BLOOMINGTON — Indiana women’s basketball entered Thursday looking for a more encouraging performance after Monday’s win over Brown.
IU lacked discipline against the Bears, even with its 22-point victory. Head coach Teri Moren thought her team was capable of better play.
But on Thursday, the Hoosiers found themselves in a tight battle against another Ivy League opponent in Harvard. And ultimately, they needed overtime to settle things, but the Crimson prevailed.
Harvard staved off the Hoosiers for much of the night and handed them a 72-68 defeat at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. The Crimson made all the big plays IU couldn’t, and it resulted in IU’s first regular-season home loss since Feb. 2022.
Here are three key takeaways from another game Indiana will want to forget.
Overcoming a rough start
Moren blasted her Hoosiers on Monday, after getting away with a lot of uncharacteristically sloppy basketball against Brown.
Looking to respond to Moren’s criticisms on Thursday, IU came out even worse. The Hoosiers turned in a brutal first quarter which ended in a 21-7 Harvard lead. The Crimson went on a 19-4 run across most of the period, fueled by Indiana shooting just 2 for 7 from the field with 11 turnovers. IU looked lost against Harvard’s press defense, something that’s caused problems for the Hoosiers over the last few seasons. They looked completely disconnected on both ends of the court, and Harvard capitalized on the mistakes.
That opening quarter buoyed Indiana’s overall turnover count, but it only marginally improved. IU still finished the game with 27 turnovers, its most in a single game since Dec. 2016.
The struggles continued into the second quarter, as the Crimson maintained a double-digit lead for nearly half the period. The Hoosiers started to gain some ground in the game when Harvard eased up on its press and they began asserting themselves physically. IU took advantage of the Crimson’s foul-prone tendencies inside, and picked up enough momentum from that to cut the deficit to two points by halftime.
But Moren’s concerns from the Brown game proved prescient with the way Indiana started this contest.
Outside shooting struggles looming large
Indiana struggled from the 3-point line against Brown, shooting 5 for 20.
That, too, got worse in game two. IU suffered extended droughts from beyond the arc against Harvard and entered the fourth quarter just 2 for 15. The Hoosiers finished with a 3-for-18 clip on the night from 3-point range.
IU just couldn’t get the outside shots to go. The few threes they did hit were all clutch, important shots — two by Yarden Garzon, and one by Jules LaMendola. But it’s hard for Indiana to generate offensive momentum when it gets rough 3-point outputs from Shay Ciezki (0 for 3), Sydney Parrish (0 for 4), and Chloe Moore-McNeil (0 for 2).
For the most part, IU isn’t taking bad shots from outside the arc. The team is getting good looks, but they just haven’t been falling.
Backcourt depth looking problematic
Moren, historically, doesn’t utilize a big rotation. She’ll work more players in early in the season, as you’d expect in non-conference play, but she typically tightens the rotation for most of IU’s important games.
But Indiana’s started off this season thin at guard because of injuries to Lexus Bargesser and Lenée Beaumont. Bargesser’s absence has been particularly critical in this opening week, as IU has missed her steadying presence on both ends of the floor.
With those two unavailable, the Hoosiers don’t have many guard options off the bench. Moren’s had to put Henna Sandvik in some big moments because of the injuries, and the junior has looked overmatched at times. IU tried playing LaMendola out of position as a guard against Brown, but the sophomore played only five minutes against Harvard.
The depth concerns have been especially noticeable because of the way the starters have struggled. Ciezki has had trouble settling in through the first two games, and Moore-McNeil has lacked her usually steady hand.
For complete coverage of IU women’s basketball, GO HERE.
The Daily Hoosier –“Where Indiana fans assemble when they’re not at Assembly”
- Find us on Facebook: thedailyhoosier
- You can follow us on Twitter: @daily_hoosier
- Seven ways to support completely free IU coverage at no cost to you.
