Hoosiers decipher press, win with easy buckets
IOWA CITY, Iowa -- At times in Carver-Hawkeye Arena Sunday, Iowa's full-court press rattled IU.
IOWA CITY, Iowa -- At times in Carver-Hawkeye Arena Sunday, Iowa's full-court press rattled IU.
The IU women's divers successfully returned to competition in the Indiana Winter Invitational and Dive-Off after five days of intensive training over the semester break. The Hoosiers played host to Iowa State and Purdue for three days of diving to start off the spring championship season. In the three-meter events on Friday, IU junior Sara Reiling and Boilermaker senior Kara Hajek-Gustafson battled it out throughout the day. Hajek-Gustafson edged out Reiling by three points with a total of 518.40 in the collegiate event. Reiling's second place finish led a string of Hoosiers who placed second through seventh. Senior Erin Quinn finished third with a total of 493.90, while juniors Jennifer Sonneborn and Crystal Gregory rounded out the top five.
IU men's tennis (2-1) could use a victory after a disappointing loss at Louisville. The Hoosiers welcome Ball State (2-1) to the Tennis Center at 3 p.m. Tuesday. Ball St. also lost its last match, falling to No. 6 Illinois. IU holds a remarkable 34-7 all-time record versus in-state rivals. The Hoosiers next four matches will be at home. The home matches are an opportunity to acquire some momentum before conference play begins Feb. 23. "It's real important. We shouldn't lose matches at home," senior Rahman Smiley said. "Away matches are tougher to win." Smiley and senior Milan Rakvica are leading the Hoosiers this season. Smiley is undefeated in both spring singles and doubles matches. He boasts a 9-5 overall singles record and a 7-1 doubles mark this year. Rakvica is 8-5 in overall singles and 6-1 in doubles.
In the IU football team's scrimmage Saturday at Memorial Stadium, the defense dominated the offense. Yes, the same defense that has been scrutinized, criticized and demoralized in recent years completely controlled the offense in the team's first full-contact scrimmage of the spring practice schedule. With both sides of the ball split up into two teams, the Hoosier offense dealt with interceptions, dropped snaps, missed field-goal attempts and downfield fumbles leading to only two scores during the two-hour scrimmage.
This is the last weekend before Little 500, and the teams get one last chance to test their skills in preparation for the final race. The last series event, Team Pursuit, has teams squaring off against each other to snag the two fastest times. The two top times face off in the final round to determine the winners.
Make no mistake, the Hoosiers know what they are up against Thursday night when they face No. 1 Duke in the South Regional semifinals at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Ky. They will be playing the best team in their region and the Tournament and probably the nation. And after Blue Devils' guard Jason Williams was named the Naismith Player of the Year Monday, IU will be facing the best player in the nation on the best team.
The stunning death of St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Darryl Kile brought even baseball's toughest guys to tears Saturday.
INDIANAPOLIS -- Sarah Fisher spent her post-qualifying news conference Saturday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway smiling, laughing, joking and savoring every moment.
Not many people -- experts, coaches, players -- thought a late-February battle between Ohio State and IU could settle the Big Ten title. A lot of those people -- those who picked Illinois and Iowa to win the conference -- were wrong. But when the dust settles tonight at Assembly Hall, either the No. 19 Buckeyes or the No. 23 Hoosiers will be in sole possession of first place and prime position to claim the Big Ten title.
Behind two second-half goals by junior forward Pat Noonan, the men's soccer team beat the No.5 Clemson Tigers 2-0 Sunday at Bill Armstrong Stadium. The win put the No.4 Hoosiers (17-3-1) in the College Cup, the Final Four of college soccer, for the fifth straight year. Virginia is the only other school to have ever strung together five consecutive College Cups, achieving the feat through the 1991-1995 seasons.
The women's basketball team continues to apply the Big Ten's best defense like troublesome super glue. Believe it or not, the Hoosiers (9-11, 3-6 Big Ten) hold opponents to a league-best 63.9 points per game. But in a 75-60 loss to No. 22 Minnesota Sunday, the ever-steadfast pressure vanished in the final four minutes. The Hoosiers relinquished 49 points in the second half after tying the game 26-26 at halftime.
SAN DIEGO -- Kent State is right where they want to be: in San Diego, as the underdog. "We really thrive in this role," guard Trevor Huffman said. "You can't be in a better spot than being the underdog because there's no pressure on you, it's all on the other team. We just go out there and play free." The Hoosiers, seeded No. 4, face Kent State, seeded No. 13, in the first round of the NCAA championships at 8 p.m. today in Cox Arena.
Sigma Alpha Epsilon junior Dan Burns made his intentions clear for this weekend's Miss-N-Out just moments after losing to Phi Delta Theta senior Josh Beatty in Wednesday's individual time trials.
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- It was a painful lesson Wednesday night, but IU learned it could play without Jared Jeffries. And it was several Hoosiers Sunday who showed they have more confidence as a result of the 64-63 loss to Wisconsin last Wednesday at Assembly Hall. Jarrad Odle, Jeff Newton and Kyle Hornsby each had 17 points as the No. 22 Hoosiers stormed past the Wolverines, 75-55, Sunday before 11,379 at Crisler Arena. Chris Young led Michigan with 18 points. The win sets up a showdown Wednesday night at Assembly Hall between IU and the team it currently shares first place in the Big Ten with, Ohio State.
Hoosier players and coaches stood on the first step of their dugout to watch a possible comeback win from the baseball team. It was the bottom of the seventh inning of the first game of Saturday's doubleheader, and IU was trailing Penn State 3-2. The Hoosiers got what they wished for. IU loaded the bases on a single, an error and a hit batter. With no outs, sophomore third baseman Vasili Spanos entered the batters' box and drilled a fastball 370 feet for a game-winning grand slam.
IU women's basketball coach Kathi Bennett returned to the sidelines Sunday for her team's 74-52 victory over Northwestern at Assembly Hall. Her return added an obvious emotional uplift to a rebounding team that has won six of its last nine games.
During his three years on the men's track team, junior Dino Efthimiou has become one of the team's rising stars and has enjoyed success during this indoor season.
A limited number of single-session tickets for the 2002 Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournament will go on sale at 10 a.m. today, the Big Ten announced Monday.
Yesterday's baseball game versus Wright State was postponed because of bad weather. The Hoosiers return to the field with the Big Ten opener this weekend at Sembower Field.
Heading into their team's dual meet against Ohio State, IU women's swimming head coach Dorsey Tierney was looking for depth within her squad. In order to establish depth, Tierney changed the lineup of events in which many of the swimmers competed.