6-Banner Sunday: IU basketball finishes 1-2 in the final week of the regular season
- Staff
- 22h ago
Welcome to another edition of 6-Banner Sunday, a joint production between The Assembly Call and Inside the Hall, where we highlight the five most essential IU sports stories of the past week. 6-Banner Sunday is written by Ari Shifron.
IU played three games, and unfortunately for Indiana fans, they won just one. This moves their NCAA tournament chances to nearly zero without a huge run in the Big Ten tournament.
Additionally, women’s basketball saw its season end in the conference tourney. As usual, we will conclude with a look at the weekly shows and the rest of Hoosier sports in action, led by softball continuing its strong start to 2026.
Here is what is in this week’s edition:
• Hoosiers top Minnesota on senior night
• Michigan State beats IU in Assembly Hall
• Indiana falls at Ohio State
• Women’s basketball falls to Ohio State in Big Ten tournament
• Podcast on the Brink and Back Home Network shows
• Hoosier Roundup
Banner #1 – Hoosiers top Minnesota on senior night
The game against the Golden Gophers was the bright spot this week. On senior night, Indiana built a huge lead early against Minnesota and won going away 77-47.
Afterwards, IU coach Darian DeVries spoke, Inside the Hall had a photo gallery, Ryan Corazza wrote The Minute After and Film Session, Alex Bozich penned Five Takeaways, and Quinn Richards put together a column about the dominant victory.
Banner #2 – Michigan State beats IU in Assembly Hall
Facing a chance for a signature victory against Michigan State, the Spartans left no doubt who the better team was. MSU jumped out to a huge lead early on the strength of hot shooting. While the Hoosiers never let the game get out of hand, they never seriously challenged for a victory, falling 77-64.
Afterwards, DeVries spoke, Inside the Hall had a photo gallery, Corazza wrote The Minute After and Film Session, Bozich penned Five Takeaways, and Josh Pos put together a column about the uphill battle all day.
Banner #3 – Indiana falls at Ohio State
Despite all the roster turnover in the offseason, the Hoosiers had a chance to put themselves into a great position to make the NCAA tournament by beating the Buckeyes. Instead, their defense struggled all day in a 91-78 loss and moved Indiana further from the bubble.
Afterwards, IU coach Darian DeVries spoke, Corazza wrote The Minute After, and Bozich penned Five Takeaways.
Indiana returns to action as the No. 10 seed in the Big Ten Tournament on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. ET on BTN (the time slot and network for any possible matchups on the first three days remain constant). They will first face the winner of Penn State and Northwestern, who play the day before. If the Hoosiers win this, arch-rival Purdue awaits on Thursday, before Michigan State or Nebraska would be the opponent on Friday with a second victory.
By finishing 18-13 overall and 9-11 in the Big Ten, the Hoosiers are likely on the wrong side of the NCAA tournament bubble now. They will almost certainly need to win at least three games in Chicago this week to have a chance to go dancing in March Madness.
Banner #4 – Women’s basketball falls to Ohio State in Big Ten tournament
Women’s basketball closed its season on a hot streak, winning seven of nine before falling to Ohio State in the Big Ten tournament to close the 2025-2026 campaign. However, a day earlier, they rallied from 20 points down to beat Nebraska in a thriller, leaving optimism for the future. Also, both Shay Ciezki and Maya Makalusky received postseason honors from the league.
Banner #5 – Podcast on the Brink and Back Home Network shows
Podcast on the Brink was recorded this week. Inside the Hall’s own Corazza joined Bozich to discuss the big picture of where the program is at.
The Back Home Network has many shows. As a result, it was on air many times this week with programming.
Banner #6 – Hoosier Roundup
• Softball continued its hot start to the season. They knocked off UNC Greensboro and Minnesota this week to improve their record to 17-5 despite losing to Minnesota.
• Baseball beat Western Kentucky and split its first two games with Washington.
• Women’s tennis beat Southern Indiana but lost to arch-rival Purdue.
• Men’s tennis fell to UCLA in its Big Ten opener.
• Swimming and diving had many athletes qualify for the NCAA Championships on the women’s side.
• Track and field had three athletes qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships.
• Men’s golf competed at the Colleton River Collegiate.
• Several former men’s soccer players are now competing in the MLS.
• Volleyball announced a top matchup for next fall against Tennessee.
Now go enjoy yourself a 6-Banner Sunday.
Aaron (Ari) Shifron
Assembly Call Contributor
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(Photo credit: IU Athletics)
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