[6BS] IU Beats Minnesota But Falls Further in NCAA Tourney Picture With Two Losses
Women End Season With Big Ten Tourney Loss To Ohio State
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 had a trio of games this week, and unfortunately for Indiana fans, they won just one of them. This moves their NCAA Tournament chances to nearly zero without a huge run in the Big 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 the Hoosier sports in action, which was led by softball continuing its strong start to 2026.
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Here is what is in this week’s edition:
Hoosiers Top Minnesota On Senior Night
Michigan State Too Much For IU
Indiana Falls To Ohio State In Bubble Battle
Women’s Basketball Suffers Season-Ending Loss To Buckeyes In Big Ten Tourney
Weekly Shows
Hoosier Roundup-Softball Continues Strong Start To Season
Banner #1: Hoosiers Top Minnesota On Senior Night
The game against the Golden Gophers was the bright light this week in a lot of darkness. 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 a 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 Too Much For IU
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 behind 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 a 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 To Ohio State In Bubble Battle
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 a 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 pm 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 Suffers Season-Ending Loss To Buckeyes In Big Ten Tourney
Women’s basketball closed its season on a hot streak, winning seven of nine before falling to Ohio State in the Big Ten Tourney to close its 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.
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
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.
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Banner #6: Hoosier Roundup-Softball Continues Strong Start To Season
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 one to the Gophers also.
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.
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.