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Indiana Men’s Basketball Wins at Maryland
Indiana Men’s Basketball wins at Maryland for First Time since 1934. The Hoosiers win Saturday Afternoon with a 68-55 win over the Terrapins. Going into Saturday’s game IU was 0-4 in College Park since Maryland joined the Big Ten in the 2014-15 season. Indiana is 16-5 overall and 7-4 in the Big Ten and IU has won 2 in a row on the road. Maryland drops 11-10 overall and 3-7 overall. Indiana Leads the All-Time series 10-8.
Race Thompson led the Hoosiers with 18 points pulled down 12 rebounds along with steal and a block Thompson has hit five of his last six pointers. Thompson matched his season high of 18 points for second straight game. Trayce Jackson-Davis added 17 points and 9 rebounds. Xavier Johnson 8 Points and 9 Assists. Indiana was 26-60 from the field for 43 percent, 6-20 from three-point range for 30 percent and 10-14 from the free throw line for 71 percent. Indiana pulled down 39 rebounds, 17 assists, 6 blocks, 6 steals, and committed 10 turnovers.
Khristian Lander saw his first action since December 22 against Northern Kentucky. Lander played 11 minutes, scored 5 points hitting both shots he took including a three pointer and added an assist. The Hoosiers had 19 points off the bench with Trey Galloway scoring 8 and Jordan Geronimo adding 6 points along 8 rebounds, 2 blocks and a steal. Miller Kopp had 6 points knocking down two three pointers. Guard Rob Phinisee made the trip, getting around on a scooter to stay off his injured right foot. Battling plantar fasciitis, he also wore a boot to take off the pressure. His status remains day to day.
Maryland was led by Hakim Hart with 15 points, Fatts Russell added 12 points along with 12 from big man Qudus Wahab. The Terps shot just 29 percent from the field. They were 6-for-27 from three-point range and committed 10 turnovers that Indiana converted into 15 points. IU was especially effective against Maryland’s two best players, guards Eric Ayala and Fatts Russell. They were a combined 5-for-24 from the field for 18 points with Ayala scoring 6 points. Maryland was 16-56 from the field for 28 percent, 22 percent from three-point range and 17-18 from the free throw line for 94 percent. Maryland pulled down 39 rebounds,11 assists, 4 steals, 13 turnovers, and did not block a shot.
Indiana will host Illinois Saturday at Noon on either ESPN or ESPN2. The Illini 15-5 overall and 8-2 in the Big Ten. Illinois beat Northwestern 59-56 on the road Saturday afternoon and host Wisconsin Wednesday Night at 9pm before heading to Bloomington this weekend.
Indiana Women’s Basketball Travels to Michigan
For the first time in 15 days Indiana Women’s basketball be back in action when the 6th ranked Hoosiers take on the 7th ranked Michigan Wolverines in Ann Arbor Michigan in a nationally televised showdown on ESPN2. The Hoosiers have not played since January 16th when the won at Purdue 73-68 in overtime. Indiana has had their last three games postponed due to COVID-19 protocols. The Hoosiers have 8 scheduled game left and could play an additional four games that have been postponed in this final month of the regular season.
The Hoosiers leading scorer Mackenzie Holmes is out due to a knee injury she suffered in practice in early January she averages 17.9 points and 8.2 rebounds. Grace Berger is averaging 15.1 points, Ali Patberg at 12.3 points, Aleksa Gulbe at 11.5 and Nicole Cardano-Hillary at 10.9 Streaks are on the line in Ann Arbor for Indiana as it comes in having won its last nine-straight games this season and 15-straight Big Ten games dating back to Jan. 4, 2020. In addition, its 12-game road win streak is the second longest in the nation and also dates back to Jan. 2020. The win at Purdue extended IU’s best Big Ten start in school history at 6-0. Its previous record was a 4-0 start in the 2019-20 season. Defense continues to be the name of the game for the Hoosiers, who hold teams to a league leading 57.8 points per game this season. No opponent has scored over 70 points this season and have defeated three Big Ten foes by 20 points or more.
Michigan is on a six-game win streak heading into tonight’s matchup after sweeping the yearly series with Ohio State on Thursday. Michigan is 18-2 overall and 9-1 in the Big Ten. They are led by senior forward Naz Hillmon’s 20.2 points and 8.9 rebounds per game. Senior guard Leigha Brown from Auburn Indiana adds 15.1 points per game while senior guard and Noblesville Indiana native Emily Kiser adds 10.3 points per game. The Wolverines average 73.6 points per game and shoot 46.0 percent from the floor. Michigan has 5 players from the state of Indiana. Junior Guard Maddie Nolan from Zionsville averages 9.3 points. Carmel Native Amy Dilk averages points per game. Dilk returned January 4 at Nebraska after a knee injury against IUPUI November 9 kept her out of action. Freshman Ari Wiggins from Heritage Christian HS in Indianapolis has played 15 games off the bench. Wiggins has played 113 minutes, scored 9 points and has 8 steals.
Indiana leads the series 47-29 and the Hoosiers won the last matchup 70-65 in Bloomington February 18, 2021. Kim Barnes Arico is in her 9th season at Michigan with a 210-104 record and 480-130 in 26 years overall. Indiana Head Coach Teri Moren is 162-82 in 8th season in Bloomington and is 361-212 in 19 seasons overall.
Notre Dame Men’s Basketball beats Virginia 69-65
Notre Dame Men’s Basketball beat Virginia 69-65 in Purcell Pavilion at the Joyce Center Saturday evening. The Irish is 14-6 overall and 7-2 in the ACC and are 9-0 at home. Virginia is 12-9 and 6-5 in the ACC. It was the first home win for the Irish against Virginia, the Cavaliers have won the pervious 6 meetings in South Bend. Virginia leads the all-time series 16-3 with the only other two Irish wins coming at neutral sites. It was Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey’s second win all time against Virginia Head Coach Tony Bennett in 13 meetings
Notre Dame had 4 players in double figures with Nate Laszewski and Dane Goodwin had 16 points each. Blake Wesley and Paul Atkinson Jr added 14 points each. The Irish hit 10 three pointers in the game and kept the Cavaliers off the boards in the 2nd half. Virginia controlled the offensive glass 12-4 and 39-26 overall. Notre Dame led for 31:42, Virginia led for 3:21 with 1 lead change and 3 ties.
Virginia had 4 players in double figures with Jaylen Gardner scoring 22 points and adding 10 rebounds. 7-1 Francisco Caffaro scored 11 points and pulled down 12 rebounds and was hard to stop inside buckets and boards. Reece Beekman added 13 Points and Kihei Clark scored 12 points. Indianapolis Cathedral grad Armaan Franklin who started his career at IU before he transferred in the offseason started and played 31 minutes. Franklin was 2-11 from the field and 1-5 from three-point range for 5 points. Franklin had 4 rebounds, 2 assists, a steal, a block, a foul and 3 turnovers.
Notre Dame Hosts Duke tonight at 7pm while Virginia Host Boston College tomorrow night at 6 PM.
Ball State Men’s Volleyball Upsets Number 1 Hawai’i
In front of a large home crowd Saturday night in Worthen Arena, the Number 15 Ball State men’s volleyball team managed to pull off the 3-0 sweep over the Number 1 team in the country and the 2021 defending national champions Hawai’i. With the win, the Cardinals remain undefeated with a 4-0 record this season, while the Rainbow Warriors drop to a 4-1 ledger. The win marked Ball State’s first over a No. 1 ranked team since 1995 when the Cardinals upset UCLA on March 3 in three sets in Springfield, Missouri.
It was a star-studded night for Ball State as senior outside attacker Kaleb Jenness led offensively with 19 kills and a .467 hitting percentage off of 30 swings. Graduate senior Angelos Mandilaris had another great performance with 14 kills, while graduate senior setter Quinn Isaacson dished out 40 assists. As a team, Ball State ended the night hitting .410 from the floor off 78 attacks. It was a long three-set match with many rallies that consisted of 23 ties and eight lead changes, though Ball State was in control for most of the match.
The Cardinals used a .517 hitting percentage off 29 attempts to take set one from Hawai’i. The Rainbow Warriors struggled offensively, turning in a .194 hitting percentage of 31 attacks and only 11 kills. After a back-and-forth first set, Ball State ran out to a 19-15 lead after a Hawai’i hitting error. The advantage then quickly grew to 23-17 that came off a kill from Jenness. The Cardinals went on to win the set 25-20. Sets two and three mimicked each other as both teams played very close to one another. But it was the Cardinals’ consistency throughout the night that carried them past the Rainbow Warriors towards the end of each frame. Jenness and Mandilaris came through in some clutch moments allowing Ball State to take the upper hand over Hawai’i.
All-in-all, it was a great team effort for the Cardinals tonight, turning in an impressive performance over a team they haven’t defeated since January 13, 2011. The #15 Ball State men’s volleyball team and No. 1 Hawai’i will face off yet again this evening in Worthen Arena. First serve is at 7pm.
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