IU ‘Locked and Ready’ For Stanford Challenge

By Pete DiPrimio

IUHoosiers.com

Forget the paradise setting of the Bahamas.

Indiana isn't messing around.

Not with the chance to make a huge national women's basketball statement, starting Thanksgiving Day against defending national champion Stanford as part of the Pink Flamingo Championship.

"We're locked in and ready to go," coach Teri Moren says.

Adds senior guard Ali Patberg: "We're here in the Bahamas, and it's incredible, but we're here for basketball. We're focused."

Focus comes amid basketball at the highest levels.

The Hoosiers (4-0) are ranked No. 4 and No. 6 in the national polls. Stanford (3-1) is No. 7 and No. 6.

"They don't beat themselves," Moren says. "We try not to do that, as well. It's a great matchup, a great challenge. They will test us in every way with the way their size and the way they move and cut."

Stanford's loss came to No. 25 Texas. It returns all five starters, led by a pair of 6-1 All-Americans in guards Haley Jones (averaging 13.7 points and 7.3 rebounds) and Lexie Hull (11.3, 6.5), plus 6-4 forward Cameron Brink (11.3 points).

The Cardinal shoot 48.2 percent from the field and average 36.3 rebounds and 5.8 blocks per game. They have 11 players 6-foot-1 and taller.

"They have really long and athletic players," Patberg says. "They run their stuff really well. They execute. Defensively, it will be imperative that we know the scouting reports."

Stanford is coached by Tara VanDerveer, the winningest coach in women's basketball history with 1,127 victories over 42 seasons. She also is a former IU guard from the mid-1970s.

"Tara is a Hall of Famer," Moren says.

Fourteen Cardinal players average at least six minutes a game.

"They are a little bigger and probably deeper than we are," Moren says. "They've got talent off their bench. They are so talented at all five spots.

"They are so good at running their offense. They play in a pretty way in terms of their cutting and spacing and back-cutting."

IU, which already has beaten No. 13 Kentucky this season, counters with forward Mackenzie Holmes (18.0 points, 6.0 rebounds) and guards Grace Berger (15.0 points) and Nicole Cardano-Hillary (13.0 points).

Forward Aleksa Gulbe averages a team-leading 7.3 rebounds.

In victories over Norfolk State and Quinnipiac, Patberg averaged 14.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, 4.0 assists to earn Big Ten player-of-the-week honors.

IU ranks third nationally in field-goal shooting (50.2) and first nationally in free throw shooting (87.9 percent).

However, the Hoosier defense has not been to their coach's liking.

"We're still giving up too many easy baskets, easy looks at the rim," Moren says. "We've always prided ourselves on that side of the ball."

The Hoosiers can't match Stanford's depth. Seven players average at least 13 minutes, although Moren hopes to utilize more of the roster moving forward.

"We have a bunch of young kids who are starting to play meaningful minutes," Moren says. "We need those kids to have an impact and be sound defensively. We've challenged our bench to step up."

Figure that will happen.

"We will be a team that continues to grow," Moren says. "Young kids don't know what they don't know. They have to play some of the best of the best.

"We've been in some real dogfights. We've really been tested."

Because of that, young players such as Keyarah Berry and Mona Zaric haven't gotten as many minutes.

"We want to win, and you win with experience," Moren says. "We have a group that's very eager."

IU will play Miami (4-0) on Saturday.

"We're thankful to play the game we love for the school we love," Patberg says.

Indiana University Athletics

IU ‘Locked and Ready’ For Stanford Challenge

Players Mentioned

Grace Berger

Aleksa Gulbe

Mackenzie Holmes

Ali Patberg

Mona Zaric

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