From the photo, you might be thinking that this post is about auto racing, Instead, it’s about basketball, but I was thinking that this Sunday when I might have attended my third straight Indycar St. Pete Grand Prix, I’ll be watching it on TV. My open-heart surgery and a neighbor’s hip surgery didn’t allow for either of us to make the trip. It will also be the I.U. men’s final regular season game. The women concluded their BIG season beating Maryland and play again in the conference tourney on Friday. 

The Indiana men defeated Maryland on Sunday afternoon at Xfinity Center by a final score of 83-78. It wasn’t easy! The Terrapins led 43-33 at the half as a 16-point Maryland lead swung to an 11-point Indiana advantage and dwindled to five on two consecutive Terrapin threes as time was running out. I.U. was led in the game by Mackenzie Mgbako with 24 points. 

Kel’el Ware had to get his team to the magic mark of 60 – twice. The first was a plus-one that was reversed in favor of a foul that should have probably been ruled fragrant. Maryland, however, had already gotten there first on a Jordan Geronimo layup with 11:20 remaining. The Hoosiers responded by going ahead for good 68-65 at the 6:33 mark. It was their third BIG road victory this season with Minnesota next on the schedule. A win there and against Michigan State on Senior Night in Bloomington could move them into the upper tier of the conference with a 10-10 record, 18-13 overall. However, who can be optimistic when the Hoosiers continue to suffer from major mood swings? 

We did get some measure of revenge on the Terrapins, beating them twice this season, including Senior Day, after bad memories of 2002. From a recruiting standpoint, it helps make up for setbacks with Geronimo and more recently Derik Queen, both choosing Maryland over Indiana. It took a 48-27 turn around in the second half to earn this victory, and in the process, they also had to overcome a bad reputation for shooting frees and threes by going 14-17 from the free throw line and 7-16 from behind the arc. The return of Xavier Johnson proved to stabilize the team, as he scored 13, while adding six assists and a steal. 

The #14 women had an easier time with the Terrapins, wrapping up their BIG Conference regular season with a 71-54 victory in Bloomington. It was 61-44 on a Lexus Bargesser layup with 5-minutes left to play. Sara Scali scored 19 points and Yarden Garzon added 17. They improved to 15-0 at home and tied Iowa for second place in the conference. They will be the #3 seed in tourney play.

Both Hoosier teams will need to rally in moving up the standings to impress the NCAA committee members, especially the men who are still in danger of not even making the field.