Indiana women’s basketball struggled in its first contest against Purdue earlier this season. It was a game Indiana head coach Teri Moren thought would be a good opportunity for her team that was on a then seven-game losing streak, but the Hoosiers weren’t able to take advantage.
In Sunday’s rematch between the two squads, it was a different story. The Hoosiers ran away with a 74-59 win over the Boilermakers at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall in Bloomington.
“We went to West Lafayette a couple weeks ago, we let one get away, had a great opportunity and just felt like we let it get away from the beginning, for a multiple of reasons,” Moren said Sunday. “Starting with us not getting back in transition, just giving up too many threes, getting beat on the boards, 50-50 balls. You know, all of it, right? That's a recipe for a loss.”
In the first contest between Indiana and Purdue on Jan. 25, the Hoosiers got out to an early lead but let it slip away. After being up 7-2, Indiana struggled, but its lead remained until the beginning of the second quarter.
Two Purdue free throws put the Boilermakers ahead 16-15, and the Hoosiers were unable to eliminate the deficit through the end of the game. Purdue took a double-digit lead midway through the second quarter, and Indiana fell 80-69.
The first quarter started similarly for the Hoosiers on Sunday. An 11-0 start through the first three minutes and 44 seconds gave Indiana a cushion. However, they were only able to score four points through the final seven minutes of the quarter, allowing Purdue to tie the contest at 15 points nearly three minutes into the second period.
Indiana didn’t allow a repeat of what happened in West Lafayette two weeks ago. Instead, the Hoosiers began to pull ahead. Senior guard Shay Ciezki made three free throws on the next possession, then corralled the rebound on the defensive end.
Freshman guard Nevaeh Caffey missed her shot attempt on the other end, but recovered by grabbing her own rebound, drawing a foul and making both free-throw attempts. The series put Indiana up 20-15 and proved the Hoosiers wouldn’t fade away as quickly as their last game against the Boilermakers. By the end of the first half, Indiana held a 13-point lead over Purdue.
Apart from the Hoosiers’ resilience, they improved their performance in many statistics Sunday afternoon.
On Jan. 25, the Hoosiers collected just 31 rebounds, while they had a season-high 47 on Sunday. In the first contest against Purdue, Indiana had just seven assists and 20 turnovers. But on Sunday, the Hoosiers had 18 assists — eight from Ciezki — and 17 turnovers.
When Moren talked to her team before the game Sunday morning, she told them that watching the offense from the first Purdue game was like “watching paint dry.” She said the Hoosiers lacked urgency, despite knowing that when they place fast, they’re “at our best.”
Indiana's defensive efforts were also below Moren’s standard in West Lafayette, specifically in transition. She said the Hoosiers “reverted back to some of our bad habits” and again emphasized the lack of urgency.
"A lot of things went wrong in (West) Lafayette,” Moren said, “but I thought today, there were a lot of really good things.”
With the win over Purdue, Indiana moved up one spot in the Big Ten standings with a 3-10 conference record. It sits ahead of Purdue and Northwestern, both of which the Hoosiers have beaten, and Rutgers and Penn State, which the Cream and Crimson will play in the five regular-season games remaining on its schedule.
As Indiana continues it push toward the Big Ten Tournament, which it now sits one place clear of the last spot, it will be crucial for the Hoosiers to learn from their mistakes in past games, just like they did against Purdue.
Moren has continually said that losses mean lessons throughout Indiana’s 10-game Big Ten losing streak, and that growth showed Sunday, but it needs to continue throughout the final five games.
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.
