The Hoosiers were stifled and held under 50 points by Minnesota's domination inside both sides of the court and defeated Indiana 71-48 on Monday night.
The Golden Gophers’ dominance in the paint remained constant, specifically when it came to crashing the glass.
In total, Minnesota earned 39 rebounds compared to Indiana’s 25. The Golden Gophers pulled down 18 offensive rebounds during the contest, scoring 19 second chance points. In comparison, the Hoosiers managed just two offensive rebounds and failed to score any second chance points.
Heading into this matchup, Indiana’s gameplan revolved around controlling the glass, as Minnesota’s prowess inside the paint had shown in previous games this season.
“We got outrebounded and we knew that was a big gameplan for us going into the game,” senior guard Shay Ciezki said postgame. “Just keep them off the glass, they’re a great offensive rebounding team, so we just needed to box out, especially the guards, and we obviously did not do that tonight.”
Indiana’s struggles offensively Monday night peaked in the third quarter. The Hoosiers scored only 5 points, two of which came inside the paint. Minnesota had 12 points inside the paint in the third quarter alone.
Indiana head coach Teri Moren, who highlighted the team’s third-quarter performance as “really bad basketball,” felt major disappointment in the Hoosiers’ production considering the preparation put in beforehand.
“If you’re wondering if we prepared for their post players trying to isolate us on the low block and us bringing a secondary coverage, we did that,” Moren said postgame. “We did that for three days, but it didn’t show up tonight as well as it needed to.”
In addition to her criticisms of her own team, Moren praised the performance of Minnesota’s players, as the Golden Gophers dominated the paint on both sides of the floor.
“They’re physical, they’re strong, they cut with great intent, and then they just get up in you defensively as well,” Moren said. “They are elite on the offensive glass.”
While Minnesota didn’t shoot particularly well from the floor, going 29 for 71 from the field overall, it collected 18 offensive rebounds off its 42 missed shots. The inability to stop Minnesota from pulling down offensive rebounds proved a fatal blow for Indiana as the Golden Gophers scored 19 second-chance points and won by 23.
Minnesota consistently earned extra possessions through offensive rebounds, meaning Indiana’s offense received less possessions overall. Combined with 21 turnovers, the Hoosiers ultimately put up a season-low 48 points while also taking a season-low 39 total shots.
Indiana planned for Minnesota’s inside attack but failed when it came to execution. It must improve inside on both sides of the floor in its upcoming Big Ten slate of games; otherwise it will be a long Big Ten season.
“You can tell, it’s disappointing,” Moren said. “Because everything that you guys watched out there tonight, I can promise you we repped. I can promise you that our group knew what it was going to take to have any level of success against a really good Minnesota team.”
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.
