Purdue came into Assembly Hall and pulled out an ugly 48-46 victory. Boilermakers big man Matt Haarms tipped in the game-winning bucket in the finals seconds. It was sweet revenge as he’d been taunted by the Indiana faithful all night.
Hoosiers fans did not appreciate when Haarms and De’Ron Davis got tangled and channeled that ire into a “f— you, Haarms” chant, which was clearly audible for the television audience. They repeated it later on.
Indiana athletic director Fred Glass didn’t much care for that and sent the following letter to student ticket holders.
Dear Student Basketball Fan,
Thank you so much for attending last night’s game against Purdue. Overall, you and your fellow student fans were awesome! You came early and stayed late, cheered hard, and, because you are the most knowledgeable fans in college basketball, you knew just when to take it up a notch to help our team try to get a key basket or a key stop.
The profane chants directed at a specific Purdue player were not part of your positive contributions. They were embarrassing and unacceptable and reflected poorly on you and Indiana University. Knock off the profane chants, and please help those around you to do the same. You and Indiana University are better than that.
Again, thanks for your support and passion, and I hope you will come back and help us win our last three home games.
Fred Glass
Vice President and Director of Intercollegiate Athletics
Boom. Busted.
Haarms, because he can hear, was able to make out the repeated chants during the game.
“They were all over me. It was bad,” Haarms told the Indianapolis Star. “It’s always bad. It’s bad at Michigan, at Michigan State, at Maryland, at Iowa, but not like this.”
So the bad news for Hoosier fans is they lost the game and battle of decorum. The good news is, according to one opposing player, they’re the meanest group in the whole Big Ten.
