Indiana Women’s Basketball takes on Connecticut in Sweet 16
The Indiana Hoosiers Women’s Basketball team is in Sweet 16 for the second year in a row and this time the third seeded Hoosiers have a major roadblock ahead of them, taking on the number two seed Connecticut Huskies tomorrow afternoon at 2pm on ESPN in the Bridgeport Regional in Bridgeport, Connecticut. The University of Connecticut is located in Storrs which is 77 miles Northeast of Bridgeport and hour and 20-minute drive which give the Huskies a big advantage in crowd support. Top Seed NC State and fifth seed Notre Dame meet at 11:30am. and the winners will meet Monday night in the Elite Eight.
Indiana will have its own support in the stands as Junior Mackenzie Holmes returns to New England for the second time this season. The Hoosiers beat Quinnipiac in Hamden, Connecticut in November, with a couple of busloads of family and friends making the trip down from Gorham, Maine, which is Holmes’s hometown and was a 234-mile trip which takes just hour 3 and half hours to make the drive. This time it is a 256 Mile trip from Gorham to Bridgeport which is just under a four-hour drive.
Indiana is 24-8 on the season and took down Princeton 56-55 in the team’s last outing on Monday before the third largest crowd in Indiana Women’s Basketball History of 9,627 as Grace Berger notched a team-leading 15 points in the win. The Hoosiers score 71.7 points per game, more than the 53.4 UConn allows. When Indiana reaches the 53-point mark, it is 22-5 on the year. In the 2021-22 campaign, the Hoosiers are averaging 14.3 assists and 13 turnovers per game. When Indiana has a better assist-to-turnover ratio than its season mark of 1.1, the Hoosiers are 14-3. Berger’s 16.3 points and 4.8 assists per game are both team-high stats for Indiana. Holmes adds 15.4 points, seven rebounds, and 1.7 blocks for the Hoosiers, and Aleska Gulbe averages 11.9 points and 6.3 rebounds per game. Nicole Cardano-Hillary has been the top shooter for Indiana from downtown. She leads the team in made threes per game, hitting 1.5 three-pointers per contest, making 36% of her attempts.
UConn is 27-5 on the season beat UCF 52-47 on Monday in the team’s last outing, with Freshman Azzi Fudd leading the effort by putting up 16 points in the victory. UConn’s 74.3 points per game this season out-paces the 61.3 points per contest Indiana gives up. The Huskies are 26-2 when they put up more than 61 points. As a team, the Huskies shoot 69.6 percent from the free throw line, good for eighth in the Big East. Olivia Nelson-Ododa leads UConn, knocking down 2.0 free throws a game while shooting 69 percent from the charity stripe. UConn’s 74.3 points per game this season out-paces the 61.3 points per contest Indiana gives up. The Huskies are 26-2 when they put up more than 61 points. Nelson-Ododa haules in 7.3 boards and collects 3.7 assists to lead UConn, while also scoring 9.5 points per contest. Christyn Williams leads the Huskies in scoring and averages 14.5 points and 1.6 steals per game. Fudd has proven to be the biggest threat for UConn from beyond the arc. She leads the team in made threes per game, knocking down 2.5 three-pointers per contest making 45 percent of her attempts. Sophomore Paige Bueckers has only played 13 games this season due to a knee injury but averages 13.7 points, 4.4 assists and 3.9 rebounds per game and is considered one of the best players in College Basketball.
This will be the first meeting between these two teams. Connecticut has won 11 National Championships, 21 Final Four appearances, 26 Elite 8 appearances, 29 Sweet 16 appearances, and 33 NCAA Tournament appearances all under hall of fame coach Geno Auriemma, who is 1,141-149 in 37 seasons at the school. He has had one losing season and that was his first year in 1985-86, going 12-15. He did not make the tournament in 1987 or 1988 and the tournament was canceled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. Before Auriemma came to the school, the Huskies had 1 winning season going 16-14 in 1980-81 and had no NCAA tournament appearances in 11 seasons.
Indiana has made the NCAA Tournament eight times, experiencing their first Elite 8 appearance a season ago. The Hoosiers have five second round appearances and won the 2018 Postseason WNIT. A win Saturday over one of the most storied Women’s Basketball programs would be another history making moment for a university that loves its basketball and has raised the level of its women’s program in the last decade.
IUMBB Center Michael Durr enters Transfer Portal
For the second straight day a member of Indiana’s 2021-22 team has entered the transfer portal. And for the second straight day, the news does not come as a major surprise. Center Michael Durr has put his name in the portal after one season at IU. The 7-foot big man appeared in 30 games for Indiana and averaged 1.5 points in 7.1 minute per contest. Durr has one year of eligibility remaining
Durr transferred to IU from South Florida last spring, and his lone season in Bloomington was slowed by a summer knee injury that caused him to miss the first game of the season. He had played at least 21.3 minutes per game in each of his three seasons at South Florida but did not appear to have the athleticism and mobility to carve-out a significant role in the Big Ten. Durr added 1.0 rebounds, .5 assists, and .2 blocks per game. His most significant action of the season came against Purdue when Durr played 24 minutes and scored four points to go with two blocks and two steals, while starter Trayce Jackson-Davis dealt with foul trouble. Durr also scored six points against Northern Kentucky and five against Merrimack. He had season highs in both rebounds (5) and assists (4) against Jackson State.
The news follows a Wednesday decision by Khristian Lander to enter the portal. The departure by both players means Indiana is over signed by one player going into the 2022-23 season.
Boys Basketball State Finals set for tomorrow
Four Champions will be crowned in Boys Basketball when the 112th Indiana High School Athletic Association Boys Basketball State Finals take place tomorrow at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. All Four Games will be televised on Bally Sports Indiana or the Bally Sports Indiana Plus Alternate Channel due to an overlap with the Indiana Pacers Game.
In Class 1A at 10:30 am it will be 26-3 North Daviess taking on 20-9 Lafayette Central Catholic. Lafayette Central Catholic is looking for its fourth state title while North Daviess is making its first appearance in the state finals. The Knights won the Class 1A title in 1998, 2000 and 2003 and lost in 1999 and 2017.
In Class 2A at 12:45 pm it will be 20-6 Providence against 28-2 Central Noble as both teams make their first ever state finals appearance. Connor Essesgian who is headed to the University of Wisconsin averages 26.8 points per game for Central Noble.
In Class 3A at 6 pm it will be 21-6 Beech Grove taking on 24-3 Mishawaka Marian as both these teams are in the state finals for the first time.
In Class 4A at 8:30 pm it will be 29-0 Chesterton taking on 25-6 Indianapolis Cathedral. Chesterton is in the state finals for the first time and looking to be the first time Warren Central went 32-0 in 2018 to win the Class 4A State Championship. Cathedral is looking for its second state championship after taking home the Class 3A title in 1998 and were runner up in Class 4A in 1998.
Purdue Men’s Basketball Takes on Saint Peter’s in Sweet 16
Three Seed Purdue Men’s Basketball team is hoping to end the Cinderella run of 15 seed Saint Peter’s this evening in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Sweet 16 East Regional Semifinal in Philadelphia with tip time at 7:09pm on CBS. Eight Seed North Carolina and four Seed UCLA will play in the second game with the winners meeting Sunday with a trip to the final four on the line.
Purdue is 29-7 on the season and defeated 14 seed Yale 78-58 and six seed Texas 81-71 in Milwaukee last weekend. The Boilermakers are the lowest seed left with the top two Baylor and Kentucky going down during the first weekend. Four players average double figures for Purdue with Jaden Ivey leading the way with 17.6 points followed by 7-4 Zach Edey at 14.5 points and 7.9 rebounds per game. Trevion Williams averages 11.9 and Sasha Stefanovic averages 10.4 points. The team averages 79.8 points per game.
Saint Peter’s 21-11 overall is located in Jersey City New Jersey is in the Sweet 16 for the first time in school history. The Peacocks took out two seed Kentucky 85-79 in overtime and Seven Seed Murray State 70-60 in Indianapolis last weekend and keep the run going by facing a team from the State of Indiana. Head Coach Shaheen Holloway who played at Seton Hall from 1996-2000 and his team who won the Metro Atlantic Conference Tournament to get the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament is not going to back down from anybody. The Peacocks average 67.5 points per game and have two players averaging double figures, with Daryl Banks III leading the way at 11.4 per game.
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