Cooper Allen

USA TODAY

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.

And no, his reference to a "basketball ring" did not go unnoticed on Twitter.

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.