3 Takeaways From IU Women's Basketball 83-52 Win Vs. Wisconsin

Hoosier Improve To 10-3 Overall And 2-0 In The League

Assembly Hall In Bloomington Where Indiana Played Wisconsin On Sunday

Moren’s System Still Strong Even Without Superstars

Bloomington-No Mackenzie Holmes. No Sara Scalia. This can lead to growing pains as happened to this IU team early in the season. However, IU coach Teri Moren’s rock-solid system which is greater than the sum of its parts is now prevailing.

With no superstars anymore but greater depth, Moren’s strong defensive philosophies and will to win are showing on the court. The Hoosiers won 83-52 over Wisconsin for their sixth straight victory overall. While Indiana had been obliterating recent competition, it was being done to opponents at the mid-major level.

This 30+ point win coming against a fellow conference foe (albeit one picked near the bottom of the league) was far more enlightening than similar recent results. For the first time in her career against a high-major squad, starting center Lily Meister showed shades of Holmes leading four double-figure scorers with 20 points.

More than anything though, the signature lock-down defense was there from the opening whistle as the Badgers failed to reach 20 points in any quarter and IU had the game mostly put away by halftime. While it will not always be as smooth of sailing as in the past, the Hoosiers are still in a great position for their sixth straight March Madness bid after improving to 10-3 overall and 2-0 in the league.

For that, the Hoosiers have their 11th-year leader of the program to thank. Even with the early struggles, this team is improving by leaps and bounds without a constant go-to-scorer. They are a well-coached squad though destined for another fun year.

Moren said she sees things getting better and it was a matter of needing to adjust to her new personnel.

“Adversity teaches you a lot of really good lessons,” Moren said. “We had our share of it early. When you are trying to play differently without an All-American post player it takes time. You’re relearning how to play a little bit differently. You have to find other ways to score the ball. I think it has been a matter of time figuring out what that looks like.”

The Big Ten Is A Great League With A Few Exceptions Like Today’s Opponent

The Big Ten is arguably the best league in the country. 13 teams have a realistic shot to be dancing come March. Wisconsin (along with Northwestern, Penn State, Purdue, and Rutgers) will be one of the easier foes though that is unlikely to gain much traction. This Badger squad has a star in Serah Williams but little else in terms of players who would crack a rotation at many other places.

However, Indiana did what good teams do, easily taking out the Nittany Lions earlier this month before the beatdown they gave to their opponent on Saturday. The Hoosiers did draw a very generous schedule and can hopefully count on six victories from this level of opposition that is unlikely to make much noise in the conference. Already they have a couple of triumphs against this group with four more coming up later on.

If IU can hold serve here, they only need four wins in 12 tries against the others who have a far brighter outlook. This would get Indiana to 10-8 in the league and 18-11 overall which should be more than enough to make the NCAA Tournament. Especially, when coupled with the signature non-conference victories over Stanford, Columbia, and Baylor.

The Hoosiers may do even better than this. However, with the floor likely being the above record, it gives them plenty to play for. After the unexpected early season defeats against Harvard and Butler (the latter who Wisconsin beat recently), getting to this point is an impressive feat.

IU senior Sydney Parrish who chipped in 13 points on the afternoon said she sees the stronger play from her squad recently given the common opponent in the Bulldogs.

“That’s a team that competed with a team that we lost to,” Parrish said. “I think that shows our growth. I think we showed today that we can come in (with) a dominant win like that.”

Largest Crowd Of Year Not Fully Reflected With So Many Season Ticket Holders Now

With a season ticket base covering nearly the entire east and west main levels, getting an accurate gauge of how many people are actually at a game is tough. With those who bought a package for every game always counted in the announced crowd even if many no-shows occur, the final numbers now need to be taken with a grain of salt.

Much like the men always announcing a sellout of 17,222 with every ticket being bought despite thousands of empty seats, the women are in a similar boat. Every game before today had just over 10,000 listed in the box score. However, the actual number showing up was roughly half that.

Fast forward to Sunday, when supporters trickled into the balcony for the first time, and far more people used their season tickets for a nearly full lower level. However, the announced attendance was only roughly 1,000 higher than previous contests at 11,212.

Either way though, the fans were treated to a great game on Saturday afternoon. After the debacle against the Crimson early on, Indiana has reestablished its hold on making Assembly Hall a tough place to play once again.

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