The Indiana men’s and women’s basketball programs hosted the annual Hoosier Hysteria event Friday night. The teams participated in a skills challenge and three-point contest before the men’s team played a scrimmage.
The event started with player and coach introductions, each with their own walkout song. The Hoosiers received a warm welcome from the Indiana crowd, who are already eager for the season one month away.
Women’s head coach Teri Moren came out in style, sitting in a throwback convertible car and wearing a senior cornerback Tiawan Mullen Indiana football jersey. Introduced as the “greatest coach in Indiana women’s basketball history,” Moren challenged the crowd for this season.
“If you haven’t (attended a game), here’s your invite,” Moren said. “You better show up.”
When asked about the team’s goals for this season, Moren responded with lofty expectations as usual:. “Sweet 16, Elite 8, Final Four and one of those,” she said, pointing to the men’s program’s five national title banners.
Men’s head coach Mike Woodson came out similarly to Moren — in a specialized convertible of his own. He, too, provided some memorable words for Hoosier fans.
“(We expect) a Big Ten title and a national title,” Woodson said. “Indiana basketball is, excuse my language, the shit.”
The three-point contest was the first event, and the Hoosiers immediately turned heads. Senior guards Sara Scalia and Xavier Johnson went first. Scalia exemplified her specialty by draining 15 of 25 threes, and Johnson hit 12 to total 27 as a team.
Junior guard Sydney Parrish followed Scalia by sinking 14 threes of her own while freshman guard CJ Gunn made 11 to total 25 threes. Both in their first seasons with the program as transfers, Parrish and Scalia displayed how Indiana can be more of a threat from the perimeter.
Junior guard Chloe Moore-McNeil proceeded to have the best shooting performance of the night, making 18 of her 25 threes, including a stretch of eight in a row. Senior forward Miller Kopp made 14 for the pair to total 32 — the highest of the night.
Freshman and sophomore guards Yarden Garzon and Tamar Bates concluded the first round, making eight and 13 threes, respectively.
The Scalia - Johnson duo and Moore-McNeil - Kopp duo advanced to the final round, and it was the latter who came out victorious. Scalia made 17 combined with Johnson’s 10 to total 27, but Kopp’s 16 makes and Moore-McNeil's 12 helped the duo narrowly win the contest with 28 threes.
The skills challenge required makes from the baseline, elbow, three-point line and a half-court make. Graduate students guard Grace Berger and forward Alyssa Geary, senior forward Mackenzie Holmes and sophomore guard Kaitlin Peterson competed as the women’s participants. Senior, junior and freshman forwards Race Thompson, Jordan Geronimo and Malik Reneau as well as freshman guard Jalen Hood-Schifino competed for the men’s team.
Each team competed alongside an alumnus. Berger, Peterson and Geary all made the half-courter for their teams, but it was Thompson and Holmes who came out on top with former Hoosier player Collin Hartman.
Indiana won’t grace Branch McCracken Court in front of the public for another month. The next time in front of an audience, the men’s team will play an exhibition game against Marian University on Oct. 29. The women’s team will host their first exhibition against Kentucky Wesleyan College on Nov. 4.
