An 18-point win. Twenty-six points from your star. Back in the win column. All reasons for optimism and excitement from head coach Teri Moren, but that certainly was not the case after a 71-53 victory over Western Michigan late Wednesday night.
The game seemed tense, and playing down to the competition signaled a potential disconnect between management and players, Moren suggested postgame.
“Sometimes I wonder if they think they [the players] know more than me and my staff know,” Moren said. “The answer to that is absolutely, they don’t.”
From the time Moren sat down in the press room of Assembly Hall, it was evident that the performance against Western Michigan was clearly not the one the Hoosiers had hoped for. The majority of Moren’s presser screamed distress, whether it was the intense tone to her verbiage or displaying a face of dismay. As a matter of fact, disappointment is the word that was used to describe the team’s performance, despite the double-digit victory.
“On nights like tonight, when your team comes out and they don’t perform at the level of what our standards are,” Moren said. “I’m disappointed… that’s what it is, disappointed with our performance.”
The concerns are clear. There is an expectation for an Indiana team, and those expectations were not met Wednesday night. In the opening quarter, a lackluster effort put the home team in a hole, finding themselves down by five heading into the second period.
While the Hoosiers regained the lead going into the locker room at the half, the lack of urgency could be felt across the 17,222-seat arena, exacerbating potential issues from fatigue or lack of proper preparation, for that matter.
“I thought we showed a lot of what we looked like yesterday in practice, and that’s unfortunate,” Moren said. “I gave them one day off when we returned, maybe that was a mistake on my part.”
The opening statement from Moren, in her 12th season at IU, detailed her displeasure with the team’s product at this current point of the season, both in execution and inability to set the tone early.
“Starting with us defensively, lacked urgency, lacked energy,” Moren said. “And we didn’t change throughout the course of the game, so that was very, very disappointing.”
The showing was an unfamiliar one for the young Hoosier squad, particularly considering they were coming off a road trip to South Florida, where they finished 2-1, winning their first two games and surrendering their first loss in a tight game against No. 10 Iowa State on Sunday afternoon.
During a night where forward Zania Socka-Nguemen was once again ruled out with a foot injury, guard Shay Ciezki put the team on her back, delivering yet another signature performance in a season where she has been tasked with a larger role as the lone senior on the team. Ciezki scored 26 points on an efficient 12-for-17 from the field. She scored or assisted on more than half of the points for the Hoosiers.
“Right now, the way she [Ciezki] has been playing has been so important for our team,” Moren said. “She has strong shoulders because she has carried us from an offensive perspective… I’m proud of her.”
The great thing about the game of basketball is that only a few key plays are needed to change the entire outcome of a game, particularly in the final quarter. Up just nine heading into the fourth, a Nevaeh Caffey and-1 layup, and a pair of 3s from Ciezki and Edessa Noyan, propelled the Hoosiers to a double-digit lead, one that all but solidified a victory for Indiana.
Although there may be a sour taste in their mouth, the opportunity to learn from a win, not a loss, is sometimes what sets teams apart when it is all said and done. Moving to 8-1 on the season, the Hoosiers will begin Big Ten play this weekend, as they head to Urbana-Champaign to take on the Illinois Illini at noon on Saturday.
