2008 flashback: Gonzaga thumped Indiana in first basketball game at new Lucas Oil Stadium

INDIANAPOLIS – When Lucas Oil Stadium opened in 2008, the first game in the state-of-the-art facility was a football contest featuring Noblesville High vs. Fishers on Aug. 22.

The first NFL regular-season game was the Indianapolis Colts entertaining Chicago on Sept. 7.

The first basketball game? That honor went to Gonzaga and Indiana on Dec. 6.

The next games at the Colts’ home stadium will be the most important of the college basketball season to date: Baylor vs. Houston, followed by Gonzaga vs. UCLA, in the Final Four on Saturday.

The 2008 contest triggers good memories for the Zags, who were ranked fifth and handled a Hoosiers squad with a roster in transition under new coach Tom Crean.

Josh Heytvelt led Gonzaga with 17 points and guards Jeremy Pargo and Matt Bouldin each had 13 in a 70-54 win.

Crean was hired to replace Kelvin Sampson, who ran afoul of the NCAA in a 25-8 season that ended in the first round of the 2008 NCAA Tournament. Sampson, now the head coach at Houston, has guided the Cougars back to the Final Four for the first time since 1984.

Crean only had two returning players and neither had substantial roles the season before. His roster included just four players that had been in a Division I game prior to 2008-09 season. Kipp Schutz, an outfielder on Indiana’s baseball team, was the first sub off the bench against Wake Forest, the game prior to Gonzaga. Schutz was invited to join the team after standing out in a 3-point shooting contest against the basketball team.

“We needed to experience how to win an ugly grinder, and we did that,” said Few, sage advice for Saturday’s date with the tempo-conscious Bruins.

The Zags finished 28-6 that season, losing to eventual national champion North Carolina 98-77 in the Sweet 16. Indiana finished 6-25.