Welcome to a new edition of 6-Banner Sunday, a joint production between The Assembly Call And Inside the hallwhere we highlight the five most essential IU sports stories from the past week. 6-Banner Sunday was written by Ari Shifron.
IU got the basketball victory it needed this week to stay on track for a spot in the NCAA Tournament. The Hoosiers defeated Oregon behind Lamar Wilkerson’s huge play.
Additionally, we’ll examine Bracketology, a non-conference opponent for next season was revealed, and the women’s basketball team earned a win against rival Purdue. As usual, we’ll wrap up with a look at the weekly shows and the rest of Indiana sports in action, led by a few football coaching updates.
This is what’s in this week’s edition:
• Hoosiers dominate Oregon after Lamar Wilkerson’s big night
• Bracketology updates
• IU will host Bellarmine next fall
• Women’s basketball beats rival Purdue
• Podcast on the Brink and Back Home Network shows
• Hoosier Collection
Banner #1 – Hoosiers dominate Oregon after Lamar Wilkerson’s big night
IU basketball picked up a big win over Oregon on Monday to stay on track for the NCAA Tournament (more below). In a game that was a must-win to avoid a tough loss, the Hoosiers won by pulling away with a red-hot offense.
Indiana comfortably controlled this game for most of the final 20 minutes. Led by 82 percent shooting in the second half and a big night from Big Ten Player of the Week Lamar Wilkerson, IU won easily, 92-74.
Wilkerson’s 41 points led four Hoosiers in double figures. This performance took place on a night honoring the undefeated 1975-76 national championship team, with an announcement that a statue would be built in honor of legendary coach Bob Knight.
Afterwards, IU coach Darian DeVries spoke, Inside the Hall had a photo gallery, Ryan Corazza wrote The Minute After and Film Session, Josh Pos wrote Five Takeaways and Quinn Richards put together a column about Wilkerson.
Indiana returns to action today with a huge challenge. They head to Champaign to take on an elite team from Illinois at 1:00 PM ET on CBS.
Banner #2 – Bracketology Updates
At 17-8 overall and 8-6 in the Big Ten, the Hoosiers are almost certainly on the right side of the NCAA tournament bubble after their recent hot streak. With five of six wins, IU now has two quad one wins and a solid NET in the low 30s.
These stats have improved significantly from previous versions of this team, thanks to large margins of victory over struggling teams. They have also kept their defeats to relatively low amounts, with a few exceptions, which has also been a problem in the past.
Looking at Bracketology, Indiana seems relatively safe in the field right now. They can likely consolidate their place by simply defeating the two struggling oppositions entering the Assembly Hall in the coming weeks. However, to avoid Dayton and the ‘First Four’, an additional win would be helpful as it would put them at 20th overall in the season standings and a winning record in conference play.
Inside the Hall and Assembly Call’s own Bracketologist, Andy Bottoms, projected the Hoosiers as a 10 seed earlier this week. Most other projections also had Indiana around the 9-10 line.
Banner #3 – IU will host Bellarmine next fall
While this season still has a long way to go, another opponent for the 2026-2027 non-conference schedule was announced for next fall. Previously, the only known play was the signature game with Kentucky at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.
Now this week, an early season game on November 5 against Bellarmine was reported by Jon Rothstein. The Hoosiers and Knights have never played outside of an exhibition game in 2015-16 before Bellarmine moved up to Division I and the school is located in Louisville.
Banner #4 – Women’s Basketball defeats rival Purdue
The extreme struggles of the women in this Big Ten season took a back seat again this week. After being winless all of January, the team won his third consecutive game by beating rival Purdue 74-59 at home last Sunday.
This win was critical, as only the top 15 make the conference tournament, and the win put them above that cutoff. Beating struggling Rutgers and Penn State late in the season is also vital, as this would keep the Hoosiers above .500 overall and likely secure a Big Ten tournament spot. This would also make them eligible for the second-tier WNIT or WBIT to participate in some form of postseason play.
Indiana faces a very big task against UCLA today. This was it after giving USC all they could handle on Thursday despite missing top scorer and Big Ten Player of the Week Shay Ciezki. Freshman Maya Makalusky showed why she is likely the future star of the program when she scored 29 points in the game.
Banner #5 – Podcast on the Brink and Back Home Network shows
Podcast on the Brink returned this week. Alex Bozich was then joined by Brian Tonsoni of Delphi Bracketology to discuss IU’s resume.
The Back Home Network also has many shows. As a result, it was in the air many times this week with programming.
Banner #6 – Hoosier Rally
• Football brought back Tino Sunseri to join the coaching staff, while defensive coordinator Brian Haines was honored as the nation’s top assistant as high expectations remain for next season.
• Softball Pacific defeated, Nevada And Portland State, while falling to Arizona State.
• Women’s tennis defeated Virginia Tech And Bellarmine remains perfect to open their year.
• Water polo defeated Mercyhurst and Mount St. Mary’s.
• Baseball was swept in the season opening series against an elite team from North Carolina. Also, three players were honored by the Big Ten this preseason.
• Athletics competed on the Music City Challenge and Valentine’s Day Invitational.
• Women’s football has been announced spring exhibition program.
• Swimming and diving coach Ray Looze was elected to the ISCA Hall of Fame.
Now go enjoy a 6-Banner Sunday.
Aaron (Ari) Shifron
Assembly call employee
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