Indiana

COLUMN: Indiana men’s basketball ‘lays an egg’ against Penn State, tournament hopes dwindle

Published

2 years ago

February 3, 2024

COLUMN: Indiana men’s basketball ‘lays an egg’ against Penn State, tournament hopes dwindle

For a moment, there was hope.

Indiana men’s basketball sophomore center Kel’el Ware powered through contact, finishing an and-one and giving the Hoosiers a 34-23 lead over Penn State with five minutes left in the first half.

But over the game’s final 25 minutes, Indiana watched its day — and postseason hopes — crumble.

Penn State hit 3-pointer after 3-pointer, reeling off a pair of 10-0 runs in the second half. A mass exodus of fans departed Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall at the final media timeout. Many of those who stayed until the end booed the team as the final seconds ticked away.

From the first possession of the second half, Penn State outplayed and outworked Indiana, which had a 41-37 lead at the break. The Nittany Lions had three separate chances on the opening possession. They didn’t score then but capitalized on an Indiana turnover 30 seconds later and took their first lead another minute and a half thereafter.

Indiana led for over 21 minutes Saturday. It trailed for the final 17:30 and spent the last 12:05 in a double-digit hole.

“The second half, we were so flat coming out,” Indiana head coach Mike Woodson said postgame. “Something I hadn’t seen. It’s like we were a step slow. It’s kind of disappointing because you play a good game against Iowa and then you come back and basically lay an egg.”

Penn State’s offensive eviscerated Indiana’s defense, shooting 57.4% from the field overall and 64% in the second half.

The Nittany Lions, who entered Saturday as the Big Ten’s third-worst 3-point shooting team, matched a season-high with 12 triples while shooting a season-high 54.5% from downtown.

Perhaps most indicting of Indiana’s defensive effort is Penn State lacked its best scorer, sophomore guard Kanye Clary, who ranks fifth in the Big Ten with 18.4 points per game but didn’t play due to a face injury.

“You give up 85 points, you’re not beating anybody in the Big Ten doing that,” Woodson said. “That’s just not us. You’ve got a chance when you’re trying to hold teams to 65 and under in the Big Ten. When we’ve done that, we’ve been pretty successful.”

Indiana outrebounded Penn State 28-22, shot 48.1% from the field and went a season-best 84% at the free throw line.

Statistically, the Hoosiers had several strong categories — but they lacked an immeasurable attribute that ultimately fostered their sixth double-digit loss this season: heart.

“Yes, I want more fire out of my guys,” Woodson said. “They didn’t fight tonight the second half and that’s kind of disappointing. We’ve got to go back to work and see if we can work our way back.”

Indiana senior guard Trey Galloway echoed Woodson’s thoughts, claiming the Nittany Lions simply played harder than the Hoosiers — an unacceptable outcome for a program with Indiana’s standards.

“Just not playing hard enough and smart enough on the defensive end,” Galloway said. “Lot of unnecessary fouling and a bunch of miscues — that’s really just on us — that we can’t have this late in the season.”

The defeat serves as another blow to Indiana’s already slim NCAA Tournament hopes. The Hoosiers’ resume is lackluster, with no Quadrant 1 victories nor standout nonconference wins.

Now, Indiana can add another flaw — its first Quadrant 3 loss of the season.

The Hoosiers needed to accumulate wins, avoid bad losses and find a way to pull an upset or two in the second half of Big Ten play. Instead, they started their closing stretch with their third home defeat of the season.

“That’s a game I thought if we played well, we had a legitimate chance to win,” Woodson said. “I thought we did play well early on, and then we just had too much slippage defensively the second half.”

In his press conference Friday, Woodson noted he hasn’t had a full deck of players since Nov. 26 against Harvard University. With starting senior point guard Xavier Johnson out with an elbow injury, the Hoosiers were again undermanned.

Indiana doesn’t have the depth needed to survive such an absence; freshman guard Gabe Cupps scored 2 points and failed to record an assist in 33 minutes while taking Johnson’s place in the lineup.

Depth is one issue, and defensive breakdowns are another. Those two woes were particularly prevalent Saturday and led to a third detriment — all-but-gone tournament hopes.

But most concerning is Indiana, in early February, had a home game in front of 17,222 fans and only competed for 20 minutes, leaving its season at risk of falling to irrelevancy in the final month.

“I’m not going to throw my guys under the bus,” Woodson said postgame. “They just didn’t perform the second half. They didn’t, they didn’t. They were flat as hell.”

Follow reporters Will Foley (@foles24) and Matt Press (@MattPress23) and columnist Daniel Flick (@ByDanielFlick) for updates throughout the Indiana men’s basketball season.

Source link

Indiana

Indiana's Curt Cignetti becomes the first back-to-back winner of AP coach of the year

Published

4 hours ago

December 16, 2025

Press Room

Indiana's Curt Cignetti becomes the first back-to-back winner of AP coach of the year

Curt Cignetti has been named The Associated Press coach of the year in college football for the second consecutive season. He is the first coach to win the award back-to-back since it was first presented in 1998. Cignetti has led Indiana to unprecedented success, with a 24-2 record over two seasons. The Hoosiers are 13-0 this year, Big Ten champions for the first time since 1967, and the top seed in the College Football Playoff. Cignetti received 47 first-place votes. Texas Tech’s Joey McGuire and Vanderbilt’s Clark Lea received two each, and Virginia’s Tony Elliott got one.

Source link

Indiana

Central Indiana schools announce closures, delays planned for Tuesday

Published

16 hours ago

December 16, 2025

Press Room

Central Indiana schools announce closures, delays planned for Tuesday

INDIANAPOLIS — Some schools in central Indiana are planning to close or delay the start of their classes on Tuesday.

The closures and delays come in the wake of a difficult weekend of severe winter weather in the Hoosier State. On Saturday, a wintry system dumped more than six inches of snow in some portions of the state.

Points north of Indianapolis like Lafayette received between three and four inches of snow. Towns south of the Circle City like Seymour saw similar snowfall totals. As for Indianapolis itself, more than five inches of snow were recorded in some portions of the city.

After Saturday’s snow, frigid temperatures took hold in the area. A Cold Weather Advisory was issued for much of the state as wind chill values dipped well below zero.

The cold and snow triggered a bevy of school closings and delays for Monday. Schools began to announce delays and closures for Tuesday late Monday night as snow removal crews across the state continued to try to keep roadways clear.

Though some schools plan to close or delay the start of classes on Tuesday, temperature improvements are forecasted. High temperatures are anticipated to exceed the 32-degree freezing threshold and hit 36 degrees. The warming trend is expected to continue on both Wednesday and Thursday, with high temperatures forecasted to reach 40 and 50 degrees, respectively.

Precipitation is forecasted for Thursday, though temperatures are expected to remain warm enough for Indiana to get rain instead of snow.

FOX59/CBS4 is tracking the closures and delays schools plan to implement on Tuesday. Check out the latest available list of closings below:

Jump To: A–Z

A

Area 30 Career Center

Putnam

Charles A Beard Mem School Corp

Henry

School

Delayed 2 hours

Cloverdale Community Schools

Putnam

School

2-Hour Delay, No AM Preschool

D

Decatur County Community Schools

Decatur

School

Delayed 2 hours

Source link

Indiana

AwardsWatch – Indiana Film Journalists Association (IFJA) Awards: ‘Sinners’ Named Best Picture

Published

1 day ago

December 15, 2025

Press Room

AwardsWatch – Indiana Film Journalists Association (IFJA) Awards: ‘Sinners’ Named Best Picture

The Indiana Film Journalists Association (IFJA) has named Sinners the best film of 2025, also awarding the film original screenplay, score, cinematography, editing and ensemble.

Paul Thomas Anderson was named best director for One Battle After Another, which also picked up acting wins for Benicio Del Toro (supporting performance) and Chase Infiniti (breakout of the year).

Here is the complete list of winners and runners-up.

Best Picture
Winner: Sinners
Runner-up: One Battle After Another

Best Director
Winner: Paul Thomas Anderson, One Battle After Another
Runner-up: Ryan Coogler, Sinners

Best Lead Performance
Winner: Timothée Chalamet, Marty Supreme
Runner-up: Jessie Buckley, Hamnet

Best Supporting Performance
Winner: Benicio del Toro, One Battle After Another
Runner-up: Amy Madigan, Weapons

Best Vocal / Motion-Capture Performance
Winner: Will Patton, Train Dreams
Runner-up: Ebon Moss-Bachrach, The Fantastic Four: First Steps

Best Ensemble Acting
Winner: Sinners
Runner-up: One Battle After Another

Best Animated Film
Winner: K-Pop Demon Hunters
Runner-up: The Legend of Hei 2

Best Foreign Language Film
Winner: No Other Choice
Runner-up: Sentimental Value

Best Documentary Film
Winner: The Tenderness Tour
Runner-up: Orwell: 2+2=5

Best Original Screenplay
Winner: Ryan Coogler, Sinners
Runner-up: Ronald Bronstein and Josh Safdie, Marty Supreme

Best Adapted Screenplay
Winner: Paul Thomas Anderson, “One Battle After Another
Runner-up: Mike Flanagan, The Life of Chuck

Best Musical Score
Winner: Ludwig Göransson, Sinners
Runner-up: Jonny Greenwood, One Battle After Another

Breakout of the Year
Winner: Chase Infiniti (performer), One Battle After Another
Runner-up: Miles Caton (performer), Sinners

Best Cinematography
Winner: Autumn Donald Arkapaw, Sinners
Runner-up: Michael Bauman, One Battle After Another

Best Editing
Winner: Michael P. Shawver, Sinners
Runner-up: Andy Jurgensen, One Battle After Another

Best Stunt / Movement Choreography
Winner: Wade Eastwood (second-unit director / stunt coordinator), Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning
Runner-up: Brian Machleit (stunt coordinator), One Battle After Another

Best Special Effects
Winner: Dennis Berardi, Ayo Burgess and Ivan Busquets (visual effects supervisors) and José Granell (miniatures / models supervisor), Frankenstein
Runner-up: Michael Ralla, Espen Nordahl and Guido Wolter (visual effects supervisors) and Donnie Dean (special effects coordinator), Sinners

Original Vision Award
Winner: Good Boy
Runner-up: The Testament of Ann Lee

The Edward Johnson-Ott Hoosier Award
Chase Infiniti, One Battle After Another

Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.

He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Critics Choice Association (CCA), San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle (SFBAFCC) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.