Minute Man Made Fast Work of LSU’s Nine-Point Lead

Perhaps Joe Hillman can do commercials for Minute Maid. Possibly nobody in NCAA history accomplished more in one minute of play than Hillman did for Indiana Sunday.

The Hoosiers were trailing Louisiana State, 75-66, when Hillman replaced starting guard Keith Smart with 4:38 left.

“Smart had made some mistakes on the defensive end and on passes, and we wanted to settle him down,” Coach Bobby Knight said.

Hillman, the former Glendale Hoover gunner who averaged more than 40 points a game as a senior, got the Hoosiers going with a clever inside pass that eventually resulted in a follow-up basket by Dean Garrett.

Then, after an Indiana steal, he drove all the way for a layup. He was fouled on the play by Bernard Woodside, the fifth of the game for the LSU guard.

After completing the three-point play, Hillman departed with 3:45 left. The Hoosiers had trimmed five points off LSU’s lead. Now they trailed, 75-71. They were back in business.

“Hillman made the play of the game,” Knight said. “It was like a pinch-hitter hitting a tying home run in the ninth inning. He took the ball over a big guy, then had to wait to take the free throw and then made it.”

Add LSU: Maybe it’s better that Nikita Wilson missed the final shot because time already had expired. If Wilson had made it, there surely would have been a controversy, because Coach Dale Brown said he thought there was time left.

Former Cal coach Pete Newell, who taped the game, said he ran it back and forth on his recorder. “The clock definitely hit 0:00 before he got it off,” Newell said.

For What It’s Worth: Brad Lohaus, Iowa’s 7-foot center is picking Nevada Las Vegas over Indiana Saturday.

“I would like to see a Big Ten team do it, but I think UNLV can definitely do it,” he said.

Iowa split with Indiana, winning, 101-88, at home and losing, 84-75, on the road.

Trivia Time: Aloysius Szymanski, Cornelius McGillicuddy and Sanford Braun, members of the baseball Hall of Fame, are better known by what names? (Answer below.)

Seattle Manager Dick Williams, on his former team, the San Diego Padres: “They didn’t win before I got there, and they probably never will again.”

Was Williams liked by the San Diego players?

Said infielder Tim Flannery at the time: “I love playing for Dick, but when I get out of the game, I’m going to run over him with a car.”

USC basketball Coach George Raveling, on the difficulty of gaining attention in Los Angeles: “There’s a lot going on here. When my Washington State team used to come down here, I would pray to win. But people would tell me the Lord was at the Lakers’ game.”

Ron Gardenhire’s lament on leaving the New York Mets’ organization: “I didn’t get a ring, and I didn’t even get a chance to write a book like everyone else. It was going to be a great book, too--”Life on the DL.”

From Lee Trevino, assuring writers that his word is good: “If I tell you an ant can pull a hay wagon, you better hitch it up.”

Trivia Answer: Al Simmons, Connie Mack and Sandy Koufax.

Quotebook

Cedric Maxwell of the Houston Rockets, on why he wouldn’t become a coach: “I’m scared I might get somebody like myself to coach. I don’t think I’m stable sometimes.”