Three Takeaways From IU Women's Basketball's Game Vs. Purdue On Sunday

Hoosiers Having A Rough Season But Help Appears To Be On The Way

Assembly Hall, Where The Hoosiers Played Purdue On Sunday Afternoon

This Season Has Not Gone According To Planned But Help Appears To Be On The Way

Bloomington-The high level of success across IU athletics over the last few seasons has generally had the women’s basketball team at the front of the line. While other sports have more or less maintained their spot at or near the top, women’s basketball has been a rare struggling squad in Bloomington this season.

The good news is that if all goes as expected, this season should be a temporary dip before becoming an NCAA Tournament squad again relatively fast. This is because new recruiting coach Colsten Thompson has elite prospects coming in for next year. This 2026 class is ranked as the best in program history and sixth nationally. It also features the two highest-ranked recruits directly out of high school the program has brought in, including the first McDonald’s All-American.

It is important to note how the Hoosiers have gotten to this point. Under lead recruiter Glenn Box, Indiana rose to national prominence when he brought in record-ranked recruits (at the time) Grace Berger, Mackenzie Holmes, and several others.

However, his work got him noticed for a head gig, and he landed at Miami (OH). IU Coach Teri Moren then brought in Linda Sayavongchanh to lead the recruiter efforts while the program was at its peak.

Sayavongchanh struggled to bring in highly ranked players even while winning, which is why the Hoosiers are stuck in between while rebuilding and are struggling now. Most of Sayavongchanh’s recruits have either transferred out or are struggling for playing time.

Already with Thompson in the fold, it is clear that current freshmen Nevaeh Caffey and Maya Makalusky are easily the best recruits the program has had since Box’s days. While both are forced into way more minutes than ideal as they develop, the talent and skills are clearly there to be high-level players in the Big Ten down the road.

With all this said, Hoosier fans will have to be patient and accept that the ceiling for this team is extremely limited, and several long positive streaks are likely to end. Supporters need to be patient with Moren, who has shown she is an elite coach, and appears to have a plan to fix the talent drain as described above.

Hoosiers Go As Shay Ciezki Goes

While the personnel on this team are young and inconsistent, there is one sure thing on this squad that is the only reason IU is as good as it is. That one elite player is senior Shay Ciezki, who by necessity has had to carry the vast majority of the scoring load this season.

Ciezki, despite being the smallest player on the floor a lot of the time, makes up for it with her skill. She is both an elite shooter from the outside and can drive to the basket for points as well. She leads the conference in scoring at around 24 points per game and finished just a bit higher than that on Sunday afternoon with 29 points.

This was the driving force in Indiana’s 74-59 victory over Purdue, which was their third straight overall. The team now sits at 3-10 in the league and 14-11 overall. The last time IU lost to its arch-rivals at home was in 2011-2012.

Ciezki said said she was just happy to come out on top and is not about individual stats.

“It obviously feels great to be on the winning side of things,” Ciezki said. “I knew we had it in us. We just had to find ourselves. I think right now we are gelling at a good time. I’m super proud of this group. It was a great team win.”

Meanwhile, Moren said getting a win over the Boilermakers was especially important after a loss to them on the road recently.

“We went to West Lafayette a couple weeks ago and let one get away,” Moren said. “I liked our focus and how he did come out. I thought our effort was better, our intent was greater.”

Indiana Still Has Much To Play For

While this season has not gone as hoped, IU still has a ton to play for. Sunday’s victory was critical as it moved the Hoosiers above the cutline for the Big Ten Tournament, which only the top-15 teams make, and the Boilers are fighting for similar real estate.

Also, while the NCAA Tournament is out of reach, victories over struggling Rutgers and Penn State at the end of the season would keep Indiana above .500 overall and make them eligible for the second-tier postseason WNIT and WBIT Tournaments. While these carry very little prestige anymore, a chance to play a few more games together for this young squad, and a shot at 20 wins (which has happened every year since 2015-2016) should not be overlooked.

While this season as a whole has not gone as planned, it could be much worse, as Sunday’s arch-rivals are living proof of. While the Hoosiers have had a struggling year, the Boilermakers have not been elite for nearly 20 years and have hung out at the bottom of the conference for about a decade for the most part.

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