Indiana
Washington Men’s Basketball vs. Indiana: Game Preview & How to Watch
How to Watch (and bet)
Date: Saturday, 3/1/25
Tip-Off Time: 3:00 pm PT
TV: None
Streaming: Peacock
Radio: Huskies Gameday App, Sports Radio KJR
Location: Seattle, WA
Betting Line: Washington Huskies +3
Indiana Hoosiers 2024-25 Statistics:
Record: 17-11 (8-9)
Points For per Game: 75.8 ppg (102nd)
Points Against per Game: 72.8 ppg (187th)
Adjusted Offensive Efficiency: 115.5 (57th)
Adjusted Defensive Efficiency: 99.6 (51st)
Strength of Schedule: 23rd
Indiana Key Players:
G- Myles Rice, So. 6’3, 185: 10.9 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 2.7 apg, 42.9% FG, 33.3% 3pt, 83.5% FT
Husky fans should be familiar with Rice who starred last season for Washington State while leading them to the 2nd round of the NCAA tournament. His counting stats are unsurprisingly down (4 points and 1 assist per game) playing on a much more talented Indiana squad that doesn’t ask him to do as much. The shooting splits are similar except for an uptick in his outside shooting which is up 6 percentage points. Rice sometimes plays the point but has close to a 1:1 assist-to-turnover ratio and much prefers to put his head down and get to the basket as the secondary ball handler.
G- Trey Galloway, Sr. 6’5, 205: 8.0 ppg, 2.3 rpg, 4.4 apg, 43.1% FG, 33.0% 3pt, 64.1% FT
Galloway leads the team in assists at 6’5 but has a much higher turnover rate than you’d want for your primary ball handler. His outside shooting has been below average at 29% although he made 4/5 against Penn State in their last game so he’s capable of getting hot. Outside of that, Galloway doesn’t contribute a whole lot on the stat sheet. He’s a below average rebounder, doesn’t get a lot of steals, and is a pretty poor free throw shooter for a guard.
F- Luke Goode, Sr. 6’7, 203: 9.1 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 0.6 apg, 43.0% FG, 40.3% 3pt, 93.2% FT
After 3 years as a solid role player at B1G rival Illinois, Goode now plays for Indiana and is up to his same old tricks. His job is to stretch the floor at 6’7 and he does it very well. Goode is a career 39% 3-point shooter and that total is up to 45% in conference play so far in addition to making 93% of his free throws. He doesn’t do a lot of dribbling but that means Goode also almost never turns the ball over. The end result is that Goode is 2nd in offensive efficiency in Big Ten play to counteract some iffy defense.
F- Mackenzie Mgbako, So. 6’9, 222: 12.6 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 1.1 apg, 44.8% FG, 31.8% 3pt, 82.1% FT
It’s often you get a top-10 overall prospect to come back for his sophomore year but Indiana returned Mgbako. Normally that leads to a huge leap in production but Mgbako is putting up almost identical numbers to last year except for being more efficient around the rim. He’s only hitting 26% of his three-pointers in conference play but makes 54% of his 2-point shots and 82% of his free throws while taking care of the ball and playing solid defense at 6’9. He still doesn’t look like a high NBA Draft pick but is a good if not great college player.
C- Oumar Ballo, Sr. 7’0, 265: 13.7 ppg, 9.4 rpg, 1.4 bpg, 63.8% FG, 58.4% FT
Another familiar face from the Pac-12. Ballo has come over from Arizona and not missed a beat. Each of the last 3 years he has averaged between 12.9 and 14.2 ppg, between 8.6 and 10.1 rpg, and 1.3 to 1.4 blocks per game. The big difference is that Ballo is now a much more willing passer with a career high in assists by a wide margin at 2.3 per game. He’s a wrecking ball inside with one of the highest FG% and FT rates in the country and the battle between him and Kepnang will be fun to watch. If Kepnang picks up 2 quick fouls, there’s not much of a chance of slowing Ballo down.
The Outlook
It’s fair to say that it has been a bizarre season for Indiana. Coach Mike Woodson entered the year on the hot seat but that didn’t seem to be a problem as the Hoosiers were picked 2nd in the Big Ten preseason media poll. Indiana clearly had a ton of raw talent but there were understandable concerns about how the roster fit together given a clear lack of outside shooting despite plenty of size.
Things have gone about as poorly as possible. After a 13-3 start to the year, the Hoosiers lost 8 of their next 10 games. Many of those were close losses to good teams (2-4 in games decided by 5 points or less in that stretch) but they also got bludgeoned by Iowa and Illinois in consecutive games at the start of that run. It resulted in Woodson agreeing to step down at the end of the year.
The thing is, Indiana is squarely still on the bubble. A 2-1 or 3-0 finish to the season plus at least one win in the NCAA tournament may be enough to get them across the finish line with a resume that has wins at Michigan State and Ohio State plus a 15-point home win over Purdue. The Hoosiers still have plenty to play for despite a lame duck head coach after having won 3 of 4.
The big preseason concerns about 3-point shooting have absolutely come true. Indiana ranks 265th nationally in 3-point percentage on offense and are 324th in the percent of their shots coming from deep. They don’t take a lot of outside shots and when they do take them, they tend to miss a lot. Or at least they did before going 10/15 from deep on Wednesday night to beat Penn State. Hopefully Indiana used up all their shooting as they hadn’t made double digit 3-point shots in a game since January 2nd.
Whether Indiana can actually find consistency from outside will be a major story in this game since opponents have torched Washington lately from outside. Over Washington’s last 7 games, opponents have averaged 9.7 made shots from beyond the arc on 42.7% shooting. If Indiana shoots it that well yet again with the advantages they have inside then the Huskies are toast.
That inside advantage comes from Indiana ranking 8th in the country in average height. No one in the Indiana rotation is shorter than 6’3 and the Hoosiers have mostly settled into a 7-man rotation that always plays at least 3 players 6’7 or taller. The question mark will be if Indiana has 6’9 PF Malik Reneau available. Reneau missed Indiana’s last game with an illness that was serious enough for him to go to the Emergency Department and it’s unclear right now if he’ll make the trip to Seattle.
Indiana may have plenty of size but it hasn’t translated into an elite defense. They’re a good rebounding team but rank outside the top-100 nationally on both ends of the floor. Ballo is dominant on the glass but Reneau usually slides to center when he’s out and is only a so-so rebounder for the position. Ballo is a good shot blocker but not quite elite and Reneau/Mgbako are below average in that regard for 6’9.
It’s a fair question to wonder whether the Huskies have mentally thrown in the towel. They had a golden opportunity to make the B1G tournament but lost in OT to Rutgers and fell apart down the stretch at Iowa after leading by double digits in the first half. That turned the new goal into simply not finishing last in the conference and UW responded by getting bludgeoned at Wisconsin, trailing 30+ points for most of the 2nd half. Wisconsin is a top-ten team in the metrics and was taking out their frustration on Washington after the Badgers blew their own huge lead to lose to Oregon in OT in the previous game. But it might be a sign that Sprinkle has lost the locker room a bit.
The Wisconsin loss marks the 3rd team the Huskies have been destroyed on the road in Big Ten play and each of the other 2 saw UW rebound to play at or above expectations. I’m inclined to think that Sprinkle will be able to get a bounce back performance returning home with Indiana making their first and only West coast road trip of the season. But I’ll acknowledge that it also wouldn’t surprise me to see Washington let this get away from them particularly if they start out slowly.
Prediction
Washington Huskies– 76, Iowa Hawkeyes- 72
Gov. Mike Braun asked state regulators to reconsider their decision to greenlight a $71 million rate increase for AES Indiana, doubling down on his condemnation of a move that could leave Indianapolis residents with higher electrical bills for years.
Braun wrote in a June 18 news release that he had asked Indiana Utility Counselor Abby Gray, who heads the office representing ratepayers in proceedings before the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission, to petition for a rehearing of the AES rate case.
Gray indicated in the release that her office would submit the petition shortly. No petition had been posted on the IURC’s online docket as of this story’s publication.
The rate increase, which was approved by the IURC on June 17, was substantially less than the $192 million increase that AES initially requested. It was also less than the amount proposed in a settlement last October between AES and major electricity consumers.
But the Office of Utility Consumer Counselor, which Gray leads, came out strongly against any increase to AES’s base rates. In September, the OUCC called for a $21 million reduction instead.
As the Republican Party grapples with rising discontent over affordability, Braun has used opposition to rising utility rates to telegraph that he’s committed to keeping costs down for Indiana residents. He signed a law in February that allows the state to make rate-setting decisions that reward or penalize utilities based on metrics including affordability.
In March, he told reporters that he would take on Indiana’s five investor-owned utilities, describing himself as the “new sheriff in town.”
And after the IURC voted 3-1 to approve the AES rate increase, he wrote in a post to X that he was “deeply disappointed.”
Braun wrote in the June 18 news release that he had appointed Gray, a longtime OUCC lawyer and judge, to her current post because he knew she “would help me fight for Hoosiers.”
According to AES’s estimates, the rate increase will cost households an additional $5 per month for every 1,000 kilowatt hours of electricity they use, beginning in July. A second hike will take effect in January.
Tilly Robinson is a Pulliam fellow for the Indianapolis Star. She can be reached at tilly.robinson@indystar.com.
The Protect College Sports Act, legislation meant to introduce and codify sweeping reforms related to college athletics, passed out of the Senate Commerce Committee on Thursday morning.
It now heads to the Senate floor.
The bill passed out of committee by a 19-9 vote. Indiana Republican Sen. Todd Young voted no, his decision reflecting Big Ten concerns over the bill.
A spokesman for Sen. Young told IndyStar, “Senator Young hopes that additional changes can be made to the bill to address concerns raised by the Big Ten.”
Co-sponsored by Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Maria Cantwell (D-Washington), the Protect College Sports Act represents Congress’ most substantial success so far in a yearslong effort to bring legislative reform to college athletics. Since before the COVID-19 pandemic, leaders in college sports — including the NCAA, member conferences and schools, and other major players — have lobbied for national solutions to what have become state and regional problems.
Several pieces of legislation have been introduced across the last several years, only to fizzle long before reaching the floor of either chamber. The SCORE Act, introduced last year in the House of Representatives, gained some traction and passed out of committee, but was never brought to the floor.
Which makes Thursday’s news meaningful. Moving the Protect College Sports Act to the Senate floor, while not a guarantee of any outcome, potentially takes the bill past a threshold no other such piece of reformative legislation has yet been able to cross.
Cruz told Yahoo! Sports’ Ross Dellenger on Thursday that Cruz believes Sen. Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) is committed to introducing the bill to the Senate floor soon.
The bill provides a legal framework for a host of potential reforms and protections for college sports. It grants limited antitrust protection to the NCAA, places limits on certain things including potential conference realignment, builds safeguards meant to protect non-revenue and Olympic sports, addresses potential broadcast rights reforms, and more.
It enjoys significant backing, and not just among leaders in college sports. This week, the NFL, its players’ association, the National Basketball Players Association and Major League Baseball all voiced their support for the bill.
Two key constituencies not in lockstep on the bill voiced their own concerns Thursday.
In a joint statement issued just after 10 a.m. Thursday, the Big Ten and SEC — far and away the two most powerful conferences and arguably two greatest power centers, full stop, in college athletics — suggested they still hold significant reservations over the bill.
“From the outset, we identified a set of essential revisions to the PCSA necessary for the long-term sustainability of college athletics,” the statement read. “We have worked with both majority and minority staff to advance those revisions, which focus on better supporting student-athletes and stabilizing the college sports environment. We continue to believe revisions are needed to secure our support for the bill.
“Despite our sustained engagement and good faith efforts, these critical revisions have not been accepted.”
The statement went on to note the “several Commerce Committee members that share our concerns and support these recommendations.”
Young is one of several members of the committee representing a Big Ten state, including one of three Republicans. He is the only Republican member of the committee whose state contains multiple schools in the conference.
Allowing for those reservations, Thursday’s news is still significant. It marks the first time a bipartisan bill on the subject has reached this point in the Senate and, should it be brought to the floor, it would be the first such legislation to reach that stage, in either chamber.
The bill could be brought to the Senate floor as early as July, though that timeline remains fluid.
(INDIANA CAPITAL CHRONICLE) – The Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission voted 3-1 Wednesday to approve a $71 million electricity rate increase for AES Indiana customers.
That is about 37% of what the utility initially requested and lower than a settlement agreement proposed in October.
Neither Gov. Mike Braun nor consumer advocates are happy with the outcome.
“My top priority is affordability, which is why I am deeply disappointed by the IURC’s approval of another AES rate increase,” he said. “Hoosiers have spent years tightening their belts and making tough financial decisions. It’s time for utility companies to do the same.”
Members of the commission didn’t explain their votes Wednesday. IURC Chair Andy Zay focused his remarks on the process.
“There’s a lot of eyes on this order and what we’re doing today,” he said. “What is before you on the floor is a nearly a year’s worth of work, evidence, deliberations, and considerations that bring us to this moment in this decision. None of this was taken lightly. I want to thank my colleagues for the patience and working through this amongst the auspice of affordability, which is certainly a hot topic now, as well as the resiliency, reliability that we see in this increased demand in electricity.”
The Office of Utility Consumer Counselor last year recommended that state regulators deny AES Indiana’s request for a $193 million base rate increase — instead proposing a $21 million reduction in current rates.
“The AES rate order issued today is an outrage and Hoosiers deserve better!” Counselor Abby Gray said in a statement Wednesday. “Governor Braun has made it clear that ratepayer affordability is a priority, far more than just a ‘hot topic’ as described by the chairman of the IURC today. This order fails the governor’s call to overhaul how utilities are regulated in order to lower bills for ratepayers.”
Gray’s office represents Hoosier ratepayers in regulatory cases.
“The order approves a substantial profit margin for shareholders in addition to a rate increase for customers,” she continued. “It even requires ratepayers to pay approximately $3 million to AES lawyers and experts.”
AES Indiana provides electricity service to about 490,000 homes and businesses in Indianapolis and some nearby areas.
The utility originally sought $193 million in rate increases. The previously proposed settlement agreement dropped that to $91 million, while the final, approved settlement agreement lands at $71 million.
Three IURC members supported the increase: Zay, David Veleta and David Ziegner.
Commissioner Bob Deig voted no. A fifth member, Anthony Swinger, recused himself because he worked on the case previously when he was on the consumer counselor’s office staff.
Ben Inskeep, program director for ratepayer advocacy group Citizens Action Coalition, said utilities across the country often ask for a larger increase than they need, knowing that regulators will disallow “roughly half” of it.
“The latest AES Indiana fuel adjustment clause proceeding shows AES Indiana is actually not only earning all of their allowed profit but over-earning by $19 million their return amount,” he said. “They’re already extremely financially successful at this moment in time, so it’s rather bizarre to even get an extra $71 million dollars approved here.”
Inskeep also noted that the increases will fall disproportionately on residential customers over commercial and industrial users.
Brandi Davis-Handy, president of AES Indiana, said the company has maintained some of the lowest rates in the state for more than a decade “through disciplined planning and a focus on efficiency. We applied the same approach here by working closely with stakeholders to make balanced decisions that keep the system reliable, limit customer impact, and align with the state’s energy pillars.”
AES said for a typical residential customer using 1,000 kilowatt-hours per month, the increase will be less than $5 per month per phase. Phase one rates will be implemented in July 2026 and phase two rates will be implemented in January 2027.
The final order says the utility “will not seek to implement a change in basic rates and charges as a result of its next base rate case before January 1, 2030.”
A new law, however, requires all utilities to file a multi-year rate case in 2029, though implementation wouldn’t happen until 2030.
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