Indiana breaks Butler’s heart on season’s best buzzer-beater

The name Rob Phinisee will be ringing throughout the Hoosier State this holiday season.

In the eight years since its inception, the Crossroads Classic has provided the college basketball world with a number of memorable December moments. A healthy chunk of those indelible moments have come in the years in which Indiana and Butler have been paired against one another.

IU freshman guard Rob Phinisee made sure that 2018 would be another one of those years, drilling a game-winner that will be discussed throughout the Hoosier State for decades to come.

Phinise explained after the game that the play was actually designed to get the ball to fellow freshman Romeo Langford. Senior forward Juwan Morgan, who scored a game-high 35 points, would have been another attractive option. Instead, Phinisee who was forced to improvise, and wound up hitting the shot that lifted the 25th-ranked Hoosiers’ record to 9-2 on the young season.

Archie Miller didn’t design the game’s most critical possession to end with a shot from Phinisee, but maybe he should have. Just a week ago, the freshman hit a three-pointer with a little over a minute to play which put Indiana ahead of Louisville by two points. The Hoosiers held on to the lead and squeaked out a 68-67 win that propelled them back into the national rankings this week.

With Indiana’s win, the Hoosiers and Butler are now tied with identical 5-3 record in the Crossroads Classic, an annual event featuring a doubleheader involving the four most prominent programs in the state.

Notre Dame is 4-4 in the event, and Purdue is 2-6. The Fighting Irish defeated the Boilermakers, 88-80, in the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader in Indianapolis.