It’s difficult to play catch-up for so long against one of the nation’s best teams, but this was the situation Indiana found themselves in, again. The Hoosiers took a 2- 0 lead to start off the game, but after the first 2 and a half minutes, the Terps would gain the lead and not look back.
Maryland was successful inside, with 6’3” Sophomore Center Angel Reese having her way and scoring at will. She would wind up with 20 points on the evening and 16 rebounds, 8 of which were on the offensive glass. Second and third chances were one of the several characteristics that maintained the scoreboard in favor of Maryland.
Maryland was also hot from the perimeter in the first half, specifically. The Terps knocked down 6 of 8 from behind the arc in the first 20 minutes of play, setting the tone.
With visible disappointment in her expressions and voice, Graduate Guard Ali Patberg said, “It’s embarrassing. We were prepared – our coaches always have us prepared, but we didn’t execute.” Patberg concluded her remarks stating, “we have a lot of work to do.”
Late in the 3rd quarter the Indiana offensive fury came alive; Patberg with back-to-back 3’s and Moore-McNeil hitting from behind the arc to follow, but IU would still find themselves down by 4 at the end of 3 quarters of play.
It is fantastic to witness the will and determination of this year’s Hoosiers, but equally frustrating to watch such a talented and typically balanced team have to consistently crawl back into contention.
Nicole Cardano-Hillary scored her first points with a 3-pointer with 32 seconds left in the game to bring IU within 1, although a common theme played out in the regular season finale that we have seen over the past couple of weeks . . . Indiana simply ran out of time on the clock.
The loss places the pre-season favorite Hoosiers in the 5 seed of the Big Ten Tournament, and provided Maryland with the final double-bye. The rest of the seedings would be determined over the weekend, as the 3 other contenders still had a game left to play. Ohio State beat Michigan State, giving OSU a shot at the regular season co-title if Iowa could beat Michigan. Instead, Iowa slayed Michigan, with Caitlin Clark and Monika Czinano teaming up for 57 of the Hawkeye’s 104 points.
So, what now?
Ohio State and Iowa share the regular season championship and walk into the tournament as the 1 and 2 seeds. Michigan and Maryland round out the top four, with all of them earning double-byes, and not having to play until Friday.
Indiana will play on Thursday afternoon against Rutgers, the winner of the preliminary match-up of over Penn State. Indiana defeated Penn State 70-40 earlier in the season, but has not played Rutgers for two straight seasons due to Health and Safety Protocol cancellations this season and last season. Should Indiana win, they will battle Maryland for a third time on Friday afternoon.
“We don’t know a whole lot about them,” said IU Head Coach Teri Moren when asked about their match-up with Rutgers. “We haven’t seen them live, which is sort of an unusual scenario, but we’ve been in a lot of unusual scenarios this year,” she added with a grin. “What we do know about Rutgers is, traditionally, they’re great defensively.”
They were indeed great on the defensive side of the ball in their 75-50 defeat of Penn State, yesterday. The Knights held their opponents to 24% from the field, and out-rebounded them 54-32. Indiana will need to show up strong in the post, and box out aggressively, to hold them to one shot per possession. Forwards Aleksa Gulbe and Mackenzie Holmes should see a lot of action, as the Hoosiers will likely challenge Rutgers early in the paint.
There is a lot of speculation going around, regarding how IU’s play in the Big Ten Tournament will impact their seeding in the NCAA Tournament. Indiana is currently ranked 14 in the country, and the latest Selection Committee poll has them as a NCAA #4 seed, but this can change based on performance this week.
The driving factor for desiring a 4th or better seeding in the NCAA Tournament is the ability to host opening weekend games. The reality is however, speculation simply does not matter. Indiana’s fate is in their own hands at this point. The powers that be are well aware of how good they are. The powers that be are well aware of the injuries they have suffered this year. The powers that be are well aware that IU had to finish their season with 6 games in a dozen days. And, the powers that be are well aware that 6 of their 7 losses are to top 12 nationally ranked teams. But none of this will matter if the Hoosiers cannot win, and demonstrate a solid run from here on out.
Indiana has lost 4 out of the last 5 games they have played. It will take a 10-game run for them to become National Champions.
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