Bloomington South Graduate Jonathan Holmes comes back to his Hometown as Miami (Ohio) takes on Indiana When the Miami RedHawks Come to Simon Sjkodt Assembly Hall for a 7pm Tipoff this evening against the Indiana Hoosiers there will be some familiar faces on the opposing sidelines that fans in the both the arena and on the Big Ten Network will recognize as entire coaching staff as ties to the State of Indiana. Assistant Coach Jonathan Holmes played at Bloomington South for his Dad J.R. who is the all-time winningest coach in Indiana High School Boys Basketball History with 912 wins and counting in his 55th season as a head coach. The Younger Holmes has been an assistant coach at Montreat College and Francis Marion both In South Carolina, William and Mary in Virginia and Elon College in North Carolina before he was hired at Miami Ohio in May of 2002. Holmes played at the University of North Carolina from 1999-2003 and was member of the Tar Heels 2000 Final Four Team and 1999 Indiana All-Star and runner up for Mr. Basketball.
Danville, Indiana Native Travis Steele spent two years as an assistant coach from 2006-08 for the Hoosiers under then Head Coach Kelvin Sampson. Steele is in his third season as the head coach is the RedHawks with a 32-39 record and overall record of 103-89 including a 70-50 record at Xavier from 2018-22 and two Postseason NIT Appearances in 2019 and 2022. Steele graduated from Butler University in Indianapolis and during his undergraduate days was an assistant Basketball Coach at Ben Davis HS. He has been at Ohio State, Wabash Valley Community College in Mount Carmel, Illinois and Xavier. Khristian Smith graduated from Pike High School in Indianapolis and played at Indiana State. Smith was a graduate assistant at Indiana State from 2017-19 and Texas Tech from 2019-21 and then spent the 2021-22 season as an Assistant Coach at Ball State before being hired by Steele at Miami. Carl Richburg played one season at the University of Southern Indiana in Evansville as a member of a Division II Final Four Team in 2006. Elijah Pennington is a 2022 Graduate of IUPUI now IU-Indianapolis as a student assistant coach.
Miami Ohio is 5-2 on the season and coming off a 73-60-win Monday over the Air Force Academy at Home. Carmel, Indiana Native Peter Suder scored a career high 42 points against the Falcons. The 6-5 Junior went 17-21 from the field, 3-4 from three-point range and 5-9 from the free throw line in 38 minutes. Suder has scored in Double-figures in every game but one when he scored 4 points in a 81-68 home loss to Wright State on November 9. Suder is averaging 17.4 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists per game. Suder played two seasons at Bellarmine in Louisville Kentucky alongside current Hoosier Langdon Hatton for the Knights. Sophomore Kam Craft is averaging 14.1 points and Sophomore Eian Elmer is averaging 14 points along with a team leading 2 steals and 0.9 points per game. 6-9 Junior Andre Woolfolk is Averaging 8.4 points and a team leading 6.4 points per game. Mekhi Cooper is averaging 4.4 points and a team leading 3.3 assists per game. The RedHawks average 74 points and commit 12.7 turnovers per game. Miami is shooting 47.5 percent from the field, 34.8 percent from three-point range and 71.1 percent from the free throw line. Sophomore Blake Anderson played at Evansville Memorial HS and has not seen the floor this season. The RedHawks have a 15-player roster that represents 5 States including Indiana, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Ohio and Kentucky.
Indiana is coming off a 96-71 win against Sam Houston on Tuesday Night. Indiana (6-2) received 36 bench points, including a season-high 18 points from senior forward Luke Goode to down Sam Houston by a score of 97-71 at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. The Illinois transfer knocked down a career-best five 3-pointers in 17 minutes. Junior forward Malik Reneau secured his third double-double of his career with 18 points, 10 rebounds, five assists, and three steals. He is one of two major conference players (Ian Schieffelin, Clemson) to reach those numbers in a game this season, Redshirt sophomore guard Myles Rice bounced back with a game-high 19 points on 9-of-12 shooting from the floor to go along with three rebounds and three assists. Fifth-year senior guard Anthony Leal posted four points, four rebounds, four assists, and two assists. He was a game-high +39 in 25 minutes of run off the bench.
Mackenize Mgbako is averaging 16.8 points and 5.5 rebounds per game while shooting 54.7% (47-of-86) from the field, 48.6% (17-of-35) from behind the arc, and 92.0% (23-of-25) from the charity stripe. Luke Goode drilled a career-best five 3-pointers against Sam Houston. He is the first IU player to hit at least five 3s in a game since Jalen Hood-Schifino (6) on Jan. 28, 2023, and the first to do it off the bench since Tamar Bates on Dec. 7, 2022. the first IU player to score at least 18 points off the bench since Anthony Walker on Dec. 19, 2023, and the first to do it in 17 minutes or less since Jeremy Hollowell (18 points, 17 minutes) on Nov. 26, 2013. Indiana holds a series record of 22-3 over Miami (Ohio). The Hoosiers have won six straight, 16 of the last 17, and 14-of-16 games in Bloomington in the series. All-American forward Trayce Jackson-Davis led the Hoosiers to an 86-56 victory over the RedHawks with 17 points, 16 rebounds, and three assists on Nov. 20, 2022, at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. Jalen Hood-Schifino added 12 points and Miller Kopp scored 10 points in the game.
Shay Ciezki Returns to Penn State to face her Former Team since Transferring to Indiana University in the Off-Season Indiana Junior Shay Ciezki will lead the Indiana Hoosiers into the Bryce Jordan Center against her former team the Penn State Nittany Lions at 1 PM Saturday Afternoon with the game streaming on Big Ten Network Plus. Ciezki who hails from Buffalo, New York played two seasons for Head Coach Carolyn Kieger before deciding to transfer. Ciezki played 65 games for the Nittany Lions and started 59 games scoring 757 points, 145 rebounds, 157 assists, 71 steals and 3 blocks. In her 9 games as a Hoosier Ciezki has started every game scoring 105 points, 21 Rebounds, 23 assists, 5 steals and 2 blocks. She has scored 4 times in double figures including 34 points against Baylor at the Battle 4 Atlantis in The Bahamas. Ciezki scored 19 points against Stanford and 17 against Southern Indiana and added 11 points at Butler.
The Lady Lions graduated All-Big Ten Performer Makenna Marisa along with Ali Brigham, Tay Valladay, Chanya Pinto and Ashley Owusu. Ciezki, Redshirt Junior Leilani Kapinus and Sophomore Kylie Lavelle all decided to transfer out even though the Lady Lions finished 22-13 and lost to Villanova in the Semifinals of the First Ever Women’s Basketball Invitational Tournament that was held at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. Penn State finished 9-9 in the Big Ten and lost in the Quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament to National Runner Up Iowa 95-62 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Penn State started the season 8-0 and they are coming off their first loss of the season at home to St. John’s Monday Night 72-67. Jayla Oden led the way with 24 points, Gracie Merkle added 13 points and 6 rebounds ending her double-double streak of four straight games. Gabby Elliott added 12 points Penn State finished 25-52 from the field for 48 percent, 4-13 from three-point range for 30 percent and 13-17 from the free throw line for 76 percent. The Nittany Lions pulled down 33 rebounds, dished out 12 assists, 4 blocks, 3 steals and committed 22 turnovers. St John’s led 19-15 after one quarter and 39-25 at halftime. The Red Storm outscored the Nittany Lions 33-32 In the second half.
Sophomore Gracie Merkle leads the team with 20.2 points, 9.1 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per game along with five double doubles on the season. Sophomore Moriah Murray averages 16.2 points per game. Senior Ali Campbell averages 8.9 points and team leading 4.9 assists per game. Jayla Oden is averaging 8.9 points and a team leading 2.1 steals per game. Penn State averages 86.1 points and commits 21.3 turnovers per game. Penn State is shooting 50.1 percent from the field, 37.4 percent from the three-point line and 72.7 percent from the free throw line. Penn State has a 13-player roster that has Four Seniors, Two Juniors, Two Sophomores and Five Freshman. The Lady Lions represent Eight States that include Pennsylvania, Michigan, Illinois, Louisiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Rhode Island and Maryland and 1 international player from Brazil.
Indiana is 6-3 on the season and coming off a 67-63 win over the University of Southern Indiana Wednesday Night in Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. Yarden Garzon added 14 points, Chloe Moore-McNeil scored 13 points and Lilly Meister added 11 points. Indiana finished 21-59 from the field for 35%, 9-30 from three-point range for 30% and 16-26 from the free throw line for 61%. Indiana pulled down 38 rebounds, dished out 14 assists, 5 blocks, 5 steals and committed 12 turnovers. The Hoosiers led 12-2 before Southern Indiana responded with a 15-5 run to end the first quarter tied 17-17. Southern Indiana controlled the second quarter outscoring the Hoosiers 25-12 and went into the locker room ahead 42-29. Indiana came back and outscored Southern Indiana 19-9 in the third quarter after Indiana Head Coach Teri Moren “Gave it to us” according to Lilly Meister and Shay Ciezki added “Loudly” at halftime. Indiana led 51-48 at the end of the third quarter. Indiana outscored Southern Indiana 19-12 in the fourth quarter as the Hoosiers scored 38 second half points and Southern Indiana scored 21 points.
The Hoosiers are averaging 67.1 points and giving up 63 points on defense. Indiana is shooting 41% from the field, 30% from three-point range and 77% from the free throw line. On Defense the Hoosiers opponents are shooting 37% from the field, 34% from three-point range and 61% from the free throw line. The Hoosiers are averaging 16.8 turnovers per game and their opponents are averaging 14.8 points per game. Yarden Garzon averages 13.8 points per game, Shay Ciezki is averaging 11.7 points, Lilly Meister averages 11.6 points and Chloe Moore-McNeil averages 11.1 points per game. Meister leads the team in Rebounds with 6.7 per game, Moore-McNeil leads the team with 3.1 assists and 2 steals per game and Sydney Parrish who is sidelined with a knee injury is leading the team with 1.5 points per game.
Penn State leads the all-time series with Indiana 33-20 as the Hoosiers have won the last seven since 2019. Penn State beat the Hoosiers 77-74 in University Park on January 3, 2018. Indiana has won 11 of the last 12 meetings dating back to March of 2015. With the Big Ten Conference expansion over the years teams are now playing conference games in early December to allow enough time to get all 18 conference games in leading up to the Big Ten Tournament the first week of March. This is the third time that the Hoosiers and the Nittany Lions will play a December conference game as the Hoosiers have won the previous two meetings 70-40 in Bloomington on December 6, 2021, and 67-58 in University Park on December 8, 2022.
Taylor University Set to Host 27th-Annual Ivanhoes Silent Night The best tradition in small-college athletics will take center stage once again this evening when Taylor hosts Moody Bible Institute for the sold out 27th-Annual Ivanhoes Silent Night inside Odle Arena at 6:00 pm. The Taylor men’s basketball team is 25-1 all-time on Silent Night, having scored a 103-65 win over Great Lakes Christian last season. The Trojans have won each of the past four games on Silent Night. TU reached the 100-point barrier in 2003, 2010, 2015, and last year in 2023, with its highest scoring output of any Silent Night game coming with 112 points in 2010. No current Trojan has broken the silence before, ensuring a 21st member into the exclusive club of athletes to do so. Four players in the history of Silent Night have scored the 10th point more than once, with Andrew Davies (1997, 1998), Casey Coons (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012), Evan Crowe (2015, 2016) and Jake Heggeland (2017, 2018) having done so.
Taylor is playing Silent Night foe Moody Bible for the first time in program history. Doors are set to open to Odle Arena for Taylor students at 4:30 pm and for the general public at 5:00 pm on Friday. Tickets will be scanned at the door for entry and no tickets will be sold at the game. All seating is general admission and available on a first-come, first-serve basis. Fans are asked to remain off the purple boundary around the court while the game is being played and to keep the aisles clear at all times. Those unable to attend the game can enjoy a free HD webcast provided by the Trojan Sports Network at YouTube.com/TaylorAthletics, as well as by using the video links available on TaylorTrojans.com. The stream is scheduled to begin at 4:00 pm to allow viewers the opportunity to catch all of the pregame activities. A special on-court pregame show will start at 5:15, including multiple interviews with special guests and students in attendance. Fans are encouraged to join the conversation online during the event by sharing photos and videos on social media by using #TUSilentNight.
THINGS TO KNOW-Silent Night is sold out, no additional tickets will be sold, Tickets will be required for entry and scanned at the door, Doors will open to Odle Arena for Taylor students at 4:30 pm, Doors will open to Odle Arena for the general public at 5:00 pm, All seating is general admission and available on a first-come, first-serve basis, Parking is free and available in the lots surrounding Odle Arena and Fans can use #TUSilentNight to share posts on social media.
No. 28 Indiana University Wrestling to Face No. 11 Illinois in Indianapolis No. 28 Indiana Wrestling will compete in the first-ever Big Ten Takedown event on Friday at the Indiana Convention Center against No. 11 Illinois in Indianapolis. The Hoosiers and Fighting Illini will open their conference dual schedule center of Big Ten Fan Fest presented by Dr Pepper at the Indiana Convention Center in conjunction with the 2024 Discover Big Ten Football Championship Game.
No. 28 Indiana will open its Big Ten dual schedule against No. 11 Illinois for its biggest matchup of the season to this point and the first ever Big Ten Takedown event. The dual will take place in a first-of-its-kind setting at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis. The event is in conjunction with the Big Ten Championship football game on Saturday featuring Oregon and Penn State. This will also be first Big Ten dual of the season for any teams in the conference. The two teams are both undefeated as Indiana sports a 4-0 dual record while Illinois is 5-0. This will be Indiana’s first ranked test while Illinois sports wins over No. 21 Arizona State, No. 6 Missouri and No. 23 North Carolina. There are a multitude of ranked wrestlers across both lineups with Indiana having eight ranked and Illinois with 10. Illinois’ top wrestlers include No. 2 Lucas Byrd (133) who is back after redshirting in 2023-24 and No. 12 Edmond Ruth (184) who was the 2024 Big Ten Champion at 174 lbs. last season. The match will mark the first time that Indiana has wrestled in the state’s capital since 2010.
Following The Big Ten Takedown, Indiana will have six wrestlers compete in the Cleveland State Open on Saturday. The Hoosiers are only sending freshmen to compete in the tournament, including Chris Crawford, Chase Leech, Joey Buttler, Lucas Peters, Matt Hart and Caleb Marzolino. For Leech, Peters, Hart and Marzolino, this will be their first collegiate competition.
Indy Fuel Host their first game in the Brand-New Fishers Event Center It’s a new era. The Indy Fuel are hitting the ice for the first time at the team’s new home at the Fishers Event Center when the puck drops at 7 p.m. tonight. The team will take on their divisional opponent, the Iowa Heartlanders, in this historic game. The Fuel will play 36 regular season games at home + 72 games total. The recently opened state-of-the-art venue features a 7,500-seat capacity and will serve as home to three professional sports teams: Indy Fuel Hockey Club of the ECHL, Indy Ignite of the Professional Volleyball Federation, and Fishers Freight of the Indoor Football League. It will also offer an intimate setting for the community to experience shows and concerts, private events, and much more.
The Fishers Event Center is located at 11000 Stockdale St. near the Fishers District. There is a clear bag policy. Bags must be clear plastic, vinyl, or PVC and must not exceed 12” x 6” x 12”. It is a cashless facility and will only accept card and mobile payment throughout concessions, bars, and retail locations. There are 2,000+ surface level parking spots available for guests which are managed by LAZ Parking. You can prepay online. Get more information.
Taylor Trojans Men’s Basketball Control Overtime for Road Victory at Marian Taylor (7-2, 2-1 CL) controlled the extra five minutes of action on Wednesday night en route to a 91-83 victory over the Knights on the road. The Crossroads League foes traded baskets to begin overtime, but Taylor quickly took control on an 8-1 run in which Anton Webb hit a pair of free throws, blocked a shot, and assisted Chaz Harvey’s clutch triple to give TU an 84-77 lead. The Trojans ran clock to perfection the rest of the way and played great defense to close the book on an 11-game losing streak to the Knights. Webb was phenomenal in the contest, recording another double-double with 24 points, 17 rebounds, and six assists. The senior has been the fulcrum to TU’s terrific start to the season, leading the team in points, rebounds, steals, and blocks, with averages of 13.6, 12.1, 1.9, and 1.0 this year.
Four more Trojans finished in double figures, Kaden Fuhrmann and Nate Paarlberg lit things up from long range with 17 and 16 points on a combined eight triples, while Pete Combs continued his efficient season with 11 points off the bench. The final Trojan to surpass ten points was Harvey, who came close to a triple-double with 12 points, nine assists, and seven rebounds, as he ran the offense effectively all night. After a slow start for both teams in the first five minutes, the Trojans tallied nine straight points, including Webb with four of his team-high ten first-half points. The run was met by a run from the Knights to get within one. The squads traded buckets throughout the rest of the half, as TU struggled to capitalize from the charity stripe, making just six of twelve attempts before halftime, allowing Marian (5-4, 0-3 CL) to hold a slim 37-36 lead going into the break.
Quickly after halftime, the Knights pushed the lead to six before the beginning of a three-point barrage from Taylor. Five straight triples, including three off the hand of Paarlberg, sparked a 21-4 run to match TU’s largest lead of the evening at 57-47. The squads went eight combined possessions without a point until Marian hit a pair of shots from beyond the arc to cut the lead to four. Taylor answered every basket but could not pull away, with Marian scoring the final three points of regulation, including a free throw with 6.9 seconds left to force overtime.