#14 Indiana hosts Michigan State in hopes of rebounding from a tough road loss
The Indiana Hoosiers return to action at 7pm this evening inside Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall when they take on the Michigan State Spartans with the game streaming on Peacock. The Hoosiers are 18-3 overall and 9-2 in the Big Ten and are one game behind Ohio State and Iowa are tied for the conference lead at 9-1. The Hoosiers lost at Ohio State 74-69 on Sunday and the Hoosiers need to keep winning to keep pace in the race for the Big Ten regular season title with seven games remaining. Sara Scalia led the way with 25 points, Mackenzie Holmes and Yarden Garzon had 14 points and 9 rebounds apiece. Chloe Moore-McNeil added 10 points while Lexus Bargesser had 6 points as the starting five scored all the points for the second game this season. Lilly Meister, Juliana LaMendola and Lenee Beaumont had a combined 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal and 1 turnover in a combined 23 minutes of action. The Hoosiers have been without Senior starter Sydney Parrish for the last four games with a foot injury.
Mackenize Holmes leads the Hoosiers with 20.1 points, 7.6 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game. Sara Scalia is averaging 16 points and Yarden Garzon is averaging 11.7 points. Chloe Moore-McNeil Is averaging 10 points along with a team leading 4.5 assists and 1.5 steals per game. The Hoosiers are averaging 80.2 points and committing 13.5 turnovers per game. Indiana is shooting 51% from the field, 39% from three-point range and 72% from the free throw line. Head Coach Teri Moren is in her 10th season at IU with a 218-96 record and overall record of 417-226 in 21 seasons as a head coach.
Michigan State is coming off a 76-65 win against Minnesota at home on Monday Night. The Spartans led 47-24 at halftime and were outscored 41-29 in the second half. Moria Joiner led Michigan State in scoring with 21 points, Julia Ayarault added 16 points, Deedee Hagemann added 13 points and Theryn Hallock added 10 points off the bench. The Spartans finished 29-68 from the field for 42%, 12-34 from three-point range for 35% and 6-12 from the free throw line for 50%. Michigan State pulled down 35 rebounds, dished out 21 assists, 14 steals, 5 blocks and committed 11 turnovers.
The Spartans are on a four-game winning streak with an overall record of 17-5 and 7-4 in the Big Ten. Moria Joiner leads the team with 15.2 points per game. Julia Ayarault averages 14.9 points per game along with a team leading 7.5 rebounds and 2.4 blocks per game. Deedee Hagemann averages 12.8 points and team leading 4.7 assists per game. Theryn Hallock averages 10.6 points while Joycelyn Tate leads the team in steals with 1.5 points per game. The Spartans average 86 points and commit 11 turnovers per game. Michigan State shoots 48% from the field, 36% from three-point range and 74% from the free throw line.
Head Coach Robyn Fralick is in her first season at East Lansing and her 8th season overall with 208-81 record. Fralick coached at Division II Ashland University in Ashland Ohio for three seasons with a 104-3 record including a perfect 37-0 National Championship season in 2017-18. Fralick moved on to Bowling Green for five seasons with an 88-73 record and 3 postseason tournament appearances. The Okemos Michigan native played at Davidson College in North Carolina from 2000-2004 playing 114 games and scoring 676 points.
Michigan State leads the all-time series 50-34 as Indiana won the last meeting in the Big Ten Tournament Quarterfinals in Minneapolis 94-85 on March 3, 2023. The Hoosiers have won four of the last five meetings with the Spartans. Michigan State beat Indiana 83-78 on December 29, 2022, in East Lansing. The Hoosiers have won the last three home meetings with the Spartans dating back to 2019. Michigan State last beat the Hoosiers in Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall 68-46 on December 28, 2017. The teams had an epic four overtime battle in the Big Ten Tournament in Indianapolis on March 1, 2018, when the Hoosiers won 111-108 and went on to win the 2018 WNIT Championship.
Bloomington North Football players Stephon Opoku and Grey Hostetler Sign with the University of Indianapolis Bloomington North Seniors Stephon Opoku and Grey Hostetler signed their National letters of Intent Wednesday to play football at the University of Indianapolis during the first official day for the traditional signing day period. Division 1 has an early signing period in December, but all other levels of College Football do not have that option. Opoku is 5-10 170-pound Defensive Back while Hostetler 6-4 245-pound defensive lineman. The pair led Bloomington North to a number 1 ranking and the schools only unbeaten regular season at 9-0 in 2023. The Cougars lost to Bloomington South in the Sectional Semifinal 44-31 on October 27, after beating the Panthers in the regular season 25-24 in overtime on September 8.
Opkou who plans to major in Finance is a 2023 Class 5A Senior All-State Team honoree and was voted all-region, all-area and all-conference. He led the Cougars to their first-ever undefeated regular season and a Conference Indiana title. He played defensive back and handled punt and kick return duties and is part of North’s 4×100 relay team that placed third at the IHSAA state meet in 2023. Hostetler is a 2023 Class 5A Senior All-State Team member and all-Conference Indiana along with being an all-area and academic all-state honoree. He amassed 13 tackles for a loss as a senior and named all-area as a freshman wrestler and part of Team Indiana’s national team. His father Steve was a wrestler for the University of Indianapolis
Indiana University Swimming and Diving Snags Four Big Ten Weekly Awards
Indiana Swimming and Diving captured four of six Big Ten Weekly awards in the active cycle – sweeping the swimmer of the week and diver of the week honors the conference office announced Wednesday. The Hoosiers won four out of four matchups in its tri-meet with No. 15/8 Louisville and No. 22/14 Wisconsin on Friday, completing perfect 8-0 dual meet seasons for both the men and women’s programs.
Big Ten Women’s Swimmer of the Week – Ching Hwee Gan Ching Hwee Gan earned her first-career Big Ten weekly award after sweeping the distance freestyle events Friday. Gan started her day winning the 1,000-yard freestyle in 9:30.07, beating her own program record set during her silver medal performance in the 1,650-yard race at the 2023 NCAA Championships. After consistently posting splits under 29 seconds, Gan swam the final 50 yards in 27.34 to hold off Wisconsin’s Maddie Waggoner by .71 seconds. Her time ranks No. 3 in the country this season. Gan also closed strong in her 500 free victory, posting a 26.56 final split to catch Badger Abby Carlson – the reigning Big Ten Champion and NCAA runner-up in the event. Gan will represent Singapore at the World Aquatics Championships in Doha, Qatar, next week.
Big Ten Women’s Diver of the Week – Anne Fowler Anne Fowler captured her seventh-career Big Ten weekly award, sixth Big Ten Diver of the Week award and second weekly award this season. Indiana women’s diving has been dominant, winning all 12 diving events at dual meets this season. Fowler is responsible for six of those victories and has won all five events she has competed in this spring. Fowler won each diving event at Friday’s meet as the Hoosiers earned the top-three spots on both boards. Fowler won the 1-meter with a score of 328.43 and the 3-meter via 381.45 points.
Big Ten Men’s Swimmer of the Week – Brendan Burns Brendan Burns is the Big Ten Men’s Swimmer of the Week for the seventh time in his career and second time this season. Burns won all three individual events, once again tackling the challenging 200 back, 200 fly double as well as the 100 back. He contributed to Indiana’s 200-yard medley relay victory as well, as the Hoosiers posted an NCAA A cut 1:22.88. The senior led 1-2 IU finishes in the 100 back (45.91) and 200 back (1:40.04), setting a season-best time in the latter. His 1:40.78 200-yard butterfly was also a season best as well as the No. 6 time in the nation.
Big Ten Men’s Diver of the Week – Maxwell Weinrich On a day when the IU Men missed two of its divers for World Championships competition, Maxwell Weinrich picked up the slack with two personal bests and swept the springboards. It is his first Big Ten weekly award. Not only did the sophomore win, but he also won comfortably. Weinrich tallied 388.13 points on 1-meter, 67.50 points better than second place, and 428.93 points on 3-meter, a 42.38-point difference.
Bloomington North’s Isabella Martin finishes 19th in the Jasper Girls Diving Regional
Bloomington North Senior Isabella Martin finished 19th place in the Girls Diving Regional at Jasper HS Tuesday Night. Martin was one of 20 divers who competed for a trip to the State Finals this Saturday at the Indiana University Natatorium in Indianapolis. The top eight qualified for the state finals and for Martin her high school diving career ended. Martin finished with a score of 209.60. Each diver got 11 dives and there were seven judges. Martin advanced to the Regional by placing 4th in the East Central Sectional to advance with a score 304.00 as the top 4 in each sectional advance to the regional in the Center Grove, East Central, Floyd Central, Jasper and Evansville North Sectionals.
Anna Bunnell of Evansville North won the regional with a score of 471.75. Ella Taylor of Indian Creek was second with a score of 467.60. Gabriel Meier of Columbus East who won the East Central Sectional finished third with a score of 428.15. Camyrn Quiggins of Franklin finished fourth with a score of 423.70. Tatum Humphrey of Mooresville was fifth with a score of 422.35. Stella Klaus of New Albany was sixth with a score of 420.80 followed by her teammate Cali Kruer with a score of 418.10 and Bree Cleary of East Central finished eight with a score of 411.00 to round out the eight state qualifiers from the Jasper Regional and 24 other divers from the Fort Wayne Southside, Valparaiso and Plainfield Regionals in the State Finals which get underway at 9am Saturday. The 32 divers will have five dives each and then top 20 will advance to the semifinals. The top 20 will get three more dives and the top 16 will advance to the finals at 1pm where they will get three more dives to determine a State Champion.
Indiana University has a strong showing at the World Aquatics Championships in Qatar
Ten former and current Indiana University Swimmers and Divers along with two coaches are in Doha Qatar for the World Aquatics Championships that began on February 2, and go through February 18th. The Ten Athletes represent the United States, Singapore, Germany and France. Junior Mariah Denigan qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympics with her 6th place showing in the Open Water Swimming 10 Kilometer event with a time of 1:57.31.1. Denigan is a junior for the Hoosiers from Walton, Kentucky and she finished in 12th place in the 5 Kilometer event with a time of 57.55.3. Cory Chitwood is the Associate Head Coach for the Hoosiers Swimming program is the Head Coach for the United States at this event.
Michael Brinegar who competed for three seasons for IU before turning pro in 2022 finished 19th in the Men’s Open Water Swimming 10 Kilometer event with a time of `149.18.8. Brinegar is from Columbus, Indiana and competed at the Tokyo Olympics finishing 17th in the both the 800 meter and 1500-meter freestyle and has his sights set on making a second Olympic team for Paris 2024.
Current IU Junior Quinn Henniger and IU alum Andrew Capobianco finished 9th in the Men’s Synchronized three-meter Diving Event with a score of 351.18. IU Grad Jessica Parratto and her partner Delaney Schnell finished 8th in the Women’s Synchronized 10 Meter Platform event with a score of 271.26. Junior Carson Tyler is set to compete at 7:30 am Bloomington time this morning in the Men’s Synchronized 10 Meter platform event. Drew Johansen who is the Hoosiers Head Diving Coach is the Head Coach for Team USA in Doha.
Swimming will get underway on Sunday with Junior Ching Hwee Gan and Freshman Mikkel Lee competing for Singapore. Gan will compete in the Women’s 400-meter freestyle heats at 1:30am Bloomington time and compete at the same time on Monday in the 1500-meter freestyle. Lee will compete in the 50 Meter Butterfly on Sunday and the semifinals at 11am with the finals on Monday at 11am.
Junior Rafael Miroslaw will compete for Germany in the Men’s 200 Meter Freestyle Heats on Monday at 1:30 am Bloomington time with the Semifinals to follow at 11 am and the finals on Tuesday at 11am. Junior Kai Van Westerling will compete for France on Monday in the Men’s 100-meter Backstroke in the Heats and the Semifinals and finals will be on Tuesday. Van Westerling will be back in the pool next Thursday for the Men’s 200-meter backstroke heats and semifinals along with the finals Next Friday. All four swimmers could be on relay teams throughout the week as there are 3 Men, 3 Women and 2 Mixed Relay Events.
Indiana Pacers beat the Houston Rockets at Gainbridge Fieldhouse
Pascal Siakam scored 29 points and teamed up with T.J. McConnell to spur a third-quarter comeback, sending the Indiana Pacers past the Houston Rockets 132-129 on Tuesday night. McConnell had 17 points and four assists as the Pacers won for the second time in three days. They’ve won nine straight in the series. Jalen Green had 30 points to lead the Rockets, who have lost two straight. Dillon Brooks added 23 points and rookie Amen Thompson finished with 13 points, 13 rebounds and six assists as Houston played without starting guard Fred VanVleet.
Still, Houston seemed to be in control when it extended a 75-68 halftime lead to 85-75 early in the third. But over the final 9:53 of the quarter, Indiana’s defense allowed just 14 points. Siakam and McConnell, meanwhile, combined for 17 of Indiana’s next 31 points in the quarter to give the Pacers a 106-99 lead. Houston never fully recovered. Indiana quickly extended the margin to 14 early in the fourth and the Rockets couldn’t get closer than seven until Alperen Sengun’s tip-in made it 129-124 with 1:13 to go. Green’s 3 with 46 seconds to play cut the deficit to 130-127. But two-time All-Star Tyrese Haliburton answered with a layup to seal the victory.
Haliburton looked more like his pre-injury self despite continuing to play on a minute’s restriction as he works his way back from a left hamstring injury. He finished with 18 points and seven assists. Houston coach Ime Udoka said before the game he doesn’t expect the injured VanVleet, a 2022 All-Star, to return to the lineup until closer to the All-Star break. The Pacers host the Golden State Warriors at 7pm this evening.
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