Local Sports News: November 15, 2024

Indiana University Football lands 2025 In-State Edge Rusher Tyrone Burrus from Warren Central Curt Cignetti and his staff have kept one of the top in-state players in the class of 2025 home. Indianapolis based edge rusher Tyrone Burrus has flipped his verbal commitment from Louisville to Indiana, several national outlets announced on Thursday morning.  Burrus made several trips to Bloomington over the last couple months, signaling the flip may happen. “It’s special,” Burrus told On3’s Steve Wiltfong. “I’ve been messing with IU for a while now and I’m glad I could make it home. It was (DE) Coach Buddha (Williams) and (DT) Pat (Kuntz), they both give me the same feeling I have with my high school coaches right now. It’s the same feeling I get from them. “IU is on to something and proving that they mean business in the Big Ten.  I believe he’s just a great coach. He brought all his guys from the other college they were at and went to work.”

Hailing from Warren Central H.S., the 6-foot-4, 215-pound Burrus committed to Louisville in June.  That came as a surprise at the time to many as the Hoosiers were thought to be in front. Burrus has tallied 42 tackles nine tackles for loss and six sacks.  Warren Central is playing for the Regional Championship this Friday. According to the On3 Industry Average, Burrus is the No. 46 edge rusher in the nation.  He immediately becomes the top-rated recruit in Indiana’s 2025 class.   A consensus 3-star, Burrus is ranked No. 527 among all players in the 2025 class. Indiana now has 21 commits in their 2025 class that ranks No. 51 nationally and No. 15 in the Big Ten.  Burrus is likely just the first of what could be a flurry of activity in IU’s 2025 class ahead of the December early signing period.

Indiana University Men’s Basketball battles South Carolina in Saturday Afternoon Showdown  The Indiana Hoosiers get back to work Saturday Afternoon when they host the South Carolina Gamecocks at 3 PM Saturday afternoon inside Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall with the game streaming on Peacock. Indiana is 2-0 after home wins over Southern Illinois-Edwardsville 80-61 and Eastern Illinois 90-55. The Hoosiers trailed by one point against Eastern Illinois on Sunday 37-36 and outscored the Panthers 54-18 I n the second half. Against SIUE the Cougars tied the game 27-27 before Mackenzie Mgbako scored the next six points to keep the Hoosiers out in front and pull away in the second half. Indiana wants to play and fast and there have been times where the Hoosiers play to fast and don’t handle the ball and commit turnovers. Indiana is facing a power four team for the first time this season and Malik Reneau and Bryson Tucker admitted after the Eastern Illinois game that they did not take them seriously and did not expect the Panthers to shoot the ball like they did and lead at halftime. 

Sophomore Myles Rice is a Columbia, South Carolina native will be facing his hometown team for the first time in his college career. The transfer from Washington State is averaging 8 points along with 4.5 points per game. Mackenzie Mgbako is averaging a team leading 24.5 points and 8 rebounds per game and has shown to be the go to guy for the Hoosiers just two games into the season and make a big statement against an SEC opponent Oumar Ballo is averaging 16 points and 7.5 rebounds per game along with a team leading 2 blocks per game. Malik Reneau is averaging 16 points a game and a team leading 2 steals per game. Trey Galloway leads the team with 8.5 assists per game. Indiana is averaging 85 points and committing 14 turnovers per game. The Hoosiers are shooting 57 percent from the field, 35 percent from three point range and 76 percent from the free throw line. 

Graduate Student Dallas James who played four seasons at South Carolina State will face the Gamecocks for the second time in his career. James played 9 minutes and pulled down 5 rebounds in a 80-77 loss in Columbia on November 8, 2022. James has yet to get on the floor this season for the Hoosiers. Jakai Newton who missed all of last season with a injury made his debut Sunday against Eastern Illinois playing 8 minutes, pulling down 2 rebounds and a steal..

South Carolina makes is first road trip after playing their first three games at home. The Gamecocks are 2-1 on the season and dropped their season opener to North Florida 74-71 before they bounced back to beat South Carolina State 86-64 and Towson 80-54. Collin Murray-Bowles leads the team with 21 points and 10.7 rebounds per game. Murray-Bowles is 6-7 Sophomore from Columbia, South Carolina and recorded a double-double of 19 points and 16 rebounds against South Carolina State. Jacobi Wright is averaging 16 points and leads the team with 3.7 assists. Jamari Thomas is averaging 10.7 points and leads the team with 2 steals per game. Nick Pringle averages 8.7 points and leads the team with 1.3 blocks. South Carolina averages 79 points per game and commits 12.7 turnovers per game. The Gamecocks shoot 47.7% from the field, 29.7% from the three-point range and 67.5 % from the free throw line.  

The Gamecocks have a 14-player roster that includes 8 from South Carolina. The Gamecocks represent North Carolina, Wisconsin, New York, Washington DC and have two international players on the roster that represent Belgium and Finland. Lamont Paris is in his third season at South Carolina with a 39-30 record and his 8th season overall after five seasons at Chattanooga with an 87-72 record from 2017-22. Paris has overall record of 126-102 with 4 winning seasons and two trips to the NCAA Tournament in 2022 and 2024. Paris just turn 50 on Monday and is from Findlay, Ohio and played at the College of Wooster on Ohio from 1992-96. Paris was an assistant coach at Wooster, De Pauw University in Greencastle, Indiana along with Indiana University Pennsylvania, Akron and Wisconsin from 1997-2017. He won the Southern Conference Regular Season and Tournament Titles in 2022 and named the Conference Coach of the Year that same season by his fellow coaches. South Carolina finished 26-8 last season and as a 6 seed were knocked by 11 seed Oregon 87-73 In the first round of the NCAA Tournament and Paris was named the SEC Coach of the Year. 

This will be the fourth all-time meeting between the two teams with Indiana leading the All-Time series 2-1. This the first meeting between the two teams since November 8, 1998 when the Hoosiers beat the Gamecocks 76-55 in Indianapolis. This will be the Gamecocks first to Bloomington since December 22,1973, when Indiana won 84-71 and South Carolina won the only matchup in Columbia on December 22, 1972 88-85. 

Indiana University Women’s Basketball hoping for a bounce back against #24 Stanford Sunday Afternoon  The Indiana Hoosiers are looking to snap a two-game losing skid Sunday when they host the #24 Stanford Cardinal at Simon Sjkodt Assembly Hall on Sunday at 2 PM with the game televised on Fox Sports 1. The Hoosiers are 1-2 on the season after losing 56-46 to the Butler Bulldogs before a record crowd for Butler Women’s Basketball Game of 4,135 at Hinkle Fieldhouse Wednesday Night. The Hoosiers led 28-26 at halftime and were outscored 30-18 in the second half. Indiana finished 34 percent from the field and 35 percent from three-point range and nailed all six free throws they took.

The Hoosiers average 65.3 points per game and average 20.3 turnovers and head coach Teri Moren is not pleased with the amount of turnovers that Hoosiers are committing and with Guards Lexus Bargesser and Lenee Beaumont out due to injury the lack of depth the Hoosiers have right now is showing and teams are able to handle both Lilly Meister and Karoline Striplin inside with the graduation of all-time leading scorer Mackenzie Holmes. Yarden Garzon is averaging 15.3 points per game and leads the team with 2 steals per game. Lilly Meister is averaging 12.3 points and 7.7 rebounds per game but she was frustrated during the Butler game when she went to bench after being bottled up down low against the Butler post players. Sydney Parrish is averaging 11.3 points and team leading 8 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per game. Karoline Striplin is averaging 8.3 points per game and 3.7 rebounds. Shay Ciezki who scored 11 points at Butler Wednesday Night is averaging 7.3 points and leads the team with 3 assists per game. 

Chloe Moore-McNeil has struggled with 6.3 points per game and 3.7 rebounds per game and Sydney Parrish said after the Butler Game “Everyone has to get better and that starts with me and Chloe” Indiana is shooting 40 percent from the field 25 percent from three point range and 84 percent from the free throw line. The Hoosiers knew it was going to be a different season losing Mackenzie Holmes and Sara Scalia but Indiana has a veteran team led by Parrish and Moore-McNeil along with transfers in Striplin and Ciezki and even though the Hoosiers have back to back losses against Harvard and Butler there is plenty of season left to right the ship and a revenge win against Stanford who blew them out a season ago in California would go a long way in helping get that confidence level back up for a Hoosier team that has high standards year in a year out. 

The Cardinal are 4-0 and make the first of many trips this season to Eastern Time Zone after joining the Atlantic Coast Conference this offseason. The Cardinal will play 8 games in the Eastern Time Zone and 2 in the Central Time Zone this season and that does not include the ACC Tournament or the NCAA Tournament. Stanford beat LeMoyne 107-43, Washington State 94-65, Gonzaga 89-58 and UC Davis 69-56. Stanford lost All-American Cameron Brink to the WNBA and Kiki Iriafen to the transfer portal as she is now in the Big Ten at USC. Hall of Fame Head Coach Tara VanderVeer retried and former Stanford player Kate Paye takes over as Head Coach. During the Gonzaga game that court at Maples Pavilion was named in VanderVeer’s honor. 

Paye was an assistant for 17 seasons under VanderVeer and three Former Stanford players in Katy Steading, Erica McCall and Janette Pollen are all assistant coaches for Paye making it a Stanford family affair. Paye played in 126 games at Stanford from 1991-95 and was a member of the 1992 Stanford National Championship Team and was an assistant coach when the Cardinal won it all in 2021. Paye played in the ABL from 1996-98 and The WNBA from 2001-2002 with the Minnesota Lynx and Seattle Storm. Paye was an assistant at San Diego State from 1995-96 and 2005-07 and Pepperdine from 2004-05.

VanDerveer finished with a coaching record of 1,216-271 spent most of her years at Stanford from 1985-95 and 1996-2024 she took the 1995-96 season the coach the United States Women’s National Team to the Gold Medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta Georgia. VanDerveer coached at Idaho from 1978-1980 and Ohio State from 1980-85 and won three National Championships. She played at Indiana University from 1972-75 and this is a return game in the home and home series and it is unclear if she will make the trip from California back to Bloomington for this game. The Cardinal beat the Hoosiers 96-64 in Palo Alto a season ago on November 12, 2023,  as this will be the first meeting between the two teams with Stanford leads the all-time Series 3-1. Indiana won their only matchup on December 21,1979, 73-63 in Chapel Hill North Carolina. The Cardinal won 87-72 on November 16, 2001, and 69-66 on November 25, 2021 in Nassau The Bahamas. 

Sophomore Nunu Agara leads the team with 19.3 points, 7.5 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game. Senior Elena Bosgana averages 14 5 points and a team leading 2.5 steals per game. Junior Jzaniya Harriel is averaging 11.5 points and team leading 2.2 assists per game and Sophomore Chloe Clardy averages 10.3 points per game. One player IU fans will recognize is Mary Ashley Stevenson who started her career at Purdue before heading west to Paio Alto. Stevenson has played in all four games Averaging 16.8 minutes and scoring 4.8 points per game. In her freshman season at Purdue the New York City native averaged 9.7 points and 5.1 rebounds in 28 minutes per game. The Cardinal average 89.8 points and commit 9 turnovers per game. Stanford is shooting 49 percent from the field, 51 percent from three point range and 82 percent from the free throw line. Stanford has 14 player roster that represents California, Minnesota, Arkansas Arizona, Georgia, New York, Maryland, Australia and Greece. 

Bloomington South and Castle review a Postseason Football Rivalry for the Regional Title  The Bloomington South Panthers will battle the Castle Knights for the Class 5A Regional Football Championship Tonight at 7:30 PM at Fred Huff Memorial Field on the Southside of Bloomington. The winner advances to the Semi State Championship a week from tonight to face the winner of Decatur Central and East Central. Should Bloomington South win and East Central win the Panthers will make the 2-hour trip to St Leon near the Ohio State line to face the Trojans and if Decatur Central wins the Panthers will host the Hawks. If Castle wins, they will host regardless of the Decatur Central/East Central result. 

The Panthers and Knights meet for the fifth time in the last six years in the Postseason. Bloomington South beat Castle 32-6 in the 2019 Sectional Championship Game and 16-14 in 2021 Sectional Semifinal both played at Castle. The Knights shutout the Panthers 28-0 in the Sectional Semifinals at Castle and won the Regional Championship Game in 2022 31-14. Bloomington South beat Castle 44-23 in the 2016 Regional Championship and the Knights won 46-25 in the 2015 Regional Championship and the only other Postseason meeting came in the 1983 Regional Championship when Bloomington South won 25-21. This will be the first trip to Bloomington for the Postseason for Castle which is located in Newburgh just east of Evansville. 

The Panthers are going for 13th Regional Championship and second  straight. The Panthers are 7-4 and captured the schools 19th Sectional Title with a 27-3 victory at Bloomington North last Friday to win thier fourth straight sectional and end thier crosstown rivals season for the fourth year in a row. Gabe Johnson’s team is averaging 33.8 points per game on offense and giving up 23.2 points on defense. The Panthers have won three straight and outscored their opponents 372-255 this season

Castle is 9-2 on the season and beat Evansville North 31-21 last Friday to win the schools 16th Sectional Championship in program history. Castle will be looking for its 8th Regional Championship and first since 2022. Doug Hurt is in his 19th year at the school with a 143-76 record. The Knights two losses have come by combined 11 points to Evansville Mater Dei and Evansville Memorial. Castle averages 34 points a game on offense and give up 17.5 points on defense and outscored their opponents 374-193. 

NFL Scouting Combine to remain in Indianapolis through 2026 The NFL Scouting Combine will remain in Indianapolis through at least 2026, the league announced Thursday. The Circle City has hosted the event since 1987. In 2022, the league and city agreed to a two-year extension set to run through 2025. Now, another year has been added on at Lucas Oil Stadium. “Indianapolis and the NFL Combine have a proud history together, so we’re thrilled to continue our longstanding partnership with Visit Indy, the Indianapolis Colts, and the local community for this 2026 event,” Peter O’Reilly, executive vice president, club business, international, and league events at the NFL, said in a statement. 

“Our partners in Indy have successfully hosted the football evaluation process for decades, and recently, we’ve collectively worked to grow and evolve the in-person fan experience, bringing tens of thousands of fans closer to the league’s future stars,” O’Reilly said. Visit Indy said the 2024 NFL Combine generated a record-setting $6.27 million in economic impact for the area while attracting more than 27,000 fans.  “Indianapolis is uniquely designed and built to host an event as complex as the NFL Combine,” Pete Ward, chief operating officer with the Indianapolis Colts, said in a statement. “Efficiently moving prospects, team owners, coaching staff, medical personnel, and national media is seamlessly done in Indy, and the Colts are proud to be part of the team keeping the event in our city.” 

The 2025 NFL Combine will take place from Thursday, Feb. 27 to Sunday, March 2. It will be the 38th year Indianapolis has hosted the event, which is produced by National Football Scouting, Visit Indy, the Indiana Convention Center & Lucas Oil Stadium, the City of Indianapolis, IU Health and the Indiana Sports Corp along with the Colts. “We appreciate the NFL’s continued commitment and interest in Indy and the Colts ongoing partnership,” Chris Gahl, executive vice president & chief marketing officer for Visit Indy, said in a statement.  “We know Indy is always on audition, striving to keep the event in our city. We are constantly looking to improve and grow the Combine to enhance the fan-facing experience for visitors and fans.”  As part of the free annual event, fans are able to “witness the future talent of the NFL up close before prospects find their new team,” Visit Indy said.

In 2025, the league will again host the free NFL Combine Experience, an interactive fanfest, in the south lot of Lucas Oil Stadium. There, fans will be able to take photos with the Colts Super Bowl XLI Vince Lombardi Trophy, view all 58 Super Bowl rings, participate in games and purchase “exclusive merchandise.” The league said fans can “register their interest” at NFL.com/combine before event registration opens in March.

LIV Golf is Coming to Central Indiana in 2025 LIV Golf will make its debut in central Indiana in 2025. The professional men’s golf tour announced Wednesday that The Club at Chatham Hills in Westfield will serve as the new host of its individual championship finale. The event will take place from Aug. 15-17, 2025, at the course in the 1100 block of Chatham Hills Boulevard, near Tomlinson Road and East 199th Street. “Some [players] will be gunning for the title, others will be fighting to stay out of the drop zone, and everyone will be hoping for a top 24 spot to guarantee their place for 2026,” LIV Golf said in a news release on its website. “Chatham Hills’ renowned Championship course, the final design by legendary architect Pete Dye, is the perfect place to settle it.”

One of the tour’s biggest stars, Bryson Dechambeau, has two major titles to his name (2020 and 2024 U.S. Opens) and a two-time LIV Golf League individual winner. Competing in the same league, Phil Mickelson is also a star that helps bring the tour more experience and popularity as a six-major winner. Currently, Jon Rahm from Spain is leading the player standings list with 235.17 points — almost six points over the second-place golfer, Joaquin Niemann from Chile. “We are excited to bring LIV Golf to Westfield and the state of Indiana for the first time,” said Mayor Scott Willis. “Not only is the city known for hosting large tournaments nearly every weekend in the summer at Grand Park, but add in Chatham Hills’ reputation for hosting top-tier golf tournaments, recently including the MAC Collegiate Championship, we know this will be a spectacular event.”

In addition to showcasing top-level competition, the tournament will also feature fan engagement activities, interactive experiences, live music, and opportunities for local businesses to participate and benefit from the event’s economic impact. “Hamilton County, Indiana, champions innovative events like LIV Golf and is committed to hosting a premier experience for visitors, residents and competitors,” said Hamilton County Sports Authority Director Carl Daniels. “This event is an exciting opportunity for us to continue showcasing Hamilton County as a top tier destination for large-scale sporting events. The average prize bag for the winner of the championship is around $4 million, and the tournament is expected to bring about 30,000 people to Chatham Hills. For more information on LIV Golf and the tournament, click here