The Indiana women’s basketball team is not only facing the No. 2 team in the nation tonight at Simon Skodjt Assembly Hall, it’s facing a North Carolina State team bent on revenge.
The last time the Hoosiers and the Wolfpack met was in the NCAA Tournament last season, when Indiana pulled off the upset to reach the Elite Eight for the first time in school history.
“I think this is going to be an N.C. State team that’s going to come in here with a lot of motivation,” Indiana head coach Teri Moren said. “We knocked them out of an opportunity to perhaps get to a Final Four.”
The Hoosiers have motivation of their own. They’re trying to sustain the success from last year and show they are an elite program on par with the N.C. State’s of the college basketball world.
They’ve won at least 20 games in all but the first of Moren’s seven seasons at Indiana and come into the ranked No. 6.
“When you play a team like N.C. State, some of these great teams, you have to realize there’s a of who we are,” Moren said. “We do have some limitations, but that doesn’t mean we still can’t do some of the things that will disrupt N.C. State.
“We just have to be smarter. We have to be really good at gambling from time to time and hope that it doesn’t cost us anything easy.”
The Hoosiers do have a blueprint to beat the Wolfpack.
“We’ve used our game against them last year just to remind our players how we had success against them,” Moren said. “This is a different team. And they’re better than they were a year ago. They’re more explosive offensively than they were a year ago.”
The Wolfpack are led by 6-foot-5 center Elissa Cunane, who’s averaging 14.4 points and 7.4 rebounds per game. Guard Diamond Johnson (13.3) and forward Jakia Brown-Turner (10.3) are also averaging in double figures.
Cunane gives N.C. State an advantage inside. The Wolfpack are outrebounding their opponents by 13 a game. It’s an area Indiana has struggled in against quality teams. In its only loss of the season against then No. 7 Stanford, Indiana was outrebounded, 59-38.
“It’s skill-related, but it’s also hear-related,” Moren said. “We just have to be more relentless than them. They’re going to be bigger than we are. … But that doesn’t give us an excuse not to put ourselves in position to box out and chase down long rebounds and chase down loose balls.”
All five Indiana starters are averaging in double figures, led by 6-3 forward Mackenzie Holmes, who’s averaging 15.3 points and 7.5 rebounds per game, both team-highs. Guards Grace Berger and Ali Patber each average 13.8 points a game, guard Nicole Cardano-Hillary averages 12.0 points, and forward Aleksa Gulve averages 10.8 points and 7.0 rebounds.
Tonight’s game tips off a 7 p.m. and will be broadcast on ESPN2.
“This is the ACC-Big Ten Challenge, and we’ve been paired up with a really good N.C. State team,” Moren said. “(But) we’re not looking at the end result right now, we’re taking each game as they come and trying to learn from every one of them, whether it’s something we do really well or something we have to be better at, as we eventually get into the grind of the Big Ten.”
