6-Banner Sunday: Galloway’s heroics lead IU to Senior Day win against Ohio State

  • Mar 9, 2025 9:27 am
 

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 basketball stories of the past week, plus take a look at how the other IU sports programs are doing.

While it was not a perfect week results-wise on the court, IU men’s and women’s basketball appear headed for March Madness for the third time in four seasons. However, it is a tenuous position, unlike the last time when this occurred exactly two years ago, with both now appearing to be on the right side of the bubble.

Getting to this point resulted from the men’s senior night victory against Ohio State after losing to Oregon earlier in the week. Meanwhile, the women sewed up their postseason spot by beating Purdue and Oregon before giving No. 2 USC all they could handle.

Here is what is in this week’s edition:

• Hoosiers beat Ohio State on Senior Day to strengthen NCAA tournament case
• Women pick up two wins to solidify NCAA tournament position
• IU falls at Oregon in second game of West Coast swing
• NCAA tournament outlook updates
• Podcast on the Brink and Back Home Network shows
• Hoosier Roundup

Banner #1 – Hoosiers beat Ohio State on Senior Day to strengthen NCAA tournament case

A bubble battle on senior day between two squads fighting for their NCAA tournament lives was ugly for most of the afternoon. With many missed shots, the Buckeyes were slightly better and had a 56-51 advantage with five minutes left.

Enter fifth-year senior Trey Galloway. While his up-and-down career has been slowed by injury, his hustle and heart can never be questioned. As a kid from Indiana, he knows what it means to don a Hoosier uniform.

Galloway, on his special afternoon, hit two big shots from way downtown. The first cut the deficit to two points at 56-54, while the second sealed the contest as the shot clock was expiring for a 61-56 advantage with 1:24 to play. From there, IU clinched the win with free throws for a 66-60 victory.

Galloway tied Malik Reneau with a game-high 16 points on a day when the Hoosiers shot just 35 percent. However, a solid 23-for-31 mark from the charity stripe was enough to finish at 10-10 in the conference.

Afterward, IU coach Mike Woodson spoke, Inside the Hall had a photo gallery, Ryan Corazza wrote a Minute After, Alex Bozich put together Five Takeaways, while Foley penned a column about the Galloway stepping up on senior day.

Banner #2 – Women pick up two wins to solidify NCAA tournament position

On the other side of Assembly Hall, the IU women firmed up their NCAA resume. The Hoosiers blasted their struggling arch-rival Purdue for the 13th straight time to ruin their opponent’s senior day 77-57. This sent the Hoosiers to the Big Ten tournament as the No. 9 seed with a 10-8 conference record.

In Indianapolis, Indiana was dominant against an Oregon team that will also make the NCAA tournament 78-62. The team did run out of steam against top-seeded USC on Friday but gave them all they could handle in an 84-79 defeat.

The conference also gave out its yearly awards for the top players. IU had three players honored led by junior Yarden Garzon being named second team-all league.

Banner #3 – IU falls at Oregon in second game of West Coast swing

The most negative result of the week came as Indiana wrapped up their two-game west coast swing. IU struggled against Oregon for much of the night in Eugene. Indiana managed to take a 64-63 lead late on a Galloway 3-pointer, but the Ducks took over from there, scoring the contest’s last 10 points for a 73-64 victory.

These two will go at it again to open the Big Ten tournament at noon Eastern time on Thursday on BTN. However, this time it will be a pseudo home-court advantage for the Hoosiers with the contest being in Indianapolis.

Afterward, Corazza wrote a Minute After and Film Session, Bozich put together Five Takeaways, while Kevin Vera penned a column about the team faltering late.

Banner #4 – NCAA tournament outlook updates

With the draw just one week away, both Indiana squads appear on the right side of the bubble for a spot in March Madness. While it has been an up-and-down season for both, each appears to have done just enough to make it into the field at 19-12 overall.

The women have all but secured a place and will wait to hear their name called next Sunday night. However, for the first time since 2019, they will be traveling to an opponent’s gym as a likely No. 9 or No. 10 seed rather than hosting as they have done in the past three seasons. There is a possibility of being placed in Notre Dame’s bracket with a short trip inside the state up to South Bend. However, any other draw would pit them to go relatively far away. Either way, their sixth straight trip to postseason play appears to be a certainty.

The men are in the slightly more tenuous position of the two. However, almost every projection has them with a spot in the bracket, even before the victory over Ohio State. Whether they will have to play in a First Four game in Dayton remains to be seen. However, inclusion in the NCAA tournament appears likely with a victory against Oregon on Thursday almost certainly removing any remaining doubt. If they make it into the main field, the closest sites to home are Cleveland, Lexington, or Milwaukee. However, whether they are placed in one of these spots or farther away, rallying to be in position to make the dance is remarkable given they were well outside of it several weeks ago.

Regardless though, a new coach will roam the sidelines next season with the retirement of Woodson. Inside the Hall once again looked at and profiled potential candidates for the job.

Banner #5 – Podcast on the Brink and Back Home Network shows

Podcast on the Brink was recorded this week. The episode featured college basketball reporter Rocco Miller to discuss IU’s NCAA Tourney prospects.

The Back Home Network was also on-air multiple times in the last few days. Assembly Call Postgame, Crimson Cast, Doing The Work, Dribble Drive, and Xs and Joes all had shows.

Banner #6 – Hoosier Roundup

• Softball continued its strong start to the season beating Bowling Green and IU Indy with the matchup against the Jaguars including a no-hitter. They also beat Western Michigan and the Falcons again but fell to elite Clemson.

• Baseball continued their up and down start to the season defeating Mount St. Mary’s, but also falling to Northern Kentucky, as well as splitting the first two games of their opening conference series against Penn State. Also, three former Hoosiers were named to the MLB Spring Breakout Rosters.

• Soccer has 13 former Hoosiers who will compete in pro leagues this spring.

• Volleyball announced its spring exhibition schedule.

• Wrestling is competing at the Big Ten Championships.

• Water polo fell to USC.

• Men’s tennis fell to UCLA.

• Several female swimmers qualified for the NCAA Championships after competing at the last chance meet.

Thanks for your continued support of The Assembly Call and Inside the Hall. We’ll be back next weekend with a new roundup.

Now go enjoy yourself a 6-banner Sunday.

Aaron (Ari) Shifron
Assembly Call Contributor

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