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After six years of wearing Indiana across his chest, Race Thompson has played his final game in Assembly Hall.

Thompson joined the program back in 2017. Fast forward to 2023, and he is now set for one more final run with his team.

He's what many fans want in an Indiana player. Several setbacks throughout his career didn't prevent him from giving it all to his teammates and fans. Leading up to this point it hasn’t been an easy season for the veteran leader, but in his final game in the state of Indiana, Thompson went out in style.

On a night with plenty of distractions, this game alone had serious significance moving forward. Indiana had to win in order to keep their hopes alive to claim a double-bye in the upcoming Big Ten tournament. With a seven-team tie for second place entering Sunday morning, all eyes were on the Hoosiers, especially counting down the final minutes.

The senior forward suffered a knee injury back on Jan. 5 in Iowa City after an awkward collision defending a three-point shot. Since his return, it had been hard for Thompson to look like his usual self.

Since his first game back on Jan. 22, Thompson had only scored double-digit points in three games leading up to today. At times he looked vulnerable on defense and couldn’t find a way to be an offensive factor.

Sunday, Thompson made it look like it was January of 2022. Thompson was the second leading scorer behind Jackson-Davis in the win against Michigan with 16 points on 7-10 shooting.

Indiana had controlled the game for the majority of the first half but as the second half began to unfold Michigan continued to go on a run. Not only was this game important for postseason implications, but this was Senior day. This was his last game in Assembly Hall. Mike Woodson called a timeout yelling at him to stop giving up the ball so much. He turned around and told his teammates how they were going to close out this game.

“I told Trayce, (Jackson-Davis) I told Jalen (Hood-Schifino),” Thompson said. "I'm not losing this game. I can't lose this game.”

Thompson arguably had the most important play of the game. With 29 seconds left on the clock, Michigan passed down low to Wolverine veteran Hunter Dickinson. Thompson came from the side and swiped it out of his hands.

Later, with 16 seconds left in overtime on a pretty much identical play, Thompson went on and took the ball out of Dickinson’s hands again.

Twice in the most crucial time, Thompson gave his team a chance to win.

“We came back the second half and they were clicking on all cylinders, man. We just kept grinding. I was shuffling guys,” Woodson said. “I thought everybody that played kept making plays,”

“I thought the two plays that Race made down the stretch from a defensive standpoint, the two steals, were the two biggest plays of the game,”

It’s fitting that Thompson leaves Indiana with this as his final home game of his career. He walks away with a 16-point and 10-rebound double-double, his tenth double-double of the season, and a key victory heading into postseason play. He has been here a long time, coming back last year for one final season added a lot of expectations around this year's team.

He battled an unfortunate injury earlier in the year but now he can go home after leaving it all out on the floor one final time. Thompson didn't think he could have played again after suffering his injury but it happened to all work out.

“He's a huge part of what we do,” Jackson-Davis said. “He says he's good and all this stuff but he's been really battling. He's been with Timmy G (Tim Garl) doing stuff of that nature just to get his body right to be out here, and he's giving it his all every time he's out here, and I know he was down after the Iowa game. He said he got me, and in this game, he had me.”

“He played really, really well down the stretch, and we needed every single basket that he got, every steal that he got to get that win. It was props to him, and we need that the rest of the way.”

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