TOKYO — It wasn't too surprising that Indiana University coach Bobby Knight watched from the packed stands Saturday night as his Hoosiers defeated the Japan National Basketball Team, 72-59. What was surprising was that this latest banishment was self-imposed.

"I'm going to sit up in the stands this whole trip," Knight said after the Hoosiers won the opening game of the four-team Kirin World Basketball '85 tournament in Yoyogi National Gym. In the second contest, the Soviet national team clobbered the national squad from the Netherlands, 129-58.

"I'm tired of the aggravation of sitting on the bench," Knight said. "It's aggravating enough sitting in the stands."

That aggravation stemmed from watching his young, sometimes impatient team roll out to comfortable leads then squander them with sloppy play.

"I think the most important part of playing basketball is defense," Knight said. "The second is being able to think the game. The players have to know what's going on during the play. My team does not think very well at this point. We're not a very smart team."

The Hoosiers never trailed. But, they came awful close.

THE JAPANESE NATIONALS, led by Norihiko Kitahara, battled back from a 41-27 halftime deficit to pull to within five points midway through the second half.

During that stretch, Knight descended from the rafters to break into a team huddle and breathe fire into his players. Later, he just yelled at them from the stands.

It worked. Indiana tightened its defense and, with a little help from the poor free throw shooting of the Japan Nationals, pulled away to a deceptively lopsided win.

"That's the first time we've faced such a tough defense," said Japan coach Mototaka Kohama.

Indiana's aggressive defense allowed them position under the boards most of the night for a 33-21 rebounding advantage. But it also sent Japan to the line 41 times and sent five Hoosiers to the bench with five fouls. The Japan Nationals converted for only 29 points, though.

"If we would have made our free throws it would have been a lot closer," Kohama said. "Apparently, the Indiana coach told his team to put on the pressure. But, that's basketball. If we're fouled, then we've got to make those points."

Kitahara finished with 16 points from the foul line and two from the floor to lead all scorers with 18.

Brian Sloan scored 14 points for Indiana and Stew Robinson added 13. All 11 players who played for Indiana scored. And Knight kept good notes on how it was done.

"I'm here to evaluate what I have to do and what we have to do as players," he said. "In these games we're playing here, I'd rather have the team learn and to be smart rather than win."

Then Knight headed back into the stands with his notebook to scout the Soviet team which was pummeling the Dutch.

The Soviets, making their first appearance in Tokyo since the 1964 Olympics, jumped out to a 30-4 lead and increased it to 63-24 at the half.

The Soviets had command of the entire contest and had seven players finish in double figures including Rimas Kurtinaitis who scored 25.

Martin De Vries led the Dutch with 13 points and Te Velde Okke added 12.

Indiana was scheduled to take the Soviets Sunday at Yoyogi, while the Japanese faced the Dutch.

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