimeter defense forced a Michigan 3-point heave that ended up in Indiana’s hands not long after.
Arguably his biggest play of the night came with 16 seconds left in overtime, once again stripping an in-rhythm Dickinson in the post.
“I play against Trayce all the time in practice, so you get to practice against good post players like that,” Thompson said. “When (Dickinson) put the ball on, I just kind of ran in there. I reached my hand in there and got the steal.”
Despite missing his four free throws in the concluding 12.5 seconds, Thompson was still the deciding factor in Indiana’s overtime success. His disruptive defensive presence played a key role, and the ball always seemed to end up in Thompson’s hands with the game on the line.
He finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds — his tenth career double-double — and four game-changing steals.
Thompson finally got to walk out of Assembly Hall with a win to conclude his storied career as a Hoosier. It was a moment that has been nearly six years in the making, weathered by countless storms that flew Thompson’s way.
“We’ve had our battles,” head coach Mike Woodson said to Thompson during the senior day postgame festivities. “But the beauty about you, son, is that you leave everything on the floor.”
Thompson left something on the floor on March 2, 2022: regret. But that’s why he came back.
“There was no way we were losing this game,” Thompson said. “We’re leaving everything we got on the court.”
And that’s how he got his full-circle moment with the Indiana men’s basketball program, driving his team to a hard-fought, strong-willed win that capped off his home career in an ever-so-satisfying way.
Follow reporters Evan Gerike (@EvanGerike) and Emma Pawlitz (@emmapawlitz), columnist Bradley Hohulin (@BradleyHohulin) and photographer Alex Paul (@alexpaulphoto) for updates throughout the Indiana men’s basketball season.
