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The NCAA Tournament is here, and the Hoosiers are dancing for the sixth straight time. IU will open in an always-interesting No. 8 vs. No. 9 game, with the No. 9 seed Hoosiers taking on the No. 8 seed Utah Utes in Columbia, South Carolina, in the Birmingham 2 Region.

The Hoosiers finished the regular season 18-11 and 10-8 in Big Ten play, adding both a win and a loss in the Big Ten Tournament, bringing Indiana’s record to 19-12 before its selection to the tournament.

Utah finished 22-7 in the regular season, going 13-5 in Big 12 play, though it lost its first Big 12 Tournament game to Texas Tech, giving the Utes a 22-8 record heading into their matchup with Indiana.

Utah averages 76.7 points per game, good for 32nd in the country, and allows 63.1, ranking 142nd nationally. For reference, Indiana scored 70.3 points per game, 88th in the country, while allowing 64.1 points per game, 168th in the nation.

Indiana finished 35th in the NCAA’s NET ranking, while Utah ranked 27th, making Friday’s battle between these two teams an expectedly close one. With all that being said, here’s a preview of the challenge Utah may present to Indiana in the Round of 64 of the 2025 NCAA Tournament.

Who: No. 8 Utah (22-8, 13-5 Big 12) at Indiana (19-12, 10-8 Big Ten)

Series History: Indiana and Utah have never played, this Round of 64 game will be their first ever meeting

When: Friday, March 21, 2025 at 1:30 p.m. ET

Where: Colonial Life Arena, Columbia, SC

TV: ESPN2: Courtney Lyle and Carolyn Peck

Radio: IU Radio Network: Austin Render

Utah and Indiana will meet as part of Region 2’s No. 8 vs. No. 9 seed game, with the winner advancing to the Round of 32 on Sunday against the winner of No. 1 South Carolina and No. 16 Tennessee Tech.

As the host, South Carolina is the favorite to win the weekend, but either Utah or IU will likely have a shot to knock off the Gamecocks on their home floor. This will be particularly interesting for Indiana, as South Carolina defeated the Hoosiers in the Sweet 16 last year.

If Indiana were to upset the No. 1 seed Gamecocks, IU would face the winner of the Round of 32 game played in College Park, Maryland. This would be either No. 4 Maryland, No. 5 Alabama, No. 12 Green Bay, or No. 13 Norfolk State.

This is where we’ll stop projecting Indiana’s road so as not to get too far ahead, but it’s important to note where the Hoosiers may go if they can escape with a win against Utah.

Utah's head coach is Gavin Peterson, who is in his first season with the Utes. This is also his first season as a head coach anywhere, as he was a career assistant before accepting the head role at Utah—a promotion that came under unusual circumstances.

Four games into the 2024-25 season, then-Utah head coach Lynne Roberts left the program to take the head coaching position with the Los Angeles Sparks. As a result, former associate head coach Peterson was promoted to head coach, though this is not an interim position.

As mentioned, Peterson was the associate head coach prior to his promotion, a role he held from 2018 to 2024. Before that, he was an assistant at Utah from 2015 to 2018 in what was his first job at the high-major level. Before arriving at Utah, he had coaching stops at Hawai'i, Idaho State, Idaho, Hawai'i again, and then Pacific.

He has an official record of 19-7, as the Utes played 26 games after he was made head coach, but he has contributed to Utah’s success for a while. As associate head coach, Peterson helped oversee three straight tournament appearances, including a Sweet 16 trip in 2023.

In the 2023 season, Utah won the Pac-12 regular-season title, showing that Peterson—while just an assistant—helped build a culture of winning in Salt Lake City. He’ll try to continue that success in this year’s NCAA Tournament, as the Utes have won a game in each of the past three tournaments. That means either Utah’s streak or Indiana’s five-year first-round winning streak will come to an end.

For the fourth season in a row, the Utah Utes have been highly successful and earned a spot in the NCAA Tournament. Despite a midseason coaching change and a transition to a new conference, the Utes have been solid all year long.

When Lynne Roberts was still with the team, Utah went 3-1, with the lone loss coming on the road against Northwestern. After that, the Utes rattled off three straight wins before taking their second loss to Mississippi State. Utah responded in a tremendous way, earning one of the best wins of the entire season by defeating No. 3 Notre Dame in the Cayman Islands.

This victory propelled Utah to a seven-game win streak, which included a matchup against Big Ten team Washington, bringing Utah’s record against Big Ten opponents to 1-1 for the season.

This stretch also marked the start of Big 12 play, as the Utes began conference action with a 3-0 record before losing three of their next four games. Utah responded once again, following that rough stretch with a 10-game win streak that put its Big 12 record at 11-3.

Utah was at its hottest during this run, with some projections placing the Utes as a No. 4 or No. 5 seed. However, they finished the regular season by going 2-2, closing out at 22-7 overall and 13-5 in conference play.

As the No. 6 seed in the Big 12 Tournament, Utah was upset by Texas Tech, ending its run and giving the Utes a 2-3 record to close out their season before NCAA Tournament action.

While Utah isn’t necessarily entering the tournament on a high note, its full body of work tells a different story—one that points to the Utes being a very dangerous team when they are at their best.

Guard Gianna Kneepkens: A 6-foot redshirt junior guard who leads the Utes in scoring with 19.2 points per game, Kneepkens is also the leader of this Utah team as a whole. This is her fourth year with the program, but she remains a junior because her 2023-24 season was cut short after just eight games due to injury. This season, Kneepkens has played in and started all 30 games, averaging just under 30 minutes per contest. She has been a double-digit scorer in every season at Utah, but this year she has truly elevated her leadership role and will be the X-factor for the Utes in this matchup.

Forward Maye Toure: A 6-foot-3 transfer from Rhode Island, Toure joined the Utes as a fifth-year senior this season and has made the most of it as Utah’s second-leading scorer. She averages 13.0 points per game and leads the team with 6.8 rebounds, serving as Utah’s primary post defender. With five years of college basketball experience and a strong presence in the paint, Toure is a name to watch.

Guard Kennady McQueen: A 5-foot-10 senior who has spent all four years at Utah, McQueen has been a consistent scoring option throughout her career. She has played in at least 25 games in each season, averaging between 9.1 and 10.7 points per game, with this season’s mark at 10.5. As a key ball handler behind Kneepkens, McQueen will be crucial to Utah’s offensive success. However, with Indiana’s depth at guard, her defensive play will be just as important.

Can Indiana win a tournament game for the sixth straight time...

This is Indiana's sixth straight tournament, and in the previous five, Teri Moren and the Hoosiers have won at least their first-round game. This streak will be put to the test against Utah, as the Utes have a three-year streak of the same kind. While the Hoosiers won't be hosting like they've done in the past three tournaments, IU still has a chance to keep this streak going before it'll presumably have to face the No. 1 seed, South Carolina.

Will the Hoosiers prove they're 'peaking' at the right time...

It's been a sentiment around Indiana lately that the Hoosiers are finally turning a corner, even with their Big Ten tournament loss to USC. IU played the Trojans close and showed they can play with the best of the best, adding on to wins over Purdue and Oregon ahead of the USC game. The Hoosiers have been up and down all season, with both very solid performances and very poor ones, but many believe that IU is past its disappointment. This Round of 64 game should prove or disprove that thought, as Utah is a very good team but not of the same caliber as USC, meaning that a similar performance as Indiana's showing against the Trojans could very well produce a first-round victory over the Utes.

Who will win the guard battle: Garzon or Kneepkens...

As for a storyline that will specifically play out with the X’s and O’s, both Indiana and Utah have an elite guard that will be key in deciding who advances and who goes home. I've already mentioned Kneepkens' skills, as she will contend with Garzon's 14.5 points and 41.5% 3-point shooting for scoring in this one. Garzon has scored 15 points in her last four games, including her 23-point performance against USC in her last time out. Garzon has proven to be Indiana's go-to scorer of late, and Kneepkens has been Utah's main scoring threat for the past few seasons, so this is the matchup that fans will want to look out for and what could be the deciding factor in this pivotal tournament game.

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