
Indiana University Men’s Basketball Travels to Iowa for a Saturday Primetime Showdown The Indiana Hoosiers have won five straight and will look to make it six in a row Saturday Night when they battle the Iowa Hawkeyes in Carver Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City starting at 8 PM on FOX. Indiana leads the all-time series with Iowa 106-81 as Iowa is 48-43 all time against the Hoosiers in Iowa City. Indiana won the last matchup on January 30, 2024, 74-68 in Simon Sjkodt Assembly Hall. The Hoosiers last won in Iowa City on January 21, 2021, 81-69.
The Hoosiers beat USC 82-69 in Simon Sjkodt Assembly Hall Wednesday Night to improve to 4-1 in Big Ten play which is their best start since the 2015-16 season. Oumar Ballo scored 23 Points and pulled down 8 rebounds. The seven-footer has scored 65 points and pulled down 33 rebounds in the last three games. Ballo used his 265-pound frame to his advantage punishing the Trojan defenders going 9-11 from the field, 5-5 from the free throw line with 2 blocks and an assist. Ballo leads the team with 14.3 points, 9.5 rebounds and 1.9 blocks per game. Mackenzie Mgbako went scoreless in 15 minutes of action Wednesday after a 20-point performance against Penn State Sunday Afternoon. Mgbako went 0-8 from the field and 0-5 three-point range along with a rebound and 2 assists. The Gladstone, New Jersey native is averaging 13.2 points per game. Myles Rice is averaging 12.4 points per game along with a team leading 1.3 steals. Rice had 19 points, 9 rebounds and 6 assists against USC Wednesday Night and is starting to establish himself as the floor general for the Hoosiers.
Luke Goode is starting to knockdown the three pointers has he hit four Wednesday Night and has gone 11-15 in the last three games. Goode was 17-47 from downtown in the previous 13 games. His best game came against Sam Houston in early December when he went 5-7 from beyond the arc. Trey Galloway scored 11 points and leads the team with 4.1 assists per game and is averaging 7.5 points per game. The Hoosiers had 17 assists and committed 6 turnovers after falling behind by double digits early on to pull away late in the second half. The Hoosiers are averaging 79.1 points and committing 12.2 turnovers per game. Indiana is shooting 47 percent from the field, 32 percent from three-point range and 72 percent from the free throw line. Malik Reneau is out with a knee injury and is averaging 14.1 points and 5.9 rebounds per game. Indiana has gone to a one post lineup without Reneau and its starting to all click for the Hoosiers.
Iowa is 11-4 overall and 2-2 in the Big Ten. The Hawkeyes beat Nebraska 97-87 Tuesday Night at Home in Overtime. Josh Dix scored a career high 31 points and Payton Sandfort scored all 30 of his points after halftime as the Hawkeyes came back from 15 down in the second half to beat the Cornhuskers. Dix and Sandfort were a combined 13-20 from three-point range and 12-13 from the free throw line. Iowa scored the first nine points in the extra period to pull away. The Hawkeyes shot 3-4 from the field and made 14-16 free throws in overtime while Nebraska went from 4-12 from the field. Owen Freeman leads the team with 16.7 points, 6.3 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per game. The 6-10 Sophomore scored 15 points, pulled down 8 rebounds and blocked 4 shots against Nebraska and will battle Oumar Ballo inside. Peyton Sandfort is averaging 16.5 points and Josh Dix is averaging 14.8 points per game. Drew Thelwell leads the team with 2.1 steals per game and averages 10.1 points per game. Brock Harding leads the team with 5.9 assists per game and averages 9.7 points.
Iowa is averaging 89.9 points and committing 10.3 turnovers per game. The Hawkeyes shoot 50 percent from the field, 39 percent from three-point range and 69 percent from the free throw line. The Hawkeyes have scored in bunches this season scoring over 100 points in 3 games this season The Hawkeyes have been held under 70 points just once and that was 69 against Utah State on November 22. Fran McCaffery is 291-195 in his 15th season at Iowa with 7 NCAA Tournament Appearances and 4 NIT Postseason Tournament Appearances. McCaffery is 542 and 372 overall in 29 seasons at Lehigh, UNC Greensboro and Siena with 5 NCAA Tournament Appearances and 1 Postseason NIT Appearance at those three schools. The 65-year-old played at Wake Forest from 1977-78 and for his hometown University of Pennsylvania from 1979-82. McCaffery was an assistant coach at Penn, Lehigh from 1982-85 and Notre Dame from 1988-1999.
Indiana University Football Lands University of Tennessee Tight End Holden Staes Indiana has picked up a commitment from Tennessee transfer tight end Holden Staes. A product of Atlanta, Staes has caught 31 passes for 318 yards and five scores over his three seasons. The 6-foot-4 and 250-pound Staes has one season of eligibility remaining. Staes played at Tennessee in 2024 after two seasons at Notre Dame. In total he has played in 35 career games (22 at ND, 13 at UT) and made 12 starts. This season in Knoxville Staes caught 15 passes for 131 yards and a score in 13 games.
In 2023 at Notre Dame, Staes played in 11 games with eight starts as one of the Irish’s top tight end options. He finished with 15 catches for 176 yards and four scores. During his 2022 freshman season in South Bend, Staes saw action in 11 games and made one start. Staes held 26 Division I offers coming out of high school and was considered a four-star recruit by 247Sports and ESPN. Indiana has now picked up two transfer tight ends during the offseason transfer portal cycle. Staes will join incoming Wisconsin transfer Riley Nowakowski. Those two will compete for the starting role vacated by Zach Horton. The Hoosiers also have James Bomba, Sam West and Brody Foley returning at tight end, along with incoming freshmen Blake Thiry and Andrew Barker.
Don Fischer Named Indiana Sportscaster of the Year The legendary “Voice of the Hoosiers” Don Fischer has been named Indiana Sportscaster of the Year by the National Sports Media Association (NSMA) for the 28th time. It marks the 32nd time, by two organizations, that Fischer has been recognized as the state’s top sportscaster. In Fischer’s 52-year tenure as Indiana University’s football and men’s basketball radio play-by-play man, he has won numerous awards for best play-by-play performance. He received the inaugural Woody Durham College Voice Award from the NSMA, the University of North Carolina and Learfield Sports in June of 2018.
In 2022, Fischer was inducted into the Indiana University Athletics Hall of Fame, received the prestigious Chris Schenkel Award from the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame, and earned the Indiana Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association Lifetime Achievement Award.
Indiana University had previously decorated Fischer with the J.W. Bill Orwig medal that goes to a non-alumnus for distinguished service, the Bicentennial Medal for distinctive service, and named him an honorary “I” man in 1991.
In October of 2010, Fischer was one of eight inductees into the Indiana Broadcast Pioneers Richard M. Fairbanks Hall of Fame. The Indiana Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association inducted Fischer into its Hall of Fame in 2004. Fischer has broadcast over 2,200 games, including three NCAA basketball championships, the Hoosiers 2024 College Football Playoff run, and 12 bowl games. He hosts the weekly Coaches show for both football and basketball. Fischer also anchored the Indianapolis Colts preseason telecasts from 1995-2017.
Incoming Indiana University Volleyball Freshman Charlotte Vinson and Victoria Gray Earn High School All-American Honors Indiana volleyball signees Charlotte Vinson (Yorktown, Ind./Yorktown) and Victoria Gray (Temperance, Mich./Bedford) were honored as Prep All-Americans by select national outlets over the past month. The two players wrapped up their high school careers in the fall and will play their final season of club volleyball before reporting to campus this summer.
Vinson, a 6-foot-2 outside hitter, is a consensus top 25 recruit in the class of 2025 and was named a High School All-American by the AVCA, Prep Volleyball and Max Preps. She was a finalist for the Max Preps National Player of the Year and was a First Team All-America selection by the outlet. The Yorktown, Indiana recovered from a life-threatening illness in the spring, returning in time to play the majority of her senior season. She led Yorktown High School to an IHSAA 4A state title game appearance and was named Ms. Volleyball by the IHSVCA. She contributed 361 kills while hitting .324 during her final season. For her career, she tallied 1,940 kills and 968 digs. Vinson graduated high school in December but will spend next semester playing her final season of club volleyball with Munciana. She will join the Hoosiers this summer and will be in consideration to start on the left side during the 2025 season. Prep Volleyball and Prep Dig both ranked her as the No. 25 overall recruit, one of the top three recruits to ever sign with the Hoosiers.
Gray, a 6-foot-2 middle blocker, is perhaps the best athlete in this year’s recruiting class. In her high school volleyball career, she tallied over 1,100 kills while hitting .413 across four seasons. She had over 430 blocks and was a finalist for Ms. Volleyball in the state of Michigan. The Temperance, Michigan native is also an elite basketball player and is spending the winter playing her final season of high school basketball. She led Bedford to a 24-3 record in the 2023-24 season and a spot in the state quarterfinals. She’s the two-time reigning Monroe County Region Player of the Year in Michigan and will look to be the first player to win the award in three-straight years. Vinson and Gray are joined in a prolific recruiting class by outside hitter Jaidyn Jager (Carlsbad, Calif./La Costa Canyon), defensive specialist Avery Freeman (Bloomington, Ind./Bloomington North) and outside hitter/defensive specialist Audrey Jackson (Flower Mound, Texas/Flower Mound). All five players will report to campus in the summer.
All-American Honors – Charlotte Vinson
Max Preps – First Team
Prep Volleyball – Third Team
AVCA – Third Team
All-American Honors – Victoria Gray
AVCA – Third Team
Four Indiana University Swimming and Diving Hoosiers Earn Big Ten Weekly Awards Four members of the No. 2/6 Indiana swimming and diving program captured Big Ten weekly awards on Wednesday, per conference announcement, following then men’s and women’s dual meet split at No. 4/4 Florida on Friday (Jan. 3). Indiana swept the Big Ten Swimmer of the Week and Diver of the Week awards to earn four of the six available awards this cycle.
Big Ten Men’s Swimmer of the Week: Owen McDonald-Junior Owen McDonald captured his third Big Ten Swimmer of the Week award this season after sweeping his individual events in the men’s win at Florida. McDonald swept the backstroke events before adding a third victory in the 200-yard IM.
Big Ten Women’s Swimmer of the Week: Anna Peplowski- Earning her fourth-career swimmer of the week award and first this season, senior Anna Peplowski also swept her individual events Friday. Peplowski out-touched fellow Olympian Emma Weyant in the 200-yard freestyle (1:44.78) by 2.37 seconds and in the 200 IM (1:59.10) by 27 hundredths. Her third victory came in the 100 free (48.90), earning a 1-2 finish with teammate Kristina Paegle. The senior also posted the quickest split in the 400-yard freestyle relay, anchoring IU in 48.21.
Big Ten Men’s Diver of the Week: Carson Tyler -Senior Carson Tyler received his first Big Ten weekly award this season, updating his career total to seven. Tyler and classmate Quinn Henninger dominated the springboards during Indiana’s win, each capturing a first and second place finish. He won the 1-meter board with a score of 425.33, 40 points better than the field, after earning 65 points or better on each of his dives. Henninger narrowly edged Tyler on the 3-meter board with a 385.88 to Tyler’s 385.43. Tyler leapfrogged Florida’s Peyton Donald with a final-round 74.40 to take the No. 2 spot.
Big Ten Women’s Diver of the Week: Ella Roselli-Sophomore Ella Roselli captured her first-career Big Ten weekly award with top three finishes on both boards Friday. Roselli won the 1-meter springboard with of 297.53, 19.43 points better the field, before placing third on 3-meter with a 324.53.
Indiana University Baseball’s Devin Taylor named Perfect Game Preseason All-American Junior outfielder Devin Taylor – one of the premier returning players in college baseball – was named a Second Team Preseason All American by Perfect Game, the organization announced on Tuesday evening. It’s Taylor’s second-straight year being honored by Perfect Game in the preseason. The Cincinnati, Ohio native followed up a fantastic freshman season in 2023 with an All-American performance in 2024. He smashed a Big Ten best 20 home runs and drove in 54 RBIs while hitting .357 on the season. He embraced the leadoff role and ended the season hitting home runs in 12 of the team’s final 22 contests.
In 2024, Taylor was a Perfect Game Second Team All-American and an ABCA/Rawlings Third Team All-American. He has been named to the All-Big Ten First Team in consecutive seasons – the first IU player to get First Team All-Big Ten honor in each of his first two years of college baseball. Taylor heads into 2025 as one of the best available draft prospects for this year’s MLB Draft. He is just 12 home runs away from breaking the program’s all-time record and needs just 51 hits to reach 200 in his career at IU. He will head a potent offensive attack in Bloomington this season alongside junior shortstop Tyler Cerny, sophomore second baseman Jasen Oliver and senior third baseman Josh Pyne.
2025 Indiana Preseason Baseball Honors
• Devin Taylor – Perfect Game Second Team All-American