They failed to secure an inbounds pass and lost possession in overtime. They dribbled the ball off their legs. They threw the ball ahead in transition and it went off their hands.
Under head coach Teri Moren, Indiana women’s basketball typically plays disciplined. It doesn’t make careless mistakes. And it rarely loses at home.
But that’s what Indiana did Thursday night, falling to Harvard University 72-68 inside Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall in Bloomington. The Hoosiers accumulated 27 total turnovers –– the most in a game since Moren took over ahead of the 2014-15 season.
“That is a very tough, gritty group that came in here and kind of punched us in the mouth that first quarter,” Moren said postgame. “There’s no doubt that we’re disappointed.”
From the tipoff, Indiana fell behind.
The Hoosiers committed a pair of turnovers before either team scored. They did not make a field goal until there were just over four minutes left in the opening period. To make matters worse, Harvard already led by 10 points when Indiana graduate student forward Chloe Moore-McNeil made the field goal.
At the end of the first quarter, the Hoosiers found themselves trailing by 14 points. They struggled to navigate the Crimson’s press, finishing the period just 2 for 7 from the field and had more turnovers (11) than points (7).
“I think the hardest part about that is their pressure was no surprise,” Moore-McNeil said. “Coming in, we knew they were going to press us off misses, off of makes, even in the halfcourt gambling a little bit.”
But the Hoosiers played surprised. It was often tough for them to bring the ball up the court with Harvard’s dogged defense. And even when they did manage to make it across midcourt, they turned the ball over nine times off bad passes.
Indiana committed four traveling violations. It also racked up five offensive fouls –– three by Yarden Garzon. The junior guard tied for the team-high in points with 20, but she went 5 for 12 from the field and finished with seven turnovers.
“I think Yarden got a little overzealous at times and she’s going to have to do a better job of reading what the defense gives her,” Moren said. “She draws so much attention and she’s such a smart player, just for her willingness to kick that thing out and not either take a bad shot or a charge is something that we got to continue to show her, and she has to grow as a basketball player.”
Moren called out Moore-McNeil after the Hoosiers’ season-opening victory Monday, saying she thought she looked “lethargic” as she scored just 2 points against Brown University.
On Thursday, Moore-McNeil finished with 10 points, four rebounds and three assists. But she also had three turnovers. And as the point guard who’s in her fifth season in Bloomington, she placed the blame for Indiana’s carelessness on herself.
“It’s really hard because I came out with intentions to be a better leader and be a better point guard,” Moore-McNeil said. “Obviously with the result and 27, I’ll go ahead and call that 30 turnovers, I’m very disappointed not only in my team but myself just as that leader.”
The Hoosiers failed to respond to Moren calling them out Monday with a victory. After they gave up 11 3-pointers to Brown, they gave up another 11 to Harvard.
There was no indication of Thursday’s result coming, according to Moren. She said her squad was excited to get back on the floor after Monday, and that she felt the Hoosiers’ focus was where it needed to be heading into the game.
Indiana now has six days before its next contest. It will travel to take on Butler University at 7 p.m. Nov. 13 at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. But before then, Moren said the Hoosiers will have to go back and watch where they went wrong against the Crimson and keep “chipping away.”
“This is not the team it was a year ago,” Moren said. “We have a lot of room to improve and grow, and we will. This is a team full of competitors. It may take us a minute, a couple games, I hope it’s just a couple, to start figuring some things out.”
Moren said it’s perplexing to her how Indiana, a veteran team, is making so many unforced errors. But after Indiana’s first regular season home loss since February 2022, she said nobody is hitting the proverbial panic button.
But Moore-McNeil said soul searching is a “great way to put it.”
“Not to knock off Ivy League, that’s a great league, but we’re Indiana,” Moore-McNeil said. “We have our expectations as well and clearly that was not it at all.”
Follow reporters Dalton James (@DaltonMJames) and Savannah Slone (@savrivers06) and columnist Ryan Canfield (@RyanCanfieldOnX) for updates throughout the Indiana women’s basketball season.
