5-seed Indiana Advances To Quarterfinal With Win Over 13-seed Rutgers

by | Mar 4, 2022 | Uncategorized | 0 comments

5-seed Indiana Advances To Quarterfinal With Win Over 13-seed Rutgers

 

INDIANAPOLIS – Five 3-pointers from graduate senior guard Ali Patberg led 5-seeded Indiana to a 66-54 win over Rutgers in the second round of the Big Ten Tournament on Thursday afternoon inside Gainbridge Fieldhouse.

 

KEY MOMENTS

  • The signature pull-up jumper by senior guard Grace Berger gave Indiana an early 6-2 lead. Rutgers battled back and took a one-point edge as graduate student Ali Patberg drained her first triple of the day with 2:59 left in the first.
  • Hoosiers (20-7) would hold the Scarlet Knights without a field goal in the final 3:11 to take a six-point lead, 16-10, as Patberg drained a baseline 3-pointer at the buzzer.
  • Rutgers’ second-chance opportunity cut the lead down to two in the early goings of the second quarter, but Indiana pushed the lead back to five with a Patberg 3-pointer and Berger pull-up.
  • A 7-2 run helped IU go up double figures late in the second as RU pushed back to trim the halftime lead to 32-26. The Hoosiers shot 50 percent in the third quarter as it withstood pressure from the Scarlet Knights in as it used a 5-0 run to make it a 39-30 lead. Another timely 3-pointer from Patberg gave Indiana an 11-point lead while sophomore guard Chloe Moore-McNeil’s nifty move inside and a jumper by Berger closed the quarter with their team on top, 48-37.
  • IU held its largest lead in the fourth at 16 points with just under six minutes to go as going down the stretch Rutgers made another run at the Hoosiers, but a 3-pointer from Patberg and the signature mid-range game from Berger helped seal the deal.

 

NOTABLE

  • Thursday’s win secured the Hoosiers’ seventh-straight 20-win season, the longest streak of 20 win seasons in program history.
  • With the win over 13-seeded Rutgers on Thursday afternoon Indiana advances to their fifth straight quarterfinal of the Big Ten Tournament. They will face 4-seeded Maryland Friday afternoon following game seven.
  • The Hoosiers are now 2-1 against the Scarlet Knights in the conference tournament. The two teams last played in 2020 where Indiana won, 78-60.
  • Indiana improves to 5-1 all-time as a 5-seed in the Big Ten Tournament.
  • The 12-point win by the Hoosiers is the largest margin of victory in a Big Ten Tournament game since 2009 when Indiana defeated Michigan by 18 points.
  • Graduate student Ali Patberg led the squad in scoring with 19 points. Patberg also dished a team high tying six assists.
  • Senior Grace Berger tallied six rebounds for a squad high. She also saw double figures with 17 points.
  • Junior Mackenzie Holmes saw double digit scoring as she put back 11 points.
  • The Hoosiers held Rutgers to just 36.5 percent shooting from the floor and 20.0 percent from behind the 3-point line.
  • Indiana capitalized on Rutgers mistakes, scoring 20 points off turnovers.
  • Cardaño-Hillary finished the game with five steals, coming up one shy of IU’s all-time Big Ten Tournament record of six.
  • IU combined for 18 assists on 22 made shots with

 

QUOTABLE

Indiana head coach Teri Moren

“Well, just thought our kids were terrific, especially in the second half. Tournament play is always interesting, and it probably took us the whole first half I think just to really settle in and get some rhythm. It was a different kind of game, as I said. When you get in foul trouble, Leks has to go out. I thought G did a terrific job of having to guard Osh in the second half when Leks was out with foul trouble. Both Grace and AP both have six assists together, 12 of our 18, which is sharing the sugar the way we like to say it around our program. I thought we got, there were several of these kids that stepped up. I thought Arielle Wisne came in today, a kid that normally doesn’t get much playing time. With Kiandra Browne being out right now with a sore hip. I thought Nicki was terrific on the ball. And so collectively as a group, first game is always the toughest, but it’s always the most important as well. So really happy for our players today.”

 

UP NEXT

Indiana will face 4-seed Maryland on Friday afternoon at approximately 1:50 p.m. ET at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals. The game will air live on Big Ten Network.