Welcome to another edition of 6-Banner Sunday, a joint production between The Assembly Call and Inside the Hall, and presented by our friends at Homefield Apparel, 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.
IU basketball got back on track in a game against a mid-major opponent despite not all moments being perfect. Also, football learned its opponent for the upcoming Rose Bowl.
Additionally, women’s basketball won and an update from around the Big Ten and former Hoosier players. As usual, we will conclude with weekly shows and a look at the rest of the Indiana sports in action, highlighted by baseball, which named a new pitching coach.
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Here is what is in this week’s edition:
Hoosier Basketball Beats Chicago State
Football Will Play Alabama In Rose Bowl
Women’s Basketball Beats Eastern Michigan
Big Ten And Former Player Update
Weekly Shows
Hoosier Roundup-Baseball Names New Pitching Coach
Banner #1: Hoosier Basketball Beats Chicago State
IU basketball got back to a game against a mid-major opponent after a tough schedule recently. This opposition was Chicago State on Saturday.
The Hoosiers raced out to a huge 52-29 halftime lead with hot three-point shooting (14-26) as expected. However, the second-half was a grind as shot making lessened (just 1-20 from downtown). While the lead was never really cut into, the advantage stayed right around 20-25 for the final 20 minutes. In the end, Indiana won 78-58 despite being outscored 29-26 after intermission.
They were led in scoring by Big Ten Player of the Week Lamar Wilkerson. Wilkerson scored 21 points while hitting five shots from behind the three point line.
Afterwards, IU coach Darian DeVries spoke, Inside the Hall had a photo gallery, Ryan Corazza wrote a Minute After, Alex Bozich penned Five Takeaways, and Nick Rodecap put together a column about the squad’s inconsistencies.
At 9-3 overall, the Hoosiers take on Siena at 6 pm Monday on BTN. After that, it will be a long holiday break before returning to Big Ten play for good in early January.
Their NET sits around 30 overall. While they have no signature victories, they have kept their losses to close margins and victories (except Lindenwood) have come by large amounts. However, how they perform in conference will decide if they make their first March Madness since 2023.
Banner #2: Football Will Play Alabama In Rose Bowl
After its first Big Ten Championship since 1967, the football Hoosiers appeared on 60 Minutes last Sunday. They also moved to no. 1 in the country for the first time in program history and had their first ever Heisman Trophy winner.
Their next game will be against Alabama in the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day at 4 pm Eastern time on ESPN. This will be their first of three potential matchups in the College Football Playoff as Indiana chases its first national championship.
Their opponent was learned on Friday after the Crimson Tide rallied from a 17-0 deficit against Oklahoma who self-imploded. The final was 34-24 as the Sooners had a punt blocked and threw a pick-six after building the large early lead.
While Alabama is still very talented and dangerous, they are far from the vintage squad they were under the now retired Nick Saban several years ago. They are coach by former Hoosier offensive coordinator Kalen DeBoer and the staff features many other people with IU ties. The Crimson Tide are 11-3 overall and Indiana is favored by about a touchdown led by their elite defense.
Banner #3: Women’s Basketball Beats Eastern Michigan
Women’s basketball played a much closer than expected game against Eastern Michigan. While IU remained ahead for almost the entire night, the lead was just single digits for most of the contest.
In the end, the Hoosiers survived 74-67. With the victory, Indiana improved to 10-2 overall and has just one more non-conference matchup to go.
This will come today against Western Carolina at 1 pm on BIG+. While, the squad has avoided any bad losses, several of these contests against mid-majors have been much closer than expected.
This has led to poor metrics and a NET in the 40’s. Whether Indiana can make their seventh straight NCAA Tourney will depend on how well they do in conference play which remains an open question. This is due to the fact they have limited scoring options outside guards Shay Ciezki (who was honored by the Big Ten this week) and Lenee Beaumont.
Banner #4: Big Ten And Former Player Update
With a whole new roster for 2025-2026, 11 Indiana players are now competing on other squads across college basketball. The most successful of these guys by far is Malik Reneau at Miami who is averaging roughly 20 points a game as the Hurricanes are off to a solid 9-2 start and in the top-40 of KenPom.
The Big Ten as a whole has been strong in the early going with Michigan, Michigan State, and Purdue looking like national championship contenders. The conference has not won a title since the Spartans 25 yrs ago, despite many Final Four appearances.
Inside the Hall put together a power ranking for the league as a whole. The aforementioned three squads top these along with Nebraska who has been a huge surprise in the early going.
Presenting Sponsor: Homefield Apparel
Homefield’s annual Black Friday sale has already begun. Use the promo code BLACKFRIDAY at checkout to get 20% off your entire order.
The item of the week for this week is the new “Hurryin’ Hoosiers” snapback hat. Both
Jerod Morris and Tony Adragna have it, and can attest to its quality and fit.
Plus, how cool is it to have an item celebrating the great teams under Branch McCracken?
Banner #5: Weekly Shows
Inside the Hall’s Podcast On The Brink returned this week. On it, Assembly Call’s Ryan Phillips crossed over and joined Bozich for a discussion about IU basketball’s performance so far.
The Back Home Network has several new shows. As a result, it was on air many times this week as well with programming.
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Banner #6: Hoosier Roundup-Baseball Names New Pitching Coach
Baseball’s pitching coach, Dustin Glant, who struggled during his time in Bloomington, left the program for a professional opportunity several weeks ago. Now his replacement was named as Matt Myers takes the role after a previous stint in the minor leagues. He does however, have previous college experience.
Men’s Soccer had a player selected in the MLS Super Draft.
Volleyball had several players honored after their historic season.
Field Hockey had an All-American named.
Rowing announced its upcoming spring schedule.
Finally, many IU athletes graduated as part of the winter class.
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
The Assembly Call is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.