Author: Mike Schumann

When you go on the road in the Big Ten and win by 25 points, you’ve clearly done your homework and executed a solid gameplan. So what was Illinois’ approach to playing Indiana on Tuesday night that led to their historic win in Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall? After watching Iowa scored 26 fast break points against IU, Illinois coach Brad Underwood said they came to Bloomington ready to push the pace on offense. “That’s one area where we felt like we could hurt them,” Underwood said following the game. While Illinois only scored six first half “fast break points” according…

IU coach Curt Cignetti has a long record of success with quarterbacks. A former QB himself at West Virginia, Cignetti coached multiple consecutive conference players of the year at James Madison, and his first quarterback at Indiana, Kurtis Rourke, had the number one regular season quarterback rating in the country. So what does Cignetti think of his likely 2025 starter Fernando Mendoza, who comes to Bloomington from Cal where he’ll join his brother Alberto in the IU quarterback room? Alberto committed to Cignetti when he was still the head coach at James Madison.  So there’s a family relationship that goes…

A somewhat startling report two weeks indicated quarterback Kurtis Rourke played the entire 2024 IU football season with a torn ACL. Reporting through Rourke’s agent Casey Muir, Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network said Rourke was having ACL revision surgery and that “Rourke is believed to have re-torn his ACL in August.” It seems clear something happened, as Rourke wore a right knee brace throughout the 2024 season, but he did not wear it during the spring. While acknowledging he couldn’t go in depth on the situation, IU coach Curt Cignetti discussed how things played out with his star quarterback…

If Curt Cignetti has any plans to stop being edgy in 2025, he didn’t start on Thursday. The now second-year head coach posted on X a photo from his office at Memorial Stadium, and a seemingly motivational message that reflects his program culture. “Get better today! Structured, organized and relentless work creates opportunities,” Cignetti said in his post. The photo included a step plan on Cignetti’s desk for Indiana to accomplish its program goals.  But conspicuously placed on top of that was Cignetti’s hand written “Post Season Top 5.” And it was not a list of IU’s top five post…

As many of you know, we typically file a report card after every IU basketball game, win or lose. And each time we take a comprehensive look at the offense, the defense, the coaching and the players. I guess we can do some of that real quick as it relates to Indiana’s 94-69 loss to Illinois on Tuesday. The Hoosiers allowed a dismal 1.22 points per possession to Illinois.  That was their third worst performance of the year, slightly behind embarrassing losses to Louisville and Nebraska.  And Illinois’ 1.54 points per possession in the first half, and 60 total points,…

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Indiana lost to Illinois on Tuesday evening at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall by a final score of 94-69.  It was IU’s second worst loss ever in the building. The Illini led 60-32 at halftime.  IU was led in the game by Oumar Ballo with 16 points.  Luke Goode added 13 for the Hoosiers. The three keys to the game, highlights and final stats are below. For Mike Woodson’s postgame comments, GO HERE.  For Anthony Leal and Luke Goode postgame, GO HERE. Indiana (13-5, 4-3) will travel to Ohio State on Friday evening. THREE KEYS TO THE GAME…

Four of Indiana’s scholarship players appeared on the Big Ten’s pregame availability report Tuesday afternoon. The Hoosiers are listing sophomore guard Gabe Cupps and junior forward Malik Reneau as both OUT tonight. Reneau has now missed four straight games with a right knee injury suffered Jan. 2 vs. Rutgers. In encouraging news, redshirt freshman guard Jakai Newton has been upgraded to QUESTIONABLE, but he’s joined in that designation by sophomore guard and Kanaan Carlyle. UPDATE: Carlyle and Newton are both in uniform warming up. For Illinois, star freshman Kasparas Jakucionis is QUESTIONABLE. The Illini point guard has missed the last…

The IU football program picked up a commitment from NC State transfer defensive back Devan Boykin on Tuesday, multiple national outlets announced on X. Boykin is expected to fill a void at the safety position for the Hoosiers.  He could also play the rover position and has done so during his college career. The 5-foot-10 and 195-pound Boykin started at least one game in each of his first three years in Raleigh before missing the 2024 season due to a knee injury. The product of Greensboro, N.C. has played in 45 games from 2020 to 2023 and amassed 117 career…

Former IU basketball stars are continuing their pro careers across the globe this season. Below we take a look at the former IU basketball players who are still competing professionally during the 2024-25 season, either in the NBA’s G League or overseas. NBA G League Race Thompson:  After sitting out a year with an injury, Thompson is with the Memphis Hustle.  He has played in 16 games and is averaging 8.4 points and 4.6 rebounds in 21.5 minutes per contest.  He’s shooting 47.8% from the field and 34.1% from three. Xavier Johnson:  Johnson is a teammate of Thompson on the Memphis Hustle. …

Tuesday evening will be Luke Goode’s lone chance to face his former team as Indiana welcomes Illinois to Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. The 6-7 Goode, a two-time Academic All-Big Ten performer, was one of six players to appear in all 38 games during the Illini’s run to the 2024 Elite 8. He averaged 5.7 points and 3.6 rebounds in 20.2 minutes per game. He shot 38.9% (61-of-157) from behind the 3-point line and made 1.6 triples per game. In three seasons in Champaign, Goode appeared in 76 career games for Illinois and made seven starts. On Monday, Illinois coach Brad…