Just seven minutes into its matchup Sunday against the No. 14 Iowa Hawkeyes, Indiana had already claimed its largest lead against a Big Ten opponent (eight). And to wrap up the first quarter, the Hoosiers led 20-8, marking their best quarter as a team this season. The Hoosiers continued to set firsts on the year:
First time outscoring a Big Ten opponent in multiple, consecutive quarters.
First time leading a Big Ten opponent at halftime.
Best defensive quarter against a Big Ten opponent (first quarter, Iowa held to just eight points).
Largest lead against a Big Ten opponent this season (16).
And, on top of these firsts, Indiana was leading the battle on the glass (23-17) and Shay Ciezki’s 19 first-half points matched Iowa’s 19 team total points.
But what goes up, must come down.
Indiana’s kryptonite, the third quarter, got the best of them yet again. A 17-0 run for Iowa on the backs of a 6:35 scoreless streak for the Hoosiers saw their 16-point halftime lead sitting at just one heading into the final quarter. Iowa completed the comeback in the fourth, beating Indiana 56-53.
“We know [third quarter performance has] been an issue for us,” head coach Teri Moren said. “I have to go back and look at that third quarter, but I don’t think that I helped them much.”
Well what went wrong? Simple. Everything.
The Hoosiers shot 45.7% in the first half, outrebounded Iowa 23-17 and held the Hawkeyes to just 25% shooting and zero 3-pointers. Indiana notched five offensive rebounds, leading to eight points off turnover and only coughed up seven turnovers to Iowa’s eight turnovers.
But in the third quarter, it was quite the opposite.
Four Hawkeyes scored four or more points. Iowa shot 41.2% from the field, 50% from beyond the arc, and forced Indiana to shoot 15.4% from the field while going 0-for-6 on triples. Ciezki, whose phenomenal 19-point first half performance helped the Hoosiers build their lead going into half, got completely shut down. Not a single bucket for one of the nation’s elite scorers.
But in the past, when Ciezki fails to step up, usually Indiana has found luck with someone like Lenée Beaumont or Maya Makalusky. The three of them shot a collective 0-for-9. And with the Hawkeyes being hot on the other end of the floor, Assembly Hall sat still. An electric crowd just moments before filled with heads in hands.
It was a total team collapse for the Hoosiers. But Sunday’s matchup was not the first time the Hoosiers have struggled in the third quarter. Including their abysmal third quarter against Iowa, in their six conference games, the Hoosiers have been outscored in the third quarter by 48. And if you take away a 23-15 third quarter in their loss to No. 25 Nebraska, the Hoosiers are being outscored by an average of 11.2 points in the quarter during conference play.
Moren said she is aware of her team’s struggles coming out of the break.
“We switched [our halftime routine] up…we’re trying to get them out early,” Moren said. “In the past, we’ve come out of halftime and there might have been, maybe, two minutes, two and a half left on the clock and they’re getting just regular shots. And so we tried to button up what we talk to them about, get them out earlier. And that started at Nebraska (their lone third quarter victory in Big Ten play) where we started doing something a little bit more organized.”
“We’re trying,” Moren said later in the press conference. “We’re not dismissing it. We know it’s been an issue for us. And we’re trying to correct it. But I don’t have an answer..and I got to do a better job. And I will.”
Just a few days before facing Iowa, the Hoosiers lost to the Cornhuskers in a close battle on the road. However, the Hoosiers’ third quarter performance was not to blame. In fact, that’s why they were able to stay in the game. Indiana won the quarter 23-15, tying the game heading into the fourth.
Zania Socka-Nguemen made her return to playing without a minutes restriction against Nebraska. When discussing their third quarter performance, she said “our third quarter was our Achilles heel. And we did a lot better this game.”
Unfortunately for the Hoosiers, that success out of half did not translate into Sunday's contest.
“We didn’t help ourselves defensively,” Moren said after the loss to Iowa. “I don’t have the answer to why. What we were doing in the first half was working, defensively, for us. And then I thought we just decided to come down, especially in the third and just take bad shots…it just wasn’t one person. It was all of them.”
“I’m disappointed,” Moren said later in the press conference. “As our kids are. I think we’re all tired of the result that we’re not getting.”
Indiana will try to resolve their third quarter lack of success heading into their next battle against the Washington Huskies on Jan. 14.
