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Indiana Women’s Basketball Opens Big Ten Play With 30 Point Rout Over Penn State
The 10th ranked Indiana Women’s Basketball team dominated Penn State 70-40 to win the Big Ten Conference Opener Monday night inside Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. The Hoosiers led 18-13 after one quarter and then controlled the final three quarters outscoring the Lady Lions 52-27. Indiana improves to 6-2 on the season and 1-0 in the Big Ten.
All five starters scored in double figures for the Hoosiers led by Mackenzie Holmes 16 Points. Ali Patberg had 15 points, and Nicole Carando-Hillary rebounded from her scoreless game against NC State to score 14 points and added 7 rebounds. Aleska Gulbe scored 11 points and Grace Berger added 10 points. Chloe Moore-McNeil and Kiandra Browne scored 2 points apiece. off of the bench, as well. The Hoosiers were 26-51 for 51 percent, 6-14 from three-point range for 43 percent, and 12-16 from the foul line for 76 percent. IU pulled down 37 rebounds, 13 assists, 9 steals, 6 blocks, and 18 turnovers. Indiana committed just 9 fouls in the game and Lady Lions did not attempt a free throw in the game.
Penn State drops to 4-5 and 0-1 in the Big Ten Conference was led in scoring by Makenna Marisa with 21 Points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists. The Lady Lions have lost 5 in a row. Penn State was 19-56 from the field for 34 percent and 2-16 from downtown for 12 percent. Penn State had 24 rebounds, 10 assists, 8 steals, 3 blocks and committed 22 turnovers. Marisa scored the first 11 points for Penn State in the game as the Lady Lions were leading 11-9 with 3:19 left to go first quarter before the Hoosiers turned up the pressure and controlled the rest of the game. Ali Brigham added 8 points and the rest of the team added a combined 11 points for Penn State.
Indiana is 18-33 all time against Penn State and the Hoosiers have won 5 straight in the series and 9 of the last 10 dating back to 2015. Penn State has lost 5 straight in Bloomington since January 13, 2014 when they beat the Hoosiers 71-63.
Indiana is Back in action this Thursday when they Host Fairfield at 7pm. The Stags are 3-4 on the season and their game Monday night with Sacred Heart was postponed due to a positive COVID-19 test within the Sacred Heart traveling party.
Indiana University Quarterback Michael Penix Jr Enters Transfer Portal
Indiana quarterback Michael Penix has announced he will enter the transfer portal. Penix played in just five games this season after suffering a shoulder injury against Penn State. That was the fourth straight season-ending injury for Penix. Penix threw for 4,197 yards, 29 touchdowns and 15 interceptions in his Indiana career. Coming into 2021, Penix was expected to be one of the top quarterbacks in the country. He was coming off of a 2020 season in which he was named All-Big Ten Second Team, a Davey O’Brien Award Semifinalist, Manning Award Quarterback of the Week (Michigan, Ohio State), named to the Maxwell Award Watch List and honored as Indiana’s Anthony Thompson Most Valuable Player. He led Indiana to a top-10 ranking while throwing for 1,645, 14 touchdowns and just four interceptions before suffering a torn ACL against Maryland. Indiana has junior Jack Tuttle, sophomore Grant Gremel and freshman Donaven McCulley who have in-game starting experience on the roster.
The Hoosiers got news that 2022 three-star quarterback Josh Hoover from Rockwall-Heath high school in Texas has de-committed from Indiana and announced his commitment to TCU, he announced on Monday. Hoover is ranked as the No. 27 quarterback in the Rivals150 class of 2022 rankings. Hoover had an excellent senior season, throwing for 3200+ yards, 40 touchdowns and only 10 interceptions. Good enough to win the 6A District 10 MVP in Texas, beating out tons of high-caliber prospects. Dexter Williams a sophomore is also on the Hoosiers roster but will be returning from a torn ACL he suffered this season. Coach Tom Allen will be look to the transfer portal for a quarterback that could come in and help right away.
Indiana Football Lands Four Transfers For 2022
Indiana Football Coach Tom Allen had busy Sunday as he landed 4 transfers from 3 other programs for the 2022 season. It started with Defensive Lineman Patrick Lucas and LeDarruis Cox from Ole Miss. Next was Linebacker Bradley Jennings Jr from Miami Florida and ended with Wide Receiver Emory Simmons from North Carolina.
Cox and Lucas were both part of the 2019 recruiting class. Cox was ranked as the No. 39 overall defensive tackle while Lucas was ranked as the No. 48 overall defensive tackle. In his career, Cox has totaled six tackles with two quarterback hurries and a fumble recovery. Lucas was recruited by Tom Allen and his staff out of high school. He played in four games as a freshman before tearing his achilles. He has played just sparingly since then but looks to be fully healthy heading into 2022. Both players have multiple years of eligibility remaining and join a recruiting class that is ranked No. 30 in the country.
Jennings is From Jacksonville Florida and the Sandalwood high school linebacker is the son of former Florida State linebacker Bradley Jennings. A three-star recruit coming out of the 2017 class, Jennings was ranked as the No. 35 outside linebacker in the class. Jennings has totaled 68 tackles, 9.5 tackles for loss and three sacks in his Miami career (35 games). His best season was in 2020 when he finished with 39 tackles, 7.5 tackles for loss and all three sacks. This past season, Jennings totaled 14 tackles in eight games. He had six tackles against Alabama and three against Michigan State.
Simmons was originally committed to Indiana in 2018 before ultimately choosing to go to UNC. He will have two years of eligibility remaining. Simmons played three seasons with the Tar Heels and totaled 30 catches for 516 yards. He was expected to play an important part in North Carolina’s season in 2021, but he announced his intention to transfer after five games. He totaled 11 catches for 243 yards and one touchdown this season. The 6-foot-1 wide out will step into a wide receiver room that was hit hard by the transfer portal and graduation for the Hoosiers. IU will lose its top three pass catchers from this season and seven all together.
Purdue Men’s Basketball Is Ranked Number 1 In AP Poll for The First Time Ever
The Purdue Boilermakers Men’s Basketball Program is Ranked Number 1 in the AP Poll for the first time in School History. The Boilermakers take over the top spot in this week’s AP Poll after Duke, who was the top ranked team last week, fell at Ohio State in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge last Wednesday Night
Purdue had been ranked Number 2 under Gene Keady in 1986-87 and 1987-88 and had the second most appearances ranked in the AP Poll at 379 weeks without being ranked Number 1 until that changed this week. Maryland has the most appearances in the AP Poll at 434 weeks without being ranked Number 1.
Purdue is 8-0 and 1-0 in the Big Ten after wins over Florida State 93-65 and Iowa 77-70 at home. Purdue has beaten 18th ranked North Carolina 93-84 and 5th ranked Villanova 80-74 in the Basketball Hall of Fame Tipoff Tournament in Uncasville Connecticut in November. The Boilermakers received all 61 first place votes this week. Baylor, Duke, UCLA and Gonzaga round out the Top 5. Michigan State is ranked 19th, Ohio State is 21st, Wisconsin who plays Indiana at home is ranked 22nd along with Purdue are the four Big Ten teams ranked this week.
Purdue lost to North Texas in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at season ago, returned its top 8 scorers from a season ago. Purdue is winning by an average of 25.8 points per game and the closest game so far is a 7-point win over Iowa last Friday at Mackey Arena. Purdue travels to Rutgers on Thursday Night and plays Sunday against North Carolina State in Brooklyn New York in the Basketball Hall of Fame Invitational.
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