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Indiana Men’s Basketball holds off Minnesota
Indiana Men’s Basketball held off Minnesota 84-79 Sunday evening at Williams Arena in Minneapolis. The Hoosiers led by as many as 20 points before the Golden Gophers mounted a huge comeback that fell short. Indiana is now 18-10 overall and 9-9 in the Big Ten and keep their NCAA Tournament hopes alive. Minnesota is now 13-14 overall and 4-14 in the Big Ten.
Indiana was led in scoring with 24 points from Xavier Johnson, Trayce Jackson-Davis added 14 points, and Miller Koop and Jordan Geronimo added 10 points each. Guard Rob Phinisse returned after missing 7 games with a foot injury, he played 9 minutes and scored 8 points. Race Thompson returned to his home state and scored 8 points. Parker Stewart and Tamar Bates scored 5 points each while Michael Durr did not score in 4 minutes of action. The Hoosiers shot 55% from the field and hit 10 three-pointers along with 14-20 from the foul line for 70%.
Minnesota was led by Payton Willis with 28 points including 7 three pointers. E.J. Stephens added 14 Points, Jwhile amison Battle and Sean Sutherlin scored 13 points each. Minnesota hit 14 three pointers, shot 46 % from the field and were 11-14 from the foul line for 78%.
Indiana will host Rutgers on Wednesday night at 7pm in the final regular season game at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.
Indiana Men’s Swimming and Diving wins Big Ten Championship
The Hoosiers are back on top of the Big Ten. After a two-year gap, the Indiana men’s swimming and diving team is again the Big Ten Champion for the fourth time in six years and the 28th time in program history. The Hoosiers used a strong final night to stretch their lead and secure first place at the 2022 Big Ten Swimming and Diving Championships Saturday inside Morgan J. Burke Aquatic Center, finishing with 1499.5 points and ahead of runner-up Ohio State’s 1406.5.
Senior Andrew Capobianco repeated as the Big Ten Diver of the Championships after becoming the first Big Ten diver to sweep the three conference diving titles since Purdue’s David Boudia in 2011. He completed the triad Saturday, winning gold in the Platform dive.
Like Capobianco, junior Brendan Burns won three individual events and, for it, was selected the Big Ten Swimmer of the Championships for the second consecutive year. After setting a meet record to win the 100 Backstroke Friday night, Burns came back Saturday evening to capture gold in both the 200 Backstroke and 200 Butterfly.
The Hoosier men have won five conference titles during the Ray Looze era and four since Drew Johansen became head diving coach. IU boasts 69 relay titles, 372 individual champions, 263 swimming champions and 53 diving champions. Indiana’s 2:47.96 silver-medal performance in the 400 Freestyle Relay ranks third in program history but was IU’s top time in a Big Ten meet. IU totaled six medals over three diving events. Capobianco won gold in all three, Freshman Quinn Henninger collected silver and bronze in the 1-meter and 3-meter dives, respectively, and freshman Carson Tyler earned bronze in the platform. Capobianco won Indiana’s first Big Ten Platform diving gold since James Connor in 2015. All three Indiana divers that competed in the Platform dive final set personal bests in the event. Burns captured IU’s sixth straight victories in both the 200 Backstroke and 200 Butterfly on Saturday. The junior has won three consecutive 200 fly titles and back-to-back 200 back titles. In the 200 Breaststroke, freshman Josh Matheny dropped 2.5 seconds from his preliminary time, 1:53.16, bringing it down to 1:50.65 to secure an NCAA A Cut and a silver medal. IU divers will head to the NCAA Zone Diving Championships, March 7-9 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, before the squad comes together again for the NCAA Swimming Diving Championships, March 23-26, in Atlanta.
Indiana Women’s Basketball ends regular season with loss at Maryland
The 10th ranked Indiana Women’s Basketball Team lost 67-64 at 13th Maryland Friday Night. The Hoosiers end the regular season at 19-7 and 11-5 in the Big Ten. The loss means the Hoosiers will be the 5th seed for the Big Ten Tournament and will play at 2pm Thursday afternoon against 13 seed Rutgers or 12 seed Penn State at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. Maryland ends the regular season at 21-7 overall and 13-4 in the Big Ten. The win gives Maryland the double-bye in the Big Ten Tournament along with Michigan, Iowa, and Ohio State who will each play on Friday.
Indiana trailed 19-10 after the opening frame and got down by as many as 12 early in the second quarter before a pair of 3-pointers from sophomore guard Chloe Moore-McNeil and senior forward Aleksa Gulbe made it 22-17. Maryland built another double-digit lead with 3:37 remaining but a stop and pop in transition for Moore-McNeil and a triple by Graduate Guard Ali Patberg in the corner to end the half put the Hoosiers within five, 37-32, at the break. Finding themselves in double-digit hole again in the third, Berger’s signature pull-up jumper and another Patberg triple helped the Hoosiers get back within six, 49-43. The Terps would continue to respond as Moore-McNeil brought IU within four as Berger hit her for the baseline 3-pointer with 1:24 to go. They would keep it within four going in to the fourth quarter and kept it a two-possession game as a Patberg swipe led to a Gulbe runout with 7:22 remaining. Maryland would push its advantage to eight with just over four and a half remaining. Junior forward Mackenzie Holmes took a feed from Berger on the left side and scored as she drew with foul, as she kept the game within four on two occasions late in the frame. A stop on defense for the Hoosiers with 46 seconds to go gave them the ball back as graduate student guard Nicole Cardaño-Hillary hit a step back three to make it a one-point game, 65-64, with just 34.4 to go. But the Hoosiers couldn’t pull up a stop on the next possession as Maryland’s Katie Benzan took it to the rim and scored with 11.8 remaining as the Hoosiers took an off balanced shot to tie the game in the last seconds, but came up empty.
Five players scored in double figures for the Hoosiers behind Grace Berger’s second double-double of the season with 16 points and 10 rebounds. She also added six assists. Ali Patberg added 13 points on 5-for-10 shooting, including a 3-for-4 effort from 3-point range and with four assists on the night, Patberg joined Tyra Buss (574) and Tisha Hill (533) as the third player in school history to record 500 career assists. Gulbe and Holmes each added 11 points while each had eight and six rebounds, respectively. Chloe Moore-McNeil added 10 points off the bench and Indiana shot 41% from the floor and were outrebounded, 39-36.
Maryland was led by Angel Reese who scored 16 points and pulled down 16 rebounds, Diamond Miller scored 16 points, Shyanne Sellers added 12 points, and Katie Benzan added 10 points. Maryland played 7 players but 6 saw the majority of the minutes. Chloe Bibby scored 5 points and played 36 minutes. Mimi Collins scored 4 points in 23 minutes off the bench and Emma Chadron played 1 minute and did not score. Maryland was without starter Ashley Owusu and reserve Faith Masonius due to injury.
Three Monroe County Boys Basketball teams close out regular season with win
The regular season came to a close Friday Night for three Monroe County Boys Basketball teams winning their regular season finales as the Sectionals kick off tomorrow night in the State of Indiana. Bloomington South beat Northview 55-43 on the road ending the Knights five game winning streak. The Panthers led 23-20 at halftime and close the quarter on a 6-0 run. The Panthers defense held Northview to 3 points in the third quarter leading 35-23 going into the fourth quarter. Bloomington South finishes regular season at 17-7 while Northview end the regular season at 15-9.
Bloomington North beat New Albany 56-38 on the Northside of Bloomington. The Cougars trailed 26-23 at halftime before a 40-15 run in the second half keeps the cougars unbeaten in the 2022 calendar year. Bloomington North 19-3 on the season will go into the postseason on 12 game winning streak and have not lost since December 28, 2021. New Albany ends the regular season at 11-11 which is the first time since the 1998-99 season the Bulldogs have finished .500 or below. New Albany Head Coach Jim Shannon was 7-14 in his first season at New Albany in 1998-99 since then he has 22 consecutive winning seasons.
Edgewood beat Eastern Greene 59-51 on the road. The Mustangs led 32-21 as Caden Huttenlocker scored 13 second quarter points for Edgewood and was called for a taunting technical for making a two pointer at the buzzer. Edgewood finishes the regular season at 11-13 and Eastern Greene ends the regular season at 6-16.
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