Author: Dustin Dopirak

Indiana’s devastating defeat at the hands of Michigan State on Saturday afternoon at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall had the feel of a season-ender. The Hoosiers went from totally in control against an uncharacteristically floundering Spartans squad in danger of missing the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1997 to totally out of control. They found themselves unable to do anything to stop junior guard Aaron Henry, the former Ben Davis High School star, and a 19-6 first-half lead turned into a 78-71 loss. From an NCAA Tournament resumé perspective, it was one of the Hoosiers’ worst losses of the…

Indiana quarterback Michael Penix said Monday that he’s making good progress in his rehabilitation from the second ACL tear in his career, but he’s not running yet with about just over two weeks to go before Indiana begins spring football practice on March 9. He does still believe he’ll be ready for the season opener on Sept. 4 at Iowa. “I’m on schedule if not a little bit ahead of schedule,” Penix said. “I’ve been working extremely hard to get back. I’m doing everything I can to do out and continue to help motivate the team, still be a leader…

It was right at the moment that Indiana started to feel safe again that Michigan State figured out exactly what it had to do to break the Hoosiers. Indiana had blown a 13-point lead before halftime, but the Hoosiers had gone back to pounding the ball inside and taking advantage of the fact that the Spartans had decided not to double-team Trayce Jackson-Davis and built themselves a cushion. They went up nine when Jackson-Davis dunked and drew a foul off a pretty wrap-around pass from senior guard Aljami Durham with 12:59 to go in the game. But on the next…

During each of Rob Phinisee’s four drives to the paint for buckets in Indiana’s tournament-resumé stabilizing win over Minnesota on Wednesday night, the impact and the value of his mind was evident. On the first with 8:32 to go in the first half, he got the ball at the right elbow after an offensive rebound by Race Thompson and saw Minnesota center Liam Robbins as the only player in front of him, but also found point guard Marcus Carr cheating over in his direction looking to either help or switch. Phinisee threw a pass fake in his direction to get…

Per an Indiana athletics release Friday, IU will allow up to 500 spectators at NCAA Tournament games held at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall March 18-10. The NCAA announced Friday that it would allow each venue to allow fans up to 25 percent of the capacity of their facilities. The 500 figure for Indiana is well short of 25 percent of Assembly Hall’s 17,222-seat capacity. Purdue announced that it would allow 12-13 percent of the 14,240 capacity of Mackey Arena. The Indiana release follows: Bloomington, Indiana – After conversations between the NCAA and the Indiana University Medical Response Team, Indiana University…

Logan Duncomb, center from Cincinnati’s Archbishop Moeller High School and Indiana’s lone signee for the Class of 2021, was one of 70 players from the Midwest region named Thursday as nominees for the McDonald’s All-American game. According to the school’s (extremely professional) website, Duncomb is averaging 13.3 points and 8.7 rebounds and shooting 57.9 percent from the field this season. He also has 45 assists, 17 steals and 20 blocks in 19 games. The 6-foot-9, 235-pound Duncomb is a four-star recruit and the No. 74 player in the class according to the 247Sports.com composite rankings. One of the top teams…

In the final minute of a game Indiana absolutely had to have on Wednesday night, Rob Phinisee and Jerome Hunter did what veterans are supposed to do. They made big free throws. When Minnesota was hanging on to its last breath, and still had just enough time for a miracle, Hunter and Phinisee hit the shots that erased all hope. Hunter’s came with exactly one minute left and they gave him a career-high 16 points for his second consecutive double-figure scoring game. Phinisee’s came with 37 seconds to go and they made him the fifth Indiana player in double figures.…

Antwaan Randle-El earned his second Super Bowl ring earlier this month as an offensive assistant with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and now he’ll be coaching in the same building where he won his first ring as a player. The Detroit Lions announced Wednesday that they have hired the former Indiana quarterback as their wide receivers coach, filling out new coach Dan Campbell’s staff. The offensive staff is mostly made up of former NFL players, also including quarterbacks coach Mark Brunell, running backs coach Duce Staley, and offensive line coach Hank Fraley. Randle-El is an IU Athletics Hall of Famer and…

Each of Archie Miller’s press conferences and sessions of public comment over the past week have focused on Indiana’s poor starts to games and for obvious reason. The Hoosiers fell behind 21-6 to Ohio State in a 78-59 loss in Columbus on Saturday thanks to an early stretch of nearly eight minutes without a field goal. They had just as bad of droughts against Northwestern, when they fell behind 21-7 in the first 13 minutes, and Iowa, when the Hawkeyes built a 17-4 lead in the first seven minutes, even though Indiana won both of those games. Indiana was able…

Archie Miller didn’t give any indication on his radio show on Monday night of when transfer guard Parker Stewart might dress out for or appear in an Indiana game, but he has been impressed by what he’s seen so far in workouts and practice. Stewart left Tennessee-Martin with his degree after his father Anthony, Tennessee Martin’s coach, died suddenly in November. Stewart committed to Indiana in mid-December thanks in large part to the work of IU assistant Kenya Hunter, who had a long-standing relationship with Anthony and recruited Stewart when Hunter was at Nebraska. Stewart joined the program in January,…