“First of all, congratulations to Charlotte for being in the field of 68,” said IU Head Coach Teri Moren, opening her comments to the media following Indiana’s 85-51 over the 14th seeded 49ers. “This is such a special tournament, and as I said to our kids after the Big Ten Tournament, there’s only 68. There’s about 300 plus that their season ended. So, congratulations to Charlotte and their season.”
Balance was the story at Simon Skojdt Assembly Hall as 3rd seed Indiana took on 14th seeded Charlotte on Saturday afternoon; 6,400 in attendance, in a sea of red.
Indiana performed extremely well on both offense and defense on their home court. The Hoosiers battled hard off of the boards, pulling down 37 rebounds. Additionally, they forced 14 turnovers, and committed only 11 personal fouls while doing so.
IU forced the 49ers to rely on their leading scorer, Conference USA Player of the Year, Graduate Guard Octavia Jett-Wilson. She stepped to the plate, scoring 19, tying up her season average; although no other 49er could achieve double digits.
“Well, she’s terrific,” said Coach Moren, of Jett-Wilson. “She’s the Player of the Year in Conference USA, and she’s a three-level kind of scorer. We knew that she was going to be a handful going into this game. That was not lost on us. Ali [Patberg] had the nod of guarding her, but I think all of our guards at some point had the opportunity to, because we were switching some ball screen action. But she’s terrific and has had a terrific career.”
Indiana looked great throughout the entire game, competing at a high level on the highest playing ground. IU only turned the ball over 6 times during the game, and achieved 23 assists, demonstrating great movement and vision. Also, the Hoosiers were able to get the entire bench some playing time, and 10 Hoosiers scored points in the game.
Well, it’s such a nice opportunity or nice thing when you can [get everyone involved],” expressed Coach Moren with a smile. “. . . from a coaching perspective, that’s what you want. Unfortunately, we haven’t been in a lot of games like that this year, but I thought Kait came in and Mo got I think her first basket of the season. Obviously, Grace Waggoner managed to get a bucket, as well . . . You know, it’s great that they had the opportunity to soak in and be a part of the NCAA Tournament, but certainly this game at home in front of our home crowd.”
Hoosier Nation certainly brought their “A-game.” The crowd was plentiful and vocal, cheering on their Indiana Hoosiers to victory. And, they will have another chance to flood Assembly Hall to provide momentum to IU as they play for the right to advance to the Sweet Sixteen on Monday evening (TBD).
The Numbers:
Junior Forward Mackenzie Holmes led the Hoosiers with 19 points and 8 rebounds in 25 minutes of play. All-American Senior Guard Grace Berger sank 18 points, rebounded 6, and provided 6 assists. Senior Forward Aleksa Gulbe had 18 and pulled down 7; Graduate Guard Nicole Cardano-Hillary put up 11 and had 5 assists; Graduate Guard Ali Patberg had 7 points and 4 assists; and, Sophomore Guard Chloe Moore-McNeil added 7 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists off of the bench.
Charlotte was led by Graduate Guard Octavia Jett-Wilson, who scored 19, which she also averages for the season. Jett-Wilson was the Conference USA Player of the Year, leading the 49ers to their Conference regular season and Tournament Championships.
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