A victory over a top 10 team at home and letting a winnable Quad One road game slip away. The last week for Indiana women’s basketball can also describe its overall season.
What was a chance to keep the momentum going turned into another road disaster for Indiana.
The Hoosiers faced off against No. 22 Michigan State on Sunday inside the Breslin Center in East Lansing, Michigan, and played well enough to potentially win but ultimately left empty-handed with a final score of 73-65.
A fairly even game ended with both teams making 25 field goals. The Hoosiers had more 3-pointers with six compared to the Spartans’ five. But it was the free-throw line where the Hoosiers fell victim to the Spartans, who scored 18 while the Cream and Crimson only had nine.
Indiana’s rollercoaster stretch started with a tremendous resume-boosting home victory over No. 8 Ohio State on Feb. 20. While being its only top 10 win this season, Ohio State’s ranking is not the tell-all for how big a victory it was. It didn’t matter whether Ohio State was top 10 or unranked, the Hoosiers played their most complete game all season — no team was beating them.
How did Indiana channel this momentum from the gritty and sound victory? It didn’t.
In 40 minutes, Indiana’s momentum had completely disintegrated.
The same things often happen to Indiana in many of its road games, as well as its home losses — such as turnover problems. For instance, the Hoosiers finished with 18 turnovers to Michigan State’s 10.
Indiana has not improved when it comes to playing on the road. If it had, the things that keep plaguing the team during these road matchups would not keep happening.
Energy might be the only thing keeping this team from being great, and Indiana head coach Teri Moren alluded to that postgame.
“I say it all the time,” Moren said, “good teams win at home, great teams win on the road.”
Indiana knows how to win, but it does not look the part when it leaves its home floor — something it hasn’t had to deal with the past four seasons due to the marquee playmakers it has lost from last season and two seasons ago. Moren even referenced having a dominant post player in Mackenzie Holmes after the loss in East Lansing.
“At times we have shown greatness,” Moren said. “There’s moments when we have been just good enough.”
Indiana could be great, but right now it is a bubble team. It won’t be clear how much the team has improved from this loss until next week at the Big Ten Tournament.
The neutral site of the Big Ten tournament could be a nice relaxer for Indiana due to the decent mix of fans, but it will just get harder with the road environment of the NCAA Tournament.
It looks like Indiana will be either the No. 8 or No. 9 seed in the 2025 Big Ten Tournament, which means an extra day of rest and a maximum of four games. Indiana likely will not need a victory to make the NCAA Tournament, according to mainstream bracketologists. But a win or two in Indianapolis could increase the Hoosiers’ seeding, placing Indiana in the same part of the bracket as a No. 2 seed instead of a No. 1 seed.
Indiana will face No. 19 Maryland at 7 p.m. Thursday and has a very good chance to win because the matchup will be at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. Then, it will play the worst team in the Big Ten, Purdue, which will likely force Hoosier fans to wait and see what their team learned from the loss to Michigan State.
Follow reporters Dalton James (@DaltonMJames) and Savannah Slone (@savrivers06) and columnist Ryan Canfield (@RyanCanfieldOnX) for updates throughout the Indiana women’s basketball season.
