Shorthanded Assembly Ball Bounced in First Round of The Basketball Tournament

INDIANAPOLIS -- A missed dunk on one end led to a game-sealing layup on the other, and Indiana men's basketball's alumni-centric team, Assembly Ball, saw its $1 million dreams crash and burn.

Assembly Ball went one-and-done in The Basketball Tournament, falling 89-76 to Fail Harder on Saturday evening at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. It needed six wins to bring the cash prize back to Bloomington, but its pursuit never made it off the starting blocks.

"Very disappointing," Assembly Ball guard Al Durham said postgame. "It's $1 million. Everybody wants $1 million, right? I'm disappointed for the fans."

Assembly Ball, which won two games in its debut season in 2024 before losing in the Round of 16, was the No. 2 seed in the Indianapolis regional. The team shot only 37.5% from the field and went 7-for-29 shooting from distance.

Yogi Ferrell didn't play for Assembly Ball, instead watching next to James Blackmon Jr. at the end of the bench. Ferrell's absence was undisclosed.

Durham led Assembly Ball with 23 points, while guard QJ Peterson, who attended Virginia Military Institute, added 20 points. Durham and Peterson accounted for 57% of the team's points and were the only two scorers who reached double digits.

Fail Harder had its way offensively, shooting 57.1% from the floor and 52.2% from 3-point range.

Assembly Ball started only three players with Indiana ties in Durham and forwards Race Thompson and Luke Fischer, the latter of whom spent only one semester in Bloomington as a freshman. Peterson and Jarron Cumberland (Cincinnati) and joined them in the lineup.

Led by five points from Durham, Assembly Ball jumped out to an early 14-3 lead with just under five-and-a-half minutes to play in the first quarter. Fail Harder responded 19-7 run in four minutes, taking a 22-21 edge. Fail Harder, which connected on 7 of 11 triples in nine minutes, led 25-21 at the end of the opening quarter.

Assembly Ball outscored Fail Harder 18-12 in the second quarter and carried a 39-37 lead into halftime. A back-and-forth start to the second half saw Assembly Ball extend its advantage to 48-43, but that was about the last of its bright spots.

Fail Harder guard Darius Adams scored 16 of his 21 points in the third quarter, turning Assembly Ball's five-point lead into a 14-point deficit during a decisive 24-5 run.

"I think our defense slipped a little bit," Thompson said postgame. "I thought our defensive intensity was good in the first half and in the fourth quarter. It slipped in the third quarter -- that's when they made a run and we weren't able to fight back from that."

Fail Harder led by nine points at the end of the third quarter, and it added six more points to its advantage in the fourth quarter.

In The Basketball Tournament, the game clock stops after the first dead ball inside of four minutes, and the two teams play to a number that's eight points higher than the winning team's total. Fail Harder led 80-65, making the target score 88 points.

Assembly Ball only drew as close as nine points before Fail Harder sealed the deal at the end. Fail Harder center Reginald Kissoonlal capped a 13-point performance with a layup off the glass to send his team into the Round of 32 -- and put Assembly Ball on the road back to Bloomington.

"They were physical," Durham said. "They made very timely shots, and they kept their momentum going. We didn't capitalize on some things, but they just made timely shots."

Ferrell and Blackmon aside, Assembly Ball did not have forwards Miller Kopp and Noah Vonleh. Kopp played with the Detroit Pistons in the NBA Summer League, a commitment that ended Friday, but he couldn't make the trip from Las Vegas to Indianapolis in time. No reason was provided for Vonleh's absence.

Nevertheless, Assembly Ball felt it had the pieces to make a deep run in The Basketball Tournament. But No. 7-seed Fail Harder had different plans -- and it left Assembly Ball with a painful learning experience to use if it returns to TBT in 2026.

"Anybody can beat you," Thompson said. "These dudes we're playing against are pros, too. Those guys are good. You've got to go out there and play."