Indiana University football takes down Michigan State in two overtimes
The Indiana Hoosiers beat the Michigan State Spartans 39-31 in 2 overtimes at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing Michigan Saturday afternoon to bring the Old Brass Spittoon back to Bloomington. The Hoosiers were down 24-7 at halftime and found a way in the second game to send the game to overtime and Shaun Shivers touchdown run plus a two-point conversion pass from Dexter Williams to Aj Barner gave the Hoosiers there fourth win of the season and snapped a seven-game losing streak. The Hoosiers 4-7 on the season and 2-6 in the Big Ten will host archrival Purdue in the final game of the season this Saturday at Memorial Stadium at 3:30pm as the Hoosiers look to reclaim the Old Oaken Bucket.
With a fierce snow burst hitting Spartan Stadium, with wind gusting and swirling to disrupt the best of offensive plans and field-goal-kicking efficiency, with a 31-31 tie entering the second overtime period, quarterback Dexter Williams II hit two of the biggest passes of his young career. The first was for 24 yards to tight end AJ Barner to set up tailback Shaun Shivers’ 1-yard touchdown run. Williams followed with a 2-point conversion pass to Barner for a 39-31 IU lead. The Hoosier defense was able to stop Michigan State in the second overtime to win in East Lansing for the second straight time as the Hoosiers shutout the Spartans in 2020 when just families were allowed in the stands due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Shaun Shivers had a 79-yard touchdown run and finished with 115 rushing yards and two touchdowns. Williams ran for a career-high 86 yards and a touchdown. Jaylin Lucas returned a kickoff 88 yards for a TD, and also had a 43-yard return. Jonathan Haynes started his first career game and totaled 12 tackles and an interception. Then there was linebacker Aaron Casey. A battered linebacker group was without Cam Jones, Matt Hohlt, and Bradley Jennings Jr., forcing safety Bryant Fitzgerald into the position he finished with a team-leading 14 tackles, and Haynes into a starting role. Casey willed himself to play after missing most of the practice week with an injury that left him on a scooter on Saturday morning trying to get ready. He had six tackles. Williams, in his first college start, completed just 2-of-7 passes for 31 yards to AJ Barner and Josh Henderson as the Indiana running game had 44 carries for 257 yards and four touchdowns.
Michigan State (5-6) dominated with 540 total yards to IU’s 288. It had a 29-11 edge in first downs, a 90-51 advantage in plays run, a 37-23 edge in minutes of possession. The Spartans were 9-0 in one-score games under head coach Mel Tucker. It’s now 9-1. Quarterback Payton Thorne was 27-42 passing for 298 yards with 2 touchdowns and an interception. Jalen Berger ran for 119 yards on 21 carries and Elijah Collins ran for 107 yards and 2 touchdowns on 19 carries. Keon Coleman had 8 receptions for 107 yards with a touchdown and Jayden Reed had 4 catches for 57 yards.
Indiana Men’s Basketball takes down Xavier and Miami Ohio
Indiana Men’s Basketball won on the road at Xavier 81-79 Friday night and won Sunday evening against Miami Ohio 86-56 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. The Hoosiers are 4-0 on the season and will host Little Rock Wednesday night at 6:30pm in Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.
In the Xavier game Forward Trayce Jackson-Davis came up big as you’d expect from one of the nation’s top players. He had 30 points on 13-of-16 shooting with six rebounds and three blocks. Guard Xavier Johnson added 23 points and seven rebounds. With Xavier surging in crunch time, forward Miller Kopp drilled a critical 3-pointer, then added a pair of pressure-packed free throws. Guard Trey Galloway didn’t score in 23 minutes he only took one shot but defended ferociously, hustled relentlessly and passed efficiently four assists, one turnover. IU shot 52% from the field, had a 15-9 edge in points off turnovers and only committed 11 turnovers. It pounded the paint for 50 points and maximized fast-break opportunities for 11 more. How confident is Head Coach Mike Woodson in heralded freshmen Jalen Hood-Schifino and Malik Reneau? He played both in the closing minutes under extreme on-the-road pressure. The 6-9, 233-pound Reneau responded with 12 points, six rebounds and a steal in 16 minutes. Despite having four fouls, he was in at crunch time over senior Race Thompson who added five points, eight rebounds, three blocks and a steal in 22 minutes. Xavier had three players in double figures and Jerome Hunter who started his career at Indiana before transferring to Xavier played just four minutes without taking a shot and had 1 foul.
In the Miami Ohio game Trayce Jackson-Davis had his first double-double of the season with 17 pts and 16 rebounds, Jalen Hood Schifino scored 11 points, Malik Reneau and Miller Kopp had 10 points each. The Hoosiers used an 11-0 to end the first half going into the locker room leading 43-26. Indiana outscored the Redhawks 43-30 in the second half. Trey Galloway was unavailable due to injury as the Hoosiers scored 34 points off the bench and dominated inside with 42 points in the paint. Miami Ohio who is 1-4 on the season had co leading scorers in Evansville Bosse HS graduate Mekhi Lairy and Julian Lewis with 12 Points. The Redhawks also have freshman Billy Smith on the roster who graduated from Brebeuf Preparatory School in Indianapolis and finished 8 points. Miami coach Travis Steele spent time as video coordinator for the Hoosiers from 2006-08 and is from Danville Indiana. Jonathan Holmes is an assistant coach and 1999 Indiana All Star from Bloomington HS South. Holmes is the son of the all-time winningest coach in Indiana HS Basketball history J.R. Holmes who he played for in high school and played at the University of North Carolina.
Indiana University Men’s Soccer advances to third round of the NCAA Tournament with win over St. Louis
The 13th seeded Indiana University Men’s Soccer team beat the St. Louis Billikens 1-0 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament Sunday Afternoon on Jerry Yeagley Field at Bill Armstrong Stadium. Indiana advances to the third round of the NCAA Tournament this Sunday and will host Marshall at 6:30 pm. The Thundering Herd knocked off 4th seed Virginia 5-3 on penalty kicks after a 1-1 draw. Indiana has advanced to the third round of the tournament for a record eighth straight season, and this will be a rematch of 2020 NCAA Championship final in which Marshall won 1-0 in overtime in Cary, North Carolina was played in the spring of 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Hoosiers are 9-1-3 at home this season and 353-70-52 all time at Bill Armstrong Stadium. The Hoosiers own this rivalry winning 24 of the 37 matches in this series and have won seven in a row going back to 2008. This was the first meeting between the two teams since 5-0 match in 2016 where the current Hoosier coaching staff all made an impact in the match, as Tanner Thompson scored a hat trick, Christian Lomeli earned the clean sheet and Todd Yeagley, and Kevin Robson served their current positions. Indiana has won all five NCAA Tournament Meetings against the Billikens, and all played in Bloomington as this was the first NCAA Tournament meeting since a 2-0 in 2008. The Hoosiers are in the tournament for the 47th time in 50 seasons and have won 8 NCAA Championships.
The only goal game at the 74:27 mark when Ryan Whittenbrink found the goal for the 9th time this season. Whittenbrink leads the Hoosiers in scoring 26 points as he has eight assists on the season. Whittenbrink cracked the starting lineup this season and has been a part of several game winning goals this season. ” I attribute my success to my teammates they put me in good spots to and sometimes i black out when I score as I run around and then I go into my celebration” Whittenbrink said after the game. The Hoosiers outshot St Louis 16-11 and 3-0 on shots on goal. Indiana goalkeeper JT Harms had another clean sheet and did not have to make a save in the match. There are six players on the IU roster from the St Louis area including Big Ten defender of the year Daniel Munie. All Big Freshman team member Jack Waggoner and Whittenbrink.
St Louis who beat Memphis 4-2 in 2 overtimes Thursday night to advance to the matchup with Indiana ends the season at 12-5-3. Goalkeeper Carlos Tofern made two saves in the match. St Louis had nine fouls two five for the Hoosiers. St Louis had five corners to four for IU and both teams were called offside one time each. St Louis has won a record 10 NCAA Championships and make a record 50th appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
#12 Indiana Women’s Basketball handles Quinnipiac at home
The 12th ranked Indiana Hoosiers handled the Quinnipiac Bobcats 92-55 Sunday afternoon in Simon Sjkodt Assembly Hall to improve to 5-0 on the season with an upcoming trip to Las Vegas Friday and Saturday as they face Auburn and Memphis with both games starting at 8:45pm in the Las Vegas Invitational. The Hoosiers had four players in double figures led by Mackenize Holmes with 22 points and 7 rebounds. Freshman Yarden Garzon had 14 points including four three pointers. Grace Berger added 13 points and Alyssa Geary scored 11 points off the bench.
Indiana shot 53 % from the field, 7-22 from three-point range for 31 percent and 15-19 from the free throw line for 79%. The Hoosiers pulled down 32 rebounds, 24 assists, 16 steals 6 blocks and committed just 9 turnovers. Indiana has dominated inside in each game and as they had 42 points in the paint. The bench had 32 points as 10 of the 11 Hoosiers that played in the game scored. Indiana improves to 2-0 all time against Quinnipiac as this was the return match in the home and home series as the Hoosiers won in Hamden Connecticut 67-59 a year to the day as this matchup took place in Bloomington on Sunday afternoon.
Quinnipiac who falls to 2-2 on the season was led in scoring by two Ohio natives as Mikala Morris from Springfield with 16 points and Jacki Grisdale from Poland, Ohio added 10 points. Quinnipiac was 20-41 from the field for 41%, 4-11 from three-point range for 36 % and 11-13 at the free throw line for 83%. The Bobcats pulled down 27 rebounds, 14 assists, 5 steals, 3 blocks and committed 27 turnovers. Quinnipiac scored 20 points in the paint and 14 points off its bench.
Indiana University Volleyball defeats Northwestern and #5 Ohio State in five set thrillers
Indiana University Volleyball had a huge weekend beating the Northwestern Wildcats Friday night in Wilkinson Hall and going on the road knocking off the fifth ranked Ohio State Buckeyes Sunday afternoon in five set thrillers. Indiana is 15-15 on the season and 8-10 in the Big Ten Conference with two home matchups this week to close out the regular season. The Hoosiers will host Illinois on Wednesday and Maryland on Friday both games with start at 5pm in Wilkinson Hall.
A career day from Camryn Haworth along with an all-around effort helped IU break a five-game losing streak against the Wildcats 25-20, 21-25, 25-22, 16-25, 15-13 in Wilkinson Hall. Despite a sluggish offensive night at times, IU picked up big contributions from its defense behind outstanding performances including Savannah Kjolhede’s nine blocks and Paula Cerame’s 23 digs. IU blocked Northwestern 18 total times, the most it’s been blocked in conference play this year. The Hoosiers also forced the visitors into a poor offensive night with 34 attacking errors and a .157 hitting percentage. The Hoosiers out hit the Wildcats and received seven-plus kills from five different athletes including a career-best 10 kills from Camryn Haworth. IU now has seven wins in the conference for just the sixth time since 2000 and the first time since going 7-13 in Steve Aird’s debut season in 2018.
After coming so close on so many occasions, the team picked up one of the biggest wins in the program’s 48-year history, taking down No. 5 Ohio State in a thrilling five-setter at the Covelli Center. Despite going down 14-12 in the fifth set, the Hoosiers fought off two match points before Mady Saris buried a pair of kills to earn IU the first road win in program history over a top-five program. A brilliant team effort saw IU record more kills, assists, digs, blocks and aces than the No. 5 Buckeyes and saw three players earn double doubles. Mady Saris (14 kills, 10 digs), Paula Cerame (29 digs, 12 assists) and Camryn Haworth (45 assists, 16 digs) were brilliant but clutch performances from role players in Grae Gosnell (16 digs) and Candela Alonso-Corcelles (14 kills) helped fend off Ohio State down the stretch. The Hoosiers now have eight wins in the Big Ten, the most since winning nine in the 2010 season, the last time the team made the NCAA Tournament. The road win marked the second victory away from home over ranked opposition this year after beating Michigan earlier in the season which is the first time in program history it’s been done.
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