Today’s Local Sports Headlines are brought to us by . . .
Second ranked NC State beats sixth ranked Indiana Women’s Basketball 66-58
The second ranked NC State Wolfpack beat the 6th ranked Indiana Hoosiers 66-58 in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge in front of 5,242 at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall Thursday night. NC State leads the all-time series 5-1 and is 2-0 all time in Bloomington. The Hoosiers led 23-21 at halftime as the Wolfpack controlled second half leading 38-34 after three quarters and outscored the Hoosiers 28-24 in the fourth quarter to put it away.
The Hoosiers held NC State’s best player Elissa Cunane to 11 points and 7 rebounds, Cunane fouled out with 1:04 left in the game. Kayla Jones scored all 15 of her points in the 2nd half and pulled down 11 rebounds for a double-double. Maryland Transfer Diamond Johnson led the way with 19 points off the bench and Rainia Perez added 13 for the 7-1 Wolfpack. NC State shot 23-55 from the field for 48 percent, 6-17 from three-point land for 35 percent and 14-17 from the free throw line for 82.4 percent. The Wolfpack pulled down 43 rebounds, 11 assists, 5 steals, 4 blocks and had 16 turnovers.
Indiana was led in scoring by Mackenzie Holmes with 24 points. Ali Patberg and Grace Berger added 10 points apiece and those three players scored 44 of the teams 58 points. Aleska Gulbe and Chloe Moore-McNeil scored 6 points apiece while Kiandra Browne added 2 points. Indiana struggled from the field 22-65 for 33 percent, 7-24 from three-point land for 29 percent, 7-10 for 70 percent from the free throw line. The Hoosiers had 35 rebounds, 12 assists, 7 steals, 3 blocks, and 13 turnovers. Nicole Cardano-Hillary went scoreless going 0-10 from the field and 0-6 from downtown.
The Hoosiers are 5-2 on the season and open up Big Ten Conference play on Monday night at 6pm when they host the Penn State Nittany Lions and the game is televised on the Big Ten Network.
Indiana Men’s Basketball host Nebraska to open Big Ten play
The Indiana Men’s Basketball Team will host the Nebraska Cornhuskers tomorrow at Noon inside Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall in the Big Ten Conference Opener. Indiana comes in 6-1 after a 112-100 double overtime loss Tuesday at Syracuse in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge and averaging 82.1 points per game. Trayce Jackson-Davis has scored 74 points in the last two games. Jackson-Davis has led the team in scoring 5 of the 7 games, rebounds 3 times and assists twice this season. He averages a team high 22.0 points per game, 8.9 rebounds and 3.7 blocks per game. Xavier Johnson is averaging 10.7 points per game and leads the team in assists at 4.8 per game. Miller Kopp is coming off a career high 28 points at Syracuse is averaging 10.1 points per game. Race Thompson is coming off a double-double at Syracuse is averaging 9.9 points and is the team leader with 1.4 steals per game and Parker Stewart is averaging 8.6 points per game to round out Indiana’s starting five.
Nebraska is 5-3 on the season and coming off a 104-100 four overtime loss at NC State Wednesday Night in the Big Ten Challenge. The Cornhuskers were led in scoring by Alonzo Verge with 27 points, Freshman Bryce McGowens scored 24 points and pulled down 9 rebounds. McGowens leads the team in scoring at 18.5 and rebounds with 7.1 per game. Verge is the team leader in assists at 5.9 and steals at 1.6 while Derrick Walker leads the team in blocks with 1.5. Verge is averaging 15.0 points per game and Walker is averaging 10.1 points per game.
This game could be another high scoring game with the Cornhuskers averaging 80 points per game. Indiana leads the all-time series 16-7 and the Hoosiers have won the last four meetings. Nebraska joined the Big Ten Conference in the 2011-12 season and Indiana has won 8 of the 14 matchups. The Huskers last won in this series January 14, 2019 in Bloomington 66-51.
Fred Hoiberg is the head coach at Nebraska. He is 134-104 overall in 8 seasons. Hoiberg was the coach at his alma mater Iowa State from 2010-15 led the Cyclones to 4 NCAA Tournaments with a 115-56 record. Since arriving at Nebraska in 2019 he has struggled with 19-48 record in his 3rd season and winning just 5 Big Ten Games. Hoiberg is no stranger to Indiana as he played for the Pacers for four seasons from 1995-99 and was drafted by the team in 1995 with 52nd overall pick after playing college ball for Iowa State 1991-95. Hoiberg played for 10 seasons in the NBA with Indiana, Chicago Minnesota and was a great three-point shooter in his playing days. Hoiberg Coached the Chicago Bulls from 2015-2018. He is nicknamed the “Mayor” because he obtained several write in votes during the 1993 Ames Iowa Mayoral Race.
Ball State Women’s Volleyball opens NCAA Tournament play with Michigan
The Ball State Women’s Volleyball Team will open the NCAA Tournament this afternoon when they play the Michigan Wolverines at 4 PM at L&N Federal Credit Union Arena in Louisville Kentucky. Ball State won the Mid-American Conference Tournament Championship at home and got the Conference’s Automatic Bid to the tournament. Ball State is making its 10th NCAA Tournament Appearance. The Cardinals are 2-9 all time in the NCAA Tournament and looking to advance to the second round for the 3rd time in school history. The Cardinals only tournament wins came in 1994 when they won at Illinois 3-2 and in 1995 when they beat Loyola Chicago 3-0 at home.
Ball State is 29-3 on the season and this is the first time since 2019 they have made the NCAA Tournament. The Cardinals Lost to Nebraska 3-0 in the first round that season. Kelli Miller-Phillips is in her 6th season as head coach with 107-63 record. Miller-Phillips graduated from Muncie Central in 2005 and won 2 state championships as player before going on the Purdue and playing from 2005-08.
Michigan received an at large big to the NCAA Tournament with a 18-11 record and 11-9 Big Ten Record as the Wolverines finished 8th in the conference. One Name that will be familiar to Ball State fans is junior defensive specialist Amber Beals whose father Greg was the head baseball coach of the Cardinals from 2003-10 and coach Brad Miller the brother of Volleyball head coach Kelli Miller-Phillips from 2003-06.
This will be the 4th all time meeting between Michigan and Ball State with Michigan winning all three meetings. The last time these two programs met was September 10, 2017, when Michigan won 3-1 at the Colorado State Tournament. Illinois-Chicago 20-11 and Number 1 overall seed Louisville 28-0 will meet at 7pm this evening with winners meeting tomorrow night at 6 PM in second round
Indianapolis Colts face Houston Texans on the Road
The Indianapolis Colts are back in action Sunday at 1 PM on CBS when they Travel to Face the Houston Texans. The Colts beat the Texans at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis 31-3 in Week 6. Indianapolis is 6-6 after a 38-31 home loss on Sunday to the defending Super Bowl Champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Carson Wentz has thrown for 2,790 yards with 21 touchdown passes, five interceptions and ran for 1 touchdown. Jonathan Taylor has rushed for 1,205 yards and 14 touchdowns while Nyhiem Hines has touchdowns on the season. Michael Pittman Jr leads the Colts receivers 805 yards and 5 touchdowns. Houston has struggled with a 2-9 record and just 1-4 at home. Houston beat Jacksonville 37-21 at home to open the season and won at Tennessee win in week 11 22-13. The Texans by quarterback Davis Mills who has thrown for 1,357 yards, 7 touchdowns and 8 interceptions. Running Back Mark Ingram II has 294 yards and 1 touchdown in just 7 games played. Brandin Cooks is the Texans leading receiver with 794 yards and 1 touchdown.
The Colts will have their bye week December 12th and will not have under Sunday game until January 2nd, when they play Las Vegas at home. The Colts host New England on Saturday December 18th and travel to Arizona Saturday December 25th.
For more local news . . .
Check out our archived episodes of What’s Happenin’ and Talkin’ Sports with Nick Jenkinson here!