Indiana fell short of capturing the B1G Tournament Championship, but has captured the admiration and attention of every basketball enthusiast.
Led by 7-year collegiate student athlete Ali Patberg, the 2021-22 Indiana Hoosiers had set its sights on several goals this season: Win the B1G Tournament, advance to the NCAA Final 4, and compete for a National Championship.
Coming off of an Elite 8 appearance in last year’s March Madness and returning all 5 starting Hoosiers, they felt good about the prospect. After all, if you add up all of the individual honors and awards of these amazing ballplayers, it spells champion.
But tonight, the prize went to the Iowa Hawkeyes, who defeated Indiana 74-67 in a hard-fought battle that saw two very evenly matched teams give it their all for 40 minutes.
#14 Indiana had come off of playing 3 games in 3 days, beating Rutgers, #11 Maryland, and #13 Ohio State. They played their most balanced basketball of the season over this stretch, maintaining possession well, defending the perimeter extremely well, and gaining point production from just about everyone who checked into the games.
Against Iowa, it was a see-saw battle from the opening tip; a series of runs from each team and the momentum swung like a pendulum. IU played a great game, containing All-American Guard Caitlin Clark’s scoring to 18 points (and yes, that is actually a solid containment for this National Player of the Year contender).
“This one right here,” said Indiana Head Coach Teri Moren as she pointed to Graduate Guard Nicole Cardaño-Hillary, “did a tremendous job on Caitlin Clark today. She held her at bay. I think she made her uncomfortable for most of the 40 minutes. But we had no answer for Czinano.”
Coach Moren was referencing Iowa Senior Center Monika Czinano, who, once again, was able to score at will against IU. She put up 30 points tonight, and took Indiana for 22, and 31 in their regular season meetings.
Additionally, the Hoosiers had fantastic ball movement, as they have throughout the tournament. The problem was they simply missed too many shots.
The box scores of these two teams are practically mirror images of each other, except for field goal percentage, which became increasingly challenging for Indiana as the game progressed.
Indiana: 38% shooting / 21% from beyond the arc / 11-13 free throws / 36 rebounds / 10 turnovers
Iowa: 50% shooting / 14% from beyond the arc / 14-17 free throws / 34 rebounds / 11 turnovers
Coach Moren said, “anything at the rim, close to the rim for Grace Berger is a good shot. Some of those just didn’t go down tonight for her. And then Ali, Ali, AP struggled a little bit. She’s been so great from beyond the arc here in this building. And those didn’t go down as well . . . I do feel like inside the game I did look at my staff saying we’re getting some really good shots; they’re just not going down for us.”
Indiana will see more basketball, providing opportunity for them to make good on parts 2 and 3 of their season goals. Next week the NCAA will have its Selection Day for the NCAA Tournament. After this run in the B1G Tourney, Indiana is a presumable 3 seed, and should host some games at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. Until then, the Hoosiers can enjoy a couple days rest.
“Certainly, we’ll take maybe one, maybe two days off because these kids deserve it,” exclaimed Coach Moren, after the game. “And then we’ll get back to practice. We’ll get — we still are working, trying to get Mack back into shape, into great shape. And so, we really thought that being here for these four days was really good for Mackenzie.”
“And I just think that will really benefit Mack, because you can see out there today, we can only play her for about two minutes, two minutes, 30 seconds. Sometimes we let her go too long and that’s never good. But she’s certainly working herself back in shape, trying to build her endurance,” Coach Moren stated. “And so, we’ll get back to doing what we do, and that’s just trying to get better.”
Grace Beregr (34) shoots during the B1G Tournament Championship game on Sunday, March 6, 2022 (Phot by Jeremy Hogan / The Bloomingtonian)
Other notables:
- Berger and Cardaño-Hillary were named to the 2022 Big Ten Women’s Basketball All-Tournament Team. Berger and Cardaño-Hillary are the sixth and seventh Hoosiers to ever earn Big Ten All-Tournament recognition, joining Heather Cassady (2002), Jill Chapman (2002), Cyndi Valentin (2006) and Ali Patberg (2019 and 2020)
- Berger finished with 20 points, seven rebounds, and four assists in the championship game, marking her highest-scoring outing over the last five games and her eighth 20-plus point game of the year
- Cardaño-Hillary scored 19 points on Sunday, which was tied for her second-highest scoring performance this season
Recent IUWBB News . . .