Indiana Hoosiers set for season opener ranked No. 7 in country
Don't miss out on any of our exclusive football, basketball and recruiting coverage. Get a 30-Day FREE trial to TheHoosier.com with promo code IUBB30.
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – On November 3rd, the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) announced that Indiana University’s women’s basketball team will start the 2021-22 season with the highest-ever ranking in history at No. 7 in the national poll.
This past Friday night, the Indiana Hoosiers played their exhibition game against UIndy inside Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall -- the lone tuneup before the season opener on Wednesday.
“Well, it's great to be back in front of our fans at (Simon Skjodt) Assembly Hall, in front of our fans, it was nice to have some noise, some real noise,” Head Coach Teri Moren stated. “We were obviously excited for this night, to be here. It's always a great opportunity when you play your entire team and get to see some of the things we do in practice, and if they are going to work, if they're working, if we're getting better.”
The Hoosiers took down UIndy 97-36 with help from key players, graduate student guard Ali Patberg, senior guard Grace Berger, junior forward Mackenzie Holmes, sophomore guard Chloe Moore-McNeil, and freshman guard Kaitlin Peterson.
“I thought tonight our effort was there, of course, it wasn't, by any stretch of means, a great offensive performance,” Coach Moren explained. “I thought we had moments of, I was frustrated with our free-throw shooting, obviously, and the fact we got out-rebounded, that's never a good thing. But I overheard Mackenzie talking about what this will give us. It'll give us a good film, a great film that we can do a lot of teaching come tomorrow.”
Six Hoosiers scored in double numbers and their defense was on top of their game. Berger scored 13 points and tallied five assists and three rebounds, along with Patberg scoring 14 points and adding three assists, and defending two rebounds. Holmes led Indiana with 19 points and seven rebounds adding to their outstanding performance.
Indiana’s defense played outstanding throughout the game, holding UIndy scoreless for the first 5:25 minutes in the third quarter, increasing a Hoosier lead of 67-21. The Hoosiers forced a combined 25 turnovers against the Greyhounds and limited them to a 23.3 shooting percentage throughout the game while converting 32 points off of turnovers. The Hoosiers secured a 56-16 jump in points within the paint and 19-2 on fast breakpoints attacks and shot 37-of-65, with 56.9 shooting percentage from the floor, and held UIndy to 14-of-60.
Coach Moren was utilizing all of the players on the team. Coming off the bench, freshman guard Kaitlin Peterson, scored 12 points in 20 minutes with four steals. She got significant playing time along with sophomore guard Chloe Moore-McNeil who scored 11 points, had six rebounds, four assists, and two steals.
“I thought for the first night, anytime it's the first time for things, for our freshman especially, and Caitlin Hose, I thought they handled themselves in a great way,” Coach Moren said. “That was obviously good to see, but I think our vets are who they are, who they have been, but we'll sure up some things tomorrow and come Wednesday in Indianapolis, it's for real."
Coming off of a deep postseason run from last season, this upcoming season will be very exciting for the Hoosiers.
The Hoosiers return all five starters from a season ago in which they reached the Elite Eight and won21 games.
Among the returners are a pair of All-American's with junior forward Mackenzie Holmes (17.8 ppg, 7.6 rpg) and senior guard Grace Berger (15.4 ppg, 4.6 apg). They also return Second Team All-Big Ten selection Ali Patberg (14.0 ppg, 3.7 apg) as well as senior forward Aleska Gulbe (9.0 ppg, 6.9 rpg) and Nicole Cardaño-Hillary (8.5 ppg).
"Coach Moren has been great in letting us know we haven't accomplished our goals yet," Berger said. "We haven't won a Big Ten championship. We haven't been to a Final Four or won a national championship, so we still aren't where we want to be."
"We're starting with a blank slate. We have bigger goals and aspirations. What we did last year will not affect this year's outcome," Holmes added.
Indiana was selected to finish second in the annual preseason Big Ten poll.
Be sure to catch the Indiana University women’s basketball team playing this Wednesday night for their season opener at Hinkle Fieldhouse.
The tip-off will be at 7 p.m. EST.
----
• Talk about it inside The Hoops Forum or The Football Forum
• Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes
• Follow us on Twitter: @IndianaRivals
• Like us on Facebook.