Indiana
Kyle Mangas’ Indiana Basketball Journey Leads To Contract With Pacers And Mad Ants
INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA – FEBRUARY 18: Kyle Mangas #24 of the Indiana Mad Ants looks to pass during … [+]
INDIANAPOLIS — It’s hard to separate basketball in Indiana from Kyle Mangas. The 25-year old was born in Warsaw, a smaller city in Northern Indiana. He played high school basketball at Warsaw Community High School, where he scored 1,450 points before playing collegiately at Indiana Wesleyan University.
For over 20 years, Mangas lived in the state and breathed basketball. During his time at Indiana Wesleyan, who played at the NAIA level, Mangas proved to be a tremendous talent and was named the 2020 Division II Men’s Basketball National Player of the Year.
A player with that resume could have transferred to a more well known college basketball program, but Mangas never looked into it until after his fourth season. “I looked at [transferring] a little bit, but decided I wanted to go pro,” Mangas said. “Loved the school, and never really thought about going anywhere else.”
Turning toward professional basketball forced Mangas to consider his options, and it led to something unknown: the high-scoring wing had to leave the state of Indiana. And he didn’t exactly stay close. Mangas signed his first professional contract in the Czech Republic with USK Praha — which is over 7,000 kilometers away from Warsaw.
“I’ve been in Europe and you don’t know anyone in the crowd,” Mangas said. “It can be a little difficult at times.” The young wing spent the following season in Lithuania as a member of BC Siauliai.
Those two seasons helped Mangas grow and were a reminder that he always needed to prove himself. But he was ready to come back to the United States, and he was talking to a few teams in the NBA G League ahead of the 2023 campaign. He was prepared to make the leap back to the states.
Then, his hometown team called. The Indiana Mad Ants, the G League affiliate for the Indiana Pacers, showed interest in Mangas. Back in 2021, Mangas worked out for the Pacers twice in the pre-draft process. This time, the organization wanted to have him in for another workout and see if he could be a good fit in their program.
Mangas, who was a Pacers and Indiana University fan as a kid, jumped at the chance. The session was with Mad Ants head coach Tom Hankins, yet Mangas felt little pressure after his overseas experience. He impressed enough to get offered a spot with the Mad Ants for the 2023-24 season, and he was suddenly back in him home base in Indiana
“It was a very easy choice for me to go with the Pacers and the Mad Ants,” Mangas said.
It ended up leading to an Exhibit 10 agreement with the Pacers, which put Mangas in the NBA for a day. He was in training camp with the to-be conference finalists, and he helped out with a few drills while meeting a few members of the team.
That transaction and one day of service gave Indiana Mangas’ G League rights, so he was waived the next day. But by signing an Exhibit 10 agreement, the Warsaw native was eligible for a bonus with the Mad Ants — and he was back in Indiana where his career started. This time, though, he was a pro.
“Every level — high school, collegiate, now professionally — to play basketball in Indiana. I mean, that’s a dream come true in itself,” Mangas said. “It’s awesome, and to be able to come back [and] play for Pacers organizations is really cool.”
INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA – FEBRUARY 18: Kyle Mangas #24 of the Indiana Mad Ants takes a shot during the … [+]
The best part of it all, by Mangas’ account, was having his friends and family in the crowd. Many Mad Ants games last year were dominated by fans of Mangas, and they made posters. He was popular locally and called his first year of experience with the Mad Ants a 10 out of 10.
That season was successful for more reasons than just being back home. He also played well and seized the opportunity. Mangas averaged 16.9 points per game for the Mad Ants last season, which was by far the best number by a player on the roster with no NBA experience. He knocked down nearly 39% of his three-point shots while attempting more than six per game, and he dished out 3.5 assists per night. He was valuable right away despite being a G League rookie.
That all led to an impactful season. Indiana’s offensive rating was over 120 with Mangas on the floor, per RealGM, and that was one of the best figures on the team. By the end of the campaign, Mangas had moved into the starting lineup. They needed him there, and he fit well.
While the team was in Las Vegas to battle the G League Ignite in early February of this year, Mangas was rewarded for his hard work. His agent called him to let him know that he had been named to the G League Next Up Game — effectively the G League All-Star game. It was a gratifying nomination for Mangas, and it was even cooler since NBA All-Star weekend was being held in Indianapolis.
“I said, ‘yes, of course. I’ll do it’,” Mangas remembered of getting the invite. “To play in an All-Star game for the G league in Indy, I was like, ‘yes, I’m in’.”
Mangas played for Team Giraffe Stars in the event, but they fell short in the first game of the tournament-style competition. By appearing in that game, he got to attend all of the NBA All-Star weekend festivities, including the Dunk Contest and All-Star game, which took place in his home state.
He closed his G League season strong, too, which led to a playoff berth for the Mad Ants. They fell in the first round of the postseason, but Mangas proved he belonged at that level and was more than worthy of his G League spot.
While maintaining a good relationship with the Pacers organization, Mangas decided to play for the Los Angeles Lakers during summer league back in July. He suffered an ankle injury after scoring six points and pulling in three rebounds during his only appearance with the purple and gold.
Despite the short time with another franchise, Mangas couldn’t stay away from Indiana. He’s coming back to the Pacers/Mad Ants in 2024-25 on another Exhibit 10 contract, meaning this will be the first time he plays for the same organization in consecutive seasons since becoming a pro basketball player.
“Really looking forward to coming back,” Mangas said. He enjoyed the Mad Ants coaching staff and the ability to use Indiana’s facilities, which made returning an easy choice.
Currently, the young wing is rehabbing from that aforementioned ankle injury. But he’s ready to hit the ground running in his second season within the Pacers organization. “Hope we have a really good year again and try to make a run at it. Winning the G league championship would be pretty cool,” he said. It would be a fitting chapter in an Indiana basketball story.
The Indiana Pacers’ G League affiliate squad, the Indiana Mad Ants (formerly the Fort Wayne Mad Ants), are off to a 1-1 start on their young 2024-25 regular season.
The club’s opening night roster included two Indiana legends, in two-time Big Ten All-Defensive Team Purdue guard Dakota Mathias and ex-Warsaw High School and Indiana Wesleyan combo guard Kyle Mangas.
But the biggest name, by far, suiting up for the Mad Ants is Jahlil Okafor.
Following a title-winning, one-and-done 2014-15 NCAA season with the Duke Blue Devils, the 6-foot-11 center was selected with the No. 3 overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft by the Philadelphia 76ers, still in the midst of their “process” teardown era, as navigated by beloved former general manager Sam Hinkie. In Philadelphia’s draft history, Okafor was the lottery selection in between 2014 draftee Joel Embiid, the eventual 2023 league MVP, and 2016 draftee Ben Simmons, who blossomed into a three-time All-Star before he became a semi-tantalizing, often-hurt expiring contract.
Okafor never reached the heights of either of those comrades, although on paper he had the pedigree to potentially get there. The cousin of former 10-year NBA vet Emeka Okafor (who himself was the No. 2 pick in the 2004 NBA Draft), the younger Okafor was seen as a top prospect coming out of Mike Krzyzewski’s system. It never quite worked out, as his offensive game was stuck in the 2000s — full of back-to-basket moves but missing longer jumpers.
He never developed a reliable 3-point shot, but wasn’t the kind of rim-protecting big man who instilled fear in the hearts of opposing players. Essentially, he was in no man’s land, and some early meniscus trouble also hampered his development.
After an infamous departure from Philadelphia in 2017, Okafor played for the Brooklyn Nets, New Orleans Pelicans, and Detroit Pistons. He hasn’t suited up in an NBA game since 2021, but has played for the CBA’s Zhejiang Lions, the Mexico City Capitanes of the G League, Spanish club Casademont Zaragova, and Puerto Rican squad Capitanes de Arecibo.
Now, Okafor is making the most of his opportunity with the Mad Ants. In two contests with the Mad Ants, the 28-year-old is averaging 14.5 points on .684/.500/1.000 shooting splits (that 3-point rate is arriving on a fairly low 1.0 attempts and seems a bit fluky), 5.5 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 0.5 steals a night.
Okafor’s performance against the Cleveland Charge, NBAGL affiliate of the Cleveland Cavaliers, was especially appetizing.
In that 122-114 Mad Ants win, Okafor scored 21 points on 10-of-16 field goal shooting (63 percent) and pulled down nine rebounds.
roll the tape on @JahlilOkafor‘s highlights 📼 pic.twitter.com/24bbxf9B6V
— Mad Ants Basketball (@TheMadAnts) November 10, 2024
Mad Ants sixth man De’Vion Harmon led the club with 25 points on 8-of-16 shooting from the floor (1-of-4 from the 3-point line) and an immaculate 5-of-5 shooting from the foul line. All five starters (including Okafor) scored in double digits.
Combo forward Cameron McGriff was the team’s third 20-plus point scorer, with 21 points on 8-of-13 shooting from the floor (4-of-8 from long range), along with nine rebounds and two assists.
More Pacers: Indiana Stars Rave About Bennedict Mathurin After Young Star Posts Ridiculous Stat Line
Officers escort Richard Allen out of the Carroll County courthouse following a hearing, Nov. 22, 2022, in Delphi, Ind.
Darron Cummings/AP
hide caption
toggle caption
Darron Cummings/AP
DELPHI, Ind. — A former drugstore worker in the small Indiana community of Delphi was found guilty of murder on Monday in the killings of two teenage girls who vanished during an afternoon hike.
Jurors convicted Richard Allen of two counts of murder and two additional counts of murder while committing or attempting to commit kidnapping in the 2017 killings of Abigail Williams, 13, and Liberty German, 14.
Allen wasn’t arrested for five more years, while the case drew outsized attention from true-crime enthusiasts. His trial followed repeated delays, a leak of evidence, the withdrawal of Allen’s public defenders and their reinstatement by the Indiana Supreme Court.
Reporters inside the courtroom said Allen, 52, showed no reaction as the verdict was delivered, but he looked back at his family at one point. Allen is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 20. He could face up to 130 years in prison.
Outside the courthouse, people on the sidewalk began to cheer as word of the verdict spread.
Indiana State Police spokesman Capt. Ron Galaviz told The Associated Press that the judge’s gag order remains in place and he believes it will until Allen is sentenced. Allen’s lawyers left the courthouse Monday without making statements.
A special judge oversaw the case — Superior Court Judge Fran Gull who along with the jurors, came from northeastern Indiana’s Allen County. The seven women and five men were sequestered throughout the trial, which began Oct. 18 in the Carroll County seat of Delphi, the girls’ hometown of about 3,000 residents in northwest Indiana where Allen also lived and worked.
Carroll County Prosecutor Nicholas McLeland noted in his closing argument that Allen had repeatedly confessed to the killings — in person, on the phone and in writing. In one of the recordings he replayed for the jury, Allen could be heard telling his wife, “I did it. I killed Abby and Libby.”
McLeland also said Allen is the man seen following the teens in a grainy cell phone video recorded by one of the girls as they crossed an abandoned railroad trestle called the Monon High Bridge.
“Richard Allen is Bridge Guy,” McLeland told jurors. “He kidnapped them and later murdered them.”
McLeland said it was Allen’s voice that could be heard on the video telling the teens, ” Down the hill ″ after they crossed the bridge on Feb. 13, 2017. Their bodies were found the next day, their throats cut, in a nearby wooded area.
An investigator testified that Allen told him and another officer that on the day the teens vanished, he was wearing a blue or black Carhartt jacket, jeans and a beanie — clothing similar to what the man recorded on the bridge wore.
McLeland said an unspent bullet found between the teens’ bodies “had been cycled through” Allen’s .40-caliber Sig Sauer handgun. An Indiana State Police firearms expert told the jury her analysis tied the round to Allen’s handgun.
But a firearms expert called by the defense questioned the analysis, and attorney Bradley Rozzi dismissed it as a “magic bullet,” saying investigators had made an “apples to oranges” comparison of the unspent round to one fired from Allen’s gun.
Allen was arrested in October 2022. He had become a suspect after a retired state government worker who volunteered to help police in the case found paperwork in September 2022 showing that Allen had contacted authorities two days after the girls’ bodies were found. That paperwork indicated that Allen had told an officer he had been on the hiking trail the afternoon the girls went missing, according to testimony.
Allen’s defense argued that his confessions are unreliable because he was facing a severe mental health crisis while under the pressure and stress of being locked up in isolation, watched 24 hours a day and taunted by people incarcerated with him. A psychiatrist called by the defense testified that months in solitary confinement could make a person delirious and psychotic.
But Dr. Monica Wala, Allen’s psychologist at the Westville Correctional Facility, said Allen shared details of the crime in some of the confessions, including telling her he slashed the girls’ throats and put tree branches over their bodies. She wrote in a report that Allen told her he abandoned his plans to rape the teens when a van passed nearby. A man whose driveway passes under the Monon High Bridge testified that he was driving home from work in his van around that time.
That van, McLeland told jurors in his closing, was a detail “only the killer would know.”
During cross-examination, Wala acknowledged that she had followed Allen’s case with interest during her personal time even while treating him and that she was a fan of the true-crime genre.
Rozzi said in his closing arguments that Allen is innocent. He said no witness explicitly identified Allen as the man seen on the hiking trail or the bridge the afternoon the girls went missing. And he said no fingerprint, DNA or forensic evidence links Allen to the murder scene.
“He had every chance to run, but he did not because he didn’t do it,” Rozzi told the jurors.
Allen’s lawyers had sought to argue before the trial that the girls were killed in a ritual sacrifice by members of a white nationalist group known as the Odinists who follow a pagan Norse religion, but the judge ruled against that, saying the defense “failed to produce admissible evidence” of such a connection.
The Oregon Ducks improved to 10-0 after their win over the Maryland Terrapins. How do this week’s Big Ten Power Rankings shake out?
Another week, another Oregon win. The Ducks played a pretty sloppy game vs. Maryland but in the end, it didn’t matter, and they still won by three touchdowns.
Next Game: 11/16 at Wisconsin
Ohio State easily handled a bad Purdue team at home. Nothing much to report here as Ohio State is good, Purdue is not.
Next Game: 11/16 at Northwestern
The darlings of college football held off a Michigan comeback on Saturday night in Bloomington to improve to 10-0. The dream season continues for Indiana, a school that normally shifts its attention to Hoosiers basketball at this time in the season. Also, Hoosiers coach Curt Cignetti’s daughter got engaged on the field after the game. What’s not to love?
Next Game: 11/23 at Ohio State
Penn State continues to be Penn State. The Nittany Lions love to beat up on inferior teams, and they did just that against Washington. Unfortunately for Penn State, nobody will take them seriously as a true national contender until they beat a top-ten team, and they have struggled to do so under coach James Franklin.
Next Game: 11/16 at Purdue
After the top four teams, it becomes very difficult to rank the rest of the Big Ten. Illinois moves up a spot despite not playing this past weekend.
Next Game: 11/16 vs. Michigan State
Right as it looked like Minnesota was building momentum, they promptly lost to Rutgers. The Gophers had their four-game winning streak snapped by a Rutgers team on its own four-game losing streak.
Next Game: 11/23 vs. Michigan State
The Iowa Hawkeyes stay put at No. 7 after their three-point loss at UCLA. The Bruins have been playing very well as of late so Iowa does not drop too many spots.
Next Game: 11/23 at Maryland
The winners of the bye week are the Nebraska Cornhuskers. Nebraska jumped up two spots without playing a game.
Next Game: 11/16 at USC
How about the UCLA Bruins? They were left for dead after their 1-5 start but have flipped a switch and are on a three-game winning streak. Sure, there are teams with better records below them on here, but they are playing better than most of the Big Ten right now. This is the power rankings and NOT the standings.
Next Game: 11/15 vs. Washington
Another winner of the bye week is the Wisconsin Badgers. They jump back into the top ten after not doing a thing.Who else deserves to be here?
Next Game: 11/16 vs. Oregon
Dropped from Rankings: Michigan, Washington
MORE: Los Angeles Chargers’ Justin Herbert Makes NFL History Against Tennessee Titans
MORE: AP Top 25 Poll Chaos: Oregon Ducks on Top, Georgia and Miami Drop
MORE: Oregon Ducks’ Dan Lanning Addresses Fake Punt Trickery vs. Maryland: ‘Play To Win’
MORE: Denver Broncos, Bo Nix Lose to Kansas City Chiefs, Patrick Mahomes
MORE: Oregon Ducks’ Dan Lanning Addresses Jordan Burch Injury After Beating Maryland
MORE: Questionable Officiating Oregon Ducks vs. Maryland Terrapins: Unsportsmanlike Conduct
MORE: Oregon Ducks’ Dillon Gabriel’s Cool Reaction to Breaking NCAA Career Touchdown Record
MORE: Oregon Ducks’ Dan Lanning Addresses Jordan James Injury After Beating Maryland
MORE: LSU Tigers Pushing To Flip Oregon Ducks Five-Star Commit Dakorien Moore: Visit
MORE: Oregon Ducks Recruiting: 5-Star Jared Curtis Trending Ducks Over Ohio State, Georgia?
Barbora Krejcikova criticizes ‘unprofessional’ commentary, Daniil Medvedev spirals in Turin
Can You Place These Children’s Books on the World Map?
Chronic itch is miserable. Scientists are just scratching the surface
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25729357/DoorDash_FeatureImage.png "Starbucks now offers delivery in its own app")
Starbucks now offers delivery in its own app
Germany braces under collapsing government and looming Trump trade war
Colorado Rockies game no. 116 thread: Zac Gallen vs José Ureña
See it: Tesla crashes into Columbus convention center at 70 mph
Fox News Politics: Georgia the whole day through
Why Marjorie Taylor Greene was ‘kicked out’ of the Freedom Caucus according to Rep. Buck
Death of missing Oregon girl found in stream ruled homicide
Biden supports bringing adversarial nations into new UN cyber crime alliance
There is no safe zone in Gaza, warns UNRWA
Trump transition tracker: Trump nominates Mike Huckabee to be Israeli ambassador
Trump tells world leader election gives him a 'very big mandate'
Israel fails to meet US deadline to increase Gaza aid, rights groups say
-
Culture1 week agoYankees’ Gerrit Cole opts out of contract, per source: How New York could prevent him from testing free agency
-
Culture1 week agoTry This Quiz on Books That Were Made Into Great Space Movies
-
Health5 days agoLose Weight Without the Gym? Try These Easy Lifestyle Hacks
-
Culture4 days agoThe NFL is heading to Germany – and the country has fallen for American football
-
Business3 days agoRef needs glasses? Not anymore. Lasik company offers free procedures for referees
-
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25538361/247196_Echo_Spot_Review_8A0A1511_CVirginia.jpg "Amazon’s Echo Spot alarm clock is on sale with a free color smart bulb")
Technology1 week agoAmazon’s Echo Spot alarm clock is on sale with a free color smart bulb
-
Sports4 days agoAll-Free-Agent Team: Closers and corner outfielders aplenty, harder to fill up the middle
-
News24 hours agoHerbert Smith Freehills to merge with US-based law firm Kramer Levin