3 Takeaways From IU Women's Basketball 77-57 Win Vs. Purdue
Hoosier Now 18-11 Overall And 10-8 In League And Headed To Postseason With 6th Straight NCAA Berth All But Secured
Mackey Arena In West Lafayette Where Indiana Played Purdue On Sunday
IU Not As Good As Past Years But Purdue Has Fallen Off Even Further
West Lafayette-IU is not as good as past years, falling from a bona fide top-15 team nationally to a back-end NCAA Tournament squad. However, arch-rival Purdue has fallen even further from a decent Big Ten team to the very bottom of the league and will be one of three teams to miss the conference tournament.
The past couple of renditions of the Boilermakers could have given this Hoosier side real fits. However, fortunately for Indiana despite losing their two best players from last season, their arch-rivals lost a lot more and are not at all competitive in their own league in 2024-2025.
As a result, IU still was able to roll to two blowout wins over the Boilers in 2024-2025 including Sunday’s 77-57 victory at Mackey Arena. Because of this, the Hoosiers have now won 13 straight in the series.
IU coach Teri Moren said she was pleased to once again emerge victorious in the rivalry and be in charge from the tip.
“I thought our kids came out with great intent,” Moren said. “We started the game very locked in to the game plan which was great to see.”
Shay Ciezki’s Speed Causes Havoc for Boilers As Hoosiers Make New Game Plan Work
Shay Ciezki’s 5-7 frame makes her slightly undersized compared to most Big Ten players. However, she makes up for a lot of it with her torrid speed and shooting on the court.
With the Boilers not being a speedy squad, Ciezki’s game is a perfect foil for Purdue as she put up 18 points and ran by their defense for much of the afternoon. This also beat her 16 points in Bloomington where she was able to break the Boilermakers down in much the same way.
In the past, Purdue coach Katie Gearlds would double and triple team the post against IU star Mackenzie Holmes which led to multiple open three-pointers and the team has used this for victory against their arch-rivals in the past. With Holmes now on the team’s staff and no longer able to compete on the court, something different was needed to get open shots.
Gearlds said the game plan in a post-Holmes world is indeed different when she is not anchoring the middle.
“It’s night and day,” Gearlds said. “No knock on (Karoline) Striplin or (Lily) Meister in there, just not the same. What hurt us is their ability to play off the bounce and spray out to shooters. Mackenzie Holmes puts you in a pickle and I’m glad she is not there anymore.”
That’s where Ciezki’s speed and the ability for ball screens with the guards are important. Without a great post player, Gearlds and others can guard the Hoosiers straight up. However, with the speed and ability to penetrate to the basket from the backcourt, it has still allowed for enough open jump shots for Indiana to have the success they have had in 2024-2025.
With their arch-rival’s struggles, this strategy has worked more than well enough to easily beat the Boilers twice this season. This is despite only making 7-20 from long range on Sunday afternoon.
IU Is Basically A Lock For NCAA Tournament Now
By avoiding a bad loss on Sunday, Indiana has all but clinched a spot in the NCAA Tournament for a sixth straight season at 18-11 overall and 10-8 in the league. IU picked up neutral court triumphs over postseason-bound Columbia and Baylor in the pre-conference. This along with road victories at tourney participants Iowa and Washington in league play and huge home wins over Nebraska and Ohio State has done more than enough to once again be in March Madness. Also, most importantly they went 6-0 against the five teams at the bottom of the league who have really struggled. As a result, they have avoided any bad losses since the very early season defeat at Butler.
The Big Ten Tournament returns to Indianapolis next and the Hoosiers will have a bye until Thursday when they face Oregon at 12 pm on BTN. No matter the results, an NCAA bid now appears secure.
What is in play though by beating the Ducks is realistically keeping Indiana’s long streak of 20-win seasons alive. Since 2015-2016 IU has hit this mark each year and the easiest path for this to continue would be winning the opener of the conference tourney and first game of March Madness. This is because potential game two’s of both will be massive uphill battles against likely no. 1 overall seeds each time.
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