March 27, 2000 5:35 AM AP

Former Indiana basketball star Steve Alford denies a report that Hoosiers coach Bob Knight once punched him when Alford was a player.

Alford, now the head coach at Iowa, said comments about the alleged abuse by his former Hoosiers teammate, Ricky Calloway, are incorrect.

"Nothing along those lines ever happened," Alford said Sunday in a statement issued by the Iowa sports information department.

Calloway told the Houston Chronicle he once saw Knight punch Alford and slap forward Daryl Thomas on different occasions during practices.

"We were all standing in a circle one day, and he (Knight) just turned around and punched Steve right in the stomach, and for a minute and a half Steve couldn't breathe," Calloway said in Sunday's Chronicle.

"I was shocked. I wasn't really surprised he hit someone, but I never expected him to hit Steve, his golden child. But Steve put up with a lot."

Calloway also told the Chronicle that Knight doesn't abuse all of his players when he gets angry, only those he knows won't fight back. He said Thomas was one of those players.

"Coach knew the guys he could hit or really get into, and those he couldn't. Daryl was a big guy (6-foot-7, 240 pounds), but coach knew what type of personality Daryl had. He (Knight) was mad at him, and Daryl was sitting in his chair, and he (Knight) just came up and slapped him, and it was hard. Then he realized what he did and said, `Go ahead and hit me back.'

"Yeah, he realized what he did was all wrong, so he knew he had to try and correct it by telling Daryl to hit him back. But Daryl hit him real soft, and I remember when we got back to the dorm room we were like, `Man, you should have hit him hard."'

Calloway started as a sophomore on Indiana's 1987 national title team and transferred to Kansas for his senior year.

He played a year in the NBA in Sacramento, but now runs a swimming-pool construction company in Houston.

Calloway said he is breaking his 12-year silence on Knight after seeing how another former Indiana player, Neil Reed, has been vilified for his recent comments about the issue.

In an interview with CNN/Sports Illustrated, Reed claimed Knight choked him during a practice session, prompting numerous denials from former Hoosiers players and coaches.

Two Indiana University trustees agreed last week to investigate Reed's claims against Knight.

Other than saying he didn't remember choking Reed, Knight has refused comment on the incident.

Attempts by The Indianapolis Star to reach athletics director Clarence Doninger on Sunday were unsuccessful; Knight was at a baseball exhibition game Sunday in Winter Haven, Fla.

In the Houston article, Calloway praised Reed for speaking out.

"Everybody says he's lying about all the abuse at Indiana, but he's not," Calloway said about Reed. "It took a lot of courage for him to come forward like he did."

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