Indiana University Men’s Basketball adds Ball State Center Payton Sparks though transfer portal
Indiana made its first addition through the transfer portal on Wednesday. Ball State center Payton Sparks announced on Twitter that he’s joining coach Mike Woodson and the Hoosiers for the 2023-24 season. Sparks has two years of remaining eligibility. During his sophomore season, Sparks, a 6-foot-9 center from Winchester, Ind., averaged 13.3 points, 8.7 rebounds, 1.9 assists, and 0.9 blocks per game. He posted 10 double-doubles this year, earning second-team All-MAC honors.
Under first-year head coach Mike Lewis, who played for Bob Knight at Indiana from 1996-2000, Sparks was third on the team in scoring and first in rebounding. He shot 59.4 percent overall and made 2-of-5 3-point attempts. Sparks was named MAC Freshman of the year in 2021-22 when he scored 13.5 points per game with 8.5 rebounds, 1.2 assists and 0.5 blocks. He also earned a spot on the 2022 Kyle Macy Freshmen All-America Team. Sparks shot 70.3 percent at the free throw line as a freshman, but that number dropped to 52.5 percent as a sophomore. Sparks fills a big area of need for Indiana, with veteran forwards Trayce Jackson-Davis and Race Thompson graduating and sophomore center Logan Duncomb transferring. As it currently stands, forwards on Indiana’s 2023-24 roster include Sparks, Malik Reneau, Jordan Geronimo and Kaleb Banks.
Indiana University Women’s Basketball Coach Teri Moren to serve as Assistant Coach with USA Basketball
Indiana women’s basketball coach Teri Moren has been selected as a court coach for the upcoming USA Basketball Women’s U19 World Cup Team. Coaching selections were made by the USA Basketball Women’s Junior National Team Committee and were approved by the USA Basketball board of directors. Moren joins Texas A&M women’s head basketball coach Joni Taylor, who will serve as head coach of the Women’s U19 team. Old Dominion women’s head basketball coach DeLisha Milton-Jones was named an assistant coach with Moren. Last season, the trio led the 2022 U18 national team to a gold medal at the FIBA U18 Women’s Americas Championship in Buenos Aires.
From July 15-23, Moren and her fellow coaches will lead Team USA to the 2023 FIBA U19 Women’s World Cup in Madrid, Spain. In her ninth season as head coach of the Hoosiers, Moren had a record year with a program best 28 wins as the team finished with just four losses only two in conference good enough for the outright Big Ten regular season title. Before this season, the Hoosiers hadn’t achieved the conference honor since 1983. In mid-January, Moren became the program’s all-time winningest coach in the Hoosiers’ road victory over the Fighting Illini that was win 189. For her efforts year-round, Moren was named Big Ten Coach of the Year for the second time in her career. She’s also a finalist for the 2023 Werner Ladder Naismith Coach of the Year. Throughout the season, Moren has always gushed over her coaching staff and how prepared they get the Hoosiers. While Moren is gone overseas, the Indiana program will surely be well taken care of in her absence as the new recruits roll in ready to shoot for another record-breaking season.
Indiana University Women’s Basketball Players Mona Zaric & Kiandra Browne enter the Transfer Portal
Indiana women’s basketball junior forward Kiandra Browne and sophomore forward Mona Zaric have both entered the transfer portal. This leaves Indiana with four open scholarships for the coming season, and a potential need for frontcourt depth. IU currently has three true post players on the roster, in Holmes, Lilly Meister, and Arielle Wisne.
Browne is a Montreal native who started eight games for IU in 2021-22 when Mackenzie Holmes was out with a knee injury. Indiana went 6-2 in that stretch. That season was Browne’s best in Bloomington, as she averaged 2.9 points and 3.2 rebounds per game while shooting 58.9 percent from the field. Browne’s career was plagued by injuries. She battled through hip problems as a sophomore, and while she ultimately missed only one game that season, those issues impacted her play. This year, as a junior, she missed the first two months of the season with a thumb injury. She saw the court in just seven games this season, and her season ended with another injury. Browne fell to the ground in pain after a hip check by Michigan State’s Taiyier Parks in the Big Ten Tournament, and she had to be taken off in a wheelchair. Browne’s career highlight with IU came in a December 2020 home game against Nebraska, when she recorded a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
Zaric, a Serbia native, saw limited action in her two seasons in Bloomington. She played in 14 games this season, after appearing in 10 as a freshman. She averaged 3.5 minutes per game in her IU career. Zaric scored 14 total points this season, with seven of them coming against Morehead State in December.
Indiana University Softball players Taryn Kern & Sarah Stone earn weekly Big Ten Honors
After sweeping No. 22 ranked Maryland and extending the win streak to 15, Indiana freshman second baseman Taryn Kern and sophomore first baseman Sarah Stone earn Big Ten weekly honors. Kern is the Freshman of the Week and Stone is the Co-Player of the Week, the conference announced Tuesday.
Kern picks up her third straight Big Ten honor as a freshman after hitting .556 in her first Big Ten series. She collected five hits with two doubles, two home runs with three RBI, posting an outstanding 2.111 OPS. The San Jose, Calif., native leads the Big Ten in slugging percentage (1.025), OBS (.591), OPS (1.616), RBI (37) and home runs (12). She is also second in conference in batting average (.450) and runs scored (35).
Stone carried the Hoosier’s momentum as she totaled 10 RBI on five hits, including one double and three home runs. In game one, she had the walk-off hit to claim a, 2-1, victory over the Terps. The Bedford, Ind., native hit a three RBI bomb in the first inning of game two to put Indiana on top. She carried that over into the final game of the series, going yard two more times, adding four more RBI. Stone recorded held a team high 1.364 slugging percentage with a 1.781 OPS to close out the weekend.
Indiana Fever add Paul Miller as Assistant Coach
The Indiana Fever announced Wednesday Paul Miller has been hired as an assistant coach to add to the 2023 coaching staff under head coach Christie Sides. Miller joins Jessie Miller and Karima Christmas-Kelly, who were hired as assistant coaches on January 4. “I am looking forward to building relationships with the players, on top of working with them and our staff to establish a culture we all can be proud of,” Miller said in Press Release. “I want to thank Christie Sides, Lin Dunn and Dr. Allison Barber for this opportunity to work for the Fever organization.”
Miller comes to Indiana after serving as an assistant coach with the Windy City Bulls in the NBA G League during the 2022-23 season. His experience in the WNBA includes a 2012-13 stint with the Chicago Sky as a video coordinator. After playing college basketball at Lake Forest College in Illinois, the Canadian Lakes, Michigan native began his career with the Chicago Bulls in 2011 as a video intern. Prior to his assistant coach role with Windy City, Miller was assistant to the head coach in Chicago from 2019-22 before moving over to Windy City’s coaching staff. In addition, Jhared Simpson will also be retained as a player development coach. Simpson served as an assistant coach from 2021-22.
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