CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — In Indiana women’s basketball’s first game without its starting post player, sophomore forward Zania Socka-Nguemen, it suffered a 106-95 loss to then-No. 10 Iowa State University on Nov. 30. Iowa State junior center Audi Crooks dropped 47 points in the contest without the Hoosiers’ most impactful inside player.
The Hoosiers then rebounded from their poor performance down low against Western Michigan University on Wednesday, allowing the Broncos to score only 26 points in the paint. Junior forward Edessa Noyan hauled in 11 rebounds — seven of which were defensive — filling in for the injured Socka-Nguemen.
However, Indiana’s lack of post defense once again proved problematic in its Big Ten opener against Illinois on Saturday afternoon at the State Farm Center in Champaign, Illinois. Without Socka-Nguemen for the third straight game, the Hoosiers fell to the Fighting Illini 78-57. Illinois held at least a 16-point advantage throughout the final three quarters.
Indiana was outmatched by Illinois in the interior, which led the Fighting Illini to score 58 points in the paint — 74.4% of their total scoring. They scored 50 points off layups alone.
Noyan, sophomore forward Faith Wiseman and junior forward Jade Ondineme all saw time in the Hoosiers’ rotation under the basket. Noyan played 30 minutes, a season high, but notched just four rebounds and picked up four fouls. Wiseman played just three minutes, while Ondineme played two.
“I thought Edessa did a decent job,” Indiana head coach Teri Moren said postgame. “Faith and Jade, I mean, they got so much to do to improve in order to help us. And so, very disappointed with how both of those guys came off the bench because they know we need them.”
In their limited time on the court, Wiseman and Ondineme did not record a statistic, just one personal foul each. They did, though, allow the Fighting Illini to continue to score around them. And for Moren, offensive production isn’t what she’s looking for from Wiseman and Ondineme. She needs them to keep the paint steady for a few minutes, which the duo did not do in their time against Illinois.
“And it’s not offensively, we don’t need them to score,” Moren said. “We need them to just give Edessa, give ‘Z’ (Socka-Nguemen) just a few minutes to catch their breath, and really just hold it down defensively. And they scored any way they wanted to against Faith and Jade, which is disappointing.”
The “decent” performance from Noyan came after Moren called her out after her showing against Western Michigan. Her concerns about Noyan against the Broncos echoed those she had about Wiseman and Ondineme on Saturday — defensive improvement. Moren noted physicality and athleticism on the defensive end as areas of improvement for Noyan. She wanted her to fill defensive coverages to help guards and box out.
However, while Moren complimented Noyan after Illinois, she was still part of the Hoosiers' inability to guard in the paint, which has to be corrected by the time Indiana plays its next conference opponent.
Other Big Ten competition will present even more physical and aggressive players underneath the basket. Even once the Hoosiers get Socka-Nguemen back, they’ll need bench pieces to provide valuable minutes.
Indiana has three more nonconference games — the University of Louisiana at Monroe, Eastern Michigan University and Western Carolina University — before its next Big Ten contest, a home contest against Minnesota on Dec. 29.
“We have a couple of games, non-con, that we can try to get our bounce back from,” senior guard Shay Ciezki said. “But just making sure that we have great practices, that we’re locked in on film, we’re locked in on our game plans going forward. But just making sure we have this mentality of coming back stronger.”
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.
