But if there’s any motivation for beating Purdue on Monday night, it’s that they’re sick and tired of coming up short.
The Hoosiers are on a four-game losing streak. They haven’t won a game since Jan. 11 against Wisconsin. That was followed by losses at then-No. 23 Minnesota, at Penn State, at home against then-No. 7 Maryland and at Michigan State last Wednesday.
Moren called the 15-point loss to the Spartans the worst her team’s played this year.
“If we don’t have motivation at this point, I don’t know what will make us have motivation,” ?Moren said.
In practice, going up against the guys on the practice squad, her team gets excited to compete, Moren said, but that isn’t ?transferring into games.
They’ve gone back to focusing more on themselves, especially on the offensive end, rather than preparing for other teams. Moren said they get too caught up in remembering every part of the opponent’s offense and each player’s ?tendencies.
She said they haven’t gone away from working on gap defense in practice, but when it comes to a team like Purdue that has so many different offensive sets, they’ve just looked at bits and pieces of it.
“You break down their top three or four things that they really are good at and like to run the most,” Moren said. “Then, try to spend more time on us.”
Containing Whitney Bays
When IU played Purdue at the beginning of January, transition defense was the name of the game.
The Boilermakers scored 16 fast-break points to IU’s 0. The lack of effort getting back on defense is what disappointed Moren most about the 86-64 loss.
But if there was a player the Hoosiers didn’t have an answer for, it was Whitney Bays. The senior forward completed her school-record fifth double-double in a row against the Hoosiers, with ?27 points and 10 rebounds.
Her streak extended to nine games before ending against ?Minnesota.
Bays is averaging 15.8 points and 10.7 rebounds per game.
“She’s a challenge for us,” Moren said of Bays. “You just try to make her work for everything and try to make it a tough shot for her to make.”
On every Big Ten team, though, there’s been a power forward that’s hard for IU to guard, Moren said. The Hoosiers oftentimes don’t have a matchup in that ?position.
In the teams’ last meeting, guards Ashley Morrissette and Bridget Perry combined for 32 points. Perry will be out with an ?injury for tonight’s game.
Moren said they’ll try to keep Bays out of the paint as much as possible, but even then she’s hard to contain.
“She has a tremendous sigma move, which is just a reverse pivot that she has tremendous range with,” Moren said. “We talk to our post players all the time about doing your work early, not allowing her to establish her seal.”
Getting tough
In practice Friday, the Hoosiers ran a 2-on-2 rebounding drill. As the coach shot the ball, the two defenders turned to box out while the others fought to get around the opponent and grab the rebound.
Players pushed each other to the ground to get to the ball first. No fouls were called. Anything went.
It was just one way Moren attempts to force toughness into her team.
“We do a lot of different toughness drills in practice,” freshman guard Jess Walter said. “They do sometimes not make the call because they want us to be able to have something not go our way one play, but then not let it affect us for the next couple of plays.”
That’s a pattern Moren wants to change. She said when shots aren’t falling in games, the Hoosiers let it affect everything, especially their effort on the ?defensive end.
As more and more shots miss, Moren said, the wheels slowly start to ?fall off.
“So you missed a shot?” Moren said. “You’re going to miss a lot of them in your career, probably, so get over it and move on the next play.”
Moren watched her team play 38 minutes against Minnesota. They played the last five at Penn State. She wants to see them play the full 40.
IU has lost six of its last seven games. So has ?Purdue.
Since their last meeting, both teams have just one win and look to end losing streaks tonight.
“We don’t like to lose,” Walter said. “We don’t enjoy anything about it. So we’re ready for that win.”
