It’s not an unfamiliar position.
Just one season ago, Indiana women’s basketball entered its third game of the season with a 1-1 record. It fell to Stanford University by 32 points last season. This season, it fell to Harvard University by 4 points.
Last season, the Hoosiers followed their first loss with a 13-game win streak. To do the same this season, the Cream and Crimson first travel to take on Butler University at 7 p.m. Wednesday inside Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
“Any team that we play, they’re gonna give us our best,” assistant head coach Ali Patberg said on the Inside Indiana Basketball radio show Monday. “It does not matter who we play, we have to come prepared every game.”
Inside the ‘perplexing’ loss to Harvard
Indiana immediately fell behind in the opening quarter against Harvard, trailing 21-7 with 11 turnovers after 10 minutes. The Hoosiers went on to finish with 27 turnovers in the 4-point overtime loss.
Indiana head coach Teri Moren said postgame it was “perplexing” how her team consistently made errors that resulted in turnovers. Especially when the veteran starters –– graduate student guards Chloe Moore-McNeil and Sydney Parrish and junior guard Yarden Garzon –– were responsible for 14 of 27 giveaways.
“That’s not the type of basketball we have ever really hung our hats on,” Patberg said. “It’s been a hard few days, just because we hate to lose and we hate to lose in that fashion because we know we’re so much better, and (the players) know we’re so much better.”
The Hoosiers largely failed to connect from 3-point range both against the Crimson and Brown University on Nov. 4. They have gone just 8 for 38 (21.1%) from beyond the arc after finishing 39.6% last season.
Junior guard Shay Ciezki, who led Penn State in 3-point percentage in each of her two seasons there, is 0-for-6 shooting from long range this season.
Moren explained there’s no panic button being pressed just yet. It’s still early in the season, and while the Hoosiers may have notched another ugly early season loss, they did the same last season.
“I think we’re just frustrated that we let (the loss to Harvard) slip away,” junior forward Lilly Meister said Monday. “That’s not Indiana basketball. We know it, everyone knows it.”
Meet Butler
Butler enters Wednesday’s matchup with a 2-0 record for the first time since the 2019-20 season with a 42-point victory over Chicago State University on Nov. 6 and a 9-point overtime win over the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee on Nov. 9.
Head coach Austin Parkinson is in his third season at the helm of the Bulldogs. In his first season in 2022-23, Butler finished 11-19 before going 15-17 last season. In the two campaigns before Parkinson took over, the Bulldogs tallied just three total wins.
Through just two games, Butler has four players averaging double digits points –– freshman guard Lily Carmody (13.5), senior guards Kilyn McGuff (13.5) and Caroline Strande (12.5) and sophomore forward Cristen Carter (11).
“They’re a great team,” Patberg said. “They’re skilled. They’re very well coached. They execute offensively, and they’re going to play hard. We’re going to have to match that in terms of how hard we play, and then execute our gameplan defensively and then take care of the ball.”
Last season, the Bulldogs finished fifth in the country in 3-point percentage at 38.3% from beyond the arc while setting a single-season attendance record with an average of 1,141 fans attending their home contests.
Indiana leads the all-time series, 9-1. The last time the two squads faced off Dec. 21, 2022, the Hoosiers emerged with a 17-point victory inside Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. This time, the matchup will be played at a different historic arena.
Hinkle Fieldhouse
Hinkle Fieldhouse opened in 1928 as Butler Fieldhouse before being renamed in 1968 after former Butler men’s basketball, football and baseball head coach and athletic director Paul D. “Tony” Hinkle.
Known as Indiana’s basketball cathedral, Hinkle Fieldhouse was featured in the 1986 film Hoosiers. The film, which was inspired in part by Milan High School winning the state championship inside Hinkle in 1954, had its final scenes shot at the fieldhouse.
After undergoing extensive renovations in 2014, including adding a new videoboard, Hinkle now has a capacity of 9,100 fans. It is the sixth-oldest current college basketball arena in the country and a United States National Historic Landmark.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Hinkle was selected as a host for the 2021 NCAA Tournament. 16 contests were played inside the venue, including games in the Round of 64, Round of 32 and the Sweet 16. It also serves as the host site for the National Invitation Tournament semifinals and championship, as well as the Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament.
Bouncing back
When tipoff rolls around Wednesday, Indiana will have had six days in between games. The Hoosiers are ready to get back on the floor.
“I’m sure they are because I know we are. We can’t play soon enough,” Patberg said. “I played, and there’s never been a season where everything’s perfect. There’s highs, there’s lows. Right now, we lost. We were at a low, and it’s always been, for our program, how are we going to bounce back?”
Moren says all the time, according to Patberg, that it’s not what happens to you. Instead it’s how you respond to what happens to you.
The Hoosiers now have their opportunity to respond with a victory over the Bulldogs.
“They are going to give us all they’ve got,” Meister said. “So we’re prepared for that. It’s our first road game, so it’ll be a nice test for us. I know we’ll be ready.”
Notables
Kilyn McGuff is the daughter of Ohio State women’s basketball head coach Kevin McGuff.
Teri Moren began her coaching career as an assistant coach at Butler from 1992-98.
Butler sophomore guard Riley Makalusky is the sister of Indiana commit Maya Makalusky, who attends Hamilton Southeastern High School in Fishers, Indiana.
Tipoff
The contest is slated to tip off at 7 p.m. inside Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. It will stream on FloHoops, a streaming platform which requires a paid subscription. The game will also be broadcast on 96.7 FM with Austin Render on the call.
Follow reporters Dalton James (@DaltonMJames) and Savannah Slone (@savrivers06) and columnist Ryan Canfield (@RyanCanfieldOnX) for updates throughout the Indiana women’s basketball season.
