Indiana’s first taste of the new West Coast Big Ten teams was a battle. The Hoosiers suffered their first loss in conference play this season at the hands of No. 1 UCLA by a score of 73-62. Despite the double-digit UCLA win, Indiana never fully let the Bruins take control in this game.
A second-quarter slump doomed Indiana’s chances
There was no room for error in a game against the nation’s top team. Therefore, a second quarter where the Hoosiers only scored five points dug them into a big hole. Getting out of that hole in the second 10 minutes was important since UCLA is ninth in the nation in scoring margin (winning by an average of more than 31 points per game).
It also did not help that Indiana had more turnovers (seven) than points (five) in this quarter. This, combined with the seven Hoosier fouls, allowed UCLA to take advantage and convert into easy buckets.
Indiana had no answer for Lauren Betts
UCLA junior center Lauren Betts is a big mismatch for nearly an opponent at 6-foot-7, but especially for Indiana, who does not have a player over 6-foot-3. Betts’s size allowed her to do whatever she wanted when she got the ball in the low block. She had her ninth double-double of the season with 25 points and 12 rebounds.
IU’s only solution was to throw multiple defenders at Betts, but this led to wide-open buckets for players like Kiki Rice and Gabriela Jaquez and 19 assists for UCLA as a team.
Betts wreaked havoc on both sides of the ball with two blocks and helped to hold Indiana’s post players to 6-for-15 shooting.
Three-point shooting woes hurt the Hoosiers badly
With Betts in the paint, Indiana needed to shoot well from behind the arc to score points in different ways. However, this did not happen. Indiana went 4-for-21 from 3-point range, which was their second-least amount of makes this season.
Missing open looks like the Hoosiers did Saturday hurt their chances of getting closer in this game.
Shooting this way against Big Ten opponents who have talented centers and power forwards like Betts could hurt Indiana in the future if their frontcourt struggles as it did Saturday.
