One might’ve mistaken Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall for a bakery Tuesday night because of the number of turnovers it produced.
Indiana women’s basketball committed 28 turnovers in its 57-51 victory over Marshall University, the most committed in a match since the Hoosiers committed 28 turnovers in a 94-64 victory over the University of North Texas on Dec. 6, 2016. The Thundering Herd tallied another 16 turnovers.
Redshirt sophomore guard Lenée Beaumont led the Hoosiers with seven turnovers. Freshman guard Nevaeh Caffey and senior guard Shay Ciezki also had six and five turnovers, respectively.
Marshall made Indiana endure a physical full court press from start to finish, with pressure starting the moment the Hoosiers inbounded the ball. The Thundering Herd employed a zone defense that brought pressure from several different directions, often requiring very quick passing to get out of danger.
This quick passing became the Achilles’ heel of Indiana’s performance Tuesday night, with passes becoming more erratic as the pressure increased.
The increased pressure on the ball also impacted Indiana’s shooting. The Hoosiers went 20 for 49 from the field, going 3 for 14 from beyond the arc.
Despite shooting 40.8% from the field, Indiana responded with its own lockdown defense. For as much as the Hoosiers struggled to shoot the ball, Marshall struggled even more. The Thundering Herd shot 18 for 63 from the field, also going 4 for 22 from 3-point range.
With both teams struggling to make any sort of jump shot, the game was won and lost in the paint. Sophomore forward Zania Socka-Nguemen and Ciezki led the charge inside, each tallying a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
In total, Indiana pulled down 46 rebounds compared to Marshall’s 30, proving once again that it can grind out dirty wins when the shot is not falling. Considering the shot has not been falling consistently in each of the three regular season games so far, the Hoosiers may be in for a physical season.
With Indiana having more turnovers than shots made during Tuesday’s game, head coach Teri Moren addressed the issue early and often in her postgame press conference.
“I thought we looked passive, I thought we looked tentative, I thought we looked unsure,” Moren said. “I thought some of us just looked like we lost some confidence as the game went on, and you know... that just can’t happen.”
Despite not mincing her words on the turnover problems, Moren still found positives to take home from the performance. The coach had praise for the team’s defensive display.
“That’s the bright spot,” Moren said. “When your shots aren’t falling and you’re turning the ball over the way we did tonight, can you figure out how to still impact the game? And I thought, especially Shay and Nevaeh, really impacted it with their defense.”
Despite Indiana’s shooting struggles to start the season, this team’s willingness to play physical is a quality not seen in many previous versions of Moren’s teams as more forwards are brought in and as guards become increasingly more willing to get physical.
Even though Indiana had to fight its way through Marshall’s full court pressure, the Thundering Herd were unable to capitalize on the many extra possessions afforded to them throughout the game.
The Hoosiers got away with their offensive struggles through lockdown defense and even worse offensive struggles from the opposition. In Indiana’s next game against Florida State University, it cannot allow the Seminoles the same opportunities seen Tuesday.
“Offensively, we got to be able to execute at a higher level,” Beaumont said postgame. “Coach has been preaching that all week. We know that, we’re gonna look at that tomorrow for sure, but we know we gotta be better.”
Follow reporters Savannah Slone (@savrivers06 and srslone@iu.edu) and Max Schneider (maxschn@iu.edu) and columnist Sean McAvoy (@sean_mc07 and semcavoy@iu.edu) for updates throughout the Indiana women’s basketball season.
