Mackenize Mgbako scores 31 Points to lead #17 Indiana University Men’s Basketball over SIU-Edwardsville Sophomore Mackenize Mgbako scored a career high 31 points as the 17th ranked Indiana Hoosiers beat the Southern Illinois-Edwardsville Cougars 80-61 Wednesday Night in the Regular Season Opener at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. The Hoosiers are 1-0 on the Season and will face Eastern Illinois on Sunday at Noon. SIUE is 1-1 on the season as the Indiana has won all three matchups in this series and all three a home. Indiana is 26-0 against teams that play in the Ohio Valley Conference. Indiana is 4-0 in season openers under head coach Mike Woodson.
Mgbako finished 13-17 from the field, 4-5 from three-point range and 1-1 from the free throw line along with 9 rebounds, a block and a steal. The Sophomore scored 19 points in the first half and 5 rebounds. Malik Reneau added 15 points, and 7 rebounds and Seven-Footer Oumar Ballo added 15 points and 6 rebounds. Myles Rice added 11 points. The Hoosiers finished the game 30-57 from the field for 56%, 6-16 from three-point range for 37% and 14-17 for 82%. The Hoosiers pulled down 43 rebounds, dished out 18 assists, 7 steals, 5 blocks, 40 points in the paint and committed 16 turnovers. The Hoosiers played very fast and were scoring inside at will early on and then showed that they are a work in progress and went asked about the team’s offensive identity Head Coach Mike Woodson said after the game. “Don’t Know, still searching.” The ball was moving early on but then the Hoosiers were standing around on offense and that did not please Woodson. “The ball wasn’t moving. Our bodies weren’t moving, and I have got to get us better in that area.”
Indiana jumped out to a 6-0 start and the Cougars drained a 3 pointer to lead 6-3. The Hoosiers lead 20-13 with 11:44 left in the first half. After the under 12-minute timeout the officials went to monitor to review a goaltending call against SIUE and it was determined that it was not a goaltend and the basket was taken away. The Hoosiers were rattled as the Cougars outscored the Hoosiers 14-7 and SIUE tied the game 27-27 with 4:48 left in the first half and the Hoosiers scored the next six points all from Mgbako and the Hoosiers led the rest of the way leading 42-30 at the break outscoring the Cougars 15-3. Indiana outscored the Cougars 38-31 in the second half as the Hoosiers hit their last three field goals of the game and SIUE did not score for the last two minutes and 34 seconds of the game and were 0-4 from the field at the end.
SIUE got 17 points from Ray’Sean Taylor and 10 points off the bench from Myles Thompson. The Cougars finished 25-71 from the field for 35%, 5-26 from three-point range for 19% and 6-13 from three-point range for 46%. The Cougars pulled down 34 rebounds, dished out 11 assists, 9 steals, 3 blocks, 36 points in the point, 26 bench points and committed 12 turnovers.
6-10 Kyle Thomas did not play for SIU-Edwardsville due to an injury, but it did not take away from his trip to Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall as he is the son of the late Daryl Thomas who played on the 1987 National Championship team for the Hoosiers. Kyle played at Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois and averaged 2.1 points and 0.9 rebounds in 16 games for the Braves before transferring to SIU-Edwardsville in the offseason and is a Junior. Kyle was set to play for his dad at Montini Catholic High School in Lombard, Illinois before Daryl unexpectedly passed away in 2018. Kyle wears #24 just like his father. Daryl scored 20 points and dished the game winning to Keith Smart who hit the game winner to win the 1987 National Championship 74-73 over Syracuse. Daryl averaged 15.7 points and 5.7 rebounds as Senior and 14.5 points and 4.7 rebounds as Junior. Daryl and the 1987 National Championship Team returned to Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall for the 25th anniversary of their National Championship in December of 2011. Kyle was introduced along with his mom and the rest of the family and received a nice round of applause during pre-game introductions and Thomas and Head Coach Mike Woodson were good friends. It was also a homecoming for SIUE Head Coach Brian Barone who was the Director of Basketball Operations for the Hoosiers under Tom Crean from 2008-10 and played and coach under Crean at Marquette.
The Hoosiers had a moment of silence before the game for South Florida Head Coach Amir Abdur-Rahim who unexpectedly passed away on October 24, at age 43. Abdur-Rahim was the head coach at Kennesaw State before going to South Florida and he brought Kennesaw State into Bloomington and play the Hoosiers tough. The Atlanta Native was closed with IU assistant head coach Yasir Rosemond and former Indiana Hoosier A.J. Moye and this a reminder on how close the college basketball community is and how hard it is when you lose one of your own.
Former Hoosier Mona Zaric returns to Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall with Havard to take on 25th Ranked Indiana Hoosiers When Indiana takes on Harvard at 7pm in Simon Sjkodt Assembly Hall there will be one player on the Harvard team that Hoosier Fans will recognize as 6-2 Senior Forward Mona Zaric will return to Simon Sjkodt Assembly Hall for the first time since she transferred from Indiana to Harvard after the 2022-23 season. A Native of Novi Sad, Serbia Zaric played two seasons with the Hoosiers from 2021-23 scoring 16 points in 21 games with 13 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals and 1 block. In her Junior season at Harvard Zaric played 26 games starting five games scoring 51 points along with 44 rebounds, 20 assists, 5 steals and 5 blocks for a crimson team who finished 16-12 overall and 9-5 in the Ivy League. Zaric will face former teammates Chloe Moore-McNeil who was her teammate for 2 seasons along with Lexus Bargesser, Yarden Garzon, Henna Sandvik, Lilly Meister and Sydney Parrish who all played with Zaric for one season at IU. Zaric was one of two freshmen in the 2021 Class along with Kaitlin Peterson who transfered to UCF after her sophomore season at IU. The Crimson come into Bloomington for their first ever meeting with the Hoosiers after a 71-58 home win over the University of Massachusetts Monday Night. UMass led 15-12 after the first quarter and Harvard used a 20-6 second quarter run to lead 32-21 at halftime. Harvard outscored UMass 39-37 in the second half. Junior Gabby Anderson from Columbus, Ohio led Harvard in scoring with 20 points, Senior Elena Rodriguez from Spain scored 18 points, pulled down 8 rebounds and dished out 3 assists. Senior Harmonie Turner scored 13 points. Zaric played 2 Minutes and did not record any stats against UMass.
Harvard has a 15 player roster that represents 11 States and 3 countries including Greece, Spain and Serbia. Head Coach Carrie Moore is begining her third season with a 37-24 overall record and led the Crimson to the WNIT Great Eight in 2023. The 39 year old from Lathrup Village, Michigan played at Western Michigan from 2003-07 scoring a school record 2,224 points in 120 Games and was NCAA Division 1 scoring leader on 2007 scoring 813 points in 32 games for 25.4 scoring average. Moore was an assistant coach for 12 seasons with stops at Creighton, Princeton, North Carolina and Michigan.
Indiana is coming off 82-60 win Monday Night over fellow Ivy League Member Brown. The Hoosiers placed four in double-figures led by Sydney Parrish with 20 points and 10 rebounds for her eighth double-double for her career. Senior Karoline Striplin scored 17 points off the bench in her Hoosier debut, Yarden Garzon added 16 points and Lilly Meister added 13 points. The Hoosiers finished the game with 20 assists on 30 made field goals as the Hoosiers have won 12 straight season openers and 11 in a row for Head Coach Teri Moren.
Moren called her teams performance against Brown “”Unacceptable” after the Bears outscored the Hoosiers 23-21 in the third quarter and gave up 11 three pointers to a Brown team that showed resiliency and toughness despite being down 18 points at halftime 39-21. “This is a team that’s been very excited about the beginning of the season and their focus” Head Coach Teri Moren Said after Monday Night’s Game. Indiana struggled all over the floor on defense and that is uncharacteristic for a team that prides itself on the defensive end of the floor. “I got to do a better job of getting their attention and you know, really putting their feet to the fire, holding them more accountable” Moren added.
This will be the Hoosiers second straight game against an Ivy League team, and they will face a third in Colombia in the Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas the Saturday before Thanksgiving. Indiana has battled Princeton two of the last three seasons with the Hoosiers winning both matchups but in the 2022 NCAA Tournament Second Round Princeton took the Hoosiers to the wire in Simon Sjkodt Assembly Hall as the Hoosiers won 56-55. With 2 full days to prepare for the Crimson and a very unhappy coach even though they won by 22 points will see if the standard returns for this Hoosier Women’s Basketball program.
Indiana University Football Ranked Eighth in the Initial College Football Playoff Rankings The Indiana football program sits No. 8 in the initial College Football Playoff rankings as announced by the CFP committee on Tuesday. It marks the sixth time in program history that IU has appeared in the CFP rankings, with the other five coming during the 2020 season. The No. 8 ranking is the highest in the CFP era for Indiana, who entered the 2020 rankings at No. 12 for three weeks and sat No. 11 during the final two weeks of the selections that season. The Big Ten saw four schools make the initial CFP rankings with Oregon (No. 1), Ohio State (No. 2) and Penn State (No. 6) among the initial top 12. No. 8/10/8 Indiana (9-0, 6-0 Big Ten) will face off with Michigan (5-4, 3-3 Big Ten) on CBS inside a sold-out Memorial Stadium on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. Following its second by week during Week 12, Indiana closes the season at No. 2 Ohio State (11/23) and against Purdue (11/30) in the annual battle for the Old Oaken Bucket.
College Football Playoff Rankings – Nov. 5
1. Oregon (9-0)
2. Ohio State (7-1)
3. Georgia (7-1)
4. Miami (9-0)
5. Texas (7-1)
6. Penn State (7-1)
7. Tennessee (7-1)
8. INDIANA (9-0)
9. BYU (8-0)
10. Notre Dame (7-1)
11. Alabama (6-2)
12. Boise State (7-1)
13. SMU (8-1)
14. Texas A&M (7-2)
15. LSU (6-2)
16. Ole Miss (7-2)
17. Iowa State (7-1)
18. Pittsburgh (7-1)
19. Kansas State (7-2)
20. Colorado (6-2)
21. Washington State (7-1)
22. Louisville (6-3)
23. Clemson (6-2)
24. Missouri (6-2)
25. Army (8-0)
Indiana Hoosiers Men’ Soccer Trio Floods Big Ten Weekly Awards Indiana men’s soccer won three of the four available Big Ten weekly awards available in the final cycle, announced by the conference office on Tuesday. Senior forward Tommy Mihalic, the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week, and midfielder Charlie Heuer, the Big Ten Freshman of the Week, picked up their second weekly awards of the season. Sophomore Alex Barger was named the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week, his first-career weekly award. Indiana won both of its games in the match week including a 6-1 victory over Northwestern that clinched a share of the Big Ten regular season champion – Indiana’s 19th league title and 35th Big Ten Championship overall. Hoosiers have won eight weekly awards in the last four cycles – half of the honors available in that span – underscoring a seven-match winning streak since October 8.
Mihalic recorded two goals and four assists in the match week. The senior led the way in the title-clincher against Northwestern, scoring a brace and assisting two more goals. He added two more assists in the 4-1 win over Trine on Friday. At the conclusion of regular season play, Mihalic is the Big Ten’s co-leading scorer with 10 goals. Barger had one goal and two assists from his outside back position last week. The sophomore assisted the winning goal against Northwestern and then added another assist and one goal – his first goal of the year – versus Trine. Barger and the Hoosiers have not allowed multiple goals in any of the last six matches. Heuer had two goals and two assists, one goal and one assist in each match, last week. The freshman is up to 10 points on the season and has appeared in IU’s last six matches – all victories. Indiana will kick off Big Ten Tournament play against No. 7 seed Michigan this afternoon at 1 pm Bloomington Time at SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeview, Illinois.
Indiana University Football’s Mikail Kamara earns a pair of National Defensive Player of the Week Honors The Maxwell Football Club and Walter Camp Football Foundation each named Indiana football’s Mikail Kamara as its National Defensive Player of the Week on Tuesday after his stout effort at Michigan State to help Indiana to a 9-0 start to the season for the first time in program history. For the second straight week, Indiana’s defense earns a national award, as Kamara follows sophomore D’Angelo Ponds’ three national honors from Week 9 after his multi-interception game against Washington. The duo joins Micah McFadden (2020) as the only IU defenders tabbed as national defensive player of the week in program history.
The redshirt junior was a disruptive force in IU’s victory at Michigan State with seven tackles from his defensive line position. That total included 4.5 tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks. His 4.5 tackles for loss in the game tie for the No. 3 on the single-game IU charts and are the most since Damian Gregory against Michigan State in 1997. His 2.5 sacks are tied for No. 6 on the single-game ledger at IU and the highest single-game total since Tegray Scales had 3.0 against Penn State in 2017. The 4.5 tackles for loss are tied for No. 2 on the single-game list in the FBS this season. Kamara anchored a defense that held Michigan State to a program-record minus-36 rushing yards which is IU’s sixth game in 2024 holding an opponent under 100-yards rushing, to tie the 1990 squad for the most such games in a single season since at least 1950. After Michigan State gained 123 yards of offense over its first two drives, the defense allowed just 70 yards the remainder of the game. His 2.5 sacks versus the Spartans move his season total to a Big Ten-best 9.5 and into a tie for No. 6 on the IU single-season list with Nick Mangieri (2015). He also leads the Big Ten in tackles for loss (14.5) and paces all FBS defenders in total pressure (49) per Pro Football Focus.
The Maxwell Football Club was founded in 1935 and is the oldest football organization of its kind in America. The Club recognizes excellence in performance at the high school, collegiate and professional levels of the game. The Maxwell Club is also deeply involved and fully vested in the community through programs to promote academic excellence, community volunteerism, and leadership. This is the 21st year that the Walter Camp Football Foundation will honor one offensive and one defensive player as its national Football Bowl Subdivision player of the week during the regular season. It is the nation’s longest running Player of Week award.
Taylor University Athletics Announces Ticket Information for 27th-Annual #TUSilentNight Taylor Athletics has announced ticket information for the 27th-Annual Silent Night game on Friday, December 6 at 6:00 pm. All tickets will be digital and will be made available to various groups over the coming weeks. Taylor students will have the first opportunity to claim one ticket to the game. TU students can reserve their ticket online by going to TaylorTrojans.com/SilentNightTickets or through the HomeTown Ticketing fan app. Students can claim their one free ticket between Thursday, November 14 at 5:00 pm and Monday, November 18 at 10:00 pm by using their eight-digit student ID as their ticket passcode.
Taylor faculty and staff who would like to attend this year’s game can request two free tickets by emailing athletic.tickets@taylor.edu on November 19 and 20. Those complimentary tickets will be emailed to faculty and staff on November 22. TU faculty and staff wishing to purchase additional tickets will have an opportunity to do so on November 25, starting at noon, prior to tickets going on sale to the general public. Any remaining available tickets will then go on sale to the general public on Tuesday, November 26 via the TaylorTrojans.com/Tickets site and will remain available until sold out. The time for those ticket sales to begin will be announced in the coming weeks. Stay tuned to TaylorTrojans.com for additional information on the 27th-Annual Taylor Silent Night.
SILENT NIGHT TICKET INFORMATION HIGHLIGHTS
-TU students can reserve one free ticket between Nov. 14 at 5:00 pm and Nov. 18 at 10:00 pm
-TU faculty and staff can reserve two free tickets by emailing a request on Nov. 19 and 20
-TU faculty and staff can purchase additional tickets starting at noon on Nov. 25.
-Any remaining available tickets will go on sale to the general public on Nov. 26 at a time to be announced.