Indiana women’s basketball fell at home to No. USC on Sunday.
It wasn’t the best performance all around but it certainly wasn’t the worst either. The Hoosiers were firmly in the game heading into the fourth quarter but the Trojans won most of the leverage plays from there on out to take home the win.
The crowd in Assembly Hall was spectacular and earned the compliments of USC head coach Linday Gottlieb before and after the matchup.
Here’s three things:
3-point shooting
Indiana is a very good shooting team that has to rely on it even more without a dominant or pretty reliable scoring presence in the post.
When the shots are falling, the Hoosiers can beat anyone. That happened not long ago on the road against Iowa. When they aren’t? It’s just not your night,
The Hoosiers had some quality looks and had to take even more 3s than usual given the deficit. Leaning into a strength makes sense for obvious reasons but especially so against a team like USC.
Ultimately, 8-29 from long range just wasn’t good enough. If more than two of the Hoosiers’ 8 attempts from 3 go down in that fourth quarter things are probably a bit more interesting at the very least.
Turnovers
Indiana finished the game with 12 assists to 15 turnovers, 7 of which came in the second half to hinder the Hoosiers’ comeback effort.
USC ended up turning those 15 turnovers into 17 points, more than making the difference in the final margin. If Indiana is a bit more careful with the ball, we’d probably be looking at a different result.
Playing mistake-free basketball has always been an emphasis for Indiana under Teri Moren, she’s noted turnovers even after substantial wins. It’ll continue to be a factor with a performance like this one in mind.
The whistle
Here’s the thing: Indiana didn’t lose because of calls. USC shot just two more free-throws in total.
But the officiating became a factor in the game in the first half and held true through the final buzzer, for both teams. The Hoosiers and the Trojans had multiple players in deep foul trouble in the fourth quarter.
The Assembly Hall crowd and Teri Moren let their thoughts be known on the calls against the home team. There were moments when Lindsay Gottlieb vocally took issues with some of the calls on her team as well.
Of USC’s five starters, three ended the game with four fouls. The other two had three. Both teams combined for 39 fouls.
No matter how you feel about the validity of the calls, the sheer volume is going to disrupt overall game flow and be a factor. Sometimes that’s just kind of how it happens.