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BLOOMINGTON, Ind., -- Thursday night (Dec. 2), NC State came off strong in Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall eager to get revenge on the Hoosiers after being knocked out of the NCAA tournament during the sweet sixteen round last year.

While it was a great battle between two top-10 teams, the Hoosiers struggled offensively falling 66-58 against the Wolfpack in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge.

"We're disappointed, obviously,” Head Coach Tori Moren said. “Felt like we had every chance to win this game tonight and unfortunately just didn't hit enough shots.”

Indiana's offense started off slow, shooting 2-for-12 from the floor at the first media timeout in the first quarter. NC State’s defense held Indiana to just 16.7 percent shooting (3-for-18), and just 14.3 percent (1-for-7) from three.

“We felt like as a step we'll get a bunch of good shots, really good looks at the basket, and they just didn't go down,” Moren explained. “There's no excuse for that, they just didn't go down. You have to obviously make shots against a team like NC State.”

The Hoosiers woke up during the second quarter, however. Mackenzie Holmes made a three-point shot from the right side of the arc to lead the Hoosiers for the first time throughout the game, 14-13. Ali Patberg made both free throws after being fouled which led to Indiana’s lead of five which was the highest all half.

The Hoosiers took the lead and ended the first half, 23-21 against the NC State Wolfpack.

“On the flip side of that, we did some really good things defensively,” Moren stated. “We were stingy particularly in the first half, and then we get it within one and the shot clock starts to run down”

Throughout the second half, the Hoosiers and the Wolfpack were neck and neck. The Hoosiers never could find a groove offensively, but kept the game close with their defense.

While NC State took a 32-31 lead in the third, Indiana's Aleksa Gulbe hit a three-point shot from the top of the arc to put the Hoosiers back on top in the third quarter. NC State came back on top ending the third quarter 38-34.

Throughout the fourth quarter, the Hoosiers shot 9-for-18 from the field and hit three 3's.

Unfortunately, that did not help enough as the Hoosiers fell short. The Wolfpack outscored the Hoosiers throughout the fourth quarter by shooting 13-for-15 from the free-throw line.

“But right now, getting anything easy, anything outside of Mackenzie tonight to really go down for us was hard, was difficult,” Moren stated.

Holmes led the Hoosiers with 24 points shooting 9-for-14 from the field. Thursday night’s game marked Holme’s 14th career game scoring at least 20 points. Holmes scored six of Indiana’s first eight points at the start of the second half, adding on seven points by the end.

Indiana’s Grace Berger had 10 points, nine rebounds, and five assists. Ali Patberg also had 10 points, five rebounds, and three assists. Aleska Gulbe had six points, three rebounds, and one assist. Nicole Cardaño-Hillary had three assists and four rebounds. From the bench, Sophomore forward Kiandra Browne had a season-high of six rebounds against the Wolfpack scoring 2 points. Also, sophomore guard Chloe Moore-Mcneil scored six points with three rebounds.

The Hoosiers fell to 5-2 on the season.

Catch the Hoosiers as they play host to the Penn State Nittany Lions this Monday night. Tipoff is at 6 p.m. ET on the Big Ten Network.

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