THE INDIANA SRN “SPORTSPAGE” WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 22, 2023

INDIANA GIRLS BASKETBALL STATE FINALS

SESSION 1

SATURDAY

GATES OPEN AT 9:30 AM ET

10:30 AM ET | CLASS 1A STATE CHAMPIONSHIP

BETHANY CHRISTIAN (24-3) VS. LANESVILLE (27-2)

APPROX. 12:45 PM ET | CLASS 2A STATE CHAMPIONSHIP

LAPEL (22-7) VS. FOREST PARK (25-3) 

SESSION 2

GATES OPEN AT 5 PM ET

6 PM ET | CLASS 3A STATE CHAMPIONSHIP

FAIRFIELD (27-2) VS. CORYDON CENTRAL (27-2) 

APPROX. 8:15 PM ET | CLASS 4A STATE CHAMPIONSHIP

FISHERS (26-2) VS. BEDFORD NORTH LAWRENCE (26-3) 

INDIANA BOYS AP BASKETBALL POLLS

4A

1. BEN DAVIS (25-0)

2. PENN (22-1)

3. HAMMOND CENTRAL (21-1)

4. CENTER GROVE (19-2)

5. KOKOMO (18-4)

6. BROWNSBURG (18-4)

7. INDIANAPOLIS CATHEDRAL (17-5)

8. MUNSTER (21-2)

9. JENNINGS COUNTY (19-2)

10. GREENFIELD-CENTRAL (20-1)

11. NEW PALESTINE (20-2)

12. CARMEL (15-7)

13. ANDERSON (18-4)

14. NORTHRIDGE (12-10)

3A

1. NORTHWOOD (20-2)

2. MISHAWAKA MARIAN (21-2)

3. NORWELL (19-3)

4. CONNERSVILLE (18-4)

5. OAK HILL (19-2)

6. WEST NOBLE (19-3)

7. SOUTH BEND WASHINGTON (15-5)

8. LAKE STATION (18-3)

9. NORTH DAVIESS (19-5)

10. SCOTTSBURG (16-5)

11. TIPPECANOE VALLEY (18-4)

12. BREBEUF JESUIT (14-7)

13. BEECH GROVE (14-5)

14. GUERIN CATHOLIC (15-8)

15. FORT WAYNE CONCORDIA (15-6)

2A

1. LINTON-STOCKTON (22-1)

2. WAPAHANI (20-1)

3. SOUTH SPENCER (20-1)

4. FORT WAYNE BLACKHAWK (19-3)

5. UNIVERSITY (19-2)

6. BROWNSTOWN CENTRAL (18-4)

7. GARY 21ST CENTURY (15-5)

8. PROVIDENCE (18-4)

9. SOUTHWESTERN (HANOVER) (20-3)

10. CARROLL (FLORA) (18-4)

11. EASTERN HANCOCK (17-6)

12. ADAMS CENTRAL (17-5)

13. TIPTON (14-6)

14. SOUTH KNOX (15-7)

14. NORTH JUDSON (19-3)

14. PARK TUDOR (13-8)

1A

1. BLOOMFIELD (20-3)

2. ORLEANS (20-2)

3. FOUNTAIN CENTRAL (19-4)

4. LOOGOOTEE (15-7)

5. BETHESDA CHRISTIAN (18-3)

5. MORGAN TWP. (18-4)

7. GREENWOOD CHRISTIAN (16-6)

8. INDIANAPOLIS LUTHERAN (13-7)

9. EVANSVILLE CHRISTIAN (14-9)

10. MARQUETTE CATHOLIC (16-7)

11. BLUE RIVER (16-6)

12. TRI (14-5)

13. CHRISTIAN ACADEMY (16-6)

14. TRADERS POINT CHRISTIAN (16-6)

INDIANA BOYS BASKETBALL

ADAMS CENTRAL	72	CHURUBUSCO	29
ANGOLA	66	EAST NOBLE	59
BEECH GROVE	62	DECATUR CENTRAL	60
BEN DAVIS	88	BOSCO INSTITUTE	53
BETHESDA CHRISTIAN	71	COVENANT CHRISTIAN	58
BLOOMFIELD	63	BLOOMINGTON SOUTH	62
BOONVILLE	78	TELL CITY	44
BROWNSTOWN CENTRAL	67	NEW ALBANY	45
CARMEL	65	BREBEUF JESUIT	43
CARROLL (FLORA)	59	WESTERN	53
CENTER GROVE	61	BROWNSBURG	60
CHRISTEL HOUSE MANUAL	79	SETON CATHOLIC	53
CLARKSVILLE	71	AUSTIN	68
CLINTON CENTRAL	58	ELWOOD	52
CLINTON PRAIRIE	67	MONROVIA	57
CONCORD	60	JOHN GLENN	48
CONNERSVILLE	51	NORTHEASTERN	33
CORYDON CENTRAL	65	SOUTH CENTRAL (ELIZABETH)	56
COWAN	85	UNION (MODOC)	21
CROWN POINT	93	HAMMOND MORTON	47
DALEVILLE	51	ALEXANDRIA	50
DEKALB	48	HERITAGE	37
DEMOTTE CHRISTIAN	52	BOONE GROVE	51
EASTERN HANCOCK	61	PENDLETON HEIGHTS	57
EVANSVILLE DAY	95	WASHINGTON CATHOLIC	45
EVANSVILLE MATER DEI	45	EVANSVILLE CENTRAL	39
EVANSVILLE NORTH	64	EVANSVILLE MEMORIAL	57
FORT WAYNE BLACKHAWK	68	LEO	50
FORT WAYNE CANTERBURY	48	LAKELAND CHRISTIAN	42
FORT WAYNE CONCORDIA	51	HOMESTEAD	46
FORT WAYNE DWENGER	49	BELLMONT	41
FORT WAYNE LUERS	84	NEW HAVEN	58
FOUNTAIN CENTRAL	59	SHERIDAN	49
FRANKTON	64	KNIGHTSTOWN	44
FREMONT	72	WESTVIEW	66
GIBSON SOUTHERN	51	FOREST PARK	41
GREENSBURG	70	NORTH DECATUR	64
GREENWOOD CHRISTIAN	60	TRINITY LUTHERAN	42
GREENWOOD	56	INDIAN CREEK	43
GUERIN CATHOLIC	63	UNIVERSITY	54
HAMMOND CENTRAL	70	ANDREAN	34
HAMMOND NOLL	76	LIGHTHOUSE CPA	43
HAUSER	75	COLUMBUS CHRISTIAN	39
HENRYVILLE	87	BLOOMINGTON LIGHTHOUSE	58
HERITAGE CHRISTIAN	71	PARK TUDOR	64
HOBART	65	WHITING	37
INDIANAPOLIS CATHEDRAL	67	ZIONSVILLE	55
INDIANAPOLIS CHATARD	67	INDIANAPOLIS TECH	38
JEFFERSONVILLE	72	MADISON	49
JENNINGS COUNTY	50	SCOTTSBURG	45
KOUTS	67	RIVER FOREST	39
LAFAYETTE CENTRAL CATHOLIC	56	CRAWFORDSVILLE	38
LAFAYETTE JEFF	60	ILLIANA CHRISTIAN	32
LAKELAND	67	LALUMIERE BLUE	66
LANESVILLE	80	CROTHERSVILLE	38
LAWRENCE NORTH	67	HAMILTON SOUTHEASTERN	36
LEWIS CASS	53	TWIN LAKES	42
LIBERTY CHRISTIAN	75	IRVINGTON PREP ACADEMY	34
LINTON-STOCKTON	68	EVANSVILLE REITZ	40
LOGANSPORT	50	CULVER	35
MADISON-GRANT	61	MUNCIE BURRIS	58
MANCHESTER	71	WHITKO	46
MARQUETTE CATHOLIC	69	GARY WEST	68
MARTINSVILLE	56	AVON	52
MILAN	55	SHAWE MEMORIAL	31
MISHAWAKA MARIAN	66	ELKHART	41
MITCHELL	47	SHOALS	44
MONROE CENTRAL	77	UNION CITY	41
MUNSTER	60	HANOVER CENTRAL	48
NEW CASTLE	55	LAPEL	51
NOBLESVILLE	69	MISSISSINEWA	28
NORTH CENTRAL (INDIANAPOLIS)	73	FISHERS	62
NORTH PUTNAM	52	NORTH MONTGOMERY	42
NORTHWOOD	62	SOUTH BEND WASHINGTON	34
NORTHRIDGE	66	FAIRFIELD	54
OAK HILL	38	NORTHWESTERN	30
PAOLI	49	NORTH HARRISON	33
PARKE HERITAGE	53	SOUTHMONT	43
PENN	85	MISHAWAKA	44
PLYMOUTH	58	SOUTH BEND ST. JOSEPH	56
PORTAGE	64	LAKE STATION	61
PRINCETON	54	HERITAGE HILLS	48
PROVIDENCE	73	NEW WASHINGTON	37
RENSSELAER CENTRAL	69	LOWELL	41
RIVERTON PARKE	81	SOUTH PUTNAM	72
SEYMOUR	57	SHELBYVILLE	44
SHAKAMAK	64	WEST VIGO	58
SOUTH BEND CLAY	60	ELKHART CHRISTIAN	50
SOUTH BEND RILEY	61	BOWMAN ACADEMY	59	OT
SOUTH DEARBORN	84	COMMUNITY CHRISTIAN (KY.)	63
SOUTH DECATUR	61	OLDENBURG ACADEMY	49
SOUTH KNOX	60	PIKE CENTRAL	58
SOUTH SPENCER	74	CHRISTIAN ACADEMY	40
SOUTHERN WELLS	67	WES-DEL	64
SOUTHWESTERN (HANOVER)	68	CHARLESTOWN	59
SOUTHWOOD	74	EASTBROOK	44
SULLIVAN	76	SOUTH VERMILLION	50
TERRE HAUTE SOUTH	64	VINCENNES LINCOLN	52
TIPPECANOE VALLEY	57	WARSAW	56
TRI	52	HAGERSTOWN	45
TRITON	43	BREMEN	42
WARREN CENTRAL	70	PIKE	47
WEST NOBLE	52	GOSHEN	44
WEST WASHINGTON	60	ROCK CREEK ACADEMY	55
WESTFIELD	59	FRANKFORT	32
WESTVILLE	90	SOUTH CENTRAL (UNION MILLS)	47
WINCHESTER	60	JAY COUNTY	53
WOOD MEMORIAL	57	NORTH KNOX	30
WOODLAN	68	PRAIRIE HEIGHTS	66

MEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL SCORES

#8 TEXAS 72 #23 IOWA STATE 54

#14 KANSAS STATE 75 #9 BAYLOR 65

#10 MARQUETTE 73 #19 CREIGHTON 71

#25 TEXAS A&M 68 #11 TENNESSEE 63

#13 MIAMI FLORIDA 76 VIRGINIA TECH 70

VILLANOVA 64 #16 XAVIER 63

MICHIGAN STATE 80 #17 INDIANA 65

#22 SAN DIEGO STATE 77 COLORADO STATE 58

BALL STATE 82 KENT STATE 70

EASTERN MICHIGAN 66 WESTERN MICHIGAN 59

MIAMI OHIO 74 BOWLING GREEN 65

OHIO 77 NORTHERN ILLINOIS 68

TOLEDO 84 AKRON 63

BUFFALO 63 CENTRAL MICHIGAN 35

COMPLETE SCOREBOARD: HTTP://HOSTED.STATS.COM/CBK/SCOREBOARD.ASP?CONF=-1&DAY=20230221

WOMEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL SCOREBOARD

ST. JOHN 69 #4 UCONN 64

#7 MARYLAND 96 #6 IOWA 68

#15 VILLANOVA 67 DEPAUL 64

BUTLER 60 XAVIER 43

IUPUI 87 YOUNGSTOWN STATE 80

COMPLETE SCOREBOARD: HTTP://HOSTED.STATS.COM/WCBK/SCOREBOARD.ASP?CONF=-1&DAY=20230221

NBA SCOREBOARD

BOX SCORES:

NHL SCOREBOARD

TAMPA BAY 6 ANAHEIM 1

MONTRÉAL 5 NEW JERSEY 2

DETROIT 3 WASHINGTON 1

CAROLINA 4 ST. LOUIS 1

TORONTO 6 BUFFALO 3

NASHVILLE 5 VANCOUVER 4

MINNESOTA 2 LOS ANGELES 1

CHICAGO 3 VEGAS 2

EDMONTON 4 PHILADELPHIA 2

BOX SCORES: HTTP://HOSTED.STATS.COM/NHL/SCOREBOARD.ASP

TOP NATIONAL HEADLINES

MEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL

ALABAMA HOOPS STAR DELIVERED GUN IN SHOOTING, POLICE SAY

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) University of Alabama basketball star Brandon Miller brought a teammate the gun that was used in a fatal January shooting near campus, an investigator testified Tuesday.

Miller, a freshman standout, brought Darius Miles’ gun to him on the night of the shooting after Miles texted him and asked him to do so, Tuscaloosa Police investigator Brandon Culpepper testified, according to news outlets.

The allegation of Miller’s involvement on the night of the Jan. 15 shooting came during a preliminary hearing for Miles and Michael Davis, who face capital murder charges for the death of 23-year-old Jamea Harris.

Former Tide player Miles is accused of providing his gun to Davis, who fired it and killed Harris, prosecutors say.

Alabama coach Nate Oats told reporters Tuesday the team has been aware that Miller allegedly brought Miles the gun, but the team’s leading scorer is not in “any type of trouble.” He has started every game since the shooting.

Miller was just in “the wrong spot at the wrong time,” Oats said, later clarifying what he termed his “unfortunate remarks” after receiving criticism on social media.

“We’ve known the situation,” Oats said in a news conference Tuesday. “We’ve been fully cooperating with law enforcement the entire time. I mean, the whole situation is just sad. The team closed practice with a prayer for the situation today, knowing that we had this trial today. You think of Jamea and her family,” Oats said.

Miller has not been criminally charged. A team representative did not immediately know if Miller had an attorney.

“We knew about that,” Oats said. “You can’t control everything everybody does outside of practice. Nobody knew that was going to happen. College kids are out. Brandon hasn’t been in any type of trouble, nor is he in any type of trouble in this case. Like the wrong spot at the wrong time.”

Oats acknowledged in his later statement that those remarks “came across poorly” and sought to clarify,

“We were informed by law enforcement of other student-athletes being in the vicinity, and law enforcement has repeatedly told us that no other student-athletes were suspects,” Oats said. “They were witnesses only. Our understanding is that they have all been fully truthful and cooperative.

“In no way did I intend to downplay the seriousness of this situation or the tragedy of that night. My prayers continue to go out to Jamea Harris’s family.”

The 6-foot-9 Miller is the biggest star of the second-ranked Tide team that had its first AP Poll No. 1 ranking in 20 years last week. He is projected to be an NBA Draft lottery pick.

The shooting occurred on the Strip, a business district of bars and restaurants that cater to students near the Tuscaloosa campus. Harris was sitting in the passenger seat of a car when she was struck by a bullet, police said.

Investigators wrote in a court document that Miles, who had been a junior reserve forward on the team, admitted to providing the gun used in the fatal shooting, but Davis fired the weapon.

Culpepper said Tuesday that Miles told Davis where his gun was in Miller’s car.

Prosecutors and defense lawyers presented diverging accounts of the shooting. Chief Deputy District Attorney Paula Whitley told the judge that there was ample evidence to proceed with the case against Miles and Davis.

A defense lawyer suggested during Tuesday’s hearing that Miles was reacting defensively when he told Davis where the gun was located.

“The reason that the gun was provided to Michael Davis was for protection,” Mary Turner argued.

Defense lawyers asked for Davis and Miles to be released on bond. District Judge Joanne Jannik did not immediately issue a decision on the bond request.

Both Davis and Miles wiped away tears as their mothers’ took to the stand to testify that they would make sure their sons would follow rules if granted bond.

After court, Harris’ mother told reporters that she is frustrated by the focus on basketball when the shooting claimed the life of her daughter.

“She has a 5-year-old son that is still waiting for his mother to come home,” DeCarla Heard told reporters. “I want justice for my grandson.”

JOHNSON LEADS NO. 14 K-STATE TO 75-65 WIN OVER NO. 9 BAYLOR

MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) Kansas State coach Jerome Tang leaped onto the courtside table and pumped his fists, then landed a spectacular dismount, before climbing into the student section and joining in the “Wabash Cannonball” dance to celebrate another ranked win.

This one was as special as any of them.

Keyontae Johnson scored 25 points, Markquis Nowell added 14 points and 10 assists, and the No. 14 Wildcats followed a long first-half slump with a big second-half run to beat ninth-ranked Baylor 75-65 on Tuesday night.

In doing so, they gave their first-year coach a season sweep of Tang’s former team and his longtime mentor, Scott Drew.

“I tried to tell y’all I’m athletic,” said Tang, who spent 19 years on the Baylor bench and helped bring a national title to Waco, Texas. “They were arguably the hottest team in the league, except the second half of the last game and this game.”

Cam Carter added 10 points for the Wildcats (21-7, 9-6 Big 12), who trailed 34-31 at the break before their 18-4 charge gave them control. They coasted from there to a school record-tying seventh win over a ranked team this season.

The last two – against Iowa State and Baylor – came after the Wildcats had lost four of five.

“I thought it was another typical Big 12 game,” Drew said. “K-State played like you’re supposed to on your home court. I thought Keyontae Johnson, we really had trouble matching up with him pretty much all night, and then Nowell struggled from the field but 10 assists, zero turnovers. That’s why they’re first-team all-leaguers.”

Keyonte George hit six 3-pointers and scored 23 points to lead Baylor (20-8, 9-6), which had won seven of its last eight against the Wildcats and three straight in Manhattan. LJ Cryer added four 3s and finished with 16 points.

“You know, it comes back to all of us. It’s a team effort,” George said. “We just have to play harder, including myself.”

Baylor was coming off an 87-71 loss at No. 3 Kansas on Saturday in which the Bears were phenomenal in the first half, building a 17-point lead, and dreadful in the second, when they were outscored 55-26 while looking listless and lost.

The Bears’ kept that Jekyll-and-Hyde act going Tuesday night.

Their sluggish finish in Lawrence carried over to the opening 13 minutes in Manhattan, when the Wildcats were able to methodically build a 24-13 lead. But after Drew called a timeout, his guys answered with a 3-pointer fueled 21-3 run over the next 6-plus minutes, allowing Baylor to take a 34-31 advantage into the break.

Cryer did most of the damage, going 4 of 5 from beyond the arc and scoring 11 first-half points.

“We did a really good job early and we messed up on some ball-screen coverages and they were able to make some 3s,” Tang said. “At halftime the team said, `Coach, if we do this it’ll make it better for us.’ And the fact that they were thinking about how the problems were taking place and they came up with the solution, that was big time.”

Whatever the change, it certainly worked.

The Bears still led 40-37 in the opening minutes of the second half when Johnson scored back-to-back baskets to give Kansas State the lead. David N’Guessan kept the charge going, and it eventually reached 18-4 when Carter took a turnover by the Bears’ Caleb Lohner for a dunk that made it 55-44 with just over 8 minutes left in the game.

“It’s hard to stop transition offense, especially off turnovers,” Carter said. “We capitalized on that.”

The Wildcats stretched their lead to as many as 14 points before wrapping up the season sweep of the Bears.

“It started in practice,” Nowell said. “Whenever we’re in practice, we come with that energy. We have a good scout, we play well. We’ve been focusing on practice a lot more, focusing on the defensive side, and we got two wins to show for it.”

BIG PICTURE

Baylor struggled to find some help for George and Cryer on offense. Adam Flagler missed his first nine shots and finished with four points on 1-for-13 shooting, and Jalen Bridges had just six points while dealing with foul trouble all night.

Kansas State overcame a poor night from the 3-point arc (4 of 21) by dominating the guard-heavy Bears with a 42-16 edge in the paint. Many of those points came in transition, where the Wildcats had a 19-5 advantage off turnovers.

UP NEXT

Baylor returns home to play eighth-ranked Texas on Saturday.

Kansas State visits Oklahoma State the same day.

BAYLOR HAS 25 AS NO. 25 A&M DOWNS NO. 11 TENNESSEE 68-63

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) Early in Tuesday night’s game, someone on Tennessee’s bench reminded Texas A&M’s Wade Taylor IV of what happened the last time these teams met last season in the Southeastern Conference tournament title game.

“One of the dudes on the bench said: `thanks for the ring last year in the tournament,'” Taylor said. “And that just kind of stuck with me throughout the game.”

Taylor made sure the result would be different this time around, scoring 25 points, including four free throws down the stretch, and No. 25 Texas A&M extended its winning streak to six games with a 68-63 victory over No. 11 Tennessee.

“I thought that the fight and the togetherness and the spirit that they competed with . was as good as I’ve ever seen,” coach Buzz Williams said.

The Aggies (21-7, 13-2) are off to their best start since joining the SEC in the 2012-13 season.

It’s the fourth loss in five games for the Volunteers (20-8, 9-6), with their only win in this stretch coming in a 68-59 victory over then-No. 1 Alabama on Wednesday.

Julius Marble made two free throws with 46 seconds left to push Texas A&M’s lead to 64-61.

A 3-point attempt by Olivier Nkamhoua bounced off the rim with 33 seconds remaining and the Aggies knocked the ball out of bounds to give the Volunteers the ball back.

Zakai Zeigler made a layup to cut the lead to 1 with 25 seconds left.

Santiago Vescovi stole the inbounds pass after a timeout by A&M, but Taylor grabbed it right back before being fouled. He made both free throws to make it 66-63 with 17 seconds remaining.

Zeigler shot an air ball on his 3-point attempt after that and Taylor was fouled again and he made two more free throws to secure the win.

Marble was asked about the big plays the Aggies made in crunch time.

“It starts in practice,” he said. “The coaching staff prepares us for situations like this where we’ve got to get a stop. We practice that all the time so we were pretty poised in those situations.”

Vescovi and Zeigler had 14 points each for Tennessee.

“Overall I know our guys are disappointed. . We put ourselves into position to win, we just didn’t close it out at the end,” Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said.

Marble added 21 points and nine rebounds for the Aggies, who haven’t lost since Jan. 21.

A free throw by Marble extended Texas A&M’s lead to four points with about three minutes left. But Zeigler got a steal and finished with a 3 on the other end to get Tennessee within 62-61 with less than two minutes to go to set up the wild finish.

The Aggies were down by 1 early in the second half before using a 10-0 run, with the help of two turnovers, to take a 50-41 lead with 12 minutes to go.

Dexter Dennis made four points in that stretch and Marble had four points, including a dunk.

The Volunteers got their first points in more than 3 1/2 minutes after that when Vescovi made a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 50-44.

Texas A&M led by 6 midway through the second half before Nkamhoua made a 3-pointer to start an 8-3 run that cut the lead to 57-56 with seven minutes remaining.

AT THE LINE

The Aggies made 28 of 34 free throws while Tennessee had just 14 attempts, making 10.

Barnes was disappointed in his team’s fouling overall, but particularly upset with the two times his players fouled the Aggies while they were attempting 3-pointers, which led to five points.

“We just can’t do that,” Barnes said.

UP NEXT

Tennessee: Hosts South Carolina on Saturday night.

Texas A&M: Visits Mississippi State on Saturday.

HUNTER, RICE PACE NO. 8 TEXAS PAST NO. 23 IOWA STATE 72-54

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) A flurry of first-half 3-pointers had No. 8 Texas off and running to stay on top of the Big 12.

And with three games left in the regular season, the Longhorns can see what’s coming: a chance to win a Big 12 championship that has eluded the program since 2008.

Sir’Jabari Rice and Tyrese Hunter each scored 15 points and the Longhorns quickly raced away from No. 23 Iowa State for a 72-54 win Tuesday night. The victory kept the Longhorns (22-6, 11-4) tied with No. 3 Kansas for first place.

“This was a great team win. We did a great job with our physicality. We guarded really hard tonight,” interim Texas coach Rodney Terry said. “This league is tough, man. Every night, it’s an elite level (opponent).”

Texas shook off a sluggish start with a 16-0 run keyed by Hunter. The Longhorns made nine 3-pointers in the first half and shot 55% in taking a 19-point lead into halftime.

The Cyclones (17-10, 8-7), who beat Texas in their first matchup, kept sagging off shooters in the corners and the Longhorns kept the shots swishing.

The Longhorns led by four before Hunter started a run of six Texas 3-pointers over the final eight minutes of the first half.

Hunter was the Big 12 freshman of the year last season at Iowa State before transferring to Texas. He led Texas’ scoring punch in the early games of the season, but had been in double figures just twice in the previous 10 games. He didn’t score in the second half in the earlier matchup this season with his old team.

“Tyrese has been working extremely hard. Glad to see he had some positive results,” Terry said.

Texas cooled off in the second half and went nearly six minutes without a basket before Brock Cunningham made a 3-pointer. But Iowa State did little to cut its deficit, making just two baskets in the same span.

Cunningham scored eight of Texas’ first 10 points of the half to keep the Longhorns comfortably in control. Hunter’s 3 from the right corner put Texas ahead by 20 midway through the period.

The Longhorns needed that cushion. Texas scored only 16 points and eight turnovers over the first 15 minutes of the second half. Iowa State closed within 13 before Timmy Allen’s breakaway dunk and a 3-pointer from Rice all but closed out the win.

Osun Ossunniyi scored 12 points to lead Iowa State.

HOME TURF

Texas has been almost perfect in the Moody Center, the school’s new campus arena that replaced the 45-year-old Erwin Center a half-mile away. Texas is 16-1 at Moody, the only loss coming against Kansas State on a night the Longhorns surrendered 116 points. Texas plays Baylor and TCU on the road before hosting Kansas on March 4.

BIG PICTURE

Iowa State: The Cyclones’ defense has been dependable all season and once again held an opponent under their season scoring average. But 11 Iowa State first half turnovers against just 10 baskets ignited Texas’ fast start. Texas turned those miscues into 21 points in the half.

“Their pressure was terrific in that first half,” Iowa State coach T.J. Otzelberger said. “It got away from us quick.”

Texas: The Longhorns’ deep backcourt got some of its best minutes yet this season from heralded but little-used freshman Arterio Morris. One of the top recruits in the country, Morris has struggled for playing time but poured in eight points in his first seven minutes of the first half on 3-of-3 shooting with a pair of 3-pointers.

“He’s had the best attitude the last couple of weeks, the ups and downs, some games not playing. He’s learning his niche at this level,” Cunningham said.

UP NEXT

Iowa State hosts Oklahoma on Saturday.

Texas plays at No. 9 Baylor on Saturday.

MOORE SCORES 25, HELPS VILLANOVA EDGE NO. 16 XAVIER 64-63

CINCINNATI (AP) Justin Moore scored 25 points and Villanova edged No. 16 Xavier 64-63 Tuesday night for its biggest victory under first-year head coach Kyle Neptune.

Cam Whitmore added 11 points for the Wildcats (14-14, 8-9 Big East), who dealt a big blow to the Musketeers’ conference title hopes.

Villanova overcame a 13-point deficit in the second half. Neptune dismissed the notion that it was his team’s top win.

“We don’t really look at it like that,” he said. “We always just want to be the best team we can be by the end of the season. That’s our goal. Our guys are proud. We played extremely hard.”

Souley Boum led the Musketeers (20-8, 12-5 Big East) with 17 points.

Two free throws by Boum got the Musketeers within one point with 36 seconds left. Eric Dixon was called for traveling, giving Xavier possession with 11 seconds left, but the Musketeers committed their 14th turnover.

Xavier had only four turnovers in the first half. Villanova finished with 19 points off Musketeers’ turnovers.

“Our turnovers in the second half, it overwhelmed us,” Xavier coach Sean Miller said. “Villanova isn’t a team that tries to turn you over. They were unforced. That was the difference in the game.”

The Musketeers beat Villanova 88-80 on Jan. 7. It was their first true road win in the series since the 1955-56 season, but they fell short of a series sweep at home.

Xavier played its sixth game without second-leading scorer and leading rebounder Zach Freemantle, who scored 29 points in an 88-80 win at Villanova on Jan. 7. Freemantle has a foot injury and is expected to return by the postseason. The Musketeers are 4-3 without him.

“Our lack of depth is something we have to play through, and be smart with,” Miller said. “Did that play a role in us having 10 turnovers in the second half? No.”

Villanova is 12-3 this season when allowing fewer than 70 points, but 1-11 when allowing 70 or more.

The game was played at Xavier’s preferred pace early on.

Desmond Claude who returned after missing two games due to illness, hit a 3-pointer to spark a 6-0 run to put the Musketeers ahead 20-12.

“It took us a while to adjust to their speed on offense,” Neptune said.

Moore who returned in January after missing 10 months with a torn Achilles, hit a 3-pointer to spark a 10-0 run to get the Wildcats back in the game.

“They’re a different team with Justin Moore,” Miller said.

Boum beat the halftime buzzer with a 3-pointer from near midcourt to give the Musketeers a 36-30 lead.

Dixon’s layup gave Villanova a 52-50 lead with 8:30 remaining. It was the Wildcats’ first lead since the 18:50 mark of the first half.

Kunkel appeared to have tied the score with a layup and was fouled with 2:35 left, but the official called traveling. Moore followed with a 3-pointer to put Villanova up by five.

“It’s a big win for us,” Moore said. “Not just that we got the win, but the way we won. We were down, we persevered and came back. We played tough.”

TURNING POINT

Villanova was trailing 40-30 early in the second half when the Wildcats players, led by Moore, had a spirited conversation during a media timeout. “It was just us talking to each other about what we needed to do,” Moore said. “It was me, and other guys who have been in this position.” Less than eight minutes later, Moore tied the score with a layup. “He’s not just our best player,” Neptune said, “he’s our leader. He’s everything for our team.”

BIG PICTURE

Villanova: The Wildcats finally are getting healthy. After the Wildcats’ top six scorers missed a combined 36 games to injury, the Feb. 11 win over Seton Hall was the first time all were available. Nova’s top six scorers missed a combined five games all last season.

Xavier: Coming into this season, the Musketeers had defeated Villanova only twice since joining the Big East for the 2013-14 season.

UP NEXT

Villanova: Hosts No. 19 Creighton on Saturday.

Xavier: At Seton Hall on Friday.

WOMEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL

ALEXANDER LEADS NO. 7 MARYLAND WOMEN TO ROUT OF NO. 6 IOWA

COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) Brinae Alexander and Lavender Briggs were starters in the Southeastern Conference before transferring in the offseason to shore up a depleted Maryland team, and they’ve mostly come off the bench for the Terps.

Against the potent offense of Caitlin Clark and Iowa, Alexander and Briggs showed how deep – and dangerous – coach Brenda Frese’s team can be.

Alexander scored a season-high 24 points and matched a career best with six 3-pointers, Briggs added a season-high 19 points while bottling up Clark, and No. 7 Maryland handed No. 6 Iowa its worst loss of the season, 96-68 on Tuesday night.

“Really proud of those two,” Frese said. “When you look at our bench points, and the 43 bench points came from those two, it absolutely was the X-factor. It’s the reason why we dominated this game.”

The Hawkeyes’ loss clinched the Big Ten regular-season title for No. 2 Indiana, which visits Iowa on Sunday in the regular-season finale for both teams.

Shyanne Sellers had 17 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists for the Terrapins (23-5, 14-3 Big Ten), who held Iowa – the nation’s top-scoring and best-shooting team – to season worsts in points and field-goal percentage (34.8%).

Briggs was the primary defender on Clark, who had 18 points, her second lowest-scoring game of the season. Gabbie Marshall made five 3s and scored 15 points for the Hawkeyes (22-6, 14-3).

“We really tried to take Caitlin out of the game. We played pressure for 40 minutes. I was chasing her around all over the court, picking her up full court,” Briggs said. “It was really just my focus to force her to the right because she likes to do everything going left.”

Maryland has won five straight since falling 96-82 at Iowa on Feb. 2, a game that featured 42 points by Clark.

“They denied the heck out of her, right?” Iowa coach Lisa Bluder said. “They face-guarded her the whole time, so that was great. They did a really good job of that. That was really the best we’ve seen all year.”

Alexander and Briggs, both reserves, were so dominant that Maryland didn’t need much from leading scorer Diamond Miller, who picked up her second foul early in the second quarter and played only 8 minutes in the first half.

“I wanted to choke her, although I would never do that. I love Diamond,” Frese said. “I was waiting to see if we were going to get her back in and in that second quarter, her teammates just took over.”

Maryland took control with a 22-2 run in the second, a burst that included three 3s by Alexander, and led by as many as 30 points in the fourth.

“Once I started felling it, I got hot, the basket just felt so open, like anything I threw up was going to go in,” Alexander said.

Miller came on strong late and finished with 16 points.

The Terrapins held the Hawkeyes to 30.3% shooting overall and 20% (4 of 20) from 3-point range in the first half, including an airball by Clark that the Maryland student section taunted her about for the rest of the game. She didn’t make another 3 until the fourth quarter. Maryland also made Monika Czinano a nonfactor, holding her to four points.

Maryland shot 47.9% overall and 53.8% (14 of 26) from 3-point range.

BIG PICTURE

Clark has never won at Xfinity Center, where she made a career best nine 3-pointers as a freshman two years ago.

The Terps have won 10 of 11 overall and would finish second in the league if Indiana wins on Sunday. Maryland improved to 11-5 all-time against Iowa and 6-0 at home. The Terps are 11-2 at home this season and haven’t lost in College Park since Nebraska beat them on Dec. 4.

VETERANS RETURNING

Clark, a junior who turned 21 in January, is not eligible for the WNBA draft until next year under the league’s age requirement. Two key members of her supporting cast, Marshall and Kate Martin, announced this week they would return to play their fifth seasons for the Hawkeyes.

UP NEXT

Iowa: Hosts No. 2 Indiana on Sunday.

Maryland: At No. 16 Ohio State on Friday night.

PATTERSON, BAILEY LEAD ST. JOHN’S TO UPSET OF NO. 4 UCONN

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) St. John’s beat No. 4 UConn for the first time in 11 years on Tuesday, giving the Red Storm a signature win for its NCAA Tournament resume.

Danielle Patterson and Kadaja Bailey each scored 20 points and Jayla Everett added 17 in the 69-64 upset.

It was St. John’s it 20th win of the season (20-7, 11-7 Big East), and came three days after the team scored just 38 points in a 23-point loss to Marquette.

“It’s just an unbelievable win for our program and these kids,” coach Joe Tartamella said. “They’ve been waiting for a game like this all year and I’m just so proud of them.”

Lou Lopez Senechal scored 18 points while Dorka Juhasz and Aaliyah Edwards each had 14 for UConn (24-5, 16-2), which was looking to secure a share of its 29th regular-season conference title and 10th in a row.

St. John’s led the game for more than 28 minutes and by as much as nine points in the first half.

UConn had a chance to tie it at 62 late, but Caroline Ducharme missed her short jumper badly and Jayla Everett hit a baseline jumper to extend the lead to four points.

UConn was then forced to foul and Bailey hit four key free throws down the stretch to secure the win.

“We didn’t get down on ourselves,” Patterson said. “We just continued to play and see it through and then we were able to go to some really good people at the end and we were able to get it done.”

St. John’s held UConn to 35.5% shooting and outrebounded the Huskies 42-37.

The Red Storm led 35-30 at the half.

But Nika Muhl’s 3-pointer to open the third quarter triggered an 13-0 run, giving the Huskies a 43-35 lead, their first advantage since it was 7-5 in the first quarter.

A technical foul on Aaliyah Edwards after an offensive rebound attempt, led to a 4-point possession for St. John’s, which tied the game at 43.

A conventional 3-point play by Everett gave St. John’s a 51-48 lead heading into the fourth and they pushed the lead to six points with six minutes to play.

“It would have been a sin if they would have lost the game,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. “They played so well and so hard.”

UConn won the first meeting between the two teams by 30 points in January.

“This is it,” Auriemma said. “This is who we are right now.”

BIG PICTURE

St. John’s: The Red Storm extended their lead to a game over Seton Hall for the fifth seed in the conference tournament. The top five seeds receive a first-round bye… St. John’s last beat UConn on Feb. 18, 2012 ending the Huskies 99-game home winning streak.

“Obviously we’ve got more to do, but this certainly was a win that I think at least we can feel good about that’s going to be on paper that I think people will extremely respect, especially on the road,” Tartamella said.

UConn: The Huskies are still without star Azzi Fudd, who re-injured her right knee a game after returning from injury and scoring 14 points in the Huskies meeting with St. John’s in January. Fudd, who has missed a total of 20 games this season, is hoping to return in time to help UConn make a run next month at a 12th national title. … UConn needs one win in its final two games to secure the top seed in the conference tournament.

“All the emotions we’re feeling right now – anger, embarrassment, disappointment, that’s what’s going to help us bounce back,” said Muhl, who had 13 points, but was in foul trouble for most of the game.

UP NEXT

St. Johns: The Red Storm return to Queens for their final regular-season home game on Friday night against Georgetown.

UConn: The Huskies travel to Chicago for a game Saturday at DePaul.

NBA NEWS

HAWKS FIRE NATE MCMILLAN WITH TEAM STUCK IN 8TH IN EAST

ATLANTA (AP) The Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday fired coach Nate McMillan, who was unable to follow up on the success of leading the team to the 2021 Eastern Conference finals.

Atlanta general manager Landry Fields announcing the firing. The Hawks are 29-30 and in eighth place in the East this season.

Assistant coach Joe Prunty will serve as interim coach. Prunty joined the Hawks in July 2021 as lead assistant.

The 58-year-old McMillan went 99-80 as Atlanta’s coach, including a 27-11 record as interim in the second half of the 2020-21 season. His success that season earned him the full-time position.

McMillan was frustrated in his attempts to improve Atlanta’s defense, a consistent weakness that weighed down a team led by high-scoring guard Trae Young.

McMillan denied reports early this season that he considered resigning.

Overall in 19 seasons, McMillan has a 760-668 record with the Seattle SuperSonics, Portland Trail Blazers, Indiana Pacers and Hawks.

“I would like to thank Nate for his leadership and professionalism during his time with the Hawks,” Fields said in a statement. “He is truly a class act, and we appreciate the graciousness and work ethic he brought with him every day.”

The Hawks finished 43-39 in the 2021-22 season and, after escaping the play-in tournament, lost to the Miami Heat 4-1 in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs.

Atlanta then added more emphasis to a win-now approach by trading Danilo Gallinari and three first-round picks to the San Antonio Spurs for All-Star guard Dejounte Murray.

The trade formed a backcourt pairing of All-Star guards in Murray and Young and placed more heat on McMillan to guide the Hawks back to the top of the conference.

Instead, the Hawks have struggled near .500 most of the season. They lost four of six games before the All-Star break and are only one game ahead of 10th-place Toronto in the East. The slide left Atlanta closer to falling out of the play-in tournament than moving into the No. 6 spot for a guaranteed playoff position. The New York Knicks are sixth, 3 1/2 games ahead of Atlanta.

“Decisions like these, especially in-season, are always extremely difficult, but we believe it’s in the best interest of our team to move forward with another voice leading the way,” Fields said.

McMillan dealt with persistent rumors he had disagreements with Young. Fields’ desire to seek “another voice” could be a sign McMillan’s message had worn thin with Young and other players.

This has been a season of turnover for Hawks’ leadership. Travis Schlenk stepped down as team president on Dec. 21 as Fields assumed control of daily operations. Kyle Korver was named assistant general manager on Jan. 16 as the team continued to remodel its front office.

Fields and Korver are working with principal owner Tony Ressler’s son, Nick Ressler, the director of basketball and business operations, in the new management team.

McMillan’s 760 wins rank 18th all-time. In 11 trips to the postseason, his teams have a 28-48 record, including a 11-12 record with Atlanta.

This is not Prunty’s first experience as an interim coach. He posted a 21-16 record as Milwaukee’s interim coach over the final 37 games of the 2017-18 season. He was an assistant with Milwaukee from 2014-18.

Prunty also served as an assistant with the Phoenix Suns (2018-19), Brooklyn Nets (2013-14), Cleveland Cavaliers (2010-13), Portland Trail Blazers (2008-10), Dallas Mavericks (2005-08) and San Antonio Spurs (2000-05), where he won three NBA championships.

MILES BRIDGES SAYS HE COULD BE PLAYING FOR HORNETS BY MARCH

EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) Miles Bridges says he may be back in the NBA soon, returning to play for the Charlotte Hornets.

“It’s been a long process,” Bridges told The Associated Press on Tuesday night at halftime of Michigan State’s home game against No. 17 Indiana. “I might be back in March.”

Bridges, who led Charlotte in scoring last season, has not played this season while under an NBA investigation.

He pleaded no contest three months ago in Los Angeles to a felony count of injuring a child’s parent, agreeing to do so in exchange for three years probation and no jail time. Bridges also has to complete 52 weeks of parenting classes, 52 weeks of domestic violence counseling and 100 hours of community service as part of the agreement. The charges stemmed from accusations that he assaulted his girlfriend in front of their two children in June, the Los Angeles County district attorney said.

Bridges may face disciplinary action from the league.

The restricted free agent spent his first four NBA seasons with the Hornets and was set to cash in on averaging 20.2 points, seven rebounds and 3.8 assists – all career highs – until his future with the team and in the league was put in doubt.

Hornets general manager Mitch Kupchak, earlier this month, offered little in the way of the team’s plans with Bridges moving forward

“The NBA is conducting an investigation and I don’t know when that is going to end,” Kupchak said. “When it ends, we’ll have more information and we’ll go from there. I’ll leave it up to you to decide what kind of impact that had on our team this year.”

Bridges, who is from Flint, Michigan, averaged 17 points over two seasons with the Spartans before entering the NBA in 2018.

BULLS SIGN BEVERLEY AFTER RULING INJURED BALL OUT FOR SEASON

CHICAGO (AP) The Chicago Bulls signed veteran point guard Patrick Beverley on Tuesday and ruled point guard Lonzo Ball out for the season because of lingering discomfort in his surgically repaired left knee.

The Bulls brought in Beverley to help solidify a position that has been a sore spot all season with Ball recovering from his second left knee surgery in less than a year and his third since entering the NBA in 2017 with the Los Angeles Lakers. The team said Ball’s focus now will be on resolving the discomfort he feels performing “high level basketball-related activities” and making “a full return” for next season.

Beverley, a Chicago product, is a three-time All-NBA Defensive Team selection. He has averaged 8.7 points, 4.2 rebounds and 3.4 assists over 11 seasons with the Houston Rockets, L.A. Clippers, Minnesota Timberwolves, and the L.A. Lakers. He averaged 6.4 points in 45 games for the Lakers this season before getting dealt to Orlando, which waived him.

Ball hasn’t played since Jan. 14, 2022. He had surgery for a torn meniscus a few weeks later and experienced setbacks when he tried to ramp up basketball activities.

The Bulls had him rest for 10 days at one point, hoping it would resolve the issue and allow him to return. But he felt pain again when he started preparing to play.

Ball was still unable to run at full speed or even walk up stairs without experiencing discomfort when he had another operation in late September. He said at the time he expected to play this season.

Ball has been able to do some on-court work. He posted a video on Instagram last month of him dunking. But it became more and more clear that a return this season was unlikely.

Ball averaged 13 points and 5.1 assists while shooting 42.3% on 3-pointers over 35 games last season – his first in Chicago. He helped set up stars Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan and gave the Bulls an elite perimeter defender.

Chicago is 11th in the Eastern Conference at 26-33. Losers of six straight, the Bulls host Brooklyn on Friday.

NHL NEWS

OILERS STAR CONNOR MCDAVID SCORES TWICE, REACHES 800 POINTS

EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) Connor McDavid reached 800 career points and scored his 43rd and 44th goals in the third period to give the Edmonton Oilers a 4-2 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday night.

McDavid also assisted on Leon Draisaitl’s tying goal early in the third, with McDavid picking up his 800th point and Draisaitl his 700th on the play.

Playing in his 545th game, McDavid became the fifth-fastest player in NHL history to hit the mark, behind Wayne Gretzky (352 games), Mario Lemieux (410), Mike Bossy (525), and Peter Stastny (531).

McDavid gave the Oilers the lead with 7:21 left when his pass deflected in off Flyers defenseman Travis Sanheim. McDavid then scored a short-handed goal into an empty net with 2:25 remaining.

“You have to win games without your `A’ stuff,” McDavid said. “It’s cliche that good teams find a way to win when they don’t have their stuff and that was tonight. We did just enough to get a win. It’s going to take a lot more than that to win coming down the stretch, but give the boys credit.”

McDavid leads the NHL in goals and points with 105.

Draisaitl also had two assists, Tyson Barrie scored and Stuart Skinner made 23 saves. The Oilers snapped a four-game losing streak to improve to 31-19-8.

Noah Cates and Owen Tippett scored for Philadelphia.

“I thought the team laid it out there. They did all the things we asked of them, and we played a hard game. We just couldn’t find a way to win,” Flyers coach John Tortorella said. “We were playing the right way. We did all the things to win a hockey game, and we don’t find a way to do it. But I think the group, through this trip, it’s been a long trip, have handled themselves very well.”

UP NEXT

Flyers: Host Montreal on Friday night.

Oilers: At Pittsburgh on Thursday night.

NEW ADDITION O’REILLY SPARKS LEAFS IN 6-3 WIN OVER SABRES

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) Without the benefit of taking part in his first formal practice in the five days since being traded to Toronto, center Ryan O’Reilly has found instant chemistry with his new Maple Leafs linemates.

O’Reilly scored twice on Toronto’s first two shots on net and added an empty-net goal to cap a career-best five-point outing in a 6-3 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday night.

“Yeah, it’s been crazy, though, I think a lot of adrenaline, too,” said O’Reilly, after playing his third game with Toronto since being acquired in a trade with St. Louis on Friday.

“It’s just still a little surreal putting on this sweater and being here with this team. I’ve still got to pinch myself at times. But, it’s very exciting,” he added. “I still haven’t had a full practice with the team yet, which is kind of weird. So kind of nice to get a feel for that.”

O’Reilly scored 37 seconds apart in an opening period the Maple Leafs led 4-0 on goals scored in a span of 8:18. And after Buffalo surged by scoring three times to cut the lead to 5-3 on Jeff Skinner’s goal with 3:31 remaining, O’Reilly sealed the win when his shot dribbled into the net with 1:10 left.

O’Reilly’s new linemates got in on the fun, with captain John Tavares scoring and adding three assists, and Mitchell Marner setting up five goals. Marner’s five assists tied a franchise record for most in a road game, shared by Pep Kelly, Babe Pratt and Borje Salming.

Michael Bunting and William Nylander also scored in a game played before a large contingent of “Go, Leafs! Go!”-chanting, blue-and-white clad fans who made the trip across the border.

Ilya Samsonov, who didn’t face his first shot until halfway through the first period, finished with 29 saves.

Alex Tuch, with the 100th goal of his career, and Jack Quinn also scored for Buffalo.

Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen allowed four goals on 10 shots before being yanked after getting beaten on the short side by Bunting 12:09 in. Struggling in his bid to win a three-way goalie competition, Luukonen has allowed 19 goals in dropping to 1-3-1 in his last five starts. He was replaced by Craig Anderson, who allowed one goal on 18 shots.

“We got to forget about this one. Yup, we can’t play like that in the first 10 minutes,” said Sabres defenseman Rasmus Dahlin, who was also bothered by seeing so many Maple Leafs fans celebrating O’Reilly’s third goal by littering the ice with hats.

O’Reilly’s offensive outburst came in a homecoming for the two-way center, who spent two seasons playing for the Sabres before being traded to St. Louis in July 2018.

The playoff MVP for the 2019 Stanley Cup-winning Blues opened the scoring 3:51 in by snapping in Marner’s centering pass into the open left side of the net. Set up by Marner again, O’Reilly broke in alone and backhanded a shot, beating Luukkonen on the short side 37 seconds later.

Tavares then made it 3-0 at 7:14 by converting a loose puck after a shot by Marner from the right circle was blocked in front.

“They were just at their best from the start,” Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said of a newly formed second line that features Tavares shifting to wing with O’Reilly taking over at center. “I thought that line, our team in general, our team game in that first period, that’s as dominant as we’ve been all season long, so it’s tremendous to see.”

UP NEXT

Maple Leafs: Host the Minnesota Wild on Friday before departing for five-game trip.

Sabres: Travel to play Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday

SVECHNIKOV ENDS DROUGHT WITH 2 GOALS, HURRICANES BEAT BLUES

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) Even as the only All-Star Game participant for the Carolina Hurricanes earlier this month, Andrei Svechnikov hadn’t produced star-like numbers lately.

That changed in a hurry Tuesday night when Svechnikov scored twice in the first eight minutes to break a 19-game goal drought and the Carolina Hurricanes beat the St. Louis Blues 4-1.

“I wasn’t worried,” Svechnikov said. “I know what kind of player I am. It just didn’t come for me. I was pretty happy it did (come in this game).”

Sebastian Aho had a second-period goal, Seth Jarvis added a goal and two assists and Brent Burns had two assists. Svechnikov also had an assist as the Hurricanes won their fourth game in a row and for the 11th time in their last 12.

Frederik Andersen stopped 35 shots for his fifth consecutive victory.

“It has been a while for me,” Svechnikov said. “You score, it gives you a little bit confidence and you just try to create even more chances. That’s what I was doing.”

Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said he wasn’t concerned about Svechnikov’s recent statistics.

“He has been really good this year,” Brind’Amour said. “Even this last however many games he went without scoring, he was impactful pretty much every night and help making the team better. That’s really the main thing.”

Justin Faulk scored for St. Louis. The Blues lost their third in a row and haven’t won a road game since Jan. 8. They’ve dropped five straight away from home.

Jordan Binnington made 33 saves.

“I thought we battled,” Blues coach Craig Berube said. “We got to score a couple more goals.”

With the Carolina organization still basking in the glow of Saturday night’s Stadium Series game when about 57,000 fans watched a 4-1 win over the Washington Capitals at nearby Carter-Finley Stadium, the Hurricanes didn’t allow there to be a gap in the momentum.

“You’re so amped up from the weekend,” Jarvis said. “It was definitely a fun week, but coming back here, the crowd is still loud as ever and fun to play in front of.”

Brind’Amour said he expected challenges in building energy after the weekend.

“I thought we were OK, and that was probably the best I was going to hope for,” he said. “I didn’t think we had a huge letdown at all. That was probably the thing I was most happy about.”

Svechnikov scored 1:26 into the game. That ended what had been the longest goal drought in the winger’s 338-game NHL career.

“That was a rip,” Jarvis said of the shot. “So anytime he starts a game off like that, you know it’s going to be a good night.”

Svechnikov’s second goal came at 7:57, converting a rebound of a Jarvis attempt.

Faulk, a former Carolina defenseman, scored at 3:59 of the second period and threatened again later in the period.

Then Aho’s goal at 16:36 of the second restored the two-goal cushion. It was his team-leading 25th goal this season, giving him 12 in the last 13 games.

WELCOME BACK

Defenseman Marco Scandella of the Blues played in his first game of the season. It was his 700th NHL game.

Scandella took a spot held by Jake Neighbours, who went on injured reserve Monday with an upper-body injury.

NOTES: The Hurricanes have outscored their opponents 17-6 during their current winning streak. . Binnington has lost in three consecutive starts following a game when he served as a backup.

UP NEXT

Blues: Host Vancouver on Thursday night.

Hurricanes: Host Ottawa on Friday night.

JOHNSON SCORES IN SO, BLACKHAWKS EDGE GOLDEN KNIGHTS 3-2

CHICAGO (AP) Tyler Johnson scored the lone goal in a shootout to give the Chicago Blackhawks their third straight victory, 3-2 over the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday night.

Johnson beat Laurent Brossoit with a low shot in the third round of the tiebreaker after scoring a power-play goal with 55 seconds left in regulation to for force overtime.

“Tyler plays so hard and he does all the right things for us,” Chicago coach Luke Richardson said. “It was great to see him have that opportunity to tie it up and then have that chance in (the shootout.)

“It looked like he was going to deke and he just slid it in there.”

Johnson tied it on a screened shot from the high slot after Vegas defenseman Alex Pietrangelo was penalized for delay of game for lofting the puck over the glass and goalie Petr Mrazek was pulled for an extra attacker.

Johnson was set up on a cross-ice pass from Patrick Kane.

“You just kind of dream about those shots,” Johnson said. “Those are the ones you want to hit.”

Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy wasn’t happy about the play by Pietrangelo, a steady 15-year veteran.

“That’s on us a little bit, right?” Cassidy said. “Maybe it’s just a little bit of a lower rim (along the glass). Veteran guys, you’ve just to to manage it better in those situations.”

Jack Eichel scored his 18th goal and Keegan Kolesar also connected for the Golden Knights, whose five-game winning streak ended. Vegas has points in seven straight game, however (5-0-2) and remained in first place in the competitive Pacific Division.

Rookie Cole Guttman scored in his second straight game for Chicago, who have 43 points and climbed out of last place in the NHL. Guttman netted his first NHL goal Sunday.

Kane appeared to score on breakaway as overtime ended, but a video review showed his high shot sailed past Brossoit just after time expired.

“I think it would have been cooler if Kaner scored that goal,” Johnson said. “I think that would have made it a lot more fun. I thought it was in.”

Brossoit made 37 saves through overtime in his first start for Vegas this season. The 29-year-old goalie appeared in 24 games for Vegas in 2021-22.

“A few jitters in the first period, but I think overall it was a net-positive for how I felt,” Brossoit said.

Mrazek blocked 34 shots through overtime and all three in the shootout.

The Golden Knights failed to score on their lone power play, extending their dry spell to 24 straight chances dating to Jan. 22, a span of nine games.

Kolesar opened the scoring 3:26 in, whipping in a shot from the slot after Kane turned the puck over to Nicolas Roy deep in the Chicago zone.

Guttman broke in behind the Vegas defense and tied it 1 at 12:39 of the first, beating Brossoit between the pads.

Eichel put Vegas back in front 2-1 at 11:32 of the second period with his third goal in five games. He fired a shot under Mrazek’s blocker from the right circle.

VEGAS GOALIE MOVES

Knights goalie Adin Hill is out day-to-day with a lower-body injury after winning four straight starts. He was hurt in a 5-4 victory over Tampa Bay on Saturday.

Vegas recalled 32-year-old Michael Hutchinson from Henderson of the AHL to back up Brossoit on Tuesday. Knights All-Star goalie Logan Thompson is out week-to-week with a lower body injury, suffered on Feb. 9 at Minnesota.

KANE COUNTDOWN?

Kane started and seemed to be soaking in the United Center ambiance as he stood at the blue line and looked up to the crowd during the national anthem.

Kane, second in points in Blackhawks franchise history, has been the subject of trade rumors. Rebuilding Chicago has only one more home game, on March 2 versus Dallas, before the NHL’s March 3 trade deadline.

Kane’s eight-year contract is set to run out at the end of the season, but it has no-movement clause and he’d have to consent to a deal before then.

WORTH NOTING

The Blackhawks placed F MacKenzie Entwistle (right wrist) on IR retroactive to Feb. 14. Chicago also placed F Reese Johnson in concussion protocol.

UP NEXT

Golden Knights: Host Calgary on Thursday night.

Blackhawks: At Dallas on Wednesday night to start four-game trip.

SOCCER NEWS

ESPN’S EX-TOP EXEC DESCRIBES HOW SOCCER’S WORLD CUP WAS LOST

NEW YORK (AP) A former ESPN executive underscored how big money corrupted soccer, testifying in U.S. District Court on Tuesday that his company’s bid to televise the World Cup might have been sabotaged by two former Fox executives accused of bribing officials to undermine competing offers.

ESPN’s former president, John Skipper, told a federal court in New York that ESPN and Univision had jointly bid $900 million – evenly split between the two TV behemoths – for broadcasting rights to the two most recent World Cups, including the recently completed one in Qatar.

Despite ESPN’s hefty bid for the 2018 and 2022 tournaments, FIFA awarded U.S. English-language rights to Fox, which bid less.

Government lawyers say millions of dollars in bribes fed a system of clandestine, no-bid contracts that allowed corrupt soccer executives to profit from the scheme and ultimately allowed Fox to air the matches.

Prosecutors allege the payoffs enabled the former Fox executives – Heran Lopez and Carlos Martinez – to get confidential information from high-ranking soccer officials, including those at FIFA. The information helped Fox secure the U.S. English-language rights with a $425 million bid. Telemundo, a division of Comcast Corp.’s NBCUniversal, won U.S. Spanish-language rights for about $600 million.

“I was disappointed,” Skipper said. “In fact, I was angry.”

Skipper said he had assumed the highest bidder would prevail, but the process turned increasingly complicated when ESPN’s offer was turned down and soccer officials opened a second round of bidding.

Under questioning from a defense attorney, Skipper acknowledged that he did not know if anything illegal was going on behind the scenes.

New York-based Fox Corp., which split from a subsidiary of international channels during a restructuring in 2019, has denied any involvement in the bribery scandal and is not a defendant in the case.

The company said in a statement that it has cooperated fully.

The trial is the latest development in a tangled corruption scandal that dates back nearly a decade and has ensnared more than three dozen media and soccer executives as well as associates.

Skipper’s testimony was meant to corroborate statements by the government’s star witness, Alejandro Burzaco, who testified over 11 days that he and the former Fox executives conspired to bribe South American soccer officials for TV rights to the Southern Hemisphere’s biggest annual tournament, the Copa Libertadores, and help land broadcasting rights to the World Cup, the sport’s most lucrative competition.

Lawyers for Lopez and Martinez have asserted that the former executives are being framed, with one defense lawyer accusing Burzaco of masterminding the bribes.

Burzaco is a former business partner of Lopez and Martinez, and headed an Argentinian marketing firm. He has cooperated in previous soccer corruption investigations since being arrested in 2015 in a bribery case. Critics contend he’s cooperating to avoid prison.

Burzaco has pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy and other charges. He testified in 2017 that all three South Americans on the FIFA executive council took million-dollar bribes to support Qatar’s bid to host the 2022 World Cup.

Skipper said ESPN initially bid $250 million in 2011 for U.S. English-language rights to the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. The company upped that to $450 million in a second round. Coupled with Univision’s proposed contribution, the total came to $900 million.

“We wanted to blow the bid away,” he said.

ESPN held U.S. broadcasting rights for the World Cup since 1994, first airing soccer’s premier sporting event before it caught on with U.S. audiences. FIFA had to buy air time to get the tournament broadcast in the country.

As the sport’s audience grew, so did the World Cup’s financial cachet.

ESPN paid $100 million for the rights to broadcast the sporting event in 2010 and 2014.

The dramatic hike spoke to the sporting event’s increasing importance, Skipper said.

December’s World Cup final in Qatar, where Argentina prevailed over France in a dramatic title-clinching shootout, was the most-watched soccer match in the United States, according to television audience estimates.

As a courtesy for helping FIFA develop a rise in soccer viewership, Skipper had hoped soccer officials would allow ESPN to match or beat competitors’ proposals but was not approached to do so.

So far, more than two dozen people have pleaded guilty and two people have been convicted at trial in connection with a U.S.-led investigation into tens of millions of dollars in bribes and kickbacks at soccer’s highest levels. Four corporate entities have also pleaded guilty. Four other companies were charged but reached agreements with the government to avoid prosecution.

Soccer governing body, FIFA, has said it was not involved in any fraud or conspiracies and was a mere bystander as the scandal unfolded.

Nevertheless, the scandal thrust the organization under worldwide scrutiny. It has since sought to polish its tarnished image.

TOP INDIANA NEWS RELEASES

PACERS BASKETBALL

GAME PREVIEW: PACERS VS CELTICS

After an eventful All-Star Weekend, the Pacers (26-34) will be back on the court on Thursday night to take on All-Star Game MVP Jayson Tatum and the Boston Celtics (42-17).

Fresh off his first All-Star appearance, Tyrese Haliburton will be hoping to lead the Blue & Gold on a playoff push over the final 22 games of the regular season. The star point guard — who turns 23 next week — will be chasing a number of milestones over the remainder of the season.

Haliburton leads the Pacers in scoring at 19.9 points per game and ranks fourth in the NBA at 10.1 assists per contest. He should shatter Mark Jackson’s franchise record for assists per game (8.7 in 1997-98) and is attempting to become the first Pacer ever to win the league assists title.

Haliburton also could join the elite fraternity of players who have averaged 20 points and 10 assists over the course of a season. Just 13 players have ever accomplished that feat — a list that includes Oscar Robertson, Isiah Thomas, Magic Johnson, Chris Paul, Russell Westbrook, James Harden, and LeBron James. No one has ever averaged 20 and 10 while shooting 40 percent from 3-point range, but Haliburton has a real shot, entering Thursday with a .399 3-point percentage.

The Celtics have held the NBA’s best record for virtually the entire season, but their lead over Milwaukee in the Eastern Conference standings slipped to just a half-game heading into the All-Star break. Still, the Celtics have be considered as one of the title favorites, thanks in no small part to Tatum.

The 24-year-old forward is one of the leading candidates for MVP this season, averaging 30.6 points (sixth in the NBA), 8.6 rebounds, and 4.5 assists per game. He will enter Thursday’s game with plenty of good vibes after setting the All-Star Game record with 55 points on Sunday, going 10-for-18 from 3-point range.

Of course, the Celtics are more than just a one-man show, asTatum has plenty of help around him. Fellow All-Star Jaylen Brown is averaging a career-best 26.5 points and 7 rebounds per game. Former Pacer Malcolm Brogdon — who will be making his return to Indiana on Thursday after being traded to Boston over the summer in the deal that sent Aaron Nesmith and Daniel Theis to the Pacers — has emerged as one of the favorites for Sixth Man of the Year, averaging 14.7 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 3.7 assists per game off the bench and leading the NBA in 3-point percentage (.455).

Projected Starters

Pacers: G – Tyrese Haliburton,  G – Andrew Nembhard, F – Buddy Hield, F – Aaron Nesmith, C – Myles Turner

Celtics: G – Marcus Smart, G – Jaylen Brown, F – Jayson Tatum, F – Al Horford, C – Robert Williams III

Injury Report

Pacers: TBA

Celtics: TBA

Last Meeting

Dec. 21, 2022: The Pacers dropped a season-high 42 points in the first quarter, led by 30 before halftime, and held on down the stretch for a 117-112 road win over the Celtics.

Tyrese Haliburton scored a team-high 33 points and dished out eight assists to lead the Blue & Gold. The third-year point guard went 12-for-24 from the field and 6-for-13 from 3-point range on the night, helping Indiana overcome a 41-point performance by Celtics All-Star forward Jayson Tatum.

“Just playing team basketball,” Haliburton told Bally Sports Indiana’s Jeremiah Johnson after the win as the key to Indiana’s fast start. “Getting stops. That’s one of the best teams in the NBA, so you’ve got to get stops in order to beat them. We were able to do that and play in transition.”

In his first game against the team that drafted him in 2020, Pacers forward Aaron Nesmith tallied 15 points, six rebounds, three assists, and two steals.

Chris Duarte added 14 points off the bench for Indiana on 4-of-5 3-point shooting, while Myles Turner added 10 points, six boards, and three assists.

Jaylen Brown recorded a double-double for Boston in the loss with 19 points and 10 rebounds. Malcolm Brogdon finished with 18 points, four rebounds, seven assists, and two steals.

Noteworthy

With a win on Thursday, the Pacers would win the season series against the Celtics for the first time since the 2015-16 season.

The Pacers and Celtics will play once more in the regular season in Boston on March 24.

Pacers center Myles Turner needs 10 blocks to tie Rik Smits (1,111) for second place on the franchise’s all-time blocks list.

Broadcast Information (TV and Radio Listings >>)

TV: Bally Sports Indiana – Chris Denari (play-by-play), Quinn Buckner (analyst), Jeremiah Johnson (sideline reporter/host)

Radio: 93.5/107.5 The Fan – Mark Boyle (play-by-play), Eddie Gill (analyst), Pat Boylan (sideline reporter/host)

Tickets

The Pacers return to action after the All-Star break on Thursday, Feb. 23, when they host Jayson Tatum and the Boston Celtics at 7:00 PM ET.

USL W League Announces Full 2023 Season Schedule

TAMPA/INDIANAPOLIS (Tuesday, February 21, 2023) –  The United Soccer League (USL) today unveiled the schedule for the 2023 USL W League season, confirming matches for all 65 teams. The second season for the elite women’s pre-professional league will kick off in May and culminate with the W League Final in mid-July.

Indy Eleven’s 2023 W League campaign will feature 10 contests against its fellow clubs in the newly created Valley Division, which includes two familiar foes in Racing Louisville FC and Kings Hammer FC (Cincinnati area) and two outfits new to the circuit in St. Charles FC (St. Louis area) and Lexington SC.

The season starts with a trio of away affairs across the month of May, starting on Wednesday, May 10, with a trip to the Saint Louis area to take on St. Charles FC. The Girls in Blue then get to finish the season with five of seven matches at their Grand Park Events Center home during a jam-packed month of June, starting with a rivalry row against Racing Louisville FC on Friday, June 2.

“We achieved a lot of goals last year, but it also didn’t end the way we wanted, so there’s plenty of motivation heading into this season. Our players are up for any challenge, and with a three-game road trip to start off 2023 we get to tackle another one straight away,” said Indy Eleven W League Head Coach Paul Dolinsky. “Getting to close out the season with the bulk of our games in front of our incredible supporters and fans will motivate us and give our girls plenty of energy to finish strong. We can’t wait to start introducing our 2023 squad and put together another season our fans and our city will be proud of.”

INDIANA MBB

INDIANA STUMBLES AT MICHIGAN STATE, 80-65

EAST LANSING, Mich. — The Michigan State emotion was raw, the play inspired, the Breslin Center crowd frenzied.

Indiana had no counter.

Likely no team in America could have.

Not on Tuesday night. Not with the Spartans hosting a game for the first time since the previous week’s mass shooting that killed three students and critically injured five more.

The No. 17 Hoosiers (19-9 overall, 10-7 in the Big Ten) lost 80-65. It was their most points allowed since Penn State totaled 85 on Jan. 11. They split the season series with Michigan State after having won in Bloomington last month.

“We haven’t given up 80 points in a long time,” coach Mike Woodson told Voice of the Hoosiers Don Fischer during the post-game radio show. “We gave up second-chance points, offensive rebounds where it was kicked out for threes.

“It was just one of those games. Give them credit. They played well. We played well at home against them. They played well here against us.”

IU, which showed support by wearing green Spartan Strong t-shirts,  couldn’t hold a nine-point, first-half lead, gave up a closing 11-2 run and trailed by six at halftime.

“We came out ready to play,” Woodson told Fischer, “but we didn’t sustain it. At the eight- to nine-minute mark of the first half, we went the other way. They ran off to the lead.”

With the game on the line, IU was outscored 17-2 on bench points and 13-4 in second-chance points. It was 12-for-16 from the line to Michigan State’s 18-for-19. It had five three-pointers to the Spartans’ 10. It was outrebounded 33-24.

Spartans guard Tyson Walker was the catalyst with five three-pointers and 23 points.

“He made a couple on desperation shots, but tip your hat to that,” Woodson told Fischer. “He had a hell of a game.”

Forward Trayce Jackson-Davis finished with 19 points, seven rebounds, five assists and seven turnovers. Jalen Hood-Schifino had 16 points. Trey Galloway at 11 points.

It wasn’t nearly enough.

“We didn’t start the second half well,” Woodson told Fischer. “We missed some bunnies early. Their rebounding led to offensive put backs and then to second-chance points. That was the big difference in the second half.”

IU opened 5-for-7 from the field — while holding Michigan State (17-10, 9-7) to 1-for-6 shooting — for a 12-3 lead five minutes into the game. It grew to 22-13 as the Hoosiers mixed efficient offense (56 percent shooting) with stifling defense (forcing six Spartan turnovers, holding them to 33 percent shooting).

Michigan State rallied for a 24-24 tie behind three Walker three-pointers. IU responded with a deep Miller Kopp three-pointer and a 27-24 advantage with three minutes left before the Spartans surged to a 35-29 halftime lead.

Jackson-Davis led the Hoosiers with nine points, but only took six shots.

Michigan State opened the second half with a pair of three-pointers in 76 seconds for a 41-31 lead. Woodson called a timeout to refocus the defense, but IU gave up two more three-pointers for a 13-point deficit.

The Hoosiers rallied within eight. The Spartans pushed it back to 12. IU closed within five. Michigan State stretched it to 13 with seven minutes left and stayed in control the rest of the way.

Indiana’s final road game of the season comes Saturday at No. 5 Purdue. The Hoosiers won the first meeting at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall last month.

“We have to go home, regroup and get ready for Purdue,” Woodson told Fischer.

MIKE WOODSON POST GAME: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qd9kOYttOxk

INDIANA BASEBALL

JESSEE PROVIDES POWER IN HOME OPENING WIN

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – On a sun-splashed afternoon at Bart Kaufman Field, the Indiana baseball program got contributions from up and down the lineup and from nine different pitchers in a 13-5 victory over Miami (Ohio) to open the 10th season inside the facility.

Indiana (2-2) scored in each of the first five innings to build a 11-4 lead, with a seven-run third inning doing most of the damage. The Hoosiers scored one run in the first, second, fourth and fifth innings, then added two runs in the seventh inning to cap the scoring. Miami (Ohio) (0-4) got one run in the third, three in the fourth and one in the eighth to account for its offense.

Senior Hunter Jessee continued his torrid start to the 2023 season with a 3-for-4 effort at the plate with three runs scored and four RBIs. He produced his second career multi-home run game with a solo home run to right field to open the scoring in the first inning and a two-run shot to the opposite field in the seventh. He also moved his reached base streak to 23 games dating back to the 2022 campaign.

Senior Phillip Glasser, redshirt-junior Bobby Whalen and sophomore Josh Pyne each chipped in multi-hit games, with Pyne posting a three-hit contest with two runs scored. Glasser drove in two RBIs, scored one run and had one triple in the game. The third multi-RBI game of the night came from sophomore Brock Tibbitts who plated three runs in the game, with two coming on a triple in the third inning.

On the mound, junior Seti Manase (1-0) picked up the win with one inning of scoreless work. Freshmen (in order of appearance) Evan Whiteaker, Connor Foley, Cooper Katskee and Brayden Risedorph each made their collegiate debuts and combined to throw four innings with seven strikeouts.

Redshirt-senior Craig Yoho logged the only multi-inning effort with two scoreless frames. He made his first collegiate pitching appearance and played in his first career game since 2020. He allowed two hits and struck out five batters.

For Miami (Ohio), Tommy Harrison hit a solo home run as part of a two-hit night, while Parker Lester and Brian Zapp each posted two-hit nights. Cooper Weiss drove in three RBIs in the game, with Lester and Harrison accounting for the other two runs batted in. Nick Vardavas (0-1) got the start and allowed eighth runs on seven hits over 2 2/3 innings in the loss. He struck out four and walked three.

Scoring Recap

Bottom First

Hunter Jessee hit his first home run of the season to right field.

at Indiana 1, Miami (Ohio) 0

Bottom Second

Carter Mathison walked in front of a Bobby Whalen base hit with one out, and Morgan Colopy singled through the left side of the infield to extend the lead.

at Indiana 2, Miami (Ohio) 0

Top Third

Tommy Harrison hit a solo home run to right field.

at Indiana 2, Miami (Ohio) 1

Bottom Third

Indiana sent 11 batters to the plate, with eight of those reaching base. After the first out of the inning, Jessee and Josh Pyne singled in front of a Matthew Ellis double to score the first run. Brock Tibbitts tripled to plate two more runs. After a strikeout, a pair of walks and a single loaded the bases. A wild pitch scored the fifth run of the frame, before Phillip Glasser singled to drive in a pair of RBIs.

at Indiana 9, Miami (Ohio) 1

Top Fourth

A walk and a pair of singles loaded the bases with no outs against reliever Nathan Ball. Cooper Katskee entered and allowed back-to-back doubles to plate three runs but got some help from his defense to cut down a run at the plate. He struck out two batters to end the frame and limit the damage.

at Indiana 9, Miami (Ohio) 4

Bottom Fourth

A single and an error put runners on the corners and Tibbitts drove in his third runs of the game with a fielder’s choice.

at Indiana 10, Miami (Ohio) 4

Bottom Fifth

Glasser tripled with one out and came in to score on a Jessee sacrifice fly.

at Indiana 11, Miami (Ohio) 4

Bottom Seventh

Tyler Cerny was hit-by-pitch with one out and stole second base in front of Jessee’s two-run home run.

at Indiana 13, Miami (Ohio) 4

Top Eighth

Brian Zapp doubled to start the inning and came in to score on a Weiss groundout.

at Indiana 13, Miami (Ohio) 5

Up Next

Indiana (2-2) hits the road for a three-game series at Texas starting at 7:30 p.m. ET. The game will be televised on the Longhorn Network and the Indiana Sports Radio Network

INDIANA SWIMMING

NO. 6 HOOSIERS LOOK TO REPEAT AT BIG TEN CHAMPIONSHIPS

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Reigning conference champion and No. 6-ranked Indiana men’s swimming and diving returns for the 2023 Big Ten Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships, a four-day event spanning Wednesday (Feb. 22) through Saturday (Feb. 25) inside Canham Natatorium in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

The Hoosiers are the highest ranked team in their conference at No. 6 according to the College Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA). Ohio State (8), Michigan (17), Wisconsin (23) and Minnesota (25) are also ranked.

The event begins Wednesday evening with the first set of finals in the 200-yard medley relay and 800-yard freestyle relay. The following three days will consist of two sessions, with preliminaries in the morning to determine finals in the evening. All seven sessions can be streamed on the Big Ten Plus digital platform.

MEET INFO

Wednesday, Feb. 21 – Saturday, Feb. 25 • 10 a.m. ET (prelims), 5 p.m. ET (finals)

Canham Natatorium • Ann Arbor, Mich.

Live Results (Swimming): http://bit.ly/41j4tlp/Meet Mobile App

Live Results (Diving): http://bit.ly/3jWYeCQ

Live Stream: bigtenplus.com

SCHEDULED EVENTS (Finals)

Wednesday (5 p.m. ET) – 200 Medley Relay, 800 Freestyle Relay

Thursday (5 p.m. ET) – 500 Freestyle, 200 IM, 50 Freestyle, 1-Meter Dive, 400 Medley Relay

Friday (5 p.m. ET) – 100 Butterfly, 400 IM, 200 Freestyle, 100 Breaststroke, 100 Backstroke, 3-Meter Dive, 200 Freestyle Relay

Saturday (5 p.m. ET) – 1,650 Freestyle, 200 Backstroke, 100 Freestyle, 200 Breaststroke, 200 Butterfly, Platform Dive, 400 Freestyle Relay

OF NOTE…

PODIUM WATCH – HOOSIERS WITH TOP FIVE MARKS IN BIG TEN

200 Freestyle Relay (1:16.71)

400 Freestyle Relay (2:49.51)

800 Freestyle Relay (6:22.51)

200 Medley Relay (1:24.09)

400 Medley Relay (3:03.98)

Luke Barr – 200 Breast (1:56.05)

Warren Briggs – 500 Free (4:17.77)

Finn Brooks – 50 Free (19.39), 100 Fly (45.36)

Brendan Burns – 100 Fly (45.81), 100 Back (44.31), 200 Back (1:40.66), 200 Fly (1:42.45)

Mikey Calvillo – 400 IM (3:47.24), 1,650 Free (14:53.70)

Andrew Capobianco – 1M (418.65)

Tomer Frankel – 200 IM (1:44.57), 200 Fly (1:42.72)

Quinn Henninger – 1M (416.63), 3M (411.30), Platform (416.55)

Josh Matheny – 100 Breast (51.65), 200 Breast (1:50.65)

Van Mathias – 50 Free (19.38), 100 Free (42.15)

Rafael Miroslaw – 200 Free (1:32.92), 100 Free (42.78)

Maxwell Reich – 200 Breast (1:54.18)

Carson Tyler – 1M (409.13), 3M (431.40), Platform (423.80)

Gavin Wight – 100 Back (46.46)

2022 BIG TEN CHAMPIONSHIPS

Indiana won its 28th men’s Big Ten Championship which came as its fourth in six years. IU scored 1,499.5 points and won nine events to outgain runner-up Ohio State (1,406.5 points).

Brendan Burns was named the Big Ten Swimmer of the Championships after winning all five events he swam. Andrew Capobianco was similarly dominant as the Big Ten Diver of the Championships, becoming the first Big Ten athlete to sweep the diving events at the conference meet. Both athletes have won their respective awards in each of the last two championships.

BIG TEN CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY

Indiana has won 28 Big Ten Championships including four of the last six and five since the beginning of head swimming coach Ray Looze’s tenure. The Hoosiers have also managed 12 consecutive top-three finishes going back to 2011.

Indiana has won 304 Big Ten individual titles, counting swimming and diving combined, as well as 71 relay titles.

PURDUE WBB

PURDUE PINKOUT & SENIOR NIGHT SET FOR HOME FINALE

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – The Purdue women’s basketball team returns to Mackey Arena for the final time in the 2022-23 season on Wednesday night when it hosts Penn State. The 7 p.m. tipoff on B1G+ will be the Fight Like a Boilermaker Pinkout and Senior Night.

Tim Newton and Jane Schott will have the call courtside for the Purdue Radio Network on 95.3 BOB FM.

The annual Fight Like a Boilermaker Pinkout will see Purdue wear special pink uniforms that will be auctioned off to benefit the Purdue Institute for Cancer Research. The auction opens Wednesday at 10 a.m. and closes on Thursday at 10 a.m. To place a bid that will help fund cancer research, click here.

Senior night will honor Cassidy Hardin, Lasha Petree and Rickie Woltman following their final game at Mackey Arena. The trio have been instrumental to the Boilermakers’ success this season that has the Boilermakers on the cusp on an NCAA Tournament bid.

GAME INFORMATION 

Purdue (17-8, 8-7) vs. Penn State (13-14, 4-12)

Wednesday, Feb. 22

Time: 7 PM  

TV: B1G+ 

Radio: 95.3 BOB FM 

Live Stats: Purduestats.com

LAST TIME OUT 

The Boilermakers saw No. 2 Indiana pull away in the second half in an 83-60 loss on Sunday in front of a sold-out Assembly Hall. Lasha Petree paced Purdue with 23 points, while Abbey Ellis tacked on 12 and Jeanae Terry added 11. Purdue shot 42.6% but made six 3-pointers to the Hoosiers’ 11. In total this season, a record 32,098 fans watched Purdue and Indiana play in the regular season.

NOTES 

• Purdue leads the all-time series with Penn State 34-23.

• Lasha Petree tallied her sixth game this year with 20 or more points, the most by a Boilermaker since Dominique Oden in 2017-18.

• Jeanae Terry is now up to 161 assists on the year, good for seventh in Purdue single-season history. The senior is the first player in program history to dish out 160 or more assists in two seasons, following 183 dimes in 2021-22.

• Purdue’s scoring defense overall on the year is 65.1 points per game, ranking fifth in the Big Ten, while its 67.1 points allowed in league games is second only to Indiana at 62.8 points per game.

• Sitting at 71.2 points per game offensively this season, the Boilermakers are on pace to average above 70 points

• A win on Wednesday would secure Purdue’s first winning Big Ten record since 2017-18.

• Abbey Ellis is 36 points away from 1,500 for her career.

• With 23 points against Indiana, Lasha Petree joined the 2,000-point club for her career.

• Cassidy Hardin sits second in program history with 137 games played, three shy of Danielle Campbell’s (2006-09) record of 140.

• Caitlyn Harper is 1-of-6 players in the Big Ten averaging over 10 points per game while shooting 55% or better from the field.

PURDUE SWIMMING

MEN RETURN TO ANN ARBOR FOR BIG WEEK AT BIG TENS

MEET INFORMATION

Purdue Men’s Swimming & Diving at the Big Ten Championships

Wednesday, Feb. 22 to Saturday, Feb. 25

Opening Night Relays at 5 p.m. ET

10 a.m. Prelims, 5 p.m. Finals / All Sessions Streaming on B1G+

Canham Natatorium / Ann Arbor, Michigan

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Purdue men’s swimming & diving makes its second trip to Ann Arbor of the season as the Big Ten Championships are contested at the University of Michigan for the second time this month, but for the first time on the men’s side in nearly a decade.

Action is set for Wednesday evening through Saturday at Michigan’s Canham Natatorium, which also hosted the women’s championship meet last week as the first dual host of both Big Tens since Iowa in 2012. The men’s championship meet has not been held in Ann Arbor since 2014.

The Boilermakers also visited Ann Arbor for a dual meet at U-M on Nov. 4. Brady Samuels (100 breast), Coleman Modglin (100 breast), Nick Sherman (200 free), Skyler Younkin (200 fly) and Sam Bennett (3-meter diving) won events that day.

Purdue finished fourth at Big Tens three times in four years from 2018 to 2021. As the meet host last season, the Boilermakers won five medals but saw their seven-year streak with at least one Big Ten champion come to an end. Those titles were in platform diving (4), 200 breaststroke (3) and 3-meter diving (2).

The divers have won multiple medals at every Big Tens since 2013 – piling up 27 total medals during the streak. Jordan Rzepka claimed silver on both 3-meter and platform in his debut at the conference championship meet last year. His 100-point dive from the 10-meter platform in the championship final was the highest-scoring dive of the meet.

The Boilermakers have won at least one relay medal three years in a row, accomplishing the feat for the first time since 2001 to 2003. Purdue also did it four years in a row from 1996 to 1999. The current streak features a bronze in the 200 medley in 2020, silver in the 200 free in 2021, and bronze in both the 200 and 400 free a year ago. Eight different Boilermakers have been part of at least one relay during the streak, including Brady Samuels, Nick Sherman and Keelan Hart last year. The 2022 team became Purdue’s first since 1998 to win medals in multiple relays at the same Big Tens.

As Purdue’s active career scoring leader at Big Tens, Sherman has scored in all three of his individual events each of the last three years. Bennett, Rzepka and Samuels also scored in all three of their individual events last season as freshmen.

MEDALS WON AT 2022 BIG TEN CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Jordan Rzepka – Silver on 3-Meter, Silver on Platform

• 200 Free Relay Team (Sherman, Hrosik, Aćin, Hrosik, Samuels) – Bronze

• 400 Free Relay Team (Aćin, Sherman, Hart, Samuels) – Bronze

• Tyler Downs – Bronze on 1-Meter

PROGRAM RECORDS AT 2022 BIG TEN CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Nick Sherman – 200 IM, 1:43.42 (Team, Since Broken)

• Brady Samuels – 100 Fly, 45.64 (Team/Freshman)

• Brady Samuels – 100 Free, 42.41 (Freshman)

• 400 Free Relay – 2:50.09 (Team)

MORE NOTABLE CAREER BESTS AT 2022 BIG TEN CHAMPIONSHIPS

All-Time Ranks in Team History

• Skyler Younkin – 2nd in 200 Fly (1:45.01)

• Brady Samuels – 2nd in 100 Free (42.41)

• Liam Walker – 4th in 200 Fly (1:45.21)

• Nick Sherman – 5th in 50 Free (19.54)

• Coleman Modglin – 5th in 200 Breast (1:55.02)

• Nick Sherman – 5th in 100 Back (47.12)

• Jordan Rzepka – 6th on 3-Meter (451.90)

• Michael Juengel – 7th in 100 Fly (46.99)

• Keelan Hart – 9th in 100 Free (43.46)

• Jordan Rzepka – 9th on Platform (443.10)

• Liam Walker – 10th in 100 Fly (47.40)

• Andrew Alders – T-13th in 200 Breast (1:58.72)

• All 5 Relays Posted Top 4 Times in Team History

YEAR 8 OF THE CURRENT SCORING BREAKDOWN

• A Final: 32-28-27-26-25-24-23-22

• B Final: 20-17-16-15-14-13-12-11

• C Final: 9-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 (and 17th through 24th in Diving Prelims)

• Relays: 64-56-54-52-50-48-46-44

PURDUE’S MOST RECENT BIG TEN CHAMPIONS

• Diving: Brandon Loschiavo – Platform, 2021

• Swimming: Marat Amaltdinov – 200 Breast, 2017

• Relay: 400 Medley (Sutherland, Kovacs, Brown, Ullom), 1997

PURDUE MEDALISTS AT BIG TENS WHEN MICHIGAN HAS HOSTED (Since 2000)

2000

• Matthew Martin – Bronze in 500 Free, Bronze in 1650 Free

• Dan Kleber – Bronze in 200 Fly

2003

• Tamas Bessenyei – Silver in 100 Breast

• 400 Medley Relay Team (Paul, Bessenyei, Sayce, Wright) – Bronze

2008

• David Colturi – Silver on 3-Meter, Bronze on 1-Meter

2014

• Jamie Bissett – Silver on 1-Meter, Silver on 3-Meter

• Nate Cox – Silver on Platform

• Lyam Dias – Silver in 200 Breast

BUTLER WOMEN’S BB

BUTLER REACHES 10 WINS WITH 60-43 VICTORY OVER XAVIER

INDIANAPOLIS – Butler led from start to finish on Tuesday night to claim a 60-43 win over visiting Xavier. Sydney Jaynes and Rachel McLimore combined for 31 points and the Bulldogs would shoot 45 percent from the floor to come up with their 10th win of the season. The victory also moves Butler’s conference record to 5-13.

How It Happened

Butler jumped out to an 8-0 lead at the start of the game and would lead Xavier 16-6 after 10 minutes. Jaynes got to work right away with eight points over her first eight minutes of playing time and the Bulldog defense limited the Musketeers to 2-of-14 shooting.

The Bulldogs scored 20 of their first 30 points in the paint and would own a 30-17 lead over Xavier at halftime.

Third quarter action was split with BU coming out of the gates on a 7-2 scoring run. Xavier would counter with an 8-0 run and get the game back to 10 at 37-27. Jessica Carrothers would hit a deep 3-pointer just before the end of the third, but the Musketeers would win that frame 19-14 to make the score 44-36 heading into the fourth.

Any chance of a comeback was crushed over the first five minutes of the fourth quarter. BU went on a 12-2 run to push their lead to 18. Xavier went just 3-for-15 from the field and with that the Bulldog defense would ice the team’s third-straight victory.

Postgame Parkinson Quotes

“It was great to get a win and be able to sweep Xavier. Our players did a great job defensively, it may have been one of our best defensive efforts of the season. We didn’t shoot it well tonight, but we executed in the second half. Syd (Jaynes) was good inside and patient. The bottom line is we are on a three-game winning streak and playing some of our best basketball at the end of the season and that’s what you want to do. I couldn’t be more proud of our kids and now we have to get ready for Seton Hall.”

Stat of the Game

Butler went on a 14-0 run in the fourth quarter to take full control of the game.

Inside the Box Score

– Sydney Jaynes led Butler with 16 points, five assists and three blocked shots

– Rachel McLimore scored 15 points on 4-of-7 shooting

– Tenley Dowell came up big with six points and a team-high nine rebounds

– Caroline Strande came off the bench to score nine points

– BU scored 32 points in the paint

– Courtney Prenger led Xavier with 12 points, five boards and two assists

Up Next

Butler’s final regular season home game will be played on Friday, Feb. 24. The Bulldogs will host the Seton Hall Pirates on Senior Day. Tip is set for 7 PM.

BUTLER MEN’S BB

BUTLER HEADS NORTH FOR WEDNESDAY NIGHT TIP AT DEPAUL

The Bulldogs make the drive up I-65 for a Wednesday night tip with DePaul in Chicago. The 8:30 p.m. (Eastern, 7:30 p.m. Chicago) contest will air on FS1.

Following Wednesday’s game at DePaul, the Bulldogs will have their second “BIG EAST bye” of the season as the team will be off until Tuesday, when Butler hosts Marquette in the Bulldogs’ final home game of the season.

Butler (13-15, 5-12 BIG EAST) at DePaul (9-18, 3-13)

Wednesday, Feb. 22;  8:30PM ET

Wintrust Arena; Chicago, Ill.

TV: FS1 – Lisa Byington & Devin Harris

Radio: 1430AM – @MarkMinner & Nick Gardner (@n_gardner)

Varsity Network Radio App, SiriusXM 385, SXM App 975

PDF notes can be found here.

Bulldogs vs. DePaul

• This is the second meeting between Butler and DePaul this season; the Bulldogs won, 78-70, Jan. 4 at Hinkle Fieldhouse.

• Eric Hunter Jr. led the Bulldogs with a career-high 23 points in that Jan. 4 win over the Blue Demons.

• Butler went 23-for-30 from the free throw line in that match-up against DePaul, a season-high for the Bulldogs in both makes and attempts from the charity stripe.

• In Butler’s 73-71 win at Wintrust Arena last season (Feb. 15, 2022), Simas Lukosius had a (then) career-high 19 points, which included a three-pointer with six seconds remaining that broke a 69-69 tie.

• The teams first met in 1939. Only Butler’s all-time series with Marquette and Xavier date back farther among current BIG EAST foes.

• Butler is 17-2 against DePaul since the Bulldogs joined the BIG EAST prior to the 2013-14 season.

Series: Butler Leads, 18-7

Streak: Butler, W6

In Chicago: Butler Leads, 9-4

First Meeting: BU, 39-29; 1939

Last Meeting: BU, 78-70; 1/4/23

• According to KenPom, Butler has played the nation’s 20th-toughest schedule so far this season.

• Jayden Taylor has scored at least 19 points in each of his last five games, leading the Bulldogs in scoring in each of those games; he has six career 20-point games with three of those coming in his last three games.

• In the team’s 13 games away from home, Taylor is averaging a team-best 14.8 points per game.

• Manny Bates (shoulder) missed Sunday’s game against Georgetown after sustaining the injury late in the Feb. 14 game at Villanova. All seven of Butler’s top scorers have only been available together in nine of the team’s 28 games this season.

• Butler has lost its last two games despite shooting a better field goal percentage than its opponent. Prior to this two-game stretch, Butler was 12-0 when out-shooting its opponent.

• The Bulldogs held a 37-32 halftime lead over Georgetown before ultimately losing, the first time that Butler had lost this season when holding a halftime advantage (previously was 12-0).

• Butler is committing only 13.4 fouls per game, which is fourth nationally.

• Butler is 11-0 this season when scoring 70 or more points.

• Butler has 11 games so far this season shooting 50 percent or better from the field; eight of those have come at Hinkle Fieldhouse. Butler has won all 11 of those games.

• Butler has shot 40 percent or better from behind the arc 11 times this season; Butler is 9-2 in those contests.

• Butler’s average of 4.6 blocks per game is 36th nationally. Butler has four games this season with eight or more blocks with three of those games coming in the team’s most recent eight outings.

• Bates has 47 blocks this season, which already places him in seventh on Butler’s single-season list.

• Bates ranks third in the BIG EAST in blocks per game and fifth in field goal percentage. Nationally, Bates is 19th in field goal percentage and 27th in blocks per game.

• Chuck Harris is now 21st in Butler history in career three-pointers (130).

• Lukosius, Harris, Bates and Taylor have each led the Bulldogs in scoring in at least five games this season (includes ties).

• Ali Ali had 11 points Sunday vs. Georgetown, a season-high which also serves as a Butler-high for the transfer from Akron.

• Dating back to the Jan. 4 win over DePaul, Lukosius has scored in double figures in 10 of Butler’s last 13 games.

• In Butler’s 13 wins this season, the Bulldogs have shot 41 percent from three-point range and have a +1.2 rebounding advantage per game; in the team’s 15 losses, their opponents have averaged a rebounding advantage of +11.2 per game while the Bulldogs have hit only 27 percent of their three-point attempts.

IUPUI WBB

JAGUARS TAKE DOWN YOUNGSTOWN STATE, 87-80

INDIANAPOLIS – The IUPUI women’s basketball team clinches a quarterfinal home game with an 87-80 win over Youngstown State. Five Jags finished in double figures with Jazmyn Turner leading the offense with 21 points.

“This was a big win for our team tonight,” said head coach Kate Bruce. “Both teams were making a lot of shots the first quarter and I thought our team picked up our defensive intensity the next three quarters. Our players played with a lot of toughness and heart. It was great to be back in the Jungle playing in front of our fans, such a terrific atmosphere.”

Youngstown State came out strong leading the Jags by ten after the first quarter. IUPUI quickly responded with Destiny Perkins sinking three straight threes and a little help from a layup from Logan Lewis to end the second quarter on top, 44-39.

The Penguins tied the game up a couple times to begin the third quarter, but IUPUI never lost the lead as they finished the third quarter at 62-58. The Jags jumped out to a ten point lead in the fourth quarter and held on after both Perkins and Turner fouled out to earn the win, 87-80.

Turner led the Jaguar offense with 21 points and six rebounds while Perkins and Natalie Andersen added 18 points each. Perkins five rebounds and a team-high three assists while Andersen collected two boards. Logan Lewis totaled 13 points and two rebounds while Ali Berg scored 10 points with a team-high seven rebounds and two steals.

The Jags shot 50 percent (25-for-50) from the floor and 44.4 percent (8-for-18) from behind the arc while holding Youngstown State to 39.3 percent from the three point line. IUPUI outrebounded the Penguins, 37-29.

The Jaguars will close out the regular season with a 5:30 PM tip against Robert Morris on Thursday at the Indiana Farmer’s Coliseum.

IUPUI MEN’S GOLF

MEN’S GOLF COLLECTS SECOND-PLACE FINISH AT MICKEY MOUSE INTERCOLLEGIATE

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – The IUPUI men’s golf team notched an impressive runner-up finish at this week’s Mickey Mouse Intercollegiate at Disney’s Palm Golf Course, using a final round 298 to close the 54-hole event at 874 (296-280-298). The Jaguars staved off third-place Queens University of Charlotte and were keyed by top-five finishes from Taylor Gardner and Sam McWilliams.

“We played great for 15 holes and it really wasn’t our ‘A’ game. It wasn’t the finish we wanted to the round but it was nice to see many of the things we were working on over the last few weeks were paying dividends,” head coach Jamie Broce said. “This is a shot in the arm for our guys to really know they can compete at a high level over a whole tournament.

“It was a fun trip, for sure.”

Gardner shot a final round, 1-over 73 to place third overall at 4-under 212 (67-72-73) and McWilliams posted a final round, 2-over 74 to tie for fourth at 213 (72-67-74). On Tuesday (Feb. 21), Morgan Tournemire chimed in with a countable round of 75 and Kevin Tillery shot 76 to account for the team’s 298. Preston Nanthavong shot 79 and freshman Noah Kirsch shot 89 while playing as an individual.

While IUPUI never serious threatened tournament champion Wofford on the final day, the Jaguars clung to a second-place finish, despite a clunky finish to the round. Both Gardner and McWilliams were at or under par for the bulk of the day with the former making six birdies during his round. Both closed going bogey-par-bogey to end their rounds and push just over par.

Tournemire started out hot, making birdie on three of his first four holes of the day and was even at the turn. He recovered from a rough patch with back-to-back birdies on holes 13 and 14 before wrapping up at 3-over 75. Tillery made 11 pars and two birdies on his way to a 4-over 76. Nanthavong was 1-over at the turn but found trouble on No. 10 and ultimately came in at 7-over 79.

Wofford ran away with the title at 12-under 852 for the week, defeating their closest competition by 22 shots. Wofford’s Matthew Larkin was medalist at 11-under 205 and teammate Harry Jones finished second at 208.

The Jaguars were second among the field with 52 birdies for the week as McWilliams made 15 and Gardner made 14. Both Tillery and Tournemire each had an eagle during the event.

The Jaguars will return to action on Sunday, Mar. 19 when they compete in the Colonel Shootout in Richmond, Ky.

BALL STATE MBB

BALL STATE DEFENDS HOME COURT AGAINST KENT STATE AS FIVE CARDINALS SCORE DOUBLE FIGURES

MUNCIE, Ind. – The Ball State men’s basketball team returned to the friendly confines of Worthen Arena for a Mid-American Conference matchup with Kent State. Jaylin Sellers led the BSU with 20 points and Payton Sparks collected a double-double as the Cardinals knocked off the Golden Flashes 82-70 on Tuesday.

Ball State improved to 20-8 overall and 11-4 in MAC play. It is just the 13th time in program history that a team has won 20 games. It is also just the fourth time in Ball State history that the men’s and women’s programs have both won 20 games in the same season. Kent State fell to 22-6 overall and 12-3 in league games.

“That’s a really good win for us, especially after Saturday,” said Head Coach Michael Lewis. “I felt good about our preparation and the way these guys responded on Sunday. We have high-character guys that are learning a new coaching staff and should be having a blast. To be able to compete and be on a team like this, doesn’t happen all the time. The radio guy, Mick Tidrow, told me this is only the 13th time in 102 years that a team has won 20 games. That’s a credit to these guys. Unbelievable crowd and student section. They’ve been great all year. Huge thank you to them. Really good win. Excited about what this team can do down the stretch bouncing back after a poor performance, which was my fault on Saturday.”

Sellers finished with a team-high 20 points and added two rebounds. Luke Bumbalough recorded a season-high 13 points with four assists and three rebounds. Basheer Jihad also tallied 13 points to go along with his six boards and he tied a career high with two blocks. Demarius Jacobs shot 80.0 percent from the field and finished with 12 points. He added five boards and four assists. Sparks collected his ninth double-double with 11 points and a game-high 12 rebounds. He dished out one assist. Jarron Coleman produced a game-high eight assists, which tied a career high and was two more than Kent State produced as a team. Coleman added nine points and three rebounds.

The game started as a defensive battle that saw an 11-11 tie after the first 6:17 of play. During that stretch the Cardinals were 6-of-7 from the free-throw line. The next 4:30 was the same as the score was tied 21-21 with 6:50 left in the opening stanza.

The remainder of the first half continued to be a back-and-forth war as Kent State took a 33-32 lead into the half. Ball State finished the first half 15-of-19 from the free-throw line.

The Cardinals came out on fire in the second half with a 16-3 run, which led to a BSU 45-36 lead. During the run, Ball State was a perfect 7-for-7 from the field. Sellers and Sparks collected back-to-back dunks that ignited the BSU crowd. A Sellers 3-pointer at the end of the run forced a Kent State timeout.

The Golden Flashes answered with a 6-0 run and cut the Cardinal lead to 48-42 with 15:21 left in regulation. Ball State was unfazed and responded by outscoring Kent State 11-6 over the game’s next 4:08.

The Cardinals held an eight-point lead, 67-59, with 5:24 left in regulation. Ball State outscored Kent State 9-4 and took a 76-63 lead, its largest of the night, with 2:56 remaining in the game. The Golden Flashes outscored the Cardinals 7-6 in the remaining minute, but BSU used a perfect 4-for-4 from the free-throw line to help secure an 82-70 victory.

Kent State was led by Sincere Carry with a game-high 21 points. He tied for a team high with six rebounds to go along with an assist and a steal. Malique Jacobs finished with 18 points, six boards, a team-high three assists, a block, and a steal. Miryne Thomas closed out the double-digit scores with 13 and brought down five rebounds.

The Cardinals return to the road for a MAC contest with the Eastern Michigan Eagles. Tip is scheduled for 3:30 p.m.

BALL STATE WBB

WBB LOOKS FOR MAC SERIES SWEEP AT HOME AGAINST WESTERN MICHIGAN WEDNESDAY

Game 28 | Ball State (22-5, 12-2 MAC) vs. Western Michigan (10-15, 5-9 MAC)

Feb. 22 | Muncie, Ind. | Worthen Arena | 6:30 pm ET

Opening Tip:

– The Ball State women’s basketball team looks to improve to a 13-2 in Mid-American Conference play for the first time since the 2008-09 season and to remain undefeated at home, 14-0.

– Ball State is looking to get back on the winning track after suffering a 77-84 loss to Northern Illinois Saturday at the Convocation Center. The Cardinals still remain one of the front runners to win the Mid-American Conference regular season title and earn the No. 1 seed in the upcoming MAC Tournament in Cleveland (March. 8-11).

– Ball State women’s basketball team will play in a nationally televised regular season game for the first time ever on ESPNU Wednesday, March 1, at 5 p.m. ET when it takes on Bowling Green at the Stroh Center.

– The Cardinals currently have 22 wins with four games left and the Mid-American Conference Tournament on the horizon, Ball State has the potential to have the best record in program history. The Cardinals are four wins away from tying the program record which is 26-9 in 2008-09.

– Wednesday’s game against Western Michigan will mark the 91st time in program history the two schools have met with Ball State leading the series record, 51-39. The Cardinals won their first meeting this season against the Broncos, 76-70 in Kalamazoo, Jan. 7.

– Ball State owns a 31-8 ledger over Western Michigan dating back to the 2004-05 season. Brady Sallee holds an 18-4 career mark against the Broncos.

– The last time the Cardinals lost to the Broncos in the MAC regular season was in Kalamazoo, Mich. on March 2, 2019 by a score of 54-72. Since then, Ball State has won seven-straight over Western Michigan.

Fast Facts:

– Redshirt senior Anna Clephane has 1,187 points for her career and became the 10th player under Brady Sallee to reach the 1,000 point milestone against Miami (1/14/23). Clephane is first on the team in scoring averaging 15.2 points per game.

 – Sophomore Marie Kiefer has proven to be a great defender for the Cardinals. She currently sits in 12th place all-time in blocked shots with 88 and so far has 40 total this season. Kiefer averages 1.4 blocks per contest.

– Graduate senior Thelma Dis Agustsdottir has found her rhythm behind the arc again as she currently leads the team with 87 three’s so far this season along with being ranked second in the nation. Agustsdottir has 305 total 3-pointers for her career and sits in second place all-time. She needs 19 more take the top spot which is currently being held by former Cardinal and current associate head coach Audrey Spencer (2006-10) with 323 3-pointers. Agustsdottir also ranks third in the nation in 3-pointers per game (3.22) and fourth in total 3-pointers (87).

Chosen to Play on ESPU:

-The Ball State women’s basketball team will play in a nationally televised regular season game for the first time ever on Wednesday, March 1, at 5 p.m. ET when it takes on Bowling Green at the Stroh Center. The contest will be a rematch of a game played on Jan. 4, with the Cardinals defeating the Falcons, 81-73, in Worthen Arena. With four games remaining in the regular season, the Cardinals (22-5, 12-2 MAC) have already locked up a spot at the 2023 Mid-American Conference Tournament in Cleveland, Ohio (March 8-11) at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.

Career Night for Thelma:

Graduate senior Thelma Dis Agustsdottir scored a career-high 34 points and tied the program’s single-game 3-point record with nine to help lift Ball State past Ohio Feb. 15 in Worthen Arena with a 78-53 win over the Bobcats.

CSC Academic All-District:

Both Anna Clephane and Thelma Dis Agustsdottir have been tabbed to the 2023 CSC Academic All-District Team. The 2022-23 Academic All-District® Men’s and Women’s Basketball Teams, selected by College Sports Communicators, recognize the nation’s top student-athletes for their combined performances on the court and in the classroom. The CSC Academic All-America® program separately recognizes basketball honorees in four divisions — NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III and NAIA — for each gender.

Where the Cardinals Rank:

Nationally the Cardinals rank 18th in scoring offense (78.0), 28th in 3-pointers per game (8.2), 46th in 3-point field goal attempts (24.0), 14th in field goal percentage (46.5), 22nd in assists per game (16.8), 30th in scoring margin (12.8), 22nd in assist/turnover ratio (1.24) and 27th in winning percentage (81.5).  Individually, Ally Becki is 6th in assist/turnvoer ration (2.67). The Cardinals currently sit at No. 7 in the latest College Insider Mid-Major Top 25 poll, the second highest of any MAC team.

NOTRE DAME MGOLF

IRISH TIED FOR SIXTH IN THE WATERSOUND INVITATIONAL

PANAMA CITY BEACH, Fla. – The Notre Dame Fighting Irish wrapped up their first tournament of the 2023 season with a T6 finish in the Watersound Invitational hosted by Florida State at the Shark’s Tooth Golf Course on February 19-21.

As a team, the Irish shot a collective 860 (-4) and finished round three with their best outing of the tournament. Notre Dame shot five under as a team in the final round on Tuesday and were led by freshman Nate Stevens who finished amongst the top 15 for his best finish in an Irish uniform. Stevens shot an even 72 in round one on Sunday, a 71 (-1) in round two on Monday, and shot a team-best 69 (-3) in round three on Tuesday.

Senior Jackson Palmer also shot an impressive three under on the tournament. His top performances came in rounds one and three with a 70 (-2) in both rounds. Palmer finished T18.

The Irish are back on the course in March as Notre Dame competes in the Johnnie-O at Sea Island tournament hosted by Rutgers at the Seaside Golf Course.

NOTRE DAME MBB

GAME 28 PREVIEW: IRISH VS TAR HEELS ON ESPN

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – After back-to-back games came down to the wire last week in tough road environments, the Irish look to finally push through when North Carolina rolls into Purcell Pavilion. The Fighting Irish (10-17, 2-14) and Tar Heels (16-11, 8-8) will tip at 9 p.m. ET on ESPN.

ND VS UNC

Notre Dame is 9-27 against North Carolina and 5-12 in the Brey Era. The Irish have definitely found more success at home where they are 4-5. 

In fact, the Irish boast a two-game win streak against the Tar Heels inside Purcell Pavilion. They met once last year in the Bend and ND took it 78-73.

Laszewski shot 7-for-11 in the game and six-for-seven from behind the three point arc to lead the Irish with 20 points. His back-to-back clutch three pointers with under three minutes proved to be the key shots in the victory. In addition, senior Dane Goodwin scored 11 of his 17 points in the second half.

The games in South Bend in this series have been particularly close as of late

Jan. 5, 2022 — W, 78-73 (5-point margin)

Feb. 17, 2020 — W, 77-76 (1)

Jan. 13, 2018 — L, 69-68 (1)

Feb. 6, 2016 — W, 80-76 (4)

Looking at the overall series (home/away/neutral), the story is much of the same. Excluding the ACC tournament shellacking in 2021, five of the last six contests have been close.

Jan. 5, 2022 — W, 78-73

Jan. 2, 2021 — L, 66-65

Feb. 17, 2020 — W, 77-76

Nov. 6, 2019 — L, 76-65

Jan. 15, 2019 — L, 75-69

THE DIFFERENCE A FEW POSSESSIONS CAN MAKE

How unlucky have the Irish been this season? Just in ACC play alone, they have lost nine games by single digits. Of those nine – seven have been five points or less. Plus, an incredible five has been decided by one possession. You look at the five teams in front of the Irish in the standings (Georgia Tech, FSU, VT, BC, UNC) – together they have a combined 9 losses by one possession.

If those seven that were decided by five points or less went a different direction, aka the difference of 2-3 possessions, the Irish could easily be sitting at 9-7 and in 7th place.

Taking a deeper look at five of ND’s last six losses – excluding the Wake Forest outlier – the Irish have lost by a combined margin of 17 points over 5 games, which equates to a 3.4 average margin of defeat.

UNLUCK OF THE IRISH

Coach Brey was happy how the guys competed this past week in two tough road ACC environments – battling Duke and No. 7 Virginia to the very end. In both games though it was Unluck of the Irish.

At Duke, the Irish Trailed by 10 in the 2nd half and rallied to make it a one-point game at 62-63 with 36 seconds left. The comeback was fueled by Dane Goodwin, who scored 17 straight points from 12:35-4:29. Goodwin finished with a season high 25 points on 11-of-13 shooting. ND thought they would have a chance for at least the tie at the end if it wasn’t for the heroics of Duke’s Mark Mitchell, who had one field goal at that point in the game. He then hit a corner three with 12.0 seconds left.

A few days later in Charlottesville, the Irish thought they had a miracle at the buzzer. Down two with three seconds on the clock, Trey Wertz was on the free-throw line with one to shoot. He then shot a ‘perfect miss’ as the ball found its way back to him. Wertz calmly dished to Dane Goodwin who was wide open for the game-winning three. It hit off the rim as ND fell at the buzzer 57-55.

NATE THRIVING IN PURCELL

Home sweet home is a phrase because you just tend to play better in the friendly confines of your own arena. And this certainly holds true for Laszewski as of late.

Check this stat out – Over the last 4 home games – 97 points (24.3 ppg), 27 rebounds, 32-of-52 FG, 18-of-31 3PT.

WHILE DANE IS THE ROAD WARRIOR

On the flip side of that is Dane Goodwin, who has found much success on the road down the stretch. He’s posted seven straight road games in double figures – averaging 14.7 ppg (103 points).

4 STARTS – 3 GAMES IN DOUBLE FIGURES

Freshman Ven-Allen Lubin has made 4 consecutive starts and has rewarded the Irish with 3 games in double figures. He scored a career high 13 points at Georgia Tech, then followed that up with 11 points vs Virginia Tech and 10 points at Duke. 

One could argue that Lubin could have had even larger numbers against Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech if it weren’t for limited minutes due to foul trouble in both.

THREAT FROM THREE

Notre Dame’s offense may struggle from time to time, but you can’t argue with the team’s three-point shooting ability. The Irish rank third in the ACC in made three-pointers per game and 35th in the country, converting 9.0 per game. They also rank 4th in three-point shooting percentage (.363). Their 9.0 threes per game would rank 6th all-time in program history – the program record is 9.7 set by the 19-20 squad.

FEBRUARY GROOVE

Goodwin has a pattern of excelling in February. Starting in 2021 (so over the last three seasons), Goodwin is averaging 12.8 ppg in the month of February. He scored 112 points over 8 games in 2021. Then 81 points in 7 games in 2022. And 62 points in 2023.

Looking just at this February – Laszewski is thriving. He’s averaging 18.0 ppg in the month of February – which ranks 8th best amongst ACC players.

INDIANA STATE BASEBALL

SEARS’ BIG DAY BLASTS SYCAMORES PAST FLORIDA GULF COAST, 8-7

PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. – Mike Sears connected on the go-ahead grand slam in the sixth inning and then added the game-winning RBI single in the eighth as Indiana State powered its way past Florida Gulf Coast on Tuesday afternoon, 8-7.

Sears’ grand slam capped a six-run rally in the bottom of the sixth inning to give the Sycamores (2-1) a 7-4 lead over the Eagles (4-1). After FGCU rallied back with three runs in the eighth to tie the game up, Sears again came through in the clutch with a two-out RBI single scoring Miguel Rivera to put ISU ahead 8-7.

Matt Jachec (S, 1) took care of the rest as the Sycamore right-hander rebounded from an early hit-by-pitch and wild pitch to retire the final three batters in the top of the ninth for his first save of the season.

Indiana State relied on their power in the contest against the Eagles as six of their nine hits in the contest went for extra bases. Grant Magill doubled twice, while Connor Hicks, Luis Hernandez, and Seth Gergely also added doubles in the win. Randal Diaz, Hits, and Gergely added RBI, while Miguel Rivera picked up his first stolen base of the year.

The Sycamores utilized nine pitchers on the mound on Tuesday afternoon with Simon Gregersen (1-0) picking up the win after going 0.2-innings in scoreless relief. Cole Gilley settled the game down for ISU with a scoreless two-inning stretch in the second and third frames, while Aaron Moss, Jared Spencer, and Joey Hurth all held FGCU scoreless in the game.

Joe Kinker recorded four of Florida Gulf Coast’s 12 hits in the game and added a pair of RBI singles to lead FGCU’s offense. Harrison Povey and Edrick Felix also added two-hit games, while Jacob Lojewski recorded two RBI in the loss.

Chase Kriebel (0-1) took the loss for the Eagles after giving up the Sears’ go-ahead single in the eighth. Love went the first 5.1 innings in the start allowing six hits and five runs (four earned) while striking out four in the no decision.

How They Scored

Florida Gulf Coast took the early lead after the top of the first inning as Joe Kinker connected on an RBI single, while Jacob Lojewski’s two-run base hit put the Eagles ahead 3-0 early.

The Sycamores responded with a run in the bottom of the second as Seth Gergely connected on an RBI double down the left field line scoring Luis Hernandez to cut the deficit down to 3-1.

Kinker added to the FGCU lead in the top of the fourth with his second RBI single of the game scoring Ellis to make it a 4-1 game.

The Sycamores took advantage of four extra-base hits in the bottom of the sixth inning highlighted by a Mike Sears grand slam as Indiana State went ahead 7-4. Randal Diaz hit an RBI single and Connor Hicks added an RBI double prior to the Sears grand slam for ISU’s first lead of the game.

FGCU tied it up in the top of the eighth as Harrison Povey connected on a two-run triple down the right field line, while Alejandro Figueredo hit a sacrifice fly scoring Povey to tie it up at 7-7.

Sears put the Sycamores back on top in the bottom of the eighth as the redshirt senior connected on the two-out, go-ahead RBI single scoring Miguel Rivera to put Indiana State ahead 8-7.

News & Notes

Mike Sears and Grant Magill both recorded their first multi-hit games of the 2023 season on Tuesday afternoon.

Grant Magill became the third Sycamore to post a two-double game this season joining both Luis Hernandez and Josue Urdaneta who accomplished the feat against Iowa in the season opener.

Connor Hicks drew his first start of the 2023 season at designated hitter.

Jacob Pruitt made his first collegiate start on the mound against FGCU.

Cole Gilley, Kyle Cortner, Aaron Moss, and Joey Hurth all made their 2023 debuts on Tuesday afternoon.

Sears’ grand slam in the sixth inning was Indiana State’s first home run of 2023. It also marked his first home run since February 20, 2022, against Ohio State before the redshirt junior suffered a season-ending injury.

Eleven of Indiana State’s 19 hits in the 2023 season have gone for extra bases with Indiana State connecting on nine doubles, one triple, and one home run.

Miguel Rivera became the third Sycamore to post a stolen base on the season following his theft in the eighth inning.

Adam Pottinger was plunked twice in the game giving him a team-leading three HBP on the year. The Sycamores entered the week leading the MVC in team hit-by-pitches with five.

Up Next

Indiana State is back in action on Wednesday evening as the Sycamores travel to Alex Rodriguez Park at Mark Light Field to take on No. 22 Miami. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. on the ACC Network Extra.

INDIANA STATE MBB

SYCAMORES SET FOR FINAL ROAD CLASH AT BELMONT

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – Indiana State is coming off its seventh straight win and fifth season series sweep heading into arguably its biggest regular season game of the year. The Sycamores head to Nashville for their first and only meeting with Belmont Wednesday, Feb. 22. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m. ET from Curb Event Center.

After tying the record last season, the Sycamores officially broke the program record for 3-pointers in a single season Saturday against Illinois State. The record was 270 originally set in 2017-18 but with their six triples against Illinois State, the Sycamores are currently sitting at 273 triples on the year.

With his three triples Saturday, Courvoisier McCauley is tied for third on ISU’s program list of 3-pointers made in a single season with 81. He is two 3-pointers away from taking sole possession of second on that list.

With his team-high four assists Saturday, Julian Larry is three assists away from hitting 100 this season. He would join teammate Cameron Henry who hit 100 assists at UIC Wednesday, and it would be the first time two Sycamores have notched 100 assists in the same season since Matt Renn and Michael Menser in 2000-01.

The Sycamores have collected 20 wins for the first time since 2013-14 and just the eighth time overall since joining the Valley in 1976-77.

The Sycamores also notched 13 Valley wins for the first time since 1999-20 when Indiana State won the Valley with a 14-4 league record. The only other time Indiana State has had 13 or more Valley wins was in 1978-79 when the Sycamores went 16-0 in league play and made it to the NCAA Championship game.

With two regular season games remaining, Indiana State sits in sole possession of third place in the Valley standings at 13-5 behind Drake and Bradley who are tied for first at 14-4. Belmont is one game behind Indiana State, tied with Southern Illinois at 12-6.

SERIES HISTORY

The Sycamores have faced first-year Valley member Belmont just five times ever in the past, dating back to 1954. The two teams met once annually from 1954-1956, then twice in 2013, and have not met since then with the last meeting coming on Dec. 28, 2013 in Terre Haute. Indiana State leads the series 4-1 overall including 3-0 at home, but the series is tied 1-1 in Nashville. Indiana State has not faced the Bruins in Nashville since Nov. 14, 2013 and has not won in Nashville since Dec. 3, 1956.

A WIN WOULD…

» Give ISU 21 wins for the first time since 2013-14 when the Sycamores won 23. The Sycamores have won 21 or more games in a single season just six times in the Valley era dating back to 1976.

» Give the Sycamores 14 Valley wins for the first time since 1999- 2000 when they won the Valley with a 14-4 league record. Indiana State has won 14 or more Valley games just twice in program history including going 16-0 in league play in 1978-79.

LAST GAME AGAINST THE BRUINS

The Sycamores used a season-high 25 points from senior guard Jake Odum to earn an 85-73 victory over the Bruins in front of 4,837 fans inside Hulman Center back on Dec. 28, 2013.

Odum scored his 25 points by going 7-of-14 (50 percent) from the field, and he hit his only 3-point attempt of the contest. He was also 10-of-11 from the free throw line to go with seven assists, five rebounds and four steals. Odum’s four steals give him 189 for his career which moved him past Micheal Menser for fourth place on the Indiana State all-time chart.

Four others joined Odum in double figures scoring as Manny Arop scored 16 points while Demetrius Moore, Khristian Smith and Justin Gant all scored 10. Overall, ISU was 50 percent from the field (31-of-62) and drained seven 3-pointers. Indiana State was 16-of-20 from the free throw line in the contest.

Indiana State held a 35-29 edge in the battle of the glass and turned 12 offensive rebounds into 12 second chance points. ISU scored 12 fast break points and held a 42-20 edge in points in the paint. The Sycamore defense forced 19 Belmont turnovers.

LAST TIME OUT

In front of the largest crowd at Hulman Center this season, the Indiana State Sycamores broke a program record for 3-pointers made in a single season, but it was free throws that made the difference in an 80-64 win against Illinois State Saturday afternoon.

The Sycamores hit a season-high 30 free throws to help themselves to their seventh straight win, the last six of those coming by double figures. Nearly 6,000 fans were packed into Hulman Center with half of them donning goggles for “Be Like Robbie Day” cheering Indiana State onto six triples in the game to surpass the program record for 3-pointers in a single season. The Sycamores have hit 273 3-pointers so far with more basketball to be played.

With Cameron Henry playing under 10 minutes in the game and not touching the floor in the second half, the Sycamore bench stepped up once again, this time with 33 points. Trenton Gibson led the Sycamores with 17 points in the game, and he has come off the bench with double figures in two straight games and three of his last four. Xavier Bledson added 12 points off the bench.

Cooper Neese and Julian Larry combined to go 13-of-13 at the free throw line and posted 16 and 10 points, respectively. Courvoisier McCauley hit half of Indiana State’s threes in the game and finished with 12 points.

The score stayed tight early on in the game, but the Sycamores started taking advantage of their trips to the line early to begin pulling away, eventually building up to a 10-point lead after seven straight free throws midway through the first half. The Sycamores did not allow the Redbirds a single lead in the game, and the Indiana State lead reached as high as 20 points in the second half.

ANOTHER BROKEN RECORD

After tying the record last season, the Sycamores officially broke the program record for 3-pointers in a single season Saturday against Illinois State

The record was 270 originally set in 2017-18 but with their six triples Saturday, the Sycamores are currently sitting at 273 triples on the year.

CHARITY SUCCESS

Indiana State shot 95.8% (23-of-24) from the free throw line in Saturday’s 18-point win at UNI, marking the third-best percentage in program history (minimum 10 FT made) and the best percentage since 1993. The program record is 100% (31-of-31) against Wichita State Feb. 18, 1991.

Nine different Sycamores made two or more free throws in the game, led by Cade McKnight and Julian Larry who each made 4-of-4.

ISU made a season-high 30 free throws Saturday against Illinois State out of 35 attempts.

MCCAULEY EARNS B2B NEWCOMER OF THE WEEK HONORS

Courvoisier McCauley was named the MVC Newcomer of the Week for the second and third time this season on Feb. 6 and Feb. 13.

Feb. 6: He averaged 20.5 points and 8.5 rebounds on the week to help the Sycamores to back-to-back double-digit wins. He posted an 18-point, 11-rebound double-double Wednesday at Evansville before scoring a game-high 23 points while hitting five of ISU’s program- best 19 3-pointers against Murray State Saturday.

Feb. 13: He led the Sycamores to two double-digit victories this week to extend their win streak to five games. He averaged 18 points with a team-high 15 points against Valparaiso alongside six rebounds, three triples, a block, and a steal in the game. Saturday at Northern Iowa, McCauley paced all scorers in the game with 21 points and a game-high five triples for his eighth 20+-point outing this season.

This marks the second time ever and first time since Manny Arop in 2012 that a Sycamore has earned back-to-back MVC Newcomer of the Week honors, and McCauley joins Brenton Scott and Jake Odum as the only three Sycamores to earn the award three times in one season.

SHARING IS CARING

Indiana’s State’s 27 assists against Murray State Saturday is an all-time program second-best, behind the program record of 34 set in 1983 against West Texas State. Julian Larry led the way Saturday with a career-high nine assists in the game.

ISU leads the Valley in assists, assists per game and assist-to- turnover ratio while Julian Larry and Cameron Henry rank top-10 in the Valley in all three of those categories.

The Sycamores are 14-0 this season when they dish out 15 or more assists.

Cameron Henry notched his 100th assist this season at UIC and becomes the first Sycamore with 100 assists in a season since Jordan Barnes in 2019-20.

RAININ’ THREES

Indiana State set a single-game program record for 3-pointers in a game with 19 against Murray State Saturday, breaking the previous record of 18 vs. Arizona State Dec. 2, 1988. Those 19 3-pointers are the most all-time in a game between two Valley teams.

ISU was two triples shy of tying that program record Wednesday against Valpo, and the 36 triples between those two games are the most in a two-game stretch in Valley history.

Eight different Sycamores connected on a three in those two games. ISU is 9-1 this season when six or more players hit a three in a game and 10-1 when making 10 or more threes as a team.

POWERED BY THE BENCH

Indiana State leads the Valley in bench points this season.

Trenton Gibson is averaging 10.6 points off the bench in the last five games, including leading the team with 17 points off the bench in Saturday’s win against Illinois State.

Bledson posted a team-high 20 points Jan. 7 against UNI for his second 20+-point outing this season, and Hobbs nailed four triples for a season-high 14 points. Those 34 points are tied for ISU’s second-most bench points against DI opponents this season, even with 34 bench points against Drexel when Bledson had an ISU career-high 22 points off the bench, and behind 38 bench points against Evansville when 12 different Sycamores made it on the scoresheet.

PURDUE FT. WAYNE MVOLLEYBALL

PURDUE FORT WAYNE MEN’S VOLLEYBALL WILL PLAY TWO MIVA MATCHES THIS WEEK

FORT WAYNE, Ind. – The Purdue Fort Wayne men’s volleyball team will play at McKendree and host Lewis this week in MIVA action.

Game Day Information (Wednesday)

Who: McKendree Bearcats

When: Wednesday, February 22 | 8 PM

Where: Lebanon, Ill. | Melvin Price Convocation Center

Live Stats: Link

Watch: GLVCSN

Game Notes: Purdue Fort Wayne | McKendree | MIVA

Game Day Information (Friday)

Who: Lewis Flyers

When: Friday, February 24 | 7 PM

Where: Fort Wayne, Ind. | Gates Sports Center

Live Stats: Link

Watch: ESPN+

Game Notes: Purdue Fort Wayne | Lewis | MIVA

Know Your Foes

• McKendree is 6-5 this season and 1-3 after two weekends of MIVA play. The Bearcats’ one MIVA win came last week against Quincy. They have played the same foes as the Mastodons in league play and have had the same results. Bryce Wetjen is leading the Bearcats with 3.03 kills per set. Setter Tyle Poulsen was named the MIVA Defensive Player of the Week on January 31.

• Lewis is 8-7 and has started MIVA play 2-2 with a 3-2 win over Ball State and a 3-0 win over Quincy. The Flyers fell to George Mason 3-0, a team the Mastodons beat in five sets. Lewis is coming off a 3-2 loss to Lindenwood. Max Roquet is leading Lewis with 3.52 kills per set. He was also named the MIVA Defensive Player of the Week on Janaury 17.

Series Histories

• Purdue Fort Wayne and McKendree have one of the most tightly-contested series in all of men’s volleyball. The Mastodons lead the series 9-8, and the two teams have alternated the last four matches.

 • Lewis owns the series lead 42-25, which dates back to 1994, the first year the Flyers played in the MIVA. The Mastodons have won just one of the last 17 matches, which came in 3-0 fashion last season. Jon Diedrich had 12 kills in that contest.

Block Party

Purdue Fort Wayne is third in the MIVA and eighth in the country with 2.36 blocks per set. Ryan Steponaitis (1.00), Bryce Walker (0.90), Mark Frazier (0.82) and Jon Diedrich (0.63) are all in the top-20 in the MIVA in blocks per set.

Bryce the Beast

Bryce Walker has the best career hitting percentage among active MIVA players with a .353 clip.

Zany Zach

Zach Solomon is the MIVA career leader with 0.39 aces per set

Yes, No (ah), Maybe

Noah Melendez is the active career leader in Division I/II with 717 digs in his five years. The next closest is McKendree’s Francisco Comas with 653.

Serrrrrrg

Sergio Carrillo has the second-most career assists among all Division I/II student-athletes with 2,833 in his five seasons. Cole Bogner of Penn State is the active leader with 3,426.

He’s Special

Jon Diedrich is fourth in the country with 5.06 points per set. He is only behind a pair of players from the SIAC and Jaylen Jasper of Pepperdine.

Chasing 1,000

Jon Diedrich is on pace to join the 1,000-kill club while at Purdue Fort Wayne. He has 931 kills and has averaged 3.50 kills per set in his career. If he continues this pace, he will hit the 1,000 mark in 19 sets.

Jaunty Jon

Jon Diedrich matched his career-high with 28 kills against No. 11 Ball State on February 18. This was the second-most kills in a five-set match in the NCAA this season. It also came after he recorded 20 kills in four sets against No. 10 Ohio State.

Last Time Out

Purdue Fort Wayne fell to No. 10 Ohio State 3-1 and No. 11 Ball State 3-2. Jon Diedrich had a career-high 28 kills against the Cardinals.

Coming Up

The Mastodons will take on Loyola Chicago on Saturday (March 4) in the Windy City.

EVANSVILLE BASEBALL

KENTUCKY TRIPS UP BASEBALL ACES, 6-3

LEXINGTON, Ky. – A three-run fourth inning by the host University of Kentucky Wildcats proved to be the difference on Tuesday afternoon, as the Wildcats topped the University of Evansville baseball team, 6-3, at Kentucky Proud Park in Lexington, Kentucky.

After Evansville rallied for a run in the top-half of the inning on a sacrifice fly by Lexington native Brendan Hord to cut a UK lead to 3-2, the Wildcats took advantage of some Evansville miscues and wildness to take control of the contest.

Outfielder James McCoy led off with a double, and would score when catcher Chase Stanke followed with an RBI single to center field.  An error on that play, a bunt single and a stolen base would put two men in scoring position, before shortstop Grant Smith would use a sacrifice bunt to score another run to push UK’s lead to 5-2.  A walk and two hit batters later would give the Wildcats a 6-2 lead, and UE could get no closer than 6-3 the rest of the way.

“It is hard to beat an SEC team on the road when you don’t play clean baseball,” said UE head coach Wes Carroll.  “We are making the game harder than it needs to be right now.  It will be good to get home, as we are ready to play at home this weekend.”

Hord, who started his collegiate baseball career at UK, drove in two of UE’s three runs, as he opened UE’s scoring with an RBI double in the second inning.  Fifth-year first baseman Eric Roberts led UE offensively by going 3-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI, while fifth-year DH Chase Hug and junior shortstop Simon Scherry had two hits each.

Third baseman Isaiah Byars and second baseman Emilien Pitre had three hits each to lead a 13-hit attack for UK (3-1).

Evansville (0-4) will open its home schedule this weekend by hosting Eastern Michigan (1-2) at German American Bank Field at Charles H. Braun Stadium.  The series will begin Friday afternoon at 3 p.m. and continue with day games on both Saturday (2 p.m.) and Sunday (1 p.m.).  All three games can be seen live on the Valley On ESPN.

EVANSVILLE MBB

SENIOR DAY FOR MEN’S BASKETBALL TO TAKE PLACE WEDNESDAY

EVANSVILLE, Ind. – In the final home game of the season, the University of Evansville men’s basketball team welcomes UIC to the Ford Center on Wednesday evening.  Tip is set for 7 p.m. CT with the Purple Aces Radio Network and ESPN+ having the coverage.

Setting the Scene

– Senior Day is set for Wednesday night with Marvin Coleman II and Kenny Strawbridge Jr. set to be recognized

– The teams met in Chicago on Feb. 4 with the Flames winning by a 70-61 final

– Strawbridge was the top scorer in the game, finishing with 20 while Coleman and Antoine Smith Jr. added 10 apiece

– Preston Phillips added 7 points and 7 rebounds

Last Time Out

– On Saturday, the Purple Aces and Racers swapped the lead 12 times before MSU pulled away late for a 74-58 win

– Marvin Coleman II scored a game-high 19 points while Yacine Toumi recorded 12

– Gabe Spinelli scored 11 in the game

Racking up the Minutes

– Playing 34 minutes or more in 18 of the last 19 games, Marvin Coleman II ranks 7th in the MVC with 34.9 per game

– His average of 35.6 minutes in MVC games is 5th-best in the league

– With 19 points at Murray State on Feb. 18, Coleman picked up his 16th double figure scoring effort in the last 19 games

– Hitting 9 of his 13 shots at Southern Illinois, Coleman reset his career scoring high with 25 points

– Over his last 19 games, Coleman is averaging 14.0 points while shooting 42.6%

Finding His Offense

– Entering the Feb. 18 game at Murray State, Gabe Spinelli was averaging 0.5 points in his prior four outings while going 1-of-9 from the field

– He got back on track against the Racers, hitting 5 of his 8 attempts to finish with 11 points, his third double figure game of the season

– In two games against the Racers, Spinelli averaged 11.5 PPG while shooting 60% (9-15)…in his other 25 games, Spinelli is averaging 3.7 points (93 total) while hitting 43.2% of his attempts (41-95)

Scouting the Opponent

– UIC stands at 11-18 overall and 3-15 in their first season in the Missouri Valley Conference

– The Flames earned a 74-73 home win over Valparaiso on Sunday and have the inside track to the #11 seed at Arch Madness

– Jace Carter continues to lead the Flames with 16.3 points per game while adding 6.8 boards

– Tre Anderson has an average of 12.7 points while Toby Okani checks in with 11.5 PPG and a team-high 6.9 rebounds

– Carter was the top player in the first meeting between the teams, finishing with 15 points and 12 boards

SOUTHERN INDIANA BASEBALL

USI FALLS SHORT AT LIPSCOMB, 6-4

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – University of Southern Indiana Baseball tried to rally in the ninth, but fell short Lipscomb University, 6-4, Tuesday afternoon in Nashville, Tennessee. The Screaming Eagles watch their record go to 3-2, while Lipscomb goes to 3-1.

USI spotted Lipscomb a 2-0 with tallies in the first and third before exploding for a trio of runs in the top of the sixth to take a 3-2 lead. USI junior designated hitter Jack Ellis (Jeffersonville, Indiana) singled in the first Eagle run, while senior leftfielder Evan Kahre (Evansville, Indiana) drove in the tying and lead runs with a double to center.

The 3-2 lead lasted until the bottom of the seventh when the Bison tied the game and jumped back in front, 6-3, with a four-run frame.   

After the Eagles were blanked in the eighth, USI tried to rally in the ninth. Freshman second baseman Caleb Niehaus (Newburgh, Indiana) opened the final frame with a single, advancing to second on an error and third on a ground out before scoring on a wild pitch with two outs to cut the deficit to 6-4.

Sophomore shortstop Ricardo Van Grieken (Venezuela) extended the final frame by being hit by a pitch but was left on base when senior catcher Lucas McNew (Floyds Knobs, Indiana) struck out the end the game.

On the mound, USI used eight hurlers in the game with junior right-hander Shea Hendrixson (Centerville, Ohio) getting the loss. Hendrixon allowed two runs on two hits and struck out two in an inning of work.

Up Next for the Eagles:

USI opens the 2023 home schedule Friday when the Eagles start a three-game series with Bellarmine University at the USI Baseball Field. The series opens with a 3 p.m. start February 24; continues with a 1 p.m. game February 25; and concludes with a noon contest February 26.

The Bellarmine Knights (3-0) started the year with a three-game sweep of New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, New Mexico.

The Eagles hold an 83-76 lead in the all-time series with the Knights, dating back to 1972. USI and Bellarmine also were founding members of the NCAA Division II’s Great Lakes Valley Conference.

The Knights have had the advantage with the Eagles over the last 10 meeting, going 6-4, and won the last meeting, 14-7, in the 2019 GLVC Tournament in Ozark, Missouri.

VALPO WGOLF

KEIL RECORDS TEAM’S BEST ROUND AS VALPO CLOSES OUT ISLANDER CLASSIC

The Valparaiso University women’s golf team competed in the final 18 holes of the Islander Classic on Tuesday as the 54-hole event held at the par-72, 6112-yard Corpus Christi Country Club in Corpus Christi, Texas reached its conclusion. Sophomore Madison Keil (LaGrange, Ind. / Lakeland) carded an 83 to lead the Beacons on the event’s final day.

How It Happened

Keil’s score helped her climb into the team lead for the three-round event with a 251, tied for 54th in a 79-player field.

The team’s second-best score on Tuesday came courtesy of Roslyn Leitner (Dundee, Ill. / Harry Jacobs), who posted an 85.

For the tournament, freshman Taylor Skibinski (Michigan City, Ind. / Michigan City) was second on the squad at 256.

As a team, Valpo advanced to 14th by surpassing Prairie View A&M on Tuesday. The Beacons carded a 347 in the final round to finish the event at 1025.

Houston Christian took the team title at 921, with Houston Christian’s Elise Parel winning individual medalist honors at 226.

Valpo drained 14 birdies, led by Skibinski with six.

Up Next

Valpo will be back in action on Monday, March 13 at the SHU Spring Invite in Daytona Beach, Fla. A link to live scoring will be available on ValpoAthletics.com.

U OF I MEN’S GOLF

MEN’S GOLF OPENS SPRING SCHEDULE IN FLORIDA

LAKE BUENA Vista, Fla.—The UIndy men’s golf team opened its spring slate with a trip to Disney this week, competing at the Mickey Mouse Intercollegiate outside of Orlando, Fla. The Greyhounds earned 13th place as the only non-Division I school in the 16-team field.

No. 1 Cam Carroll paced the Hounds with a 54-hole score of +2. The fifth-year senior carded rounds of 71-77-70 to share 13th place. He racked up 10 birdies on the week, including four in both the first and final rounds.

Buoyed by a first-round 72, junior Bryce Robertson finished at T-35. Jacob Nickell and Ethan Stanley shared 59th place, and Kyle Strakis settled in 85th.

UP NEXT

UIndy’s next scheduled tournament comes March 18-19 at the SVSU Spring Invitational, held at Kearney Hill Golf Course in Lexington, Ky.

U OF I MBB

MEN’S HOOPS JUMPS INTO NABC TOP 5

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The UIndy men’s basketball continued its rise in the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) top 25 on Tuesday, collecting 343 points for a No. 4 ranking.

The Hounds’ poll position marks the seventh consecutive week in the top 25, while it is the program’s highest ranking since Jan. 27, 2015.

UIndy is in the midst of an 18-game winning streak, stretching 86 days since its last loss. The Greyhounds have all but clinched the top seed in the upcoming GLVC Championship Tournament, accumulating a dominant 4.39 mark in the league’s point rating system. Most recently, the Hounds picked up an 86-79 victory over Southwest Baptist on Senior Day this past Saturday.

Undefeated Nova Southeastern earned 14 first-place votes to claim the top spot for the second straight week, while Northwest Missouri and Indiana (PA) rounds out the top three.

The complete poll can be found below.

NABC DII Poll

RK	SCHOOL (1st-place votes)	REC	PTS	PREV
1.	Nova Southeastern (14)	25-0	398	1
2.	Northwest Missouri State (2)	25-2	382	3
3.	Indiana (PA)	26-1	370	4
4.	UIndy	24-2	343	6
5.	Fort Lewis	24-2	324	9
6.	Point Loma	24-3	314	8
7.	Central Oklahoma	23-3	295	10
8.	West Liberty	23-3	248	11
9.	UNC Pembroke	25-2	262	5
10.	Black Hills State	23-3	251	2
11.	Cal State San Bernardino	22-3	248	12
12.	Lincoln Memorial	25-3	230	7
13.	Southern Nazarene	23-3	221	14
14.	Colorado Mesa	22-4	182	17
15.	Colorado School of Mines	22-4	166	19
16.	Mercyhurst	20-4	152	20
17.	Hillsdale	22-4	128	13
18.	Northern State	23-5	127	21
19.	North Georgia	20-4	110	23
20.	Augusta	21-5	85	15
21.	Saint Martin’s	22-4	79	25
22.	Angelo State	22-5	73	24
23.	St. Thomas Aquinas	22-4	45	16
24.	West Alabama	21-5	42	18
25.	West Texas A&M	20-6	28	NR

MARIAN WBB

MARIAN MOVES TO CROSSROADS LEAGUE SEMIFINALS WITH WIN OVER MT. VERNON NAZARENE

INDIANAPOLIS – The Marian women’s basketball team kicked off their postseason with a win over Mount Vernon Nazarene on Tuesday night, defeating the Cougars 87-74 in the Crossroads League Tournament Quarterfinals. The win advance Marian to the semifinals as their record moves to 25-4.

The first quarter of play was tightly contested as neither team seemed to be able to pull away with both teams trading points. Mount Vernon led for a majority of the first three minutes of the game before Ella Collier found Kinnidy Garrard in paint to give Marian the 8-7 lead. Both teams went back and forth until a pair of free throws from Abbey McNally sparked a 9-0 run for the Knights that ended with Sara Majorosova connecting with Aliyah Evans from full court to end quarter one ahead 25-16.

MVNU was the first to strike with two free throws to begin the second quarter before Jayla Wehner answered with a jumper to extend the lead back to nine. The Cougars continued to put pressure on the Marian defense as they found themselves within five at 38-33 with 1:58 to go in the quarter after back-to-back layups. Collier drained the three-pointer to put her team back up by eight, but MVNU responded right back with their own triple. Each team got a layup in the final 47 seconds of the half, sending the Knights to the locker room with 43-38 advantage.

After the break, Marian’s offense started flowing after Collier knocked down the first five points to spark a 9-0 run to extend their lead to 52-38. The Cougars put a stop to the run with a layup after answering on a Marian turnover. However, the Knights picked back up where they left off with McNally scoring and blocking MVNU’s attempt, leading to a basket for Collier. Both teams went scoreless for around the next two minutes before a 6-2 spurt by the Knights gave them their largest lead at 20. The guests responded with the next five points, but the trey by Majorosova and Collier layup with 16 seconds left gave Marian the 71-52 advantage going into the final period of action.

The Cougars never stopped clawing their way back into the game as they outscored the Knights 22-16 in the fourth quarter. The start of the quarter went point for point, but Majorosova canned her third triple of the night with 2:45 remaining to go back up 84-67. MVNU would not go away easy as they managed to cut their deficit to 13, but Marian was able to hold on to pick up the 87-74 win.

Collier paced Marian with 22 points and dished out four assists, while Evans added 13 points and a team-high five assists. Majorosova scored 12 points and McNally poured in the double double with 10 points 10 rebounds. Wehner had nine, while Allison Bosse and Garrard had seven apiece.

Marian will be back in action on Friday at 7 PM when they host Grace in the Crossroads League Tournament semifinals. 

SMALL COLLEGE ATHLETIC SITES:

INDIANA WESLEYAN ATHLETICS: https://iwuwildcats.com/

EARLHAM ATHLETICS: https://goearlham.com/

WABASH ATHLETICS: https://sports.wabash.edu/

FRANKLIN ATHLETICS: https://franklingrizzlies.com/

ROSE-HULMAN ATHLETICS: https://athletics.rose-hulman.edu/

ANDERSON ATHLETICS: https://athletics.anderson.edu/landing/index

TRINE ATHLETICS: https://trinethunder.com/landing/index

BETHEL ATHLETICS: https://bupilots.com/

DEPAUW ATHLETICS: https://depauwtigers.com/

HANOVER ATHLETICS: https://athletics.hanover.edu/

MANCHESTER ATHLETICS: https://muspartans.com/

HUNTINGTON ATHLETICS: https://www.huathletics.com/

OAKLAND CITY ATHLETICS: https://gomightyoaks.com/index.aspx

ST. FRANCIS ATHLETICS: https://www.saintfranciscougars.com/landing/index

IU KOKOMO ATHLETICS: https://iukcougars.com/

IU EAST ATHLETICS: https://www.iueredwolves.com/

IU SOUTH BEND ATHLETICS: https://iusbtitans.com/

PURDUE NORTHWEST ATHLETICS: https://pnwathletics.com/

INDIANA TECH ATHLETICS: https://indianatechwarriors.com/index.aspx

GRACE COLLEGE ATHLETICS: https://gclancers.com/

ST. MARY OF THE WOODS ATHLETICS: https://smwcathletics.com/

GOSHEN COLLEGE ATHLETICS: https://goleafs.net/

HOLY CROSS ATHLETICS: https://www.hcsaints.com/index.php

TAYLOR ATHLETICS: https://www.taylortrojans.com/

VINCENNES ATHLETICS: https://govutrailblazers.com/landing/index

SPORTS EXTRA

NBA STANDINGS

Eastern Conference
	W	L	Pct	Conf GB	Home	Road	Div	Conf	Last 10	Streak
1 Boston	42	17	.712	—	24-7	18-10	8-1	25-12	7-3	1 W
2 Milwaukee	41	17	.707	0.5	24-5	17-12	8-4	23-13	10-0	12 W
3 Philadelphia	38	19	.667	3.0	23-8	15-11	7-5	22-13	7-3	4 W
4 Cleveland	38	23	.623	5.0	25-6	13-17	11-3	22-11	8-2	1 L
5 Brooklyn	34	24	.586	7.5	18-11	16-13	6-7	24-13	5-5	1 W
6 New York	33	27	.550	9.5	16-15	17-12	5-8	23-16	6-4	3 W
7 Miami	32	27	.542	10.0	19-10	13-17	7-3	15-17	5-5	2 L
8 Atlanta	29	30	.492	13.0	15-12	14-18	5-5	17-19	4-6	2 L
9 Washington	28	30	.483	13.5	14-12	14-18	6-3	15-17	6-4	2 W
10 Toronto	28	31	.475	14.0	18-13	10-18	4-9	17-19	6-4	2 W
11 Chicago	26	33	.441	16.0	16-13	10-20	5-7	20-20	3-7	6 L
12 Indiana	26	34	.433	16.5	18-14	8-20	4-5	18-17	2-8	1 W
13 Orlando	24	35	.407	18.0	14-15	10-20	3-8	12-25	5-5	1 L
14 Charlotte	17	43	.283	25.5	9-18	8-25	6-8	9-29	3-7	2 W
15 Detroit	15	44	.254	27.0	8-21	7-23	0-9	6-27	3-7	2 L
Western Conference
	W	L	Pct	Conf GB	Home	Road	Div	Conf	Last 10	Streak
1 Denver	41	18	.695	—	27-4	14-14	10-5	29-11	7-3	3 W
2 Memphis	35	22	.614	5.0	24-5	11-17	6-2	17-16	4-6	1 W
3 Sacramento	32	25	.561	8.0	17-12	15-13	5-6	20-13	5-5	1 L
4 LA Clippers	33	28	.541	9.0	15-13	18-15	6-4	19-16	6-4	2 W
5 Phoenix	32	28	.533	9.5	20-10	12-18	9-1	21-15	7-3	1 L
6 Dallas	31	29	.517	10.5	19-10	12-19	7-2	23-16	5-5	3 L
7 New Orleans	30	29	.508	11.0	20-10	10-19	7-4	19-15	4-6	1 L
8 Minnesota	31	30	.508	11.0	20-13	11-17	8-7	22-19	5-5	1 L
9 Golden State	29	29	.500	11.5	22-7	7-22	4-6	17-14	5-5	1 L
10 Oklahoma City	28	29	.491	12.0	17-12	11-17	5-6	15-17	5-5	1 W
11 Utah	29	31	.483	12.5	18-12	11-19	4-6	19-18	4-6	1 L
12 Portland	28	30	.483	12.5	16-14	12-16	5-8	20-16	5-5	1 L
13 LA Lakers	27	32	.458	14.0	14-14	13-18	2-9	14-20	4-6	1 W
14 San Antonio	14	45	.237	27.0	9-21	5-24	2-7	5-30	0-10	14 L
15 Houston	13	45	.224	27.5	8-20	5-25	1-8	7-31	2-8	7 L

NHL STANDINGS

Eastern Conference
	GP	W	L	OTL	Pts	ROW	GF	GA	Home	Road	L10
1 Boston Bruins	56	43	8	5	91	41	210	118	24-2-3	19-6-2	6-3-1
2 Carolina Hurricanes	56	38	10	8	84	35	192	148	20-6-2	18-4-6	9-1-0
3 New Jersey Devils	57	37	15	5	79	36	197	154	16-11-2	21-4-3	6-3-1
4 Toronto Maple Leafs	58	35	15	8	78	35	200	156	22-6-4	13-9-4	6-4-0
5 Tampa Bay Lightning	56	36	17	3	75	34	201	163	22-4-2	14-13-1	6-2-2
6 New York Rangers	57	33	15	9	75	30	192	156	16-10-4	17-5-5	7-1-2
7 New York Islanders	60	29	24	7	65	29	175	170	17-10-3	12-14-4	6-2-2
8 Florida Panthers	60	29	25	6	64	27	209	210	16-8-3	13-17-3	6-4-0
9 Pittsburgh Penguins	56	27	20	9	63	26	180	178	15-8-4	12-12-5	4-5-1
10 Detroit Red Wings	56	27	21	8	62	25	175	180	14-11-3	13-10-5	7-3-0
11 Washington Capitals	59	28	25	6	62	27	176	173	14-12-3	14-13-3	3-7-0
12 Buffalo Sabres	55	28	23	4	60	27	204	193	11-15-2	17-8-2	5-4-1
13 Ottawa Senators	56	27	25	4	58	25	172	179	16-12-2	11-13-2	7-2-1
14 Philadelphia Flyers	59	23	26	10	56	22	159	190	11-14-3	12-12-7	3-5-2
15 Montreal Canadiens	57	24	29	4	52	20	156	207	14-14-1	10-15-3	4-5-1
16 Columbus Blue Jackets	57	18	34	5	41	17	146	212	12-17-2	6-17-3	4-4-2
Western Conference
	GP	W	L	OTL	Pts	ROW	GF	GA	Home	Road	L10
1 Vegas Golden Knights	57	34	18	5	73	31	186	160	17-13-0	17-5-5	5-2-3
2 Dallas Stars	57	30	15	12	72	28	185	148	15-7-7	15-8-5	3-2-5
3 Winnipeg Jets	57	35	21	1	71	34	180	148	20-8-0	15-13-1	5-5-0
4 Los Angeles Kings	58	32	19	7	71	27	197	195	17-9-2	15-10-5	7-2-1
5 Seattle Kraken	57	32	19	6	70	32	197	178	15-10-3	17-9-3	4-5-1
6 Colorado Avalanche	55	31	19	5	67	27	173	155	14-9-4	17-10-1	6-2-2
7 Edmonton Oilers	58	31	19	8	70	31	218	193	14-11-5	17-8-3	4-1-5
8 Minnesota Wild	57	31	21	5	67	25	169	162	19-10-2	12-11-3	5-4-1
9 Calgary Flames	57	26	20	11	63	25	180	176	15-11-2	11-9-9	4-4-2
10 Nashville Predators	55	27	22	6	60	24	157	167	16-10-3	11-12-3	6-4-0
11 St. Louis Blues	57	26	28	3	55	23	176	209	13-13-2	13-15-1	3-7-0
12 Vancouver Canucks	57	22	30	5	49	19	195	231	11-15-1	11-15-4	3-5-2
13 Arizona Coyotes	57	20	28	9	49	17	155	199	13-8-2	7-20-7	5-1-4
14 San Jose Sharks	58	18	29	11	47	17	174	213	6-14-7	12-15-4	4-4-2
15 Chicago Blackhawks	56	19	32	5	43	18	139	203	12-16-3	7-16-2	5-4-1
16 Anaheim Ducks	58	17	34	7	41	14	145	246	9-16-1	8-18-6	3-5-2

FOOTBALL HISTORY

February 22, 1893 – Alabama, Auburn played each other in what is in essence the 1st Iron Bowl. Only 450 people were at Birmingham’s Lakeview Baseball Park on Feb. 22, 1893, to witness a 32-22 Auburn victory per an NCAA.com story. Little did the handful of football fans on that winter day realize what would develop from the first game of these two eventual SEC power houses. The Iron Bowl is one of the most looked forward to match ups every season by college football fans. We have covered many of the famous plays and players from the series in the Football History Headlines like Bo Jackson, Kenny Stabler, Joe Namath and more! The term Iron Bowl came from the venue the game had been played at for many years, Birmingham, Alabama’s Legion Field. The City of Birmingham is known for its historic role in the steel industry and these two top flight college programs from the state of Alabama treated the throngs at Legion Field to some great memories. The game was predominantly played there from the late 1940’s until 1989 with the tickets being split between the two schools. The series was interrupted for some 4 decades after the 1907 contest but when it resumed it became quite the popular game. The 1907 game had some allegedly questionable dirty plays and calmouring from both sides to bring in outside officiating crews to promote a fair playing field per an article on AngelFire.com. The article points to contract disputes as being the main reason for the series being suspended. “ During the 1907 game, the hotel allowance for 17 men from each team was $2 per man, per day, including lodging and meals. On Jan. 23, 1908, Alabama coach J.W. Pollard received a proposed contract from Auburn football manager Thomas Bragg asking for $3.50 per day for 22 men from each team for two nights for a game to be played at Birmingham’s Fair Grounds. Alabama offered $3 per day for 20 men for two nights. Even then, Auburn and Alabama fans had trouble agreeing on anything and apparently a discrepancy of $34 could not be resolved until 41 years later. “Tigers and the Crimson Tide are so intertwined into the fabric of the citizens of Alabama that the victors gain the bragging rights in the state and there have even been some business dealings reported that were dependent on the game’s outcome!

February 22, 1967 – The NFL goal post changes shape & 6 foot wide border around field becomes standardized in the NFL. It seems odd for us to watch vintage footage of NFL games prior to 1974 and see the goal posts on the goal line rather than on the end lines where they stand today. A 1974 rule revision pushed each of the posts back ten yards deeper mainly for player safety. We are not going to focus on that rule change in this edition though but rather the one that occurred 7 seasons earlier when the “H” style posts were retired from the NFL fields and the more modern “Y” or “sling-shot” edition of the goal post became standard equipment. This elimination of one obstacle on each goal line at the time afforded the players and officials less chance of collision into said posts but it also opened up the running and passing lanes just a tad too. An article on the SI.com website states that in the first dozen years of the NFL’s existence the League simply played by the very popular College rules. The NCAA in 1927 took the posts and set them safely on the endline. In 1933, the NFL finally wrote its own rulebook. And in an effort to increase field goal attempts because the general feeling was that there were too many ties, the NFL moved the uprights back to the goal line. That is where they stayed for some 4 decades. The other rule revision that occurred on February 22, 1967 was the addition of the 6 foot boundary around the entire field. The American Football Fandom page describes the purpose quite well. “Its outer edge designates the closest that non-players can be to the field, and thus enables the game officials to have a running lane to work in.” As a former high school football official I can attest that those clear zones around the playing field are vitally important for the safety of the participants, sideline personnel and game officials.

Mickey Kobrosky – Trinity College Halfback

Born February 22, 1915, in Springfield, Massachusetts was the great Trinity College Halfback Mickey Kobrosky. Mickey may be the best athlete to have ever attended Trinity as the NFF states that he was a two-time First Team All-American. Kobrosky earned 11 letters during his four years at Trinity, three in football and four each in basketball and baseball. The doors of the College Football Hall of Fame opened wide for Mickey Kobrosky in 2011 as he received his place of honor among football legends there. He joined the New York Giants in the NFL for the 1937 season after playing a season of minor league baseball. A bad injury ended his very promising professional athletic career.

TODAY IN BASEBALL HISTORY

1880       George Wright signs a contract with the Boston Red Caps, which he states allows him not to travel with the team on western road trips, participating in games only played in New England and Troy. The arrangement will allow the Hall of Fame shortstop to devote more time to his sporting goods business.

1889       Italy’s King Humbert is among the fans who witness the Chicagos beat the All-Americans, 3-2, outside Rome at the Villa Borghese. Originally billed as the Spalding’s Australian Baseball Tour, the trip expands to include contests in Europe, much to the surprise of the captive players aboard ship en route to the Land Down Under.

1936       As thousands cheer on both sides of the river, 48-year-old Senator legend Walter Johnson throws a silver dollar to the far side of the Rappahannock, believed to be a 386-foot toss. The Washington, D.C. Sesquicentennial celebration, which includes commemorating the 204th anniversary of George Washington’s birth, stages the event to duplicate the alleged feat that the young Virginian accomplished when he threw a silver dollar across the Potomac River.

1938       After college, Texas Christian football All-American Sammy Baugh signs a contract with the Cardinals. ‘Slingin’ Sammy,’ who will experience little playing time as a backup to starting shortstop Marty Marion, will leave the minor leagues to play for in the National Football League, where he will become a Hall of Fame quarterback with the Redskins.

1966       The Mets trade Wayne Graham, Bobby Klaus, and Jimmie Schaffer to the Phillies for first baseman Dick Stuart, who will join the Dodgers after being released by his new team in June. During his brief tenure with the Amazins,’ Dr. Strangelove plays in 31 games, hitting .231 while committing six errors.

2005       Jerry Coleman is the recipient of the Hall of Fame’s Ford C. Frick Award. The 80-year-old San Diego play-by-play broadcaster, the MVP of the 1950 World Series, has spent 41 years calling games for the Yankees, Angels, and Padres.

2005       Tom Umberg, a California state assemblyman, introduces legislation that would require pro franchises to use disclaimers if they do not play the majority of home games in the location used in their name. With his ‘Truth in Sports Advertising Act,’ the Anaheim Democrat is attempting to prevent the local team from changing its name to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, the Halos’ third moniker since the franchise’s inception in 1961.

2006       The Dodgers announce the team has extended the contract of Vin Scully through 2008. The Hall of Fame broadcaster, considered by many to be the best announcer in baseball history, is beginning his 57th year in the Dodger organization, believed to be the longest tenure of any on-air individual in sports history.

2008       The Mets, who had not gone to arbitration with a player in 16 years, come out on the short end of the hearing when southpaw Oliver Perez (15-10, 3.56) gets a favorable decision in his case from arbitrators Steven Wolf, Robert Bailey, and Elizabeth Neumeier. The southpaw is awarded $6.5 million for this year, rather than the club’s offer of $4,725,000.

2008       After losing his request for $12.5 million, Francisco Rodriguez (2.81, 40 saves) receives a $10 million award, tying Alfonso Soriano (Nationals) and Ryan Howard (Phillies) for the most money ever given in a salary arbitration case. The 26-year-old Angels closer leads the majors in saves during the last three seasons with a total of 132.

2010       Johnny Damon and the Tigers agree to an $8 million, one-year deal. The 36-year-old southpaw-swinging outfielder, who hit .282 with 24 homers for the World Champion Yankees last season, will bat leadoff for Detroit, misses going to the postseason after the team loses a one-game tiebreaker to Minnesota.

2017       “I think it’s a mistake to stick our head in the sand and ignore the fact that our game has changed, and continues to change”. – MLB COMMISSIONER ROB MANFRED, commenting on the new intentional walk rule. In an effort to speed up the game, MLB announces the approval of implementing an intentional walk with a signal from the dugout, rather than the need of throwing four pitches out of the strike zone. Although the new rule will eliminate about only a minute of play, some believe the new approach rids the sport of an antiquated way of issuing a deliberate base-on-balls.

2021       Kevin Mather resigns as the president of the Mariners when the February 5 Zoom video of a meeting with a Rotary Club goes viral. With the team since 1996 and named president in 2014, the former club official questioned if Hisashi Iwakuma needed an interpreter, commented on the poor English spoken by top prospect Julio Rodriguez, and shared the organization’s decision to manipulate service time by not calling up prospects.

SPORTS IN NUMBERS

42 – 73 – 13 – 40 – 1

February 22, 1860  – The first organized baseball game was played in San Francisco as the Eagles faced the vaunted the Red Rovers

February 22, 1959 – Lee Petty in his white Number 42 Oldsmobile and Johnny Beauchamp in the Number 73 Thunderbird cross finish line side by side at the inaugural Daytona 500. It was basically a photo finish as Beauchamp declared was unofficial winner on race day. The film was studied hard for almost three days and then the ruling was overturned 3 days later by NASCAR founder Bill France Sr who stated Petty was the victor by an estimated sliver. SO a trick trivia answer is that Beauchamp was the first winner of the Daytona 500.

February 22, 1962 – Philadelphia Warriors center Wilt Chamberlain, Number 13 set an NBA record with 34 free-throw attempts, banging home 19 of them in a Warriors 139-121 win over St. Louis Hawks at Philadelphia Civic Center. And they thought they could stop him from scoring by fouling the big man!

February 22, 1970 – Pete Hamilton, in his Blue Plymouth Superbird, Number 40 wins by just 3 car lengths over David Pearson 12th Daytona 500, after passing him with 9 laps to go

February 22, 1979 – Billy Martin was named the manager of the Oakland A’s, Martin famously wore the Number 1 jersey when the skipper of the Yankees

TV WEDNESDAY

NCAA BASKETBALL GAMES – MEN’S	TIME ET	TV
Bellarmine at Jacksonville	5:00pm	ESPNU
Boston University at Army West Point	6:00pm	ESPN+
Providence at UConn	6:30pm	FS1
Charleston Southern at UNC Asheville	6:30pm	ESPN+
Kentucky at Florida	7:00pm	ESPN
Temple at Cincinnati	7:00pm	ESPN2
Minnesota at Maryland	7:00pm	BTN
South Florida at UCF	7:00pm	ESPNU
Vanderbilt at LSU	7:00pm	SECN
Syracuse at Clemson	7:00pm	ACCN
Dayton at UMass	7:00pm	CBSSN
Virginia at Boston College	7:00pm	ACCN
Bradley at Valparaiso	7:00pm	–
Colgate at Lafayette	7:00pm	–
George Washington at Rhode Island	7:00pm	–
St. Bonaventure at Davidson	7:00pm	–
Austin Peay at Stetson	7:00pm	ESPN+
Eastern Kentucky at North Florida	7:00pm	ESPN+
Kennesaw State at North Alabama	7:00pm	ESPN+
Liberty at Queens	7:00pm	ESPN+
Lipscomb at FGCU	7:00pm	ESPN+
Bryant at NJIT	7:00pm	ESPN+
Binghamton at Vermont	7:00pm	ESPN+
Duquesne at La Salle	7:00pm	ESPN+
Maine at New Hampshire	7:00pm	ESPN+
UMass Lowell at UMBC	7:00pm	ESPN+
Radford at High Point	7:00pm	ESPN+
USC Upstate at Presbyterian	7:00pm	ESPN+
Campbell at Winthrop	7:00pm	ESPN+
Bucknell at Lehigh	7:00pm	ESPN+
Holy Cross at Loyola Maryland	7:00pm	ESPN+
Navy at American	7:00pm	ESPN+
Mercer at Furman	7:00pm	ESPN+
Samford at Chattanooga	7:00pm	ESPN+
The Citadel at ETSU	7:00pm	ESPN+
Western Carolina at UNCG	7:00pm	ESPN+
Wofford at VMI	7:00pm	ESPN+
App State at Georgia State	7:00pm	ESPN+
Coastal Carolina at Georgia Southern	7:00pm	ESPN+
Marshall at James Madison	7:00pm	ESPN+
Southern Miss at Old Dominion	7:00pm	ESPN+
Troy at ULM	7:30pm	ESPN+
Indiana State at Belmont	7:30pm	ESPN+
Illinois State at Drake	8:00pm	ESPN+
UIC at Evansville	8:00pm	ESPN+
UNI at Southern Illinois	8:00pm	ESPN+
Jacksonville State at Central Arkansas	8:00pm	ESPN+
South Alabama at Texas State	8:00pm	ESPN+
Arkansas State at Louisiana	8:00pm	ESPN+
Stephen F. Austin at Abilene Christian	8:00pm	ESPN+
Butler at DePaul	8:30pm	FS1
Morehead State at Eastern Illinois	8:30pm	ESPN+
Alabama at South Carolina	9:00pm	ESPN/2
North Carolina at Notre Dame	9:00pm	ESPN/2
Tulane at Houston	9:00pm	ESPNU
Ole Miss at Auburn	9:00pm	SECN
Iowa at Wisconsin	9:00pm	BTN
St. John’s at Georgetown	9:00pm	CBSSN
Wake Forest at NC State	9:00pm	ACCN
Fordham at Loyola Chicago	9:00pm	–
New Mexico at Boise State	10:30pm	FS1
NHL REGULAR SEASON GAMES	TIME ET	TV
Winnipeg at NY Islanders	7:00pm	NHLN Sportsnet MSGSN
Calgary at Arizona	9:30pm	ABC Sportsnet Bally Sports
Chicago at Dallas	9:30pm	TNT
SOCCER MATCHES	TIME ET	TV
UEFA Champions League: RB Leipzig vs Manchester City	3:00pm	CBS
UEFA Champions League: Internazionale vs Porto	3:00pm	Paramount+
SheBelieves Cup: Canada vs Japan	4:00pm	Peacock
SheBelieves Cup: USA vs Brazil	7:00pm	Peacock
Copa Libertadores: Carabobo vs Atlético Mineiro	7:30pm	beIN Sports