One player on the opposing bench might look familiar on Wednesday evening when Indiana tips off their 125th season in Bloomington.
The game will serve as a homecoming of sorts for 6-foot-10 SIU Edwardsville forward Kyle Thomas. He is the son of the late IU 1987 national champion Daryl Thomas.
Kyle transferred to SIUE during the offseason. Like his father, he wears No. 24. He has been dealing with an injury and it isn’t clear whether he’ll play tonight. Kyle averaged 2.1 points and 0.9 rebounds in 16 games at Bradley in 2023-24.
TDH caught up with Kyle in 2021 when he was in high school. He told us his father and IU coach Mike Woodson were good friends.
Wednesday evening would have been special for Daryl, who passed away in 2018.
An All-Big Ten pick as a junior and senior, Daryl Thomas scored 20 points in the Hoosiers NCAA title win over Syracuse and dished the game-winning assist to Keith Smart who hit a jumper to give IU the 74-73 victory.
“Ever since that 1987 championship game, I’ve always called that the greatest single play I ever had a kid make: giving up the ball and setting the screen that got the man open for the shot that won a national championship,” IU coach Bob Knight said in 2018 when Daryl passed.
“That was Daryl — absolutely unselfish.”
Daryl averaged 15.7 points and 5.7 rebounds as a senior and 14.5 points and 4.7 rebounds as a junior. Thomas and his 1987 teammates returned to Assembly Hall in December of 2011 to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of their National Championship.
Kyle grew up in suburban Chicago and was set to play for Daryl at Montini H.S. before he passed he away.
Thomas isn’t the only Cougar with Indiana ties. They are led by a former IU basketball staff member.
SIUE head coach Brian Barone was the Hoosiers’ director of basketball operations when he worked under former IU head coach Tom Crean. Barone followed Crean from Marquette and spent two seasons (2008-09 and 2009-10) in Bloomington.
No. 17 Indiana and SIUE tip at 8 p.m. ET in Bloomington (BTN).
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