Indiana women’s basketball is in control of its postseason fate.
The Hoosiers have two games remaining on their regular-season schedule — Rutgers and Penn State. If Indiana wins those games, it’ll seal a trip to the Big Ten Tournament.
Each of the Hoosiers’ remaining games holds weight, as they currently sit tied for 14th in the Big Ten standings, vying for a spot in the 15-team conference tournament. Their first test is against Rutgers at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Jersey Mike’s Arena in Piscataway, New Jersey. Indiana holds a 4-12 conference record, while the Scarlet Knights sit at 1-15 in the Big Ten.
Indiana will enter the contest against Rutgers coming off a 72-65 Sunday win over Oregon — a team projected to make the NCAA Tournament as a No. 8 seed, according to ESPN’s Charlie Creme’s latest Bracketology.
Senior guard Shay Ciezki continued her highly productive season against the Ducks, recording 20 points, six assists and six rebounds. Despite starting the game 0 for 5 from 3-point range through the first three quarters, Ciezki drained three shots from long range in the final frame to push Indiana over Oregon.
Ciezki is tied with Ohio State sophomore guard Jaloni Cambridge as the highest-scoring player in the Big Ten, averaging 23.1 points per game. That mark is tied for sixth among Division I players.
But apart from Ciezki, other Hoosiers have had inconsistent scorers throughout the season. The game against Oregon showed what Indiana could look like with multiple scorers. Junior forward Edessa Noyan recorded 18 points and eight rebounds. Redshirt sophomore guard Lenée Beaumont and freshman forward Maya Makalusky scored 15 and 10 points, respectively.
Without many bench options for Indiana — just three players came off the bench and scored a combined seven points against Oregon — a more consistent and balanced scoring attack will be important for the Hoosiers the rest of the season. Indiana head coach Teri Moren admitted that postgame.
Before the Hoosiers’ win over Oregon, they recorded two straight losses in Los Angeles to USC and No. 2 UCLA. They entered the West Coast trip off a three-game winning streak with victories over Northwestern, Purdue and Wisconsin.
But before Indiana strung together three consecutive wins, it started its Big Ten slate with 10 straight losses. Moren said Monday during the “Inside Indiana Basketball” radio show that her squad’s resilience throughout the season is what she’s been the proudest of this year.
She said the conference is the best it's been in her 12 seasons coaching in the Big Ten. Her inexperienced team, which consists of eight newcomers, has had to learn lessons throughout the conference slate, and the results are finally showing.
Rutgers enters Wednesday’s contest on a nine-game losing streak. Its last win was a 76-72 victory over Penn State on Jan. 18, but the Nittany Lions got the better of the Scarlet Knights on Saturday in the two teams' second matchup of the season.
Rutgers ranks last in the Big Ten in points per game with 57.9. In conference games, that mark drops to 54.5.
Like the Hoosiers, the Scarlet Knights went through significant roster turnover during the offseason. They had seven departures and brought in eight new players — two freshmen and six via the transfer portal.
Nene Ndiaye, a junior forward transfer from Boston College, leads Rutgers’ scoring efforts with 15 points per game. Senior forward Imani Lester, who transferred from Kansas State University, adds 11.2 points and 5.6 rebounds per game.
Rutgers has tallied the second-most turnovers per game in the Big Ten this season, with an average of 16.7 per game. Ndiaye averages three turnovers a contest.
ESPN Analytics gives the Hoosiers an 85.9% chance of beating the Scarlet Knights. Tipoff between Indiana and Rutgers is slated for 7 p.m. Wednesday at Jersey Mike’s Arena in Piscataway, New Jersey, and will stream on Big Ten+.
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.
