Indiana University Football to Face Alabama in the Rose Bowl after the Crimson Tide take down Oklahoma Indiana football’s Rose Bowl matchup is set. The top-seeded Hoosiers will take on No. 9 seed Alabama in Pasadena, Calif. on New Year’s Day in the College Football Playoff quarterfinals. The Crimson Tide took down No. 8 Oklahoma, 34-24, on Friday night in Norman, Okla. in the CFP first round. Alabama (11-3) trailed 17-0 early in the second quarter but scored 24 unanswered points to flip the game around. Oklahoma (10-3) lost its lead by halftime, and then recorded only 27 yards of offense against the Tide defense in the third quarter. OU won this matchup in the regular season in Tuscaloosa, Ala., but Alabama got revenge with much more at stake.
This will be the first-ever meeting between IU and Alabama. But the programs do have some connections. Crimson Tide head coach Kalen DeBoer served as IU’s offensive coordinator under Tom Allen in 2019. Defensive coordinator Kane Wommack spent 2018-2020 in Bloomington, coaching linebackers for all three with added defensive coordinator duties in the last two seasons. Defensive backs coach Jason Jones was IU’s safeties coach from 2020-2022. Co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Nick Sheridan was Indiana’s quarterbacks coach from 2017-18, tight ends coach in 2019, and offensive coordinator and QB coach from 2020-21. Director of Sports Performance David Ballou spent two years at IU before going to Alabama in 2020. This is Indiana’s second Rose Bowl berth, but the Crimson Tide are regulars in Pasadena. This will be their ninth Rose Bowl appearance, and they’ve amassed a 5-2-1 record in the prestigious game. Alabama last played in “The Granddaddy of Them All” in January 2024 in the CFP semifinals, ultimately losing to eventual national champions Michigan.
Tale of Two Halves for Indiana University Men’s Basketball in their Win over Chicago State The Indiana Hoosiers were lights out in the first half and struggled in the second half as they controlled the Chicago State Cougars 78-58 Saturday Afternoon at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. Indiana led start to finish to improve to 9-3 overall and 8-0 at home and have a quick turnaround as they face the Siena Saints on Monday evening at 6 PM in their final non-conference game of the season as they restart Big Ten Conference Play on January 4, hosting the Washington Huskies. The Hoosiers jumped out to a 5-0 lead as Conor Enright drove the middle of lane with a great pass to Sam Alexis for the slam dunk 12 seconds into game. Lamar Wilkerson picked up where he left off after his 44-point performance against Penn State 11 days ago knocking down back-to-back three pointers as the Hoosiers were on fire in the first half.
The Hoosiers were 18-22 from the field for 56%, 14-26 from three-point range for 53% and 2-2 from the free throw line in the first half as the Hoosiers led 56-29 at halftime. Lamar Wilkerson and Nick Dorn were a combined 9-15 from three-point range as the pair scored 27 points in the first half as Wilkerson had 15 and Dorn had 12. The Hoosiers had 20 Rebounds, 17 Assists, 5 Turnovers, 2 Blocks, 2 Steals and 21 Bench Points. Indiana struggled in the second half as the Hoosiers missed 16 straight three pointers to start the second half before Nick Dorn knocked down a triple with 8;24 left in the game. The Hoosiers were 1-20 from beyond the arc for 5%, 8-30 from the field for 26% and 9-16 from the free throw line 56% in the second half. Indiana finished the game 26-62 for 42% from the field, 15-46 from three-point range for 32% and 11-18 from the free throw line for 61%.
Lamar Wilkerson led the Hoosiers with 21 points; Reed Bailey added 17 points and 8 rebounds, and Nick Dorn added 15 points along with 6 points from Trent Sisley as the Hoosiers scored 38 points off the bench. Indiana pulled down 44 rebounds, dished out 24 assists, 6 steals, 3 blocks and 13 turnovers. Indiana had several stretches where they did not score a point and finished the final three minutes and twenty-nine seconds without a field goal. Tayton Conerway scored his 1,000th career point as the Burleson, Texas Native scored 5 points. Conerway started his career at Ranger Junior College in Texas before playing at Troy University in Alabama and now playing is one and only season in Bloomington.
Chicago State is 2-11 on the season and 1-10 on the road. Lionel Larvardian III led the Cougars with 12 points and CJ Ray added 11 points. The Cougars finished the game 24-66 from the field for 36%, 4-20 from three-point range for 20% and a perfect 6-6 from the free throw line. In the first half Chicago State was 13-34 from the field from 38%, 2-10 from three-point range for 20% and 1-1 from the free throw line. The Cougars pulled down 14 Rebounds, 4 Assists 3 Turnovers, 3 Steals and 18 Bench Points in the first half. Chicago State were 11-32 from the field for 34%, 2-10 from three-point range for 20% and 5-5 from the free throw line in the second half. Chicago State pulled down 19 rebounds, 3 assists, 5 steals and 6 turnovers.
Chicago State is in the Northeast Conference and play a very heavy road schedule in the non-conference season. The Cougars have been in Division 1 since 1985 and have been in 5 different conferences and an Independent on two occasions in 42 years at this level. The Cougars are 310-891 all-time and have had three winning seasons in 1984-85, 1985-86 and 2008-09. Chicago State played in the 2013 College Insider.com tournament losing their opening round game Illinois-Chicago 80-69 and the 2024 College Basketball Invitational beating UC San Diego 77-75 in the first round and losing to Fairfield 77-74 in the second round. The Cougars are not afraid to play anyone, and it shows in the non-conference schedule every year as they have already traveled to Minnesota, Iowa and Indiana. This was the fifth all-time meeting between the two programs all at Simon Sjkodt Assembly Hall and Indiana has won all five as Chicago State held the Hoosiers to least number of points in the series. The Hoosiers won 90-69 on November 11, 2006, 97-59 on December 29, 2007, 100-72 on November 8, 2013, and 104-55 on November 6, 2018.
The Hoosiers will face a tough Siena team who comes to Bloomington with a record of 9-3 and 3-2 away from their campus in Albany, New York. Indiana is a live by the three, die by the three-point shooting team and if it was not for the for the hot shooting first half the Hoosiers could have had really bad second half but when you lead by 27 points at halftime and still win by 20 points even though they were outscored by three in the second half. It will remind this team that a win is a win, but they still have a lot of work to do, and a short amount of time do it another game coming up Monday Night before a long holiday break before Big Ten play starts after the new year.
Indiana University Women’s Basketball takes on Western Carolina in Final Non-Conference Game The Indiana Hoosiers return to action this afternoon at 1 PM when they host the Western Carolina Catamounts in the final conference game of the season at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall with the game streaming on Big Ten Network Plus. This is the third of a five game homestand for the Hoosiers who are 10-2 on the season and fought off a scrappy Eastern Michigan squad 74-67 last Sunday afternoon. Indiana is shorthanded and it took a a major hit when Valentyna Kadlecova announced she is leaving the team to return home to her native Czech Republic to pursue a career in professional basketball. The 6-0 Sophomore from Kadan played 11 games as freshman averaging 3.5 minutes scoring 16 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal and 2 turnovers. In her sophomore season she started the first two games of the season before Freshman Maya Makalusky replaced her in the starting lineup against Louisiana Monroe. Kadlecova scored 55 points, pulled down 21 rebounds, 6 steals 5 assists, 3 blocks and 6 turnovers Averaging 21.7 minutes per game.
In her year and half in Bloomington Kadlecova appeared 22 games with 10 starts scoring 75 points, 25 rebounds, 7 steals, 6 assists, 3 blocks and 8 turnovers. Kadlecova missed the Eastern Michigan game due to what Head Coach Teri Moren called “Personal Reasons” and it was announced on Monday that she is no longer with program. The loss of Kadlecova leaves Indiana with 11 available players for the rest of the season with Redshirt Freshman Sydney Fenn out for the season with a knee injury. The Hoosier front court is really thin with Zania Socka-Nguemen missing the last five games due to a lower leg injury and is likely to miss this game and Coach Moren said that they hope to get her back after the Christmas Holiday. Faith Wiseman has played 7 games averaging 4.4 minutes per game but has been out the last two games after took a shot to her jaw in practice before the Louisiana Monroe game.
Junior Jade Ondineme has played in 6 games and averaging 3.8 minutes per game. Ondineme saw her first action in Florida over the Thanksgiving Holiday after not playing in the first five games of the season after Junior College Transfer from France would possibly Redshirt this season but that was not the case with the Hoosiers short-handed up front. Head Coach Teri Moren has had to rotate players in and out and even play them out of their normal positions on the court to fill in the gaps. Edessa Noyan is leading the Hoosiers with 5.1 rebounds and 0.5 blocks per game. The Junior from Sweden has started the last five games averaging 5.8 points per game and making the most of her opportunity in the starting lineup and Coach Moren praised her after last Sunday’s game especially learning on defensive end after she played zone defense when she at the University of Virginia and now playing man to man defense with Indiana. Maya Makalusky is averaging 5.8 points and 2.9 rebounds and has started to find her rhythm from beyond the arc knocking down 8 triples in the last two games. Shay Ciezki leads the Hoosiers with 24.9 points and 1.4 steals per game. Lenee Beaumont is averaging 15.2 points, 4.8 rebounds and a team leading 3.3 assists per game. Indiana is averaging 75.8 points, 13.2 assists and commit 13.9 turnovers per game. The Hoosiers shoot 48 percent from the field, 37 percent from three-point range and 78 percent from the free throw line.
Western Carolina is 2-10 on the season and have lost 10 straight after starting the year 2-0 with wins over Virginia Lynchburg 99-58 and Tusculum 86-45. The Catamounts Lost to Oklahoma 95-32, Wake Forest 60-49, Clemson 77-44, Temple 84-64, Campbell 66-54, UNC Asheville 67-50, West Georgia 69-60, South Carolina Upstate 55-44, Queens University 71-64 and Gardner-Webb 77-62. This is the first time that the Catamounts will make the trip to Bloomington for the first ever meeting between the two programs. Ally Holifield leads the team with 11.7 points, 3.9 assists and 2.1 steals per game. Taj Hunter averages 11.4 points per game, Ary Dizon averages 9.2 points, and less the team with 4.8 rebounds and 1.9 blocks per game. It will be homecoming for Scottsburg, Indiana native Ellie Richardson who is a 5-8 freshman and a 2025 Indiana All-Star representing Scottsburg High School. Richardson played the first three games of the season averaging 8.3 points, 3.7 rebounds and 4 assists averaging 25.7 minutes per game
Western Carolina averages 59 points, 11.7 assists and commits 20 turnovers per game. The Catamounts shoot 35 percent from the field, 29 percent from three-point range and 69 percent from the free throw line. The Catamounts have a 13-player roster with 6 from the state of North Carolina while the rest of the team represents Georgia, Virginia, Florida, California and Indiana. There are 2 Seniors, 4 Juniors, 2 Sophomores and 5 Freshman on the team. Head Coach Jonathan Tsipis is in his second year at Western Carolina with a 15-27 record after he was 13-17 in his first season. The 53-year-old who was born in Cleveland, Ohio and Attended the University of North Carolina is 157-164 in 11 seasons overall as a Head Coach. Tsipis coached at George Washington with a 92-38 record in 4 years with back-to-back NCAA Tournament Appearances in 2015 and 2016 WNIT Third Round in 2014. Tsipis came to Big Ten when he coached at the University of Wisconsin for five seasons from 2017-21 with a record of 50-99 and no winning seasons. Tsipis was the Men’s assistant coach at Campbell from1996-99 Le Moyne from 1999-2000 and Elon 2000-03. Tsipis spent time in Indiana as the Women’s assistant coach at Notre Dame 2003-12 and was an advisor for scouting and Analytics at Marquette from 2022-24. The Hoosiers will open Big Ten Play after the Christmas Holiday hosting Minnesota and Michigan State. Indiana is going to need a healthy Zania Socka-Nguemen for the conference season and Coach Moren will keep getting the most out her players. Indiana had a week off to take care final exams and hopefully the time away from court has helped take care of some of injuries that this team has battles to far this season.
Indiana University Rowing Unveils the 2026 Spring Schedule Indiana rowing publicized its 2026 schedule on Friday, a slate featuring five regattas, two hosted at the Dale England Rowing Center on Lake Lemon. IU will open the new year with a winer training trip in Tampa, Fla. The season officially begins March 14-15 in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, at the Oak Ridge Invitational, where the Hoosiers will face several challenging programs. Indiana will remain in Oak Ridge for a spring break training trip from March 16-21 before a scrimmage with Tennessee and Iowa that Saturday, March 21. Two weekends later, Indiana will travel to Columbus, Ohio, for a two-day double dual April 3-4 featuring host Ohio State, Harvard, North Carolina and UCF. Indiana will host its first of two home regattas on Thursday, April 9, when Texas – 2025’s NCAA third-place finisher – comes to town. IU will welcome Michigan State and Tulsa for the 17th Annual Dale England Cup on May 2, looking to win its signature home regatta for a ninth consecutive season. The Big Ten Rowing Championships return to Indianapolis May 16-17. Indiana is eyeing for a fourth consecutive trip to the NCAA Rowing Championships, with this year’s regatta set for May 29-31 in Gainesville, Georgia.
Indiana University Athletics Honors its 2025 Winter Graduates The Indiana Department of Intercollegiate Athletics honored 12 student-athlete graduates on Friday, December 19, upon commencement from Indiana University. “On behalf of IU Athletics, I want to congratulate our remarkable student-athletes graduating this December,” said IU Vice President and Director of Athletics Scott Dolson. “Your dedication in the classroom and in competition embodies the spirit of Indiana University. Earning an IU degree is a profound achievement that sets the foundation for a lifetime of success. We are incredibly proud of your hard work and honored to call you alumni.”
Indiana Student-Athletes Eligible for Graduation in December 2025 Football
Aden Cannon
Omar Cooper, Jr.
Bray Lynch
J’mari Monette
Tyler Morris
Holden Staes
Tyrique Tucker
Andrew Turvy
Men’s Soccer
Jack Wagoner
Women’s Soccer
Jaelyn Pallas
Sarah Sirdah
Volleyball
Candela Alonso Corcelles
Indiana University Baseball Names Matt Meyers as Pitching Coach Matt Myers, a longtime leader at the collegiate and professional level, was announced as Assistant Coach/Pitching Coach on Friday morning. Head coach Jeff Mercer made the hire official as he completes his coaching staff for the 2026 season. Myers will take over the reins of IU’s pitching staff following the departure of Dustin Glant to the professional ranks. Most recently, Myers served as the pitching coach for the Greensboro Grasshoppers, the High-A affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates. In 2025, his staff tossed two perfect games within nine days. The Greensboro coaching staff was announced as the organization’s Staff of the Year in October. “Matt brings a wealth of experience from his time in Division One baseball. He has spent eight years as a head coach and most recently completed a successful stint in professional baseball with the Pittsburgh Pirates organization,” Mercer said. “Matt and I have been friends for over 10 years, having coached together at Western Kentucky. His values align with our program philosophy of personal relationships and player development. He has a great ability to communicate and align people. His enthusiasm and relentless optimism is infectious and I’m confident will serve our team well.”
The California native is a longtime veteran of the game with stints as a head coach and a pitching coach. He pitched at three colleges in the mid-1990’s, finishing his playing career with Tennessee from 1996-97. After his playing days were over, he began his coaching tenure as a graduate assistant at Tennessee. His first full-time role came with UNC-Asheville in 2000. The next year, he became one of the youngest head coaches in Division One with the Bulldogs. Myers spent eight seasons as a head coach – four at UNC-Asheville and four at Western Kentucky. He was the 2003 Big South Coach of the Year. The veteran coach also spent time as a pitching coach with Auburn (2005-07), Western Kentucky (2008-11), UNC Wilmington (2019-2021) and Lipscomb (2022-23) before accepting the job in the Pirates’ organization.
During the 2012 and 2013 season at Western Kentucky, Myers served as the head coach while Mercer played the role of assistant coach. In his career, 20 different pitchers have been selected in the MLB Draft under his watch. At Lipscomb, he guided Logan Van Treeck to ASUN Pitcher of the Year honors in 2023 after completing an 8-5 season with 108 strikeouts to just 14 walks. After coaching at Western Kentucky, Myers stayed in town and became the head coach at Bowling Green High School (2016-18). He coached the Purples to a 76-35 overall record across three seasons at the prep ranks. While in Bowling Green, Myers helped guide his son, Carson, to consecutive appearances in the Little League World Series (2015, 2016). Carson went on to pitch at UAB and Auburn and signed with the Blue Jays last summer.
While at UNC-Wilmington, Myers helped the pitching staff break a single-season program record for strikeouts (557) and opponent batting average (.228) in 2019. He helped the Seahawks to the CAA Tournament title in his first season and a spot in the NCAA Chapel Hill Regional. Myers rounds out Mercer’s 2026 coaching staff. Assistant coaches Zach Weatherford and Denton Sagerman will join them in the dugout this season. Former IU player Morgan Colopy will serve as the program’s Director of Operations. The Hoosiers’ season will begin in February of 2026.
Matt Myers Coaching Journey
2024-2025 – Greensboro Grasshoppers (High A – Pittsburgh Pirates) (Pitching Coach)
2022-2023 – Lipscomb (Assistant Coach)
2019-2021 – UNC Wilmington (Assistant Coach)
2016-2018 – Bowling Green High School (Head Coach)
2012-2015 – Western Kentucky (Head Coach)
2008-2011 – Western Kentucky (Assistant Coach)
2005-2007 – Auburn (Assistant Coach)
2001-2004 – UNC Asheville (Head Coach)
2000 – UNC Asheville (Assistant Coach)
1999 – Tennessee (Graduate Assistant)