Ted Cruz recreated a scene from the movie "Hoosiers" at his April 26 rally in Knightstown, Ind. Here's how his reenactment compares to the original movie scene. (Peter Stevenson/The Washington Post) 
 
 Basketball is a big deal in Indiana. 
 
 It’s the state where Larry Bird grew up shooting jump shots into a basket mounted on his garage. Where cornfields are broken up only by county roads, farmhouses and the occasional worn-down hoop. It’s home to some of the country’s largest high school gyms – the New Castle Fieldhouse seats almost 10,000 people -- more than Duke’s Cameron Indoor Stadium. And the state university’s basketball team is tied for fourth on the list of most NCAA men’s basketball championships. (That's IU, not Purdue. Sorry, Boilermakers.) 
 
 So perhaps it’s not a huge surprise that two Republican presidential contenders who really want to win the Hoosier state’s winner-take-most primary on May 3 are going all-in on basketball-related pandering. 
 
 First, Donald Trump nabbed an endorsement from a man still revered from small towns in Indiana’s southern hills all the way up to Lake Michigan. Bob Knight is as close to a basketball god as you can find in Indiana, especially among the generations who saw his teams win in the 1970s and 80s. Knight is scheduled to speak with Trump at the Indiana State Fairgrounds on Wednesday. 
 
 Then Ted Cruz took it a step farther, attempting to recreate a scene from the movie “Hoosiers.” 
 
 (Side note: No, there’s not really a definitive answer as to what a “Hoosier” is.) 
 
 Speaking from the Hoosier Gym in Knightstown, Ind., on Tuesday, Cruz acted out the famous scene from the film in which Gene Hackman tells his players to measure the height from the basket to the free-throw line, and from the basket to the floor. 
 
 It wasn't entirely clear what point Cruz was trying to make. That basketball hoops are the same everywhere? Sure, why not? 
 
 In the movie, the scene actually takes place at the aforementioned state tournament (filmed at Butler University’s Hinkle Fieldhouse, in Indianapolis). But Cruz was close enough here. Most of the movie was actually filmed at the Hoosier Gym in Knightstown, Ind., where Cruz held his rally on Tuesday. 
 
 The other problem: Cruz inadvertently referred to a "basketball ring," which isn't actually a thing. Oops. 
 
 It was a remarkably overt bit of pandering in a race that has already had its share of pandering moments – even sports-related moments. (Donald Trump said before the Wisconsin primary, for example, that the Green Bay Packers are a "really properly run team." Whatever that means.). 
 
 But given how Tuesday's result appear to be shaking up, Cruz needs every vote he can get. And with fewer and fewer delegates remaining in the race, the Hoosier State could be make-or-break for Cruz's presidential bid. ||||| CLOSE Presidential candidates always want to get on the good side of voters. Here's when Ted Cruz, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton insulted Hoosiers. (Dwight Adams/IndyStar) Wochit 
 
 Buy Photo Presidential candidate Ted Cruz speaks to the crowed assembled for his rally at the Hoosier Gym in Knightstown Indiana, Tuesday April 26th, 2016. (Photo: Michelle Pemberton / Indy Star)Buy Photo 
 
 Ted Cruz has repeatedly stated his devotion to the classic movie "Hoosiers." In fact, he even held a rally Tuesday night in the gym where the iconic movie was filmed. Yet he stumbled a bit when it came to basic basketball terminology. 
 
 "The amazing thing is, that basketball ring in Indiana, it's the same height as it is New York City and every other place in this country," Cruz said during the rally, according to video from the scene. 
 
 Traditionally, we call that a "hoop" here in Indiana. 
 
 Twitter, as you might imagine, had thoughts about the gaffe. 
 
 Did Ted Cruz just call it a basketball ring? In Indiana? Is he going to say he's looking forward to seeing the NASCARs run the Indy 500 next — Will McAvoy (@WillMcAvoyACN) April 26, 2016 
 
 Ted Cruz mentioned basketball rings in Indiana and Tom Crean got Sweet 16 giddy. — Jake Query (@jakequery) April 27, 2016 
 
 Ted Cruz called a basketball hoop a basketball ring and the Pacers immediately collapsed — JCSourwine (@JCSourwine) April 27, 2016 
 
 @bpmoritz on one hand it has to be so hard to talk as much as these people do and not say something stupid. OTOH cmon bro a basketball ring? — John Hill (@johnfhill2) April 27, 2016 
 
 Ted Cruz called a basketball hoop a "basketball ring" pic.twitter.com/IXp9MSd6to — Ian Pringle (@pickle_dust) April 27, 2016 
 
 "I miss the time when Cruz referring to a basketball hoop as a 'basketball ring' would have been a gaffe," GOP analyst texts me. — Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) April 27, 2016 
 
 When ted cruz called a hoop a "basketball ring" pic.twitter.com/RWfaDYwJoI — James Custer (@JamesCuster_II) April 27, 2016 
 
 Ted Cruz called it a "basketball ring." 
 
 
 
 in the Hoosiers gym. 
 
 
 
 while quoting "Hoosiers."https://t.co/N6QwjM1X3T — Micah Peters (@micahpeters_) April 27, 2016 
 
 "Basketball ring?" The basketball Gods punished us tonight https://t.co/K9yBtAVzeK — Tom Spalding (@SpaldoBusiness) April 27, 2016 
 
 ...Ted Cruz thinks Bob Knight threw a table pic.twitter.com/Vq532DDbjL — BTown's DJ Unique (@IUDJUnique) April 27, 2016 
 
 Now let's continue to root on the Indianapolis Pacers as they play orange ball and really nail those 4-pointers. 
 
 CLOSE Presidential canditate Ted Cruz pointed to a USA Today cover featuring an artice on Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump during a rally in Knightstown, Ind. on Tuesday, April, 26, 2016. Michelle Pemberton/IndyStar 
 
 Allison Carter is an engagement producer at IndyStar. Follow her on Twitter @AllisonLCarter. ||||| Cruz re-creates 'Hoosiers' scene; Twitter mocks 'basketball ring' reference 
 
 The federal government has finally decided to refer to Indiana residents as Hoosiers, which provided the title for the iconic basketball movie starring Gene Hackman as the coach of Hickory High. (Photo: Orion Pictures Corp.) 
 
 It really wasn't a matter of whether Ted Cruz would make a Hoosiers reference during his Tuesday night speech ahead of primary returns coming in at a rally in the Indiana gymnasium where the film was shot. Rather, it was which moment he would invoke. 
 
 Would he quote Gene Hackman, playing Hickory High Coach Norman Dale, during his goosebump-inducing speech to his players: "I don't care what the scoreboard says at the end of the game, in my book we're gonna be winners." 
 
 Possibly not the message he wanted to send on a night where he lost all five primaries to Donald Trump. 
 
 Would he liken his newly minted alliance with John Kasich to running the picket fence against Donald Trump, a la Dennis Hopper's character, assistant coach Shooter Flatch? 
 
 Perhaps a strained analogy. 
 
 Instead, he sought to recreate the famous scene where Hackman measures the height of the basketball rim at the gym hosting the state tournament to illustrate to his players that, while the stage may be larger, the game was the same. 
 
 "You know the amazing thing is, that basketball ring here in Indiana is the same height as it is in New York City and every other place in this country," Cruz said as someone measured the height of the rim, a la the movie. 
 
 Did #TedCruz just call it a "basketball ring"? While trying to recreate a scene from #Hoosiers? pic.twitter.com/wPdDLpPNRr — Daniel Altman (@dbaltman) April 26, 2016 
 
 And no, his reference to a "basketball ring" did not go unnoticed on Twitter. 
 
 Holy hell. I'm not supposed to laugh this hard at my age. Basketball ring. https://t.co/I2WDF8GASj — John Dingell (@JohnDingell) April 27, 2016 
 
 Ted Cruz, in Indiana, just called the hoop a "basketball ring." That'll cost him 5 pts right there. — Mark Sumner (@Devilstower) April 26, 2016 
 
 Cruz tries to prove to Hoosiers that he's human by measuring a basketball hoop - then calls it a 'basketball ring" 👽 pic.twitter.com/2wKpHFKmXS — Ryan Adams (@filmystic) April 27, 2016 
 
 We're guessing Cruz staffers, looking ahead to next Tuesday's primary in basketball-crazed Indiana, at that moment had the same reaction as Hackman's players when he initially called the final shot for someone other than Jimmy Chitwood. 
 
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– Ted Cruz tried to portray himself as a man who knows his hoops on Tuesday night, but he instead made himself look like a man who literally does not know what a basketball hoop is called. With no victory speeches to make elsewhere, he spent the evening in Indiana, where he tried to recreate a scene from Hoosiers during a rally in the gymnasium where much of the movie was shot, USA Today reports. After the height from the basket to the floor was measured, as in the film, Cruz said: "You know, the amazing thing is, that basketball ring here in Indiana is the same height as it is in New York City and every other place in this country," reports the Indianapolis Star, which notes that "traditionally, we call that a 'hoop' here in Indiana." Cruz was swiftly and mercilessly mocked on Twitter. "Is he going to say he's looking forward to seeing the NASCARs run the Indy 500 next," tweeted a "Will McAvoy" account. Some commentators even predicted that he had just handed the race to Donald Trump. That may be an exaggeration, but basketball is definitely a very big deal in Indiana, which explains why Cruz and Trump have been "going all-in on basketball-related pandering," the Washington Post notes. On Wednesday, famed former Indiana University basketball coach Bob Knight will join Trump for a rally at the Indiana State Fairgrounds.