Bob Knight sent a message, and his players got it.
Knight pulled four of his starters last Sunday and benched them for most of the game while Indiana absorbed the school's worst defeat in 89 years, losing 106-56 to Minnesota.The No. 17 Hoosiers apparently understood Knight's plan as they bounced back with an 82-77 triumph over Illinois on Tuesday night.
"If we didn't have an effort tonight, we'll never get one," Knight said. "We didn't have much of one against a team that played awfully well Sunday. . . . Sometimes you lose the battle to win the war."
Bailey and Alan Henderson, two of Indiana's benched starters on Sunday, led the Hoosiers as they extended the nation's longest home winning streak to 43 games.
In the only other games involving ranked teams Tuesday night, No. 14 Syracuse beat Miami 71-69 and No. 23 Boston College downed St. John's 95-76.
Bailey, who had 22 points, made all 12 of his free throws as Indiana made the Illini pay for fouling. Indiana (18-6, 11-4 Big Ten) hit 26 of 31 free throws, compared to eight of 20 by Illinois (15-9, 8-7). Deon Thomas, a 74 percent free-throw shooter, missed 8 of 12.