Author: Seth Tow

Tamar Bates finally had a breakout game. The sophomore guard has shown short flashes of brilliance in his spells off the bench during several games over his first season-and-change in Bloomington. But he’d yet to have a real signature performance. The type where he was the best player on the court, and one of the biggest reasons Indiana men’s basketball won a game. But quickly after checking in around six minutes into IU’s game against Jackson State on Friday afternoon, it was clear he was on another level. Within three minutes of action, he matched his career high of three…

With Trayce Jackson-Davis out, Indiana men’s basketball needed its other bigs to step up. Race Thompson and Malik Reneau answered the call. IU’s forwards were the center of attention for much of the evening, as the Hoosiers pulled away from from Little Rock for a 87-68 win at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall on Wednesday. Jackson-Davis missed this game for precautionary reasons, allowing Reneau to make his first start as a Hoosier. The senior’s absence stemmed from apparent back soreness at the end of IU’s win over Miami (OH) on Sunday. IU head coach Mike Woodson isn’t concerned about anything long-term…

As Bryant Fitzgerald sat in the Indiana football team room on Monday, it started to hit him. This is, in all likelihood, his last week playing for the Hoosiers (barring a win and an unlikely 5-7 bowl bid). He and his fellow seniors will go through senior day proceedings ahead of the Old Oaken Bucket game Saturday, and they’ll go to battle one last time. And the finality of that began to set in for Fitzgerald Monday. “After this game, this team would never be assembled again,” Fitzgerald said. “So just thinking about that, just thinking about all the years,…

Much has been made of Indiana men’s basketball’s depth this year. And Sunday, some of those players got a crack at bigger roles. Junior guard Trey Galloway missed IU’s 86-56 win over Miami (OH) in Indianapolis because he twisted his knee in the Xavier game on Friday. That made some first-half minutes available, and there was plenty of flexibility as the game became lopsided in the second half. Freshman forward Malik Reneau playing well off the bench in a sizable role is nothing new, but extended run for freshman guard CJ Gunn and sophomore guard Tamar Bates was notable. “Our…

This Indiana football season had felt like a foregone conclusion for several weeks, if not more. The Hoosiers weren’t just losing. They were getting embarrassed. From sputtering around lifelessly for most of the game at Rutgers to getting run out of the building against Penn State and Ohio State, Indiana seemed destined to end the season on a nine-game losing streak. But Saturday in East Lansing, the Hoosiers did something that’s become unusual for them. With their backs against the wall, they battled back. After trailing 24-7 and 31-14, Indiana tied the game and caught a break from Michigan State’s…

It’s through tough games in unfriendly environments that you can learn a lot about a team. Friday’s game at Xavier met that criteria for No. 12 Indiana men’s basketball. And IU’s 81-79 win at the Cintas Center showed that this crop of Hoosier veterans is capable of leading them to victory in games like that. “It’s hard to win on the road,” IU head coach Mike Woodson said. “You’ve got to do all the things right. They built a lead, a couple times, against us, and we just held fast and steady. We were able to get back in it.…

Road games have not been kind to Indiana men’s basketball in recent history. Over the last five seasons, IU owns a 14-40 record in true road games. That mark was 3-8 last season, when the Hoosiers endured some particularly painful results on the road. IU lost in double-overtime at Syracuse, blew leads against Wisconsin and Ohio State, and lost tight games at Penn State and Purdue. The 12th-ranked Hoosiers will look to reverse their road fortunes Friday at Xavier in their first game away from Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. The game tips off at 6 p.m. ET at the Cintas Center in…

Tom Allen clearly recalls the moment that cost quarterback Dexter Williams II a full year. During a spring practice in 2021, Williams — then a redshirt freshman — ran to his right on a play. He planted his foot, then cut back to his left side. He limped off after the play, but it seemed an innocuous injury at first. When Allen later learned Williams had torn his ACL, he was stunned. “I vividly remember it because it was one of those (moments) like, ‘He did what?’ Never thought it would have caused that type of injury,” Allen said. “Sometimes…

Coming into this 2022-23 season, Indiana women’s basketball had a lot of questions. IU lost Ali Patberg, Nicole Cardaño-Hillary, and Aleksa Gulbe — three players who helped lead Indiana to the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament in two straight seasons — after last year ended. The Hoosiers brought in a lot of new faces to fill the gaps, both through the transfer portal and in their freshman class. In theory, IU had a team that could be deeper and have more balance than years past. But that was only on paper until the team physically took the court this…

Indiana women’s basketball faced its first big test of the season Monday, when the 12th-ranked Hoosiers faced No. 11 Tennessee in Knoxville. And IU passed that test with flying colors. Indiana held off the Lady Volunteers for a 79-67 win, one of the biggest in program history. IU (3-0) was in control for most of the first half, and led by as much as 16 in the third quarter. But Tennessee battled back, and cut the lead to 61-57 early in the fourth quarter. But IU wasn’t fazed by the counterattack in a road environment. The Hoosiers responded and built…