Indiana’s NCAA Tournament Hopes go up in Flames in a Home Loss to Northwestern The Northwestern Wildcats knocked off the Indiana Hoosiers Tuesday Night 72-68 in Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. Northwestern has won six straight in the series which is the first time in the history of the series and it’s the first time in program history the Wildcats have beaten any Big Ten team six straight times. Chris Collins has a 5-5 record against Indiana in Bloomington as the Wildcats have won four in a row in Bloomington which is a program record and Collins is 11-8 overall against Indiana and he has third most wins of any active Big Ten Coach in Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall behind Purdue’s Matt Painter and Michigan State’s Tom Izzo. Northwestern is 12-16 overall and 4-13 in the Big Ten and they are home for the next two games against Oregon and Purdue and will travel to Minnesota for the regular season finale. Indiana is now 17-11 overall and 8-9 in the Big Ten. The Hoosiers could not afford to lose this game and now their chance for the NCAA Tournament will take a major hit as this will be considered a bad loss. The Hoosiers the Host Michigan State and Minnesota at Ohio State to close out the regular season. The Hoosiers have lost three in a row after being blown out at Illinois and Purdue by a combined 49 points. Indiana led 42-33 at halftime and the Wildcats outscored the Hoosiers 39-26 in the second half.
Nick Martinelli led Northwestern with 28 points and recorded his 40th career game with 20 or more points. The Senior scored 21 of his 28 in the second half and finished the game 12-21 from the field, 1-3 from the three-point line and 3-4 from the free throw line. Jake West scored 16 points and Arrinten Page added 10 points off the bench. Northwestern finished 26-54 from the field for 48%, 6-13 from three-point range for 46% and 14-18 from the free throw line for 77%. The Wildcats had 34 rebounds, 15 assists, 4 steals, 3 blocks and 9 turnovers. The Wildcats scored 26 points in the paint, 19 bench points, 14 points off turnovers, 12 second chance points and 5 fastbreak points. Lamar Wilkerson scored 18 points to lead Indiana and 14 points from Tayton Conerway off the bench. Sam Alexis scored 13 points, and Tucker DeVries scored 11 points. The Hoosiers were 23-50 from the field for 46%, 10-28 from three-point range for 36% and 12-14 from the free throw line for 85%. Indiana had 23 rebounds, 18 assists, 3 steals, 2 blocks and 10 turnovers. Indiana scored 24 points in the paint, 18 bench points, 9 points off turnovers, 1 second chance point and no fastbreak points.
Wilkerson was 5-8 from the field and 4-7 from three-point range in the first half for 14 points but he was held to four points in the second half as the Hoosiers made two of their last 15 shots from the field and at one point during that stretch, they missed 11 in a row. Tucker Devries had a chance to tie the game at 71-71 as he was fouled on the three-point shot but no call was made and Northwestern sealed the game with an Arrinten Page free throw with one second left to win by four and leave Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall with just their sixth win against the Hoosiers and 39 defeats. Indiana leads the all-time series 120-58 which is the most wins against any Big Ten Conference opponent.
After the game Tucker DeVries and Lamar Wilkerson were devastated as the Hoosiers let one slip away when asked about the foul DeVries said He said he couldn’t see it. I mean, that’s his explanation. That’s all I can give you. I thought it was a foul. It’s part of the game. That’s all I’m going to give.” Wilkerson knows that this hurts the Hoosiers’ chances for the tournament and knows that the Hoosiers gave the game away. “It’s just one-on-ones that hurt, man. This was what our resume was — this hurt our resume. Now we must try to go get these next ones and put our focus towards that. Ultimately, man, shouldn’t have come down to the ref. We shouldn’t have put the ref in the position to make that call. When we were up, we shouldn’t have got comfortable. We just got to do better, man. We just got to do better.” Lamar Wilkerson said after the game.
Indiana Head Coach Darian DeVries did not have a lot to say about the no foul call at the end of the game. “Yeah, it’s a tough play. It happens fast. You know, that’s just what it is.” Indiana now must get ready for Michigan State on Sunday and put this one behind them. “Yeah, I mean, it was a tough loss. We have a big home stand here. This was the first game of it. We’re at that point in the year where games have become very meaningful and it was an opportunity. We certainly wanted to get started off on the front of the home stand with a good note. You know, it didn’t happen, so there is still — like I told them, we must make sure that we put it away. We got a big game on Sunday and then we got to come ready to go. It’s a very good Michigan State team. We’re going to have to really look in the mirror a little bit and get some things figured out before we play again on Sunday” DeVries said after the game.
Indiana still has opportunities in front of them but now the road gets tougher to make the Big Dance with a couple of very bad losses on the resume. Indiana has struggled to put together a complete game especially in Big Ten play and their lack of a true post player has showed up big time getting outrebounded in most games. Northwestern had nothing to lose and Coach Chris Collins does a great job with he has to work it even though the season is not going the way he wanted but the Wildcats might have burst the NCAA Tournament Bubble of the Hoosiers.
Indiana University Women’s Basketball Travels to Rutgers with a Spot in the Big Ten Tournament at Stake The Indiana Hoosiers hit the road for one last time in the regular season as they take on the Rutgers Scarlet Knights in Jersey Mike’s Arena in Piscataway, New Jersey tonight at 7 PM with the game streamed on Big Ten Network Plus. Indiana and Purdue are tied for 14th place in the Big Ten Standings with a 4-12 conference record as the team split the season series with both winning on their respective home courts. The Hoosiers win tonight and they will clinch a spot in the Big Ten Tournament next week in Indianapolis with one regular season game left on Saturday afternoon when the Hoosiers host Penn State. The top 15 make the Big Ten Tournament and the bottom three teams will stay home. Penn State is 3-13 and hosts USC tonight at 6 PM. Northwestern, who is 2-14 will travel to Maryland tonight at 6:30 PM and host Purdue on Sunday afternoon at 3 PM as the Wildcats must win out to have any chance of getting in and Indiana and Purdue lose out as the Boilermakers host Oregon tonight at 7 PM. Rutgers is 1-15 and already been eliminated but the Scarlet Knights can play spoiler to the Hoosiers with a win tonight.
Indiana is 15-13 on the season and has won four of the last six games. Indiana beat Oregon 72-65 Sunday Afternoon as Shay Ciezki eclipsed the 1,000-point mark for her Indiana Career as she scored 20 points to lead the Hoosiers past the Ducks. Ciezki becomes the 34th player at Indiana to accomplish the feat and has 1,013 points as a Hoosier and 1,770 points in her career playing two seasons at Penn State. Ciezki became the 11th player under Head Coach Teri Moren to reach 1,000 points. Ciezki is averaging a team leading 23.1 points per game along with 1.5 steals per game. Ciezki has scored 624 points this season and currently sixth all time behind Karna Abram, Mackenize Holmes and Tyra Buss on the list. Ciezki could move up to number 3 on the list with a big game tonight. She is two points behind Karna Abram who scored 626 in 1986-87, nine points behind Mackenize Holmes who scored 633 points in 2023-24 and 18 points behind Abram who scored 642 points in 1984-85. Mackenize Holmes is second with 692 points in 2022-23 and Tyra Buss who scored 763 points in 2017-18.
Lenee Beaumont is averaging 13.5 points and team leading 3.1 assists per game. Edessa Noyan scored 18 points and 8 rebounds against Oregon on Sunday. Noyan is averaging 5.5 points per game along with a team leading 5.3 rebounds and 0.3 blocks per game. Indiana is averaging 70.8 points, 12.4 rebounds and 15.6 turnovers per game. The Hoosiers shoot 47% from the field, 37% from three-point range and 79% from the free throw line. Rutgers is 9-18 overall and their only Conference win came on January 18 at Penn State 76-72 and since the Scarlet Knights have dropped nine in a row including an 87-78 home loss to Penn State on Saturday afternoon. Rutgers started the season 8-4 and since a 54-45 home win against Lafayette on December 20, the Scarlet Knights have dropped 13 of the last 14 games.
Nene Ndiaye leads Rutgers with 15 points and 1.5 steals per game. Imani Lester averages 11.3 points and along with a team leading 5.6 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game. Zachara Perkins averages 10.7 points and Faith Blackstone averages 10.2 points per game Kaylah Ivey leads the Scarlet Knights with 3.7 assists per game. Rutgers averages 58 points, 11.7 assists and 16.7 turnovers per game. The Scarlet Knights are shooting 36% from the field, 29% from three-point range and 66% from the free throw line. Rutgers has a 13-player roster that represents New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Maryland, North Carolina, New York, Texas, Georgia and Senegal. There are 4 Seniors, 5 Juniors, 2 Sophomores and 2 Freshmen on the team for head coach Coquese Washington. Indiana leads the all-time series 9-6 as the Hoosiers won the last meeting 81-60 in Bloomington on February 2,2025. The Hoosiers have won six straight in the series as the streak began during the 2019-20. Indiana needs to win and they will be playing in Indianapolis next week during the Big Ten Tournament which did not look likely a few weeks ago, but the Hoosiers have continued to be resilient and stay the course to make the postseason.
Indiana University Women’s Golf Takes Ninth at the Chevron Collegiate The Indiana women’s golf team finished ninth overall and shot an 873 (294-286-293; +9) at the Chevron Collegiate played at the Golf Club of Houston on Monday and Tuesday. The tournament field featured 10 teams ranked inside the top 50 of the latest Scoreboard rankings, which included the 39th-ranked Hoosiers. Indiana finished one stroke ahead of No. 11 Mississippi State (874; +10). Senior Madison Dabagia turned in the lowest Hoosier scorecard at 218 (77-71-70; +2). She carded nine birdies across the three-round event. Redshirt junior Sheridan Clancy played five birdies and shot a 219 (74-71-74; +3).
Junior Katie Poots converted a team-best 11 birdies to shoot a 220 (72-74-74; +4). Redshirt senior Maddie May signed for a 221 (73-73-75; +5) with 10 birdies, which included five in the second round. Freshman Saia Rampersaud played a 224 (75-71-78; +8) with eight birdies. Her second-round 71 (-1) marked a career-low round for the Durham Academy graduate. Indiana will continue spring play at the Augusta Valspar Invitational. The two-day event will be played from March 14-15 at the Forest Hills Country Club in Augusta, Ga.
#3 Indiana University Men’s Swimming and Diving Eyes a Fifth Straight Big Ten Title Indiana men’s swimming and diving is once again the favorite to win at the 2026 Big Ten Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships this week inside the Soderholm Family Aquatic Center on the campus of the University of Wisconsin. The meet kicks off this evening at 5 p.m. ET with the 200-yard medley and 800-yard freestyle relays before three full days of action Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Preliminaries will begin each of the final three days at 11 a.m. ET, setting up for finals each evening at 6 p.m. Fans can watch the meet via the B1G+ digital platform. Indiana is the highest-ranked group in the conference, holding steady at No. 3 in the CSCAA poll since November. They will go up against No. 11 Ohio State, No. 12 Michigan, No. 15 USC, No. 19 Northwestern, No. 24 Wisconsin, Minnesota, Penn State and Purdue.
IU captured its 31st and fourth consecutive Big Ten title in 2025 with a 431-point gap ahead of the field – the largest margin of victory in conference history. Over the four-day meet, the Hoosiers won 11 Big Ten Championships, earned 26 medals, set three Big Ten records and six meet records. Then-junior Owen McDonald was named the Big Ten Swimmer of the Championships after sweeping his individual events: the 100-yard backstroke, 200-yard backstroke and 200-yard IM. McDonald and sophomore Miroslav Knedla both return after finishing first and second, respectively in both the 100-yard backstroke and 200-yard backstroke. Sophomore Raekwon Noel can add further depth in the events, holding top five times in the Big Ten in both distances as well as the 100-yard butterfly.
Indiana won’t be able to replicate its unprecedented dominance in the breaststroke events last season – winning the top five positions in the 100 breast and the top four positions in the 200 breast – after losing all six of the contributing swimmers to graduation, but there is still plenty to be excited for at “Breaststroke U.” Sophomore Alexei Avakov ranks No. 3 in the 100 breast this season with a 51.34, and freshmen Noah Cakir and Josh Bey each have top five times in the 200 breast.
This year, Indiana can assert its dominance in the distance events. Senior and two-time reigning NCAA 1,650 freestyle champion Zalán Sárkány owns the conference’s top times in that event (14:23.85 – just 2.56 off his Big Ten record time) and the 500 free (4:09.57). IU owns the Big Ten’s three best times in the 1,650 free between Sárkány, sophomore Luke Whitlock (14:37.47) and freshman Luke Ellis (14:45.59). Whitlock also has the fourth-best 500 free (4:11.82) this season, behind Sárkány and classmate Aaron Shackell (4:11.14).
Despite graduating two national champion divers in Quinn Henninger and Carson Tyler, the Hoosiers can still make a difference in the well. Sophomore Joshua Sollenberger has been one of the best springboard divers this season, and the 2024 NCAA runner-up on platform, senior Maxwell Weinrich, is the man to beat on the final day. Boasting high-performing talent and depth, Indiana is the top seed in four of the five relays. IU ranks No. 3 in the conference in the 800-yard freestyle relay, though its time (6:13.01) sits within eight tenths of Ohio State’s mark (6:12.23).
Taylor University Women’s Indoor Track and Field Collects 11 All-Crossroads League Awards The Crossroads League formally announced its 2026 Women’s Indoor Track and Field All-League honors on Monday, following the league’s indoor championships on February 20 and 21. Taylor picked up 11 total All-CL honors from five events, with nine student-athletes being recognized. Jaynie Halterman and Malarie Pinwar each earned multiple All-CL nods, with Kennedy Applegate, Noel Bass, Catey Campbell, Nicole Domene, Addie Draper, Emersyn Funk and Marlina Howell also receiving the honor. All-Crossroads League honors are awarded to any student-athlete who placed top-three in an individual event, or a relay at the CL Championships.
Taylor Women’s Indoor Track and Field All-Crossroads League Performers
Kennedy Applegate | 4×800-Meter Relay
Noel Bass | 5,000-Meters
Catey Campbell | 4×800-Meter Relay
Nicole Domene | Distance-Medley Relay
Addie Draper | 4×800-Meter Relay
Emersyn Funk | Distance-Medley Relay
Jaynie Halterman | 3,000-Meters (Champion), Distance-Medley Relay
Marlina Howell | 4×800-Meter Relay
Malarie Pinwar | Mile, Distance-Medley Relay
Taylor University Men Earn 11 All-League Honors for Indoor Track and Field The Crossroads League announced its 2026 Men’s Indoor Track and Field All-League honors on Monday, following the conclusion of the league’s indoor championships on February 20 and 21. Taylor grabbed 11 total All-CL honors from five events, with nine student-athletes being recognized. Nathan Burns and Joel Mumaw each garnered multiple All-CL awards, with Orlando Chatwell, Josh Forbes, Ryan Hanak, Luke Harber, Wade Jones, Bryce Noble and Jared Stayte also receiving the honor. All-Crossroads League honors are awarded to any student-athlete who placed top-three in an individual event, or relay at the CL Championships.
Taylor Men’s Indoor Track and Field All-Crossroads League Performers Nathan Burns | 3,000-Meters (Champion), Distance-Medley Relay Orlando Chatwell | Distance-Medley Relay Josh Forbes | Pole Vault Ryan Hanak | 3,000-Meters Luke Harber | 3,000-Meters Wade Jones | 200-Meters Joel Mumaw | Mile, Distance-Medley Relay Bryce Noble | Distance-Medley Relay Jared Stayte | Mile
Taylor Trojans Sweep Crossroads League Baseball Awards for the Second Straight Week For the second week in a row, No. 9 Taylor (12-1) swept the Crossroads League Baseball Pitcher and Player of the Week awards, with Brody Fine and Luke Sutter recognized by the league office on Monday. Fine, a senior from Lafayette, Indiana, continued his dominant start to the 2026 campaign, whiffing a career-high 10 batters and allowing just one hit and one walk in five innings against Madonna. The right-hander pieced together five consecutive strikeouts twice in the home opener. Fine took the win on the bump, improving to 3-0 on the season with a 0.95 ERA and 0.84 WHIP.
Sutter, a junior from Centerville, Ohio, powered the Trojans to a series win over Madonna by hitting .385 with two home runs, both of which were delivered in the rubber match of the series. Sutter, who has reached base safely in all 13 games, finished with eight runs scored and crossed the plate multiple times in all three contests. The outfielder is hitting .375 with eight RBIs during an active five-game hitting streak. TU has already garnered 49 Crossroads League, WHAC and MSFA Player-of-the-Week awards, and six NAIA National Athlete-of-the-Week honors. Fine picked up his first career CL Pitcher of the Week recognition while Sutter earned the second CL Player of the Week award of his career. No. 9 Taylor returns to action this weekend, with the Crossroads League opener against Grace moved from Thursday, Feb. 26 to Friday, Feb. 27 at 1 p.m. at Winterholter Field. The teams will complete the four-game series with Saturday’s doubleheader in Winona Lake as scheduled.