Passes into traffic, offensive charges and forced jump shots with defenders in their faces.
The usually high-scoring IU women’s basketball team (11-3) looked like a mess in its 86-64 loss to Purdue (9-5) in West Lafayette.
A team that normally averages 80.9 points per game and shoots 34.5 percent from deep, the Hoosiers were never able to get going offensively.
The Purdue defense clogged the lanes up top early and flustered IU. This led to players overcompensating and rushing ugly shots in traffic.
“That wasn’t a surprise to us, how they were going to play ball screens,” IU Coach Teri Moren said. “We just didn’t attack the way we needed to; to reach the basket, get kickouts, and then we shot it poorly today.”
The telling statistic, offensively, was that the Hoosiers made zero of their first 13 three-point shots. This was part of a first half in which IU shot 28 percent from the field in addition to nine turnovers.
Purdue played 2-2-1 and 2-3 zones in this game, which halted the Hoosier guards from making their way inside. Moren thought they were passive.
“I thought our guards looked gassed and fatigued at times,” Moren said. “We went east and west instead of going downfield.”
This lack of offense played a large part in the Boilermakers being able to score 16 fast break points. Moren blamed turnovers for that the most. IU, on the other hand, had zero fast break points as Purdue Coach Sharon Versyp said they worked hard on transition defense this week after Minnesota had success against them on Jan. 1.
Freshmen Tyra Buss and Amanda Cahill and sophomore Larryn Brooks, who have been the top scorers on the team this season, all struggled to convert. Buss made 3-of-13, Cahill made 3-of-10 and Brooks was as off as 3-of-12 before making some garbage time shots.
Moren normally speaks highly of Cahill but was disappointed in her performance today despite her being one point from a double-double.
“We are about 15 games into this year and this was the first game she’s played poorly for us,” Moren said. “I didn’t think she played well at all.”
Another missing piece in the offense was the presence of sophomore center Jenn Anderson, who had 19 points in IU’s win against Michigan State last week. She cruised to six early points but never got many touches after that as she took only five shots.
“Our guards didn’t do a very good job tonight of being committed to getting the ball inside,” Moren said.
This loss drops the Hoosiers to 1-2 in conference play. It is never easy losing to a rival, but they will meet again on Feb. 2.
It is easy to look at losses against Rutgers and now Purdue and blame the lack of size since IU is a more guard-oriented team. Being undersized is not going to change anytime soon, though.
“We can’t make that our reason for why we come up short,” Moren said.
