After scoring just two points in her first two games, Royster’s six-point run gave the Hoosiers a two-point lead, 39-37, to start the fourth quarter. IU would win the quarter, 19-6, and eventually the game, 54-43, to upset Chattanooga and move on to the Preseason Women’s National Invitational Tournament semifinal.
“It’s just been a matter of time for Kym,” IU Coach Teri Moren said. “We are committed to getting her more playing time, and I think tonight she showed why we need to be more committed.”
Royster only played 17 minutes during the 11-point upset, but most of those minutes were during the third and fourth quarters when IU was trading the lead back and forth with Chattanooga.
In her last two games combined, she was only on the hardwood for a total of 24 minutes, and Moren said Royster played “like a freshman.” However, with her extended playing time Wednesday, the freshman said she felt more comfortable in the game.
“The first game I was really nervous — like my first college game — and the second game I had limited minutes,” Royster said. “I think being in the game for longer periods of time, I think that’s what helped get me comfortable. I was through many situations with the team.”
In a few situations when the game was a one-possession contest, Royster stepped up and made plays defensively, which Moren said she appeared afraid to do in her previous games.
She ran down the court after guards in transition to contest field goal attempts and force them to be errant, where a non-contested layup would have likely gone in, and those defensive plays can make a difference when the game is as close as Wednesday’s game was, Moren said.
“The thing that’s really great about her is that she can guard a guard,” Moren said. “If we need to switch one through five moving forward, we’re going to be able to do that. She’s long, and she’s really aggressive. It just wasn’t her offensive production tonight; it’s what she gave us on the defensive end.”
Moren said she gives much of the credit for Royster’s development to IU Assistant Coach Rhet Wierzba, who has been working with the freshman after practices to help her maturity and confidence.
Moren also said the Royster who played against Chattanooga on Tuesday is the Royster she recruited: a player that dominates on the boards and is aggressive in the post.
With Moren’s policy of players earning minutes based on how they practice and produce in games, Wierzba stressed the freshman would find her time and that time was in the fourth quarter against the No. 24 team in the country.
“I think the biggest thing is just that Rhet is feeding her with confidence,” Moren said. “He’s telling her to be patient and her time is going to come, and when she gets in there, she really needs to take advantage of the opportunity.”
