#13 Michigan State Diminishes Indiana University Men’s Basketball’s NCAA Hopes with a 13 Point Home Loss The #13 Michigan State Spartans led wire to wire to beat the Indiana Hoosiers 77-64 Sunday afternoon at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. The Spartans sweep the Hoosiers after an 81-60 win in East Lansing on January 13. Michigan State is 24-5 on the season and 14-4 in the Big Ten and will host Rutgers on Thursday and travel to Michigan on Sunday in the final two games of the regular season. Michigan State has won four in a row and five of the last six. Indiana is 17-12 on the season and 8-10 in the Big Ten. The Hoosiers have dropped four in a row and three of those games by double digits. The Hoosiers hosts Minnesota on Wednesday at 6:30 PM and travel to Ohio State at 5:30 PM. Time is running out for the Hoosiers to make their case for the NCAA Tournament after a bad home lost to Northwestern Last Tuesday and Indiana can’t afford to be swept by Minnesota who is 7-11 in the conference and beat the Hoosier in Minneapolis in early December.
Jaxon Kohler and Jeremy Fears Jr. led the Spartans with 21 points apiece and Kur Teng added 18 points hitting 6-8 from three-point range. The Spartans were 25-51 from the field for 49% 12-24 from three-point range for 50% and 15-19 from the free throw line for 79%. Michigan State had 35 rebounds with 13 from Jaxon Kohler for his 12th double-double of the season and 14th game with double figure rebounds. The Spartans had 15 assists, 3 blocks, 2 steals and 9 turnovers. Michigan State scored 22 points off its bench, 20 points in the paint, 12 second chance points, 10 points off turnovers and 7 fastbreak points. Coen Carr who is known for his high-flying dunks was held to 6 points and had 1 dunk and missed two others all on allyoops.
Lamar Wilkerson scored 29 points and Tucker DeVries added 20 as they combined for 49 of the Hoosiers 64 points. Sam Alexis added 8 points, Nick Dorn scored 4 points, and Conor Enright scored 3 points. Jasai Miles, Reed Bailey and Tayton Conerway all played but did not score. Indiana went 22-56 from the field for 39%, 10-35 from three-point range for 28% and 10-13 from the free throw line for 77%. Indiana had 27 rebounds, 8 assists, 4 steals, 3 blocks and 7 turnovers. The Hoosiers scored 24 points in the paint, 14 points off turnovers. 8 second chance points, 2 fastbreak points and no points off the bench. When only two players scored most of the points for the Hoosiers and nobody else was able to score it makes it for a long day and when at times the Hoosiers settling for outside shots when they were not falling made the Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall crowd restless.
Michigan State scored the first four points of the game and Indiana responded with a Tucker DeVries three pointer with 18:25 left in the first half. Michigan State led 11-5 with 16:08 left in the first half as Jaxon Kohler scored 9 of the Spartans 11 points in that stretch. Kur Teng took over as he drilled four three pointers and increased the Spartans lead and the Hoosiers could not get over the hump the entire game. Michigan State led 45-37 at halftime with 14 points from Kohler and 12 from Teng as the Spartans were 7-13 from downtown in the first half for 53% and 10-11 from the free throw line for 91%. Indiana had 13 first half points from Tucker DeVries and 10 from Lamar Wilkerson as the Hoosiers were 11-28 from the field for 39%, 6-20 from three-point range for 30% and 9-11 from the free throw line for 81%. Wilkerson and DeVries scored 26 of 27 second half points for the Hoosiers with Sam Alexis hitting a free throw. Michigan State scored 32 in the second half and Michigan State ends a two-game losing streak in Bloomington as the Hoosiers won have four the last five meetings against the Spartans in Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.
Indiana is 2-11 against Quad 1 Teams, 3-1 against Quad 2, 5-0 against Quad 3 and 7-0 against Quad 4 teams. The Hoosiers are 38th in the net ranking, 52.0 in resume average, 36.1 in quality average and 47th wins against the bubble all metrics that the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee uses to determine the 68 teams for the NCAA Tournament which will include 31 Automatic Conference Championship Bids and 37 At-Large Bids. The Hoosiers still have chances left with 2 regular season games left and at least one conference tournament game but if the Hoosiers are going to get into the tournament they need to win both regular season games and make a deep run in the Big Ten Tournament but it is going to be challenge for this Hoosier Team that has been inconsistent all season long.
Edgewood Girls Gymnastics Sends Three Individuals to the Franklin Central Regional Edgewood gymnastics has had some mighty big leaps this year. And thanks to new rules for IHSAA postseason advancement, took four more at Friday’s Franklin Central Sectional. At the last meet of the regular season, the Mustangs, the only team competing in Monroe County this season, recorded a program record 99.2 in a met at Seymour. They hoped to use that as a springboard into the postseason. “We had a good season and a great meet that meet,” Edgewood coach Hana Dodds said. “We were gearing up with a lot of mid-season upgrades, and it was awesome to see them step up and do our skills and train harder on those skills to get ready for sectionals.”
Edgewood fell just short in the team standings at the sectional as Columbus North (104.75), Noblesville (104.0) and Roncalli (103.575) took the top three advancing spots. Edgewood was fifth at 96.825. But in addition to the top six in each individual category (vault, beam, bars, floor and all-around), the IHSAA will also take the next three gymnasts not on one of the advancing teams. That opened the door for three Mustangs to compete at next Friday’s Franklin Central Regional, the first qualifiers since all-arounder Alexis Ware in 2019-20, the first two years Edgewood competed after reviving a program that was dropped in the 1980s.
Freshman Miley Burks has led the way this season and did so again at sectional, taking 12th in the all-around at 32.175 to earn the last qualifying spot. She was also ninth on bars (7.875) to qualify in that event as well. “(She) has been a team staple this year,” Dodds said. “She is very consistent with her scores all season. She works hard in the gym and is probably our MVP this year. “She just has a strong work ethic that’s proven to be good for her. She’s competing some harder skills she didn’t have coming in.” Also going is junior captain Nerissa Zelhoff-Arriaga, who took seventh in the vault (8.525), and Mona Theis, who tied for 10th on bars. Zelhoff-Arriaga was just behind Burks in the all-around standings at 32.175.
“Nerissa has been putting in a consistent vault and floor for us,” Dodds said. “That’s been fun to watch. She’s also doing harder skills on floor.” Dodds said vault and floor were the team’s strengths this season and vault is where the Mustangs scored highest at 25.075. They had a 24.6 on floor where lone senior Bella Carson had the high score of 8.425 to tie for 17th. “We’ve got some good tumbling and power vaults,” Dodds said. “The girls have done a good job controlling their landings and not getting minor deductions. “We’ve struggled on beam and bar. They’re just our weaker events. Miley was competing a new skill on beam the last three meets and scoring well.” Greta Vagedes had Edgewood’s top beam performance, placing 20th at 8.05.
Indiana University Softball Closes Weekend with Run Rule Against UNC Greensboro Indiana had no letup in its final game of the weekend, defeating UNC Greensboro, 10-1, in five innings on Sunday. The Hoosiers went 5-0 on the weekend in the Elon & UNCG Tournament and have won six games in a row for a 16-4 start to the season. Indiana jumped out to an early 6-0 lead in the top of the first. It started with an RBI single to center field from Avery Parker. Ellie Goins and Hannah Haberstroh had back-to-back base hits to the left side of the field that brought a combined four runs across and made it a 5-0 game.
Cassidy Kettleman hit a single up the middle to score Haberstroh in the last score of the frame. In the top of the second, Josie Bird’s 2-run home run to left center pushed the lead to 8-0. UNC Greensboro got on the board when Jazmin Meija doubled, and Hadley Gardner scored in the bottom of the second to make it an 8-1 score. Indiana pushed the score to run rule territory in the top of the fourth. Madalyn Strader doubled off the top of the center field wall to bring Jada Ellison home. Goins grounded out to shortstop, but it brought home Strader to finalize the score at 10-1.
Indiana outscored its opponents on the weekend, 59-3. Each of the Hoosiers’ five wins this weekend came from a different starting pitcher. Bird’s home run was her sixth of the season. Six different Hoosiers recorded an RBI: Goins (3), Bird (2), Haberstroh (2), Parker (1), Strader (1), Kettleman (1). Ella Troutt only allowed three hits and one run in 4.0 innings of work to pick up the win. Indiana will be return to play when it hosts Minnesota for its first home weekend and Big Ten series of the season from March 6-8 at Andy Mohr Field.
Indiana University Athletic Director Scott Dolson Invited to Washington D.C. for College Sports Roundtable The future of college sports has been a hot topic for the past few years. Yahoo! Sports first reported on Thursday that President Donald Trump is gathering over three dozen sports figures to come together for a roundtable discussion on college sports on Friday, including Indiana University Athletic Director Scott Dolson. IU confirmed to the South-Central Indiana News Network on Saturday that Dolson has been invited to the White House for the “Saving College Sports Roundtable.” Trump is reported to be serving as chair of the roundtable, with vice chairs Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida, and Randy Levine, the president of the New York Yankees.
Dolson will be surrounded by some of the biggest names in sports and business at the roundtable event. The lists of invitees include the likes of NBA commissioner Adam Silver; millionaire businessmen like David Blitzer, Marc Ganis and Gerry Cardinale; Heisman winners Tim Tebow and Charlie Ward; pro golfers such as Tiger Woods and Bryson DeChambeau; and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Yahoo! Sports has also reported that numerous media executives from FOX and ESPN are expected to have received invitations.
The current landscape of college athletics is sure to be one of the conversations had with the introduction of name, image and likeness (NIL) rules and the transfer portal being open. IU football seems to have taken advantage of the recent rule changes as they went from being the losingest team in history to being the first 16-0 CFP Champion in just head coach Curt Cignetti’s second season at the helm. Only time can tell what the future holds for college sports now.
Former Indiana University Men’s Basketball Player and 1976 Champion Bobby Wilkerson to be Honored by his Hometown of Anderson, Indiana 1976 set the bar – and Bobby Wilkerson will never forget this team or his coach, the late Bobby Knight. “He was a good coach because he wanted perfection. He preached it. He used to cuss me out and sit me down. I changed my attitude and I’m going to make him love me. I’m gonna make him have to start me,” said Wilkerson. Wilkerson started on the historic 1976 Indiana University men’s basketball team, which, 50 years later—with its undefeated season and NCAA championship win—holds the record to beat. “They’ll never do it in my lifetime because with the portal now, kids are leaving. We were there the whole time. We stuck together. We made a commitment and that has to be an intentional thing,” Wilkerson said.
Wilkerson, a native son of Madison County, launched into hoops history with his plays at Madison Heights High School. “It’s the discipline – kids don’t play basketball like they used to. They want to be on the AAU team. They want to score. They want to shoot threes. It’s the little things, that’s what Coach Knight was so great about.” The player’s prowess at IU would propel his NBA career and then his return to Anderson, where he committed himself to youth and community. I met with Wilkerson and his band of brothers as they looked for ways to highlight his career and civic achievements. They reached out to me for help.
At Anderson City Hall, I was welcomed into the office of Mayor Thomas Broderick Junior. The city has a rich history of achievers from baseball great Carl Erskine to singers like the Gaithers. Mayor Broderick said his city has an abundance of people who have excelled in their profession. He also said that, after an internal review, he agrees Wilkerson is worthy of recognition. Before that happens, the mayor said his office assigns someone to review the merit of the request from their accomplishment to how they’ve helped make Anderson a better place to call home.
“Bobby is a great sports figure—he is someone we do want to recognize,” said Mayor Broderick. “We have a lot of people we can look to say and say these folks excelled, we are proud of them.” Wilkerson, a giant in height and the history of his sport, is a game changer, a dream maker. A versatile player whose victories are for the ages. “Anderson, Indiana, means a lot, because this is home,” stated Wilkerson. The Mayor of Anderson is preparing a memorialization of one of the city streets to honor Wilkerson. His office is waiting for some paperwork and the event should happen at the end of March.
#8 Purdue Men’s Basketball Drops Second Straight Game after Falling at Ohio State John Mobley Jr. scored 21 points to lead Ohio State to an 82-74 win over No. 8 Purdue on Sunday. A crowd that included a loud contingent of Boilermakers fans watched the Buckeyes revive their fading NCAA Tournament hopes and beat Purdue for the third time in a row. Purdue (22-7, 12-6 Big Ten) led by as many as seven in the first half, but Ohio State (18-11, 10-8) used a 14-3 run to open up a 23-19 lead on Amare Bynum’s 3-pointer with 6:44 to go. The Buckeyes led by five at the half despite Purdue making 8 of 14 from 3-point range, a deficit Ohio State made up at the free-throw line. The Buckeyes made 8 of 11 from the charity stripe while Purdue was 1 for 2. Ohio State took a 16-point lead on a pair of free throws by Devin Royal with 7:41 to go in the second half.
Purdue went on a 12-2 run to get within six, but Bynum hit a 3-pointer and Royal added a put-back slam to stop the bleeding and put the Buckeyes back up 11. The Boilermakers got to within six again with 31 seconds left, but Bruce Thornton made a pair of free throws to give the hosts some breathing room. Thornton finished with 20 points while Bynum added 14 points and Royal finished with 12. Braden Smith scored 20 to lead Purdue while Fletcher Loyer added 15. Trey Kaufman-Renn had 19 points and was Purdue’s main offensive weapon in the second half as the Boilermakers went cold from the outside. They were 3 for 15 from beyond the arc in the second half, including one by Loyer just before the buzzer after OSU fans had started to celebrate. Purdue remains on the road at Northwestern on Wednesday.
Indiana Fever’s Alliyah Boston to miss the rest of the Unrivaled Postseason with Injury Top-seed Phantom BC will be missing star Aliyah Boston for the rest of Unrivaled’s postseason as the post player is out with a right lower-extremity injury. Boston, who was the 3-on-3 league’s Defensive Player of the Year, helped Phantom to the No. 1 seed in the playoffs. The team had a bye to the semifinal’s matchup against No. 6 seed Vinyl that will be played tonight in New York. She averaged 18.9 points, 9.7 rebounds and 2.1 blocks for Phantom this season. Boston was the WNBA Rookie of the Year in 2023. Phantom also will be missing Dana Evans, who has played in only one game this year. The two players will be replaced by Aziaha James and Makayla Timpson. Boston was selected for the U.S. women’s national team that will compete in Puerto Rico later this month in the FIBA World Cup qualifier. The Americans will have a training camp in Miami next weekend.