The Hoosiers included three All-Americans and were led by head coach Bob Knight, in his fifth year, to an undefeated 32–0 record.
The team played its home games in Assembly Hall in Bloomington, Indiana, and was a member of the Big Ten Conference.
After coming up just short of winning a national championship the season before (1974–75), when they lost to Kentucky in the tournament, the 1975–76 team got off to a hot start.
Head coach Bobby Knight, then in his fifth year at Indiana, moved senior Tom Abernethy into Steve Green's starting role.
[2] In a preseason exhibition game against the reigning World Champion, the Soviet National team, the Hoosiers won by a convincing 94–78 margin.
The game was played before a sellout crowd of 17,377 at the new (now-defunct) Market Square Arena in Indianapolis.
The Hoosiers then opened the season with an 84–64 win over the reigning NCAA National Champion, UCLA, which was coached by John Wooden's successor Gene Bartow.
The Seminoles' head coach, Hugh Durham, said before the game: "They beat Russia to prove they're the best in the world.
That mark has stood since 1976, though the number of games required to maintain an unbeaten season has increased in present times, making it more difficult to attain.
Scott May scored 33 points over a 23–6 team that had been unbeaten before Indiana beat them in December before a college-record Madison Square Garden crowd of 19,964.
The Hoosiers won 65–51 behind 19 rebounds from 6′7″ guard Bobby Wilkerson and strong play from Tom Abernethy.