Junior guard Ali Patberg launched her fourth 3-point attempt with 2:12 left in the third quarter of IU’s 76-56 loss to Maryland on Sunday.
The shot fell short, and Patberg's hands rested on her hips as she shook her head.
That miss made her 0-of-4 from the three-point line and 0-of-10 from the field with zero points. She was subbed out seven seconds later, and didn’t return until 3:35 was left in the fourth quarter, when the game was already out of reach.
Patberg doesn’t usually see rests last that long. Averaging 36 minutes per game this season, she played just 26 minutes against Maryland, a game where IU trailed by double-digits for the final 22 minutes.
She found her first field goal in the final 3:35 of the game and split a pair of free throws. Patberg finished with three points, three assists and five turnovers.
It wasn’t the same performance the Hoosiers are used to seeing — and it hasn’t been over the team’s last three games.
Patberg has shown off her scoring arsenal all season by draining 3-point shots, stopping on a dime and hitting mid-range jumpers and even getting to the basket.
But in the last three games, Patberg has committed 13 turnovers, shot 6-of-33 from the field and 0-of-9 from three.
“The last three games she’s really struggled from the outside and being any kind of a scorer for us,” IU Heach Coach Teri Moren said.
Patberg had scored less than 10 points just twice before this most recent three-game stretch. The Hoosiers are 1-2 in those three games — though in the lone win Patberg contributed eight points and 11 assists.
In the five games IU has lost, Patberg has averaged 11.4 points per game. In the 16 games the team has won, she has averaged 17 points per game.
Since debuting at IU, Patberg has taken the role as the team’s leader at the point guard position. She’s the player Moren looks to when she wants to speed up the tempo and the player her teammates look to when they need a basket.
For most of this season, the junior guard has done all of that and more at a high rate. But now, as Patberg has struggled to find consistent play in the middle of this Big Ten schedule, the team’s success has mirrored that lack of consistency.
After starting out Big Ten play 3-0, the Hoosiers have now lost four of their last six conference games, dropping them to 5-4 in the conference and 16-5 overall.
The schedule doesn’t get any easier as the Hoosiers prepare to play No. 17 Rutgers on the road Thursday night. Plenty goes into losses but getting Patberg back on track could be something that gets the team back to its winning ways.
Moren said right now she thinks part of her struggles are mental. But after transferring from Notre Dame, causing her to sit out a whole season, recovering from an ACL tear and a sickness earlier in her career that kept her away from basketball, Patberg knows what it takes to stay strong mentally.
“What we don’t do is give up on her,” Moren said. “We got to get her going. She’s a terrific player and you don’t lose confidence in her and she knows it.”
