The Indiana women’s basketball team saw their historic run come to an end Monday night with a loss to the Arizona Wildcats in the NCAA Tournament’s Elite Eight. Arizona clamped down on the Hoosiers to beat IU 66-53 from the Alamodome in San Antonio. Indiana went 0-for-9 from 3-point range, and scored just three points over the game’s final five minutes. The fourth-seeded Hoosiers were making their first ever Elite Eight appearance. IU was led by Mackenzie Holmes, who scored 20 points and pulled down eight rebounds.
The Washington Wizards took control down the stretch and defeated the Indiana Pacers 132-124 Monday night in the nation’s capital. The Wizards outscored the Pacers 22-8 over the final 5:47, including a 13-0 run. Washington guard and former league MVP Russell Westbrook made NBA history with 35 points, 21 assists and 14 rebounds. Domantas Sabonis led Indiana with 35 points and 11 rebounds, and the Pacers dropped to 21-24.
Two teams punched their tickets to the NCAA men’s Final Four Monday night at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. The Houston Cougars defeated the Oregon State Beavers 67-61 to advance to the program’s sixth final four. The second-seeded Cougars are coached by former Indiana coach Kelvin Sampson. Houston will take on number-one seed Baylor in the Final Four Saturday night after the Bears ran past number-three seed Arkansas 81-72. Baylor is coached by Butler grad and former Valparaiso coach Scott Drew.
In the NASCAR Cup Series, Joey Logano pulled away on the final restart to win the dirt race at Bristol Motor Speedway Monday afternoon. It was the first dirt race in NASCAR’s top series since 1970, as the half mile concrete bullring was transformed by bringing in over 2,300 truckloads of Tennessee red clay. The Team Penske star became the seventh winner in seven Cup Series races so far this season. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. passed Denny Hamlin in overtime to finish second, while Daniel Suarez and Ryan Newman rounded out the top five.
Indiana officially introduced Mike Woodson as the program’s new men’s basketball coach Monday. The former Hoosiers star signed a six-year contract that will pay him about three million dollars per year, plus performance incentives. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that Woodson has talked with Hall of Fame coach Larry Brown about a possible role on the IU staff. The 80-year-old Brown would work in an on-campus, non-recruiting role.
