An hour and a half before the lights went out in Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall and public address announcer Jeremy Gray declared the start of Hoosier Hysteria, Indiana basketball fans lined the sidewalks around the north and south entrances.
For the first time since March, Assembly Hall hosted fans Friday night to watch Indiana’s men’s and women’s basketball teams in action. The regular season for both teams won’t begin until November, but the preseason showcase served as a public introduction to the faces and personalities tabbed to dictate the year ahead.
Here’s what to know from Hoosier Hysteria.
Skills competition, 3-point contest excites
Indiana’s men’s and women’s teams competed in several activities, starting with a skills competition in which players passed basketballs into circular nets on the north end and shot 3-pointers on the south end. Teams were comprised of one player apiece from the men’s and women’s teams and one fan, who capped the run with a layup on the north end.
The team of men’s basketball redshirt sophomore guard Myles Rice and women’s basketball senior forward Karoline Striplin defeated men’s basketball junior forward Malik Reneau and women’s basketball freshman guard Valentyna Kadlecova in the final round of the skills competition.
The Hoosiers’ women’s squad held a 3-point contest afterward, with junior guard Shay Ciezki taking a 17-16 victory over fifth-year senior guard Sydney Parrish in the two-round, 25-shot competition. Both players made the same number of shots in each round.
Thereafter, five players from both the men’s and women’s teams joined five fans in a knockout game. Parrish and women’s basketball freshman forward Faith Wiseman were the last two remaining, with Parrish taking the victory.
Indiana men’s basketball split into two teams — one wearing cream, the other crimson — and finished a 12-minute scrimmage with a 29-29 tie. Sophomore forward Mackenzie Mgbako, playing for the cream team, banked in a 3-pointer from the right wing as time expired to force the tie.
Sixth-year senior center Oumar Ballo, who transferred to Indiana from the University of Arizona in April, led all scorers with 11 points on the crimson team. Mgbako totaled 10 points, making a pair of shots from long range, while senior forward Langdon Hatton, a Bellarmine University transfer sporting cream, scored 8 points.
Senior forward Luke Goode, who spent the last three years at Illinois, made two 3-pointers, one on a catch-and-shoot and another on a dribble pull-up.
Reneau, Indiana’s top returning scorer from a season ago, posted 6 points. The junior forward added two assists and found Ballo multiple times on the low block, offering an early-season answer to questions around the big-men duo’s ability to play together.
Both Indiana men’s basketball head coach Mike Woodson and women’s basketball head coach Teri Moren stood at midcourt and addressed the Assembly Hall crowd.
Woodson, introduced as a “true” Hoosier and Hall of Famer, thrice patted his heart before raising each of his hands in acknowledgement of the Indiana faithful.
The Hoosiers’ fourth-year coach touted his roster’s depth, noting he thinks Indiana has more than it’s had in recent years. Woodson said it’s his job to put all the pieces together, but the team has worked this offseason and has done everything at a high level.
Indiana’s strong summer has given Woodson confidence in his team’s potential.
“An opportunity to win the Big Ten title,” Woodson said about what he sees in the Hoosiers’ roster. “We have been able to go out and put a team together for this season, and I love our basketball team.”
Moren’s introduction was similar to Woodson’s, as she put her left hand over her heart while receiving a warm welcome. Moren, the winningest coach in Indiana women’s basketball history, said her squad used last season’s NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 loss to the University of South Carolina as motivation throughout the summer.
Discussing expectations, Moren noted she won’t put a limit on her squad because of its potential — but the Hoosiers are hungry and have their sights set high.
How high? Enough to point toward Indiana’s five banners hanging above Assembly Hall’s north end and ponder about adding another.
“We all want more of those,” Moren said.
During his pre-game speech, Woodson said freshman forward Bryson Tucker doesn’t play like a first-year player. Woodson added he loves everything about Tucker, a four-star recruit and Indiana’s lone true freshman.
In the scrimmage, Tucker collected 4 points, including a pair of contested mid-range jumpers over Mgbako and Goode.
Redshirt freshman guard Jakai Newton and fifth-year senior guard Trey Galloway did not participate in the scrimmage due to injuries. Newton watched from the side while the Hoosiers went through warmups, but Galloway participated — and said he’s been active in practice.
