In the absence of sophomore forward Zania Socka-Nguemen, Indiana women’s basketball has lacked post presence. The UCLA transfer has battled lower leg injuries this season, and as a result, has not played since the Hoosiers’ 81-67 defeat against Ohio State on Jan. 22.
Edessa Noyan answered Indiana’s need for an inside presence against Purdue. The junior forward gave her best performance of the season as the Hoosiers defeated the Boilermakers 74-59 at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall in Bloomington on Sunday to string together their third consecutive Big Ten victory.
Noyan was thrust into a starting role following Socka-Nguemen's injury struggles, but initially struggled to keep up with the physical demands imposed by other Big Ten opponents. Prior to Sunday’s matchup against Purdue, Noyan averaged 4.7 points and five rebounds per game. For comparison, Socka-Nguemen averaged 11.8 points and 8.7 rebounds per game while healthy.
Noyan had been prone to sloppy fouls as well, fouling out in five games prior to Sunday. This included Indiana’s first contest against Purdue on Jan. 25, where Noyan fouled out in 16 minutes of play in the 80-69 loss.
But Sunday’s contest versus Purdue was Noyan’s breakout performance in all aspects of her game. She logged 12 points and 10 rebounds against the Boilermakers, earning her first double-double of the season. She also tied freshman guard Nevaeh Caffey for the highest plus-minus on the team with 19.
Despite fouling out in the last minute of the contest, the home crowd sent the Botkyrka, Sweden, native off with a sizable round of applause.
“I love it,” Noyan said postgame. “I love this crowd, the support from everybody around IU, IU athletics. Like overall, it’s so good here.”
Prior to Sunday’s game, Noyan had only logged double-digit points twice throughout the season and just once in rebounds.
Indiana head coach Teri Moren praised Noyan frequently during her post-game press conference, emphasizing the importance of her recent growth.
“It’s very hard offensively to have any kind of balance when you don’t have a low post presence,” Moren said. “And she’s not a physical kid by nature, and so it’s something that we’ve had to really work with her on and really changing her mentality. Like, you have to be an option on the inside for us in order for anything to work on the outside.”
The one struggle for Noyan that leaked into her performance against Purdue was foul trouble, where she fouled out for the sixth time this season against the Boilermakers. Despite this, Moren acknowledged the strides that Noyan has attempted to make behind the scenes.
“I do think that one thing Edessa is trying to be is more mindful of understanding that we have to have her on the floor,” Moren said. “And her fouls — she just can’t be undisciplined and do those silly ones, right? I liked how she fought, especially against 22.”
Indiana will likely have to continue to rely on Noyan for its low post presence for the remainder of the season. Moren expressed a reluctance to rush Socka-Nguemen back from injury to avoid potentially worsening her left leg injury.
Whether or not Indiana has a viable post presence for the rest of the season will mostly be up to Noyan. Sophomore forward Faith Wiseman and junior forward Jade Ondineme are options off the bench, but neither option has managed to earn more than 10 minutes per game on average.
Indiana will have to rely on Noyan to continue to grow as the Big Ten gauntlet continues.
“I thought Edessa was really good tonight,” Moren said. “And I think she’s becoming more comfortable at that five spot, without ‘Z’ being available.”
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.
