Former Indiana Hoosier Running Back Justice Ellison back with the team in a Support Role After a solid college career, Justice Ellison appeared to have a shot to get some consideration for a role at the professional level. He rushed for 848 yards (5.3 ypc) and 10 scores in his lone season as Hoosier. All together over five seasons, he gained over 3,000 yards from scrimmage and amassed 26 total touchdowns. And with all of that production, an NFL training camp invite didn’t seem out of the question. But at some point, since Indiana’s final game at Notre Dame in mid-December, Ellison decided he’d had enough on the gridiron. So, Ellison picked up the phone and reached out to IU football coach Curt Cignetti. “I think I got a text from him (Ellison) a month, month and a half or so that he was going to be in town, would like to talk,” Cignetti said. “He decided that he was done with football, and he wanted to coach.”
Ellison was regularly a team captain and regarded as a strong voice in the locker room, making him a natural for a coaching role. With the help of IU AD Scott Dolson, Cignetti found a spot for Ellison to stay in Bloomington and move on to the next phase in his football career. “He was one of our leaders last year, and Scott created the opportunity within our organization for him to help us coach as a graduate assistant or a quality control coach,” Cignetti said. “So, he will help Coach (John) Miller with the running backs, and he’ll do a good job.” In 2024 Ellison had a streak of seven-straight games with a rushing touchdown (Week 2-6, 8-9), the longest single-season streak at IU since Tevin Coleman in 2013. He rushed for 100 yards in back-to-back games against Nebraska (105) and Washington (123) and was the first IU running back with back-to-back 100-yard rushing games since Stevie Scott III in 2019.
Now Ellison will be providing guidance to some of his former teammates of a year ago to step into that production, including Kaelon Black, Solomon Vanhorse and Khobie Martin. That trio will join several new faces in the running backs room, including Maryland transfer Roman Hemby, and UAB transfer Lee Beebe, Jr. Although IU lost Ellison and Ty Son Lawton as the two lead backs from 2024, Cignetti likes the potential in the room. “Hemby has got a body of work as a starting football player in the Big Ten conference and has been a good player, both running the football and catching the football,” Cignetti said. “Kaelon Black obviously is a veteran. Lee Beebe had a nice year last year at UAB. Martin, a freshman, I thought showed promise last year, and Vanhorse is back for his eighth year. He was actually the starting running back games 2 through about 6 or 7 my first year at JMU.
2025 IndyStar girls’ High School Basketball Indiana All-Stars named Thirteen players have been selected for the 2025 IndyStar Indiana Girls’ All-Stars, All-Stars game director Mike Broughton announced Friday. Those chosen to the team will play three games in June — one exhibition game against the Indiana Junior All-Stars as well as home-and-home contests against the Kentucky All-Stars. The players comprising 2025 Indiana Girls’ All-Stars, listed alphabetically, are Laila Abdurraqib of Lawrence Central, Addison Baxter of Columbia City, Ella Bobe of South Knox, Addie Bowsman of Twin Lakes, Avery Gordon of Brownsburg, Jacklynn Hosier of Alexandria, Kya Hurt of Lawrence North, Jaylah Lampley of Lawrence Central, Maya Makalusky of Hamilton Southeastern, Monique Mitchell of South Bend Washington, Meredith Tippner of Noblesville, Kaycie Warfel of Pendleton Heights and Brooke Winchester of Warsaw. Bowsman is injured and will not play in the games. The 2025 IndyStar Indiana Miss Basketball will come from among the above players and be announced later.
The ’25 girls’ All-Stars have six players who have been a part of state championship teams (Abdurraqib, 2024 4A; Bobe, 2025 2A; Hurt, 2025 4A; Lampley, 2024 4A; Mitchell, 2022 3A; and Tippner, 2022 4A), four players who were named 2025 IBCA first-team Academic All-State (Baxter, Bobe, Tippner and Warfel) and one player who was chosen 2025 IBCA honorable mention Academic All-State (Gordon). There also are All-Star family ties for two of these players to previous All-Star squads — Hosier’s father, Mickey, was a 1996 All-Star; and Makalusky’s sister, Riley, was a 2023 All-Star. Stacy Mitchell of Warren Central has been named head coach of the 2025 girls’ All-Stars. He will be assisted by Brian Satterfield of Hamilton Southeastern and Kristi Sigler of Jennings County. Mitchell has compiled a 145-84 record in 10 seasons at Warren Central, including the 2018 Class 4A state title. Satterfield is 83-16 in four seasons as the HSE girls’ coach after posting a 322-151 mark in 20 seasons as the HSE boys’ coach. Sigler has a 132-86 ledger in nine seasons at Jennings County.
The Junior-Senior exhibition game is set for June 4 at Greenfield-Central High School. The first game against Kentucky will be June 6 at Lexington Catholic High School. The final game against Kentucky will be June 7 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. All three dates will be doubleheaders with the IndyStar Indiana Boys’ All-Stars, whose roster will be announced later. The roster for the Indiana girls’ Junior All-Stars were announced March 9. The roster for the Indiana boys’ Junior All-Stars will be announced later. The Indiana Junior All-Stars will play two girl-boy doubleheaders this year — June 1 against the Kentucky Junior All-Stars at Charlestown and June 4 against the Indiana seniors at Greenfield-Central.
The Indiana All-Stars program was founded in 1939 when the Indiana Boys All-Stars played the state champion Frankfort Hot Dogs. The series with Kentucky began in 1940, and the girls’ portion of the All-Stars was added in 1976. The Junior All-Stars, boys and girls, were added in 1996. The All-Star senior girls have played Kentucky every year since 1976, except 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The All-Star senior boys have played Kentucky in all but three years since 1940 — 1943 (World War II), 1944 (World War II) and 2020 (COVID-19 pandemic). The Indiana Senior girls lead 55-41 in their series with Kentucky. The Indiana Senior girls lead 41-12 in games against the Indiana Junior girls. The Indiana Junior girls lead 12-1 in their series with Kentucky. The Indiana Senior boys lead 105-46 in their series with Kentucky. The Indiana Senior boys lead 42-11 in games against the Indiana Junior boys. The Indiana Junior boys lead 8-5 in their series with Kentucky.
The third annual IndyStar Indiana All-Star “Futures Games” doubleheader will be June 2 at Fishers High School. The Futures Games will be a girls-boys doubleheader with Indiana-only squads of sophomores and freshmen in a North vs. South format. The Futures Games girls’ rosters were announced March 13. The Futures Games boys’ lineups will be announced later. The South boys lead the North 2-0. The North and South girls’ teams each is 1-1. The Indiana portion of the All-Star Games is organized and produced by the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association. The Indianapolis Star, with its IndyStar brand, is a title sponsor. Hoosier Shooting Academy is a presenting partner of All-Star Week, and Energy Systems Group is a presented partner of the June 8 All-Star doubleheader at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. The IndyStar Indiana All-Star Team is selected through a balloting process of coaches and media overseen by game organizers from the IBCA. The top vote getter will be named Miss Basketball, and the remainder of the team is finalized by Broughton after observing numerous games and events throughout the season, conferring with coaches, school officials and media across the state. Broughton also reviews votes submitted by coaches and media who each could recommend up to 10 players.
Michigan pulls away from Purdue in the second half The #3 seed Michigan Wolverines beat the #6 seed Purdue Boilermakers 86-68 Friday Night in the Quarterfinals of the Big Ten Men’s Basketball Tournament Presented by TIAA at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. Michigan is 23-9 on the season and will face #2 seed Maryland tomorrow at 3:30 PM in the Semifinals. Purdue is 22-12 and will wait till Sunday at 6 PM to hear thier named called for the NCAA Tournament. Danny Wolf ked the Wolverines with 18 points and 11 rebounds. Vlad Goldin scored 15 points and pulled down 8 rebounds. Tre Donaldson scored 13 points and Roddy Gayle Jr added 11 points off the bench. Michigan finished 30-58 from the field for 51 percent, 8-26 from three-point range for 30 percent and 18-22 from free throw line down 81 percent. Michigan pulled down 40 rebounds, dished out 25 assists 3 steals, 3 blocks and committed 6 turnovers.
Trey Kaufman-Renn led Purdue with 24 points and 9 rebounds. Braden Smith scored 12 points and Gicarri Harris added 11 points. Purdue went 22-65 from the field for 33 percent 7-22 from three-point range and 17-22 from the free throw line down 77 percent. Purdue pulled down 34 rebounds, dished out 11 assists 3 steals, 1 block and committed 5 turnovers. Michigan led 40-36 at halftime and outscored the Boilermakers 46-32 in the second half. The game was very physical throughout with Wolf and Goldin getting knocked down but able to return as well as Kaufman-Renn getting tangled up with Goldin a couple times. Michigan ended a three-game losing streak and move on to the semifinals.
Maryland dominates Illinois The #2 seed Maryland Terrapins dominated the #7 seed Illinois Fighting Illini 88-65 Friday night in the Quarterfinals of the Big Ten Men’s Basketball Tournament Presented by TIAA at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. Maryland will play at 3:30 PM in the second semifinal tomorrow against the Purdue and Michigan. Maryland is 25-7 on the season and even though they finished second in the Big Ten Regular Season standings they came to Indianapolis flying under the radar and they let everyone know they are a contender for the Big Ten Tournament Championship. Rodney Rice led the Terps with 26 points, Derik Queen scored 19 points and pulled down 10 rebounds. Jak’kobi Gillespie scored 12 points, Jordan Geronimo scored 11 points off the bench and Julian Reese scored 10 points. Maryland went 30-71 for 42 percent from the field, 11-23 from three-point range for 47 percent and 17-24 from the field for 70 percent. Maryland pulled down 38 rebounds, 19 assists, 12 steals, 5 blocks and only committed 3 turnovers.
Will Riley and Kasparas Jakucionis scored 15 points apiece to Illinois. Jakucionis pulled down 10 rebounds. Kylan Boswell scored 14 points. Illinois went 23-63 from the field for 36 percent, 6-27 from the field and 13-18 from the free throw line for 72 percent. The Fighting Illini pulled down 47 rebounds, dished out 12 assists, 8 blocks, 3 steals and committed 17 turnovers. Illinois is 21-12 on the season. Maryland scored 55 points in the first half and held Illinois to 31 points as the game was tied 2-2 with 17:49 left in the first half. Maryland controlled the second half as Illinois outscored Maryland 34-31 but the three point shooting, controlling the glass and the Terps taking care of the ball made all the difference as Maryland keeps its hopes alive for the Big Ten Tournament Title.
Wisconsin Badgers Bury UCLA Bruins from Beyond the Arc The # 5 Wisconsin Badgers tied a Big Ten Tournament Record by hitting 19 three pointers to beat #4 Seed UCLA Bruins 86-70 in the Quarterfinals of the Big Ten Men’s Basketball tournament presented by TIAA Friday afternoon at Gainrbidge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. The Badgers are 25-8 on the season and will face top seed Michigan State at 1 PM in tomorrow in the Semifinals. UCLA is 22-10 on the season and will be in the NCAA Tournament. Wisconsin went 19-32 from three-point range for 59% which tied the record set by the Iowa Hawkeyes against the Northwestern Wildcats on March 10, 2022. John Tonje scored 26 points going 9-10 from the field, six for six from three-point range and two for three from the free throw line. Tonje pulled down 9 rebounds, 4 assists and a steal. John Blackwell scored 18 points, Kamari McGee scored 14 points off the bench and Steven Crowl scored 13 points.
The Badgers went 30-58 from the field for 51% and 7-13 from the free throw line for 53%. Wisconsin pulled down 40 rebounds, dished out 22 assists, 4 blocks, 2 steals and committed 11 turnovers. Wisconsin is a team that handles the ball well and their ability to knock down a ton of outside shots made a big difference in the game. Sebastian Mack led UCLA with 18 points off the bench as he fouled out with 4:25 left in the game. Kobe Johnson added 14 points. UCLA went 22-68 from the field for 32%, 9-20 from three-point range for 30% and 17-26 from the free throw line for 65%. The Bruins pulled down 40 rebounds, dished out 13 assists, 4 steals, 3 blocks and committed 5 turnovers. UCLA is 4-4 in their last eight games.
Wisconsin led 48-29 at halftime after a flurry of three pointers that extended the lead going into the locker room. The Badgers hit five consecutive three pointers as part of a 15-7 run at the end of the first half. Wisconsin made 12 three pointers in the first half while UCLA had 11 total baskets. UCLA outscored Wisconsin 41-38 in the second half but the Badgers three-point shooting proved too much as UCLA had a rough Big Ten Tournament debut and leave Indianapolis without a win.
Top Seed Michigan State Spartans Fly Past the Oregon Ducks The Top Seed Michigan State Spartans used their quickness to the advantage in a 74-64 win over the #8 seed Oregon Ducks in the Quarterfinals of the Big Ten Men’s Basketball Tournament Presented by TIAA Friday Afternoon at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. Michigan State is 27-5 on the season and will play in the first semifinal tomorrow afternoon at 1 PM against the winner of Wisconsin-UCLA. Oregon who will be in the NCAA Tournament is 24-9 on the season.
Jase Richardson led Michigan State with 17 points, Jaden Akins added 12 points, Jeremy Fears Jr. added 11 points and Coen Carr who is known for his high-flying dunks added 10 points off the bench and had 2 dunks and missed out that could have brought the entire crowd to their feet. Fears did a great job on Oregon guard Jackson Shelstad who was held to 8 points, 2 rebounds and an assist. Michigan State finished 25-54 from the field down 46 percent 7-15 from three-point range down 48 percent and 17-29 from the free throw line for 58 percent. The Spartans pulled down 36 rebounds, 13 assists, 7 steals, no blocks and committed 12 turnovers.
Nate Bittle led Oregon with 22 points and 11 rebounds. TJ Bamba scored 11 points as Shelstad went 4-11 from the field and 0-5 from three-point range. Oregon went 25-53 from the field for 47 percent, 4-19 from three-point range for 21 percent and 10-14 from free throw line down 71 percent. The Ducks pulled down 29 rebounds, 10 assists, 4 steals, 2 blocks and committed 15 turnovers. Michigan State jumped out to an 8-0 lead as Bittle for the Ducks on the board with 17:03 left in the first half. Oregon got within one 12-11 with 13:36 left in the first half. Supreme Cook tied the game at 15-15 with 11:48 left hitting two free throws. TJ Bamba gave the Ducks its first lead of the game at the 11:21 mark leading 17-15. Jaden Akins three pointer gave the Spartans the lead at 18-17 with 10:48 left in the first half.
The Ducks tied the game twice 22-22 and 24-24 as Brandon Angel hit a free throw with 7:35 left to give Oregon a 25-24 lead. Coen Carr hit a three pointer as Spartans retook the lead 27-25 with 7:18 left. Michigan. State by one point at 31-30 with 3:52 left in the first half when the Spartans outscored the Ducks 11-2 to end the half leading 42-32 at the break. Oregon opened the half on a 6-0 run as the Ducks got within one point 44-43 with 15:36 left in the second half. Michigan State went on a 15-0 run and led 59-43 with 10:51 left in the game. Oregon got within 10 points 64-54 with 5:07 left but got no close than 7 points the rest of the way as the Big Ten Regular Season Champion Michigan State is on to the Semifinals tomorrow afternoon as both teams scored 32 points in the second half.