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Indiana Men’s Basketball host Rutgers in final regular season home game
Indiana Men’s Basketball host Rutgers tonight in the final regular season home inside Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall at 7 pm this evening. Indiana is 18-10 overall and 9-9 in the Big Ten. With a win tonight Indiana would guarantee a .500 record or better in the conference and keep their hopes for the NCAA Tournament alive. The Hoosiers held off Minnesota 84-79 Sunday night in Minneapolis after 27-point lead slipped away in the second half.
Trayce Jackson-Davis is leading the team with 17.4 points and 8.2 rebounds per game along with a team leading 69 blocked shots. Race Thompson averages 11.9 points and leads the team with 30 steals. Xavier Johnson averages 11.5 points and leads the team with 124 assists. The Hoosiers will traditional senior speeches by Race Thompson and Parker Stewart after the game. The Hoosiers have 6 seniors listed on the roster but they can all come back next year if they want to because of the extra given to all athletes during the 2020-21 season due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. The two that are giving speeches have not indicated weather they will stay or go after this season. Indiana will have to make some roster moves to accommodate incoming freshman for next season which puts them 3 over the limit should everyone decide to return.
Rutgers is 16-12 overall and 10-8 in Big Ten. The Scarlet Knights come into Bloomington on a three-game losing streak after losing 66-61 at home to Wisconsin Saturday Evening. Ron Harper Jr. leads the team in scoring at 15.6 points per game. Geo Baker averages 12.2 Points and Clifford Omoruyi averages 11.7 points and 7.9 rebounds along with a team leading 34 block shots. Paul Mulcahy leads the team with 146 assists and Caleb McConnell leads the team with 65 steals. Steve Pikiell is in his 7th season as Head Coach of the Scarlet Knights with a 96-89 record and took Rutgers to the NCAA Tournament a season ago losing to Clemson in the second round. Pikiell is 293-263 overall coaching Wesleyan and Stony Brook. Pikiell played at the University of Connecticut from 1987-1991.
Indiana Women’s Basketball places five on All-Big Ten Team
Indiana women’s basketball placed all five starters on All-Big Ten teams while graduate student guard Nicole Cardaño-Hillary made the All-Defensive team in the league’s annual postseason awards, announced on Tuesday. Indiana places five players across the league’s first, second and honorable mention teams – the most in a single season in program history. It beats the previous record of four the Hoosiers placed on All-Big Ten teams in 2020-21. With a spot on the honorable mention team, graduate student guard Ali Patberg becomes the program’s third four-time All-Big Ten selection joining Cindy Bumgarner (1985-88) and Jill Chapman (1999-02). Cardaño-Hillary becomes the program’s fifth player named to the league’s All-Defensive team and the third player under Head Coach Teri Moren to earn a spot on the five-man team (Alexis Gassion, 2016 / Mackenize Holmes, 2021). Additionally, Patberg earns the team’s Sportsmanship Award.
In a vote by the league’s coaches and media, Senior Guard Grace Berger placed on the All-Big Ten First Team for the second-consecutive season while Senior Forward Aleksa Gulbe earned second team honors (coaches and media) along with Junior Forward Mackenize Holmes (coaches and media) and Cardaño-Hillary (coaches). Patberg joins the quartet with a spot on the honorable mention team (coaches and media).
Berger leads Indiana with 16.4 points per game this season while shooting 45.2 percent from the floor. She adds a solid stat line with 6.0 rebounds, a team-high 4.8 assists, and 1.6 steals per game. One of IU’s best at the line, the Louisville, Ky. native shoots 81.4 percent at the charity stripe. Berger has two double-doubles to her name this season and has scored in double figures 23 times, including the last 12 straight games. She ranks 11th overall in scoring in the Big Ten, sixth in assists and fifth in assist-to-turnover ratio (+2.0). She earned Big Ten Player of the Week honors for her efforts on Feb. 14, her second player of the week honor in her career. Her name etches the IU record books as fifth in assists (407) and 16th in scoring (1,42). Nationally, Berger was named to the 2022 Cheryl Miller award Top 10 watch list as one of the nation’s top small forwards and to the 2022 Wade Watch List.
Gulbe rounds out her IU career as a two-time All-Big Ten selection with a spot on the league’s second team. The Riga, Latvia native was a 2020-21 All-Big Ten honorable mention and has stepped up her game as a senior. She increased her scoring average by three points, adding 12.7 points per game for Indiana in 2021-22. In addition, she leads the team in rebounding with 6.5 boards per game and averages 1.0 blocks per contest. She leads IU with three double-doubles this season and has scored in double figures in 15 games. The 31st player in school history to record 1,000 points, the Riga, Latvia native has scored 1,014 career points and is ninth in career blocks (109).
Holmes adds All-Big Ten second team honors to her resume as she recently returned from a knee procedure that sidelined her from Jan. 13-Feb. 17. In her 18 games played this season, the Gorham, Maine native is averaging 16.1 points, 7.4 rebounds, 1.7 blocks per game and a 59.9 field goal percentage. Her 30 points in a win at Ohio State set a new career-high as has scored 20 or more points five times. She joined the 1,000-point club this season and ranks fourth in all-time blocks (134). She earned a pair of Big Ten Player of the Week honors this season and is a 2022 Lisa Leslie Top 10 watchlist candidate as the nation’s top center. She also earned recognition on the 2022 Wade Watch List, 2022 Wooden Award late season Top 20 and 2022 Naismith midseason team.
Cardaño-Hillary earns her first All-Big Ten award as she earns a spot on the second team from the coaches and honorable mention from the league’s media while adding her name to the All-Defensive team. The graduate student guard averages 11.5 points, 4.8 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 2.1 steals per game. She is the team’s 3-point leader, knocking down 40 triples this season while shooting 37.4 percent. The Madrid, Spain native has really turned it up on the defensive end of the ball this season, recording 53 steals and 17 games with multiple swipes. She ranks second in the Big Ten with 2.1 steals per game.
Patberg claims a spot on the honorable mention team in her final season with the Hoosiers. Patberg, in her seventh season of collegiate eligibility, averages 11.9 points, 3.4 rebounds, 3.3 assists and shoots 41.7 percent from the floor. She has hit 38 triples this season and holds a +2.0 assist-to-turnover ratio, which ranks third in the conference. During her time at IU, she’s started in all 116 games she’s appeared in and ranks ninth in all-time scoring (1,677) and third in assists (502). The Columbus, Indiana native is a top 10 finalist for the 2022 Senior CLASS Award and is the recipient of the 2022 Big Ten Sportsmanship award for Indiana.
Number 5 seed Indiana 19-7 will begin play in the Big Ten Tournament against the winner of Penn State/Rutgers on Thursday, March 3rd at approximately 1:50pm at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
Indiana Baseball routs Miami Ohio in home opener
Indiana Beat Miami Ohio 15-2 in the home opener at Bart Kaufman Field Tuesday afternoon before a crowd of 1,984. The Hoosiers pounded out 13 hits, 14 RBI’s 4 home runs and 10 walks. Edgewood graduate Luke Hayden got his first start pitching 2 innings with 0 hits, 3 walks and 3 strikeouts. The Hoosiers took a 6-0 lead in the bottom of the 2nd when Brock Tibbits and Kip Fougerousse hit homeruns. Matthew Ellis hit a home run in the bottom of the 4th and Tibbits hit his second home run in the bottom of the 5th.
The Hoosiers used 5 pitchers in the game and combined gave up 4 hits, 2 runs, 8 walks and 16 strikeouts. The Hoosiers are 2-5 on the season while Miami Ohio drops to 3-4. Indiana will travel to Missouri State this Friday through Sunday for a three-game series.
All three Monroe County teams win Boys Basketball sectional openers
Bloomington North, Bloomington South and Edgewood took care of business Tuesday Night in the opening round of Boys Basketball Sectional action. Lighthouse Christian is in action this evening as they look to advance to the semifinals Friday Night.
In Class 4A at Martinsville Bloomington North beat Columbus East 48-37 to improve to 20-3 on the season and will face Columbus North 16-7 in the first semifinal on Friday at 6 pm. The Cougars were 18-38 from the field, 1-10 from the three-point line and 12-17 from the free throw line. Columbus East was 11-40 shooting for the game and 6 of 30 after the first quarter and ends the season 7-15. JaQualon Roberts led Bloomington North with 23 points and 20 rebounds, while Nick Klaiber added 12 points.
Bloomington South beat Martinsville 44-42 in the 2nd game as Andrew Baran scored the game winner with 4.4 seconds left. Bloomington South improves to 18-7 on the season and will face East Central 15=7 Friday night at 7:30pm. Martinsville ends the season at 7-17.
In Class 3A at Edgewood the Host Mustangs beat South Vermillion 65-57 to advance to Friday Nights semifinal against Brownstown Central 20-3 at 6pm. Edgewood 12-13 was lead in scoring by Caden Huttenlocker 25 points and Zach Sims added 18 Points. South Vermillion ends the year at 12-13. Tonight’s action West Vigo 13-11 takes on Northview 15-9 at 6pm followed Owen Valley 8-12 taking on Brown County 2-19 at 7:30pm.
In Class 1A at White River Valley Bloomfield beat Shakamak 50-35 as Shakamak ends the season at 14-10. The Cardinals are 18-6 on the season and advance to play Eminence 0-19 on Friday. This evening White River Valley 5-16 plays Clay City 9-13 at 6 pm followed by Lighthouse Christian 15-8 taking on North Central Farmersburg 13-8 at 7:30pm.