Indiana Basketball to Build Bob Knight Statue in Assembly Hall

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — On the night it honored the 1975-76 unbeaten national championship team, Indiana basketball announced it will build a bronze statue of late coach Bob Knight in the south lobby of Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.

Indiana public address announcer Jeremy Gray delivered the news over the loudspeaker after introducing the eight players, three team managers, one assistant coach and family member from the Hoosiers' 32-0 roster.

Quinn Buckner, a member of the Indiana University Board of Trustees and senior guard on the 1975-76 team, said he and his teammates are "very, very pleased" the Hoosiers are building Knight's statue.

"He changed college basketball," Buckner told fans at midcourt, "and he's our coach."

Indiana basketball just announced it will put a bronze statue of coach Bob Knight in the south lobby of Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.

Here’s the crowd reaction. #iubb pic.twitter.com/TZ2QDo9evU
— Daniel Flick (@ByDanielFlick) February 10, 2026

Knight coached at Indiana from 1971-2000, winning three national championships, 11 Big Ten titles and five coach of the year awards. He compiled a record of 659-242 with the Hoosiers, and he was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1991 and College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006.

The Massillon, Ohio, native passed away Nov. 1, 2023. He was 83 years old. Pat Knight, Bob's son and a player at Indiana from 1991-95, represented his father at the ceremy Monday night in Bloomington.

During the pre-game ceremony, which included a dinner spread, gathering and media availability, players from college basketball's last unbeaten team rehashed old memories.

Bobby Wilkerson, introduced to fans as the greatest defender to ever play for the Hoosiers, said Knight built a camaraderie within the team, one that appeared evident Monday evening as they smiled, laughed and joked with one another, 50 years removed from their historic season.

"Coach Knight was so good about molding and making us together as a team," Wilkerson said. "And with that, when the team wins, everybody wins. And we've been so blessed together as a unit, individually and collectively, to come together to accomplish these things."

The 1975-76 team was Knight's first championship squad in Bloomington. Under Knight's guidance, Indiana won titles in 1981 and 1987, and the Hoosiers made two other Final Four appearances.

Indiana's players raved about the habits Knight instilled and the lessons he taught them.

"Coach Knight always talked about, the mental is to the physical as four is to one," center Kent Benson, a junior in 1975-76, said. "The mental is four times greater than the physical. We knew we could physically accomplish great things.

"It was the mental aspect of us being mentally prepared because we were physically prepared, we were prepared for the games, and Coach Knight did a great job, too, of preparing us mentally."

Though Knight's exit and relationship with the program strained at the end of his tenure and culminated in a contentious, unceremonious exit, he returned to Assembly Hall in 2020 and receiveda great ovation.

Knight's legacy remains through banners, through his past players and, now, through the statue that will soon stand in the concourse of the arena he helped turn into one of college basketball's most prominent cathedrals.