Indiana University Men’s Basketball snaps two game losing streak with an Overtime Win at Ohio State The Indiana Hoosiers snapped a two-game losing streak with a 77-76 overtime win against the Ohio State Buckeyes Friday Night inside the Schottenstein Center in Columbus Ohio. The Hoosiers are 14-5 overall and 5-3 in the Big Ten and bounce back after back-to-back 25-point losses to Iowa and Illinois. Ohio State is 10-8 overall and 2-5 in the Big Ten and have dropped three straight games by a combined five points. Indiana leads the all-time series with the Buckeyes 113-88 and have won 4 straight in the series and 5 of the last 6 and 2 in a row in Columbus.
Luke Goode scored a career high 23 points, Oumar Ballo posted his third straight double-double with 21 points and 15 rebounds and Kannan Carlyle scored 13 points off the bench for the Hoosiers. Indiana finished 27-64 from the field for 42%, 6-20 from three-point range for 30% and 17-23 from the free throw line for 74%. The Hoosiers pulled down 39 rebounds, dished out 15 assists, 6 blocks, 4 steals, 34 points in the paint, 23 bench points and committed 10 turnovers. John Mobley Jr. led Ohio State with 22 points, Micah Parrish added 19 points and Bruce Thornton scored 18 points. The Buckeyes finished 28-62 from the field 45%, 8-23 from three-point range for 34% and 12-18 from the free throw line for 80%. Ohio State pulled down 35 rebounds, dished out 10 assists, 5 blocks, 3 steals, 36 points in the paint, 8 bench points and committed 11 turnovers.
The game featured 13 lead changes and 8 ties with the biggest lead of the game is when Indiana led by 10 at 68-58 and Ohio State led by 7 points at 33-26. It was game that both teams needed to keep pace in the Big Ten and after for Indiana after the chants of “Fire Woodson” Tuesday Night against Illinois the Hoosiers needed this game and a win on the road since Indiana had no true road wins this season and the Hoosiers played with some pride and effort and got the win and now head to Northwestern on Wednesday. Oumar Ballo scored the first six points of the game as Malik Reneau missed his fifth straight game with a knee injury and Freshman Bryson Tucker missed the game due to injury. Luke Goode went 7-14 form the field draining four three pointers and a perfect 5-5 from the free throw line. Ballo was 8-14 from the field and 5-7 from the free throw line. Anthony Leal started in place of Trey Galloway as Leal pulled down 3 rebounds and had an assist but made the game winning block on John Mobley Jr. at the end of overtime to preserve the win and played 31 minutes. Galloway played 35 minutes scoring 7 points on 2-9 from the field, 1-4 from three-point range with 6 assists and 5 rebounds. Carlyle went 5-12 from the field, 1-3 from three-point range and 2-5 from the free throw line with 4 rebounds.
Ohio State led 35-29 at halftime. Indiana outscored the Buckeyes 42-36 in the second half as the Hoosiers had several chances to win the game at the end of regulation and were not able to finish as the Hoosiers played their first overtime game all season and third overtime for Ohio State as they are 1-2 in overtime games this season. Indiana outscored Ohio State 6-5 in the extra period as Goode’s three with over a minute left in overtime game the Hoosiers the lead. Mobley hit a 3-pointer with 38 seconds remaining in regulation to tie the game at 71-71. Indiana held the ball before Luke Goode drove for a layup that missed, Oumar Ballo got the offensive rebound but missed the put-back, rebounded again and missed a jumper. Ohio State rebounded but was unable to get off a shot as the clock ran out. Ohio State took the lead, 76-74, on Bruce Thornton’s three-point play with 1:26 left in overtime. Indiana’s Myles Rice drove to the basket but missed a layup to tie the game, but Oumar Ballo came down with the offensive rebound and kicked the ball to a wide-open Goode on the wing for the game-winner. Mobley missed a 3-point attempt for Ohio State and Kannan Carlyle drove the baseline and misfired on a short jumper with :14 left.
After the game Indiana Head Coach Mike Woodson said “I don’t even want to comment on the outside noise. It’s ridiculous.” and Luke Goode said, “We represented Indiana basketball with pride tonight.” The Hoosiers responded with a huge road win and exposed the lack of inside presence the Buckeyes playing with Devin Royal who had a wrist injury. When there back were against the wall after a very ugly came and home crowd the Hoosiers rallied to with a big win on the road in the Big Ten.
#4 USC holds off Indiana University Women’s Basketball The #4 USC Trojans got all they could handle holding off the Indiana Hoosiers 73-66 Sunday Afternoon in Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. USC extends its winning streak to 13 games and improves to 7-0 in the Big Ten. Indiana drops to 13-5 overall and 4-3 in the Big Ten and will head to Pacific Northwest later this week to face Oregon and Washington. USC made its first trip to Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall and leads the all-time series 2-0 as the teams meet for the first time since December 5, 1985, when the Trojans beat the Hoosiers 99-53 in Los Angeles.
Sophomore Sensation JuJu Watkins led USC with 22 points as the Trojans starting five scored all 73 points and all five scored in double-figures. Kennedy Smith and Kiki Iriafen scored 14 points apiece. Rayah Marshall had double-double of 13 points and 10 rebounds along with 2 blocks for her 16th consecutive game with a block and Talia van Oelhoffen added 10 points. The Trojans finished 23-59 from the field for 59%, 6-18 from three range for 33% and 21-24 from the free throw line for 87%. The Trojans pulled down 38 rebounds, dished out 11 assists, 11 steals, 3 blocks, 28 points in the paint and committed 12 turnovers.
Watkins finished the game 6-16 from the field, 2-4 from three-point range and 8-10 from the free throw line. The Sophomore from Los Angeles had 6 rebounds, 2 steals, 1 block, 1 turnover and committed two fouls. Chloe Moore-McNeil had the assignment on JuJu Watkins and held her to 2 field goals and 8 total points in the first half. Watkins scored 14 points in the second half including a three at the buzzer to end the third quarter. Lexus Bargesser alsdo defended Watkins and Indiana Head Coach Teri Moren praised both of them for their defensive effort. “JuJu had 22 points but we made her work like crazy.” Moren said after the game.
Sydney Parrish led Indiana with 16 points and 10 rebounds for her second double-double of season. Chloe Moore-McNeil added 13 points along with 10 points apiece from Karoline Striplin and Yarden Garzon. Moore-McNeil scored her 1,000th career point becoming the 32nd member of the 1,000-point club. The Hoosiers finished 21-56 from the field for 37%, 8-29 from three-point range for 27% and 16-22 from the field for 72%. Indiana pulled down 35 rebounds, dished out 12 assists, 6 steals, no blocks, 16 points in the paint, 12 bench points and committed 15 turnovers. Teri Moren knows that “Our room for error’s very small. We’ve gotta be so good on so many levels.” As the Hoosiers were not able to close this one out and “We just gotta hit shots. It’s that easy.” Moren added. Karoline Striplin got her first career start as a Hoosier replacing Lilly Meister and Moren said that Striplin will remain in the starting lineup going forward.
USC jumped out to 9-2 lead and Indiana responded with 17-5 run to end the first quarter leading 19-11. Indiana jumped out a 6-0 start to the second quarter to lead 25-11 with 9:07 left in the second quarter. The Trojans erased the 11-point deficit outscoring the Hoosiers 27-7 as the Trojans went into the locker room leading 38-32. Indiana outscored USC 18-13 in the third quarter as JuJu Watkins buried a deep three to beat the 3rd quarter buzzer as the Trojans led 51-50 going into the final ten minutes. USC outscored Indiana 22-16 in the fourth quarter as there 8 lead changes and three times throughout the game.
Fans had this one circled on the calendar since the schedule came out before the season and Coach Moren was pleased with the fan support. “Really great our fans showed up and supported not just us, but women’s basketball today” and USC Head Coach Lindsay Gottlieb who was excited to make her first trip to Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall said it lived up to expectations of what she expected. “What an incredible atmosphere. It was everything I heard it would be.” Lindsay Gottlieb said after the game and was joined by her 2-year-old daughter Reese who told the assembled media that USC won the game while sitting on her mom’s lap at the podium and smiling. USC’s Rayah Marshall said she never experienced a crowd like this in the Pac-12, and it was difficult to communicate at times.
Indiana will head to the Pacific Northwest to take on Oregon Friday and Washington Next Tuesday and the Hoosiers will leave a day earlier to get used to the time change as they make their one trip out west during the season and Trojans will stay in Indiana and travel to Purdue on Wednesday. USC has won all 8 games away from the Galen Center this year
Indiana University Athletics Cuts 25 Positions while citing incoming Revenue Sharing with Student Athletes IU Athletics announced it will be cutting 25 positions in an effort to reduce costs as colleges across the country brace for sharing revenue with student-athletes. As part of the House vs. NCAA antitrust lawsuit settlement, collegiate programs agreed to share up to 22% of revenue with student-athletes. This revenue-sharing program goes into effect on July 1. IU Athletics said $20.5 million has been added to the budget in anticipation of revenue sharing.
After searching for ways to cut costs in preparation for this “new world of intercollegiate athletics,” the decision was made to eliminate 25 positions. Scott Dolson, vice president and director of intercollegiate athletics at Indiana University, explained in an email to staff that the department had been preparing for revenue sharing “for some time” and had meetings in August to trim budgets. Follow-up meetings brought about the “difficult decision” to eliminate the positions. “While I am confident that this is the best long-term interest of our department in this new environment, these types of changes are extraordinarily hard because they impact people who have been a big part of who we are and what we have accomplished,” Dolson said. A statement provided by IU Athletics described the job cuts as “an effort to best position our student-athletes, programs, and department for success in a new world of intercollegiate athletics.”
Chipotle Nationals High School Basketball Tournament is Coming Back to Central Indiana in April The Chipotle Nationals, featuring some of the top high school basketball teams and players in the country, will return to Central Indiana in April. The site this year for the Chipotle Nationals will be Hamilton Southeastern. The event, played last year at Brownsburg, is scheduled for April 3-5. Montverde Academy (Fla.) won both of the boys and girls championships in 2024. Indiana recruit and former Heritage Hills star Trent Sisley is playing this season for Montverde, which is ranked No. 4 in the country by ESPN. Last year, Montverde’s Cooper Flagg, the No. 1 player in the class and now a freshman at Duke, was one of 25 seniors ranked in the top 100 by ESPN who appeared in the event, which is an eight-team field for the boys.
AJ Dybantsa, a BYU commit, is the No. 1 player in the 2025 class. His Utah Prep team, which is coached by former IU standout Keith Smart, is ranked No. 5 in the country by ESPN. Several other teams from last year’s event, including Prolific Prep (Calif.) and Columbus (Fla.) are highly ranked and likely to make the event again. The six-team girls’ tournament also brought several of the country’s top players, including No. 1 ranked Sarah Strong of Grace Christian (NC.), now a freshman at UConn. The field will be announced in March. Tickets will be available at ChipotleNationals.com closer to the event.
The Chipotle Nationals, formerly known as the GEICO High School Basketball Nationals, started in 2009 and moved from Washington D.C. to New York to Florida before landing in Central Indiana last year. Rashid Ghazi, the president of Paragon Marketing Group, said last year the choice to bring the event to Indiana was easy given the state’s basketball history. “We wanted to give the event a fresh start and Indianapolis is obviously a great market,” Ghazi said last year. “We wanted somewhere more centrally located to make for easier travel for fans and teams. That’s the first thing we were looking for. But also looking for a community with elite high school basketball, a strong college fan base and knowledge of recruiting, and one that supports national events coming to town. Given the history hosting the Super Bowl, Final Fours, the Big Ten tournament, the NBA All-Star game, we felt Indianapolis is used to supporting big events. All of those things came into play.”
Indy Ignite are 2-0 on the season after a home win over the Grand Rapids Rise The Indy Ignite showed their tenacious attitude again tonight, posting an impressive sweep of the Grand Rapids Rise, 25-18, 28-26 and 25-16. In front of an excited Fishers Event Center crowd that included WNBA star Caitlin Clark of the Indiana Fever, the Ignite advanced to 2-0 on the 2025 Pro Volleyball Federation season. For the second straight match, outside hitter Leketor Member-Meneh led the charge, this time with 17 kills. The reigning PVF Player of the Week also added two service aces to the cause. Indy’s attack was spread far and wide, with outside hitter Nina Cajic contributing 16 kills, two aces and a block, opposite hitter Azhani Tealer chipping in 10 kills and a block, and setter Sydney Hilley providing 44 assists for the second straight match to go along with a perfect kill percentage (three kills in as many attempts). “We’re kind of gritty, we’re ready to fight whenever it comes down to it, and we’re not going to be just walked on,” Tealer said.
After dropping the first set in their season-opening victory over Orlando on Saturday, the Ignite have now reeled off six straight set wins. Indy broke open the first set tonight by going on an 8-1 run that included two Member-Meneh kills and back-to-back service aces, two kills and a block from Cajic, and a service ace from middle hitter Blake Mohler. “The last match, the first set was a little rough and I felt like we wanted to come out strong,” said middle blocker Caroline “CC” Crawford, who finished with two aces, two kills and a block. “I feel like we did that behind the service line and based on our defense and how gritty we were.”
Grand Rapids, which fell to 0-3, led most of the second set until the Ignite scored three straight points – two on Member-Meneh kills – to draw even at 22-22. The seesaw set battled back and forth from there until, yet another Member-Meneh kill and a Tealer block sealed the 28-26 win. “They were putting up a good fight, which they absolutely should, but we really trusted each other,” Member-Meneh said. “We are in these pressure moments all the time in practice, so we didn’t have to overdo anything; we just had to stick to what we knew, and it ended up working out.” The Ignite took control of the final set with a seven-point run midway through sparked by a trio of Tealer kills. “We’ve been working really hard and tonight it kind of felt more like a well-oiled machine than it has in all the practices leading up to this and last Saturday as well,” Tealer said. “We’re kind of trusting each other, learning how to play with each other and our big guns are showing out and doing what they’re supposed to do.”
Indiana Fever Practice and Training Facility Coming to Downtown Indianapolis before the 2027 WNBA Season A nearly $80 million Indiana Fever practice and training facility is coming to downtown Indianapolis. Pacers Sports & Entertainment on Thursday, Jan. 16, announced plans to break ground this summer on the Indiana Fever Sports Performance Center at the site of the former Marion County Jail property near the intersection of East Maryland and Delaware streets, near Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Construction on the three-story, more than 100,000-square-foot complex is expected to begin in August, and the $78 million facility is scheduled to open prior to the 2027 WNBA season. The organization said the center will be part of the PS&E campus and connected via skybridge to the Virginia Avenue Parking Garage and Gainbridge Fieldhouse. PS&E said project plans are still being finalized, but “the center and amenities will be designed to address the specific needs and female athletes competing at the highest level, including performance and conditioning, recovery and rehabilitation, mental health and wellness, and lifestyle support.”
“We are excited to partner with Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett to identify the perfect location for the Indiana Fever Sports Performance Center,” PS&E Owner Herb Simon said in a statement. “The city of Indianapolis continues to be a tremendous partner as we elevate our team, players and community.” T
These are some of the amenity’s PS&E said will be part of the facility:
- Two regulation-sized basketball courts
- “Premier” strength and conditioning equipment
- A yoga and Pilates area, hydration station and full-service kitchen
- A “spa-like retreat” with massage, infrared light therapy, sauna, steam, heat studios, float tank and hydrotherapy pools
- Private outdoor courtyard and “mental performance spaces”
- A hair and nail salon, child care space and podcast and content production studio
“With the goal of Indianapolis becoming the epicenter of women’s sports, this world-class sports performance center will be the preeminent place for players to train, recover and push their boundaries,” PS&E CEO Mel Raines said. “It’s a game-changer in terms of providing the ultimate player experience, and we can’t wait for our team to reap the benefits of having an exclusive and unparalleled facility designed specifically for them.”
“This elite training center is a reflection of our organization’s ongoing commitment to ensuring that our players have the highest level of resources to be successful,” Indiana Fever President of Basketball and Business Operations Kelly Krauskopf said. “As we look to the future, the focus of creating a first-class player experience designed exclusively for women athletes will set us apart.” For fans, the organization said the facility will offer “exclusive experiences” and a Fever team store, servicing as “a hub for the team to expand their community outreach and engagement efforts.”
“An affiliate of PS&E” will construct the facility on the west half of the former Marion County Jail I site, near East Maryland and Delaware streets. The City of Indianapolis will make an intergovernmental land transfer to the Capitol Improvement Board of Marion County, which will then enter into an operating agreement with the PS&E affiliate. After an operating agreement ends, the complex will be donated to the Capitol Improvement Board. PS&E noted the Pacers and Colts practice facilities are on land owned by the CIB. “Last year, we experienced an unprecedented boom in interest and attention on women’s sports around the world, led in large part by our very own Indiana Fever,” Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett said. “Indianapolis is proud to see this significant investment from Pacers Sports & Entertainment drive further momentum in women’s basketball in our community and continue to elevate our status as a major league sports city.” Shield Sexton will lead construction, with global design firm Populous as the architect of record. The Indiana Fever will tip off the 2025 WNBA season on May 17 against the Chicago Sky.