Fans applaud seniors’ careers as Hoosiers after home victory

Chants of “D.J. White” filled Assembly Hall on Wednesday night as the IU men’s basketball team sent its four seniors out with a 69-55 victory over Minnesota.\nSenior forwards D.J. White, Lance Stemler and Mike White, and guard Adam Ahlfeld were honored in the traditional Senior Night festivities after the victory against the Gophers.\nIU interim coach Dan Dakich made a brief opening statement, thanking the players, coaches, fans and everyone associated with the program for their support this season.\n“It’s been a thrill for me to be back here,” Dakich said.\nAhlfeld took the microphone first, giving the longest and most passionate speech of the four players. Ahlfeld, a guard who seldom plays, jokingly asserted that he set college basketball records, but none kept by the NCAA.\n“I am going to petition the NCAA to see if they could add high-fives, butt slaps and run-outs to center court,” Ahlfeld said as the crowd erupted in laughter. “Because I may be in the record book.”\nMidway through the second half, it didn’t seem Ahlfeld would enter the contest as the Hoosiers were mired in a close contest with the visiting Gophers. Thankfully for Ahlfeld, his teammates formed a lead so he could enter the contest.\n“Thank you for playing well enough to get me into the game tonight,” Ahlfeld said. “I know we’ve been through a lot, but we’ve made it this far, so we may as well finish it out.”\nBefore Mike White’s turn, Dakich said the quiet, reserved senior was truly “his own man” and joked how much Mike White wanted to speak in public. Mike White didn’t disappoint the coach as he gave a short speech.\nStemler thanked the fans for creating an electric atmosphere at Assembly Hall.\n“This is the best basketball school in the country,” Stemler said. “There is no other place like it in the world.”\nThe loudest applause of the night came for D.J. White, the final speaker of the night.\nChants of “M-V-P” filled the arena as he took the microphone, thanking his parents, coaches and teammates. D.J. White called out each player by name, including freshman guard Eric Gordon.\n“The second half of the best duo in college basketball,” D.J. White said of his younger teammate Gordon.\nThough the team has struggled lately, the players said they have their sights on bringing hardware back to Bloomington.\n“We are going to do everything we can to hang that sixth banner,” Stemler said.\nTo get that sixth championship, Ahlfeld said during his speech that he had the formula for success.\n“Basically when I play, we win,” he said. “I have a theory – if we want to put up banner No. 6, I am going to have to keep playing.”