Indiana Women's Basketball: Chloe Moore-McNeil Morphed Into Playmaker and Elite Defender

Junior guard Chloe Moore-McNeil earned her starting spot this season and works to keep it as she's tasked with guarding the opposing team's best players all while tearing it up from beyond the arc just like she did versus Michigan Thursday night.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — In the Hoosiers' Thursday night win over No. 12 Michigan, junior guard Chloe Moore-McNeil sank three triples and totaled a game-high three steals to help Indiana women's basketball to its 25th win, the single-season record for the program.

"She's spent really good time in the weight room," Indiana head coach Teri Moren said. 

"If you look at pictures from Chloe now to what she looked like as a freshman, her little string bean self coming in here, she's morphed into an athletic, sturdy, strong playmaker yeah, but elite defender for us."

Last season, the Sharon, Tenn. native came in off the bench for some great minutes and even earned a pair of starts, but her game has amplified this season as she's been in charge of guarding the opposing team's best player.

"Night after night, I just tell myself I can do this and take pride in my one-on-one defense," Moore McNeil said.

Thursday night, Moore-McNeil's three steals all came in the first half as the No. 2 Hoosiers cruised to a 68-52 win over the Wolverines. Before that, the guard had the daunting task of guarding Iowa's Caitlin Clark, the reigning Big Ten Player of the Year.

Clark will be Clark as she dropped 35 points in Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall on Feb. 9, but Moore-McNeil helped force four fouls out of the elite player.

When your game improves, so does the leadership aspect as Moore-McNeil displayed patience while waiting for her moment to become a starter and leader on the floor.

Moren said because of this, she's a great story, and she is the team's MVP for controlling the offense while senior guard Grace Berger was out earlier this season with a right knee injury.

"I think my growth has come from a mental standpoint, being confident in myself," Moore-McNeil said. "Since I've gotten here, my teammates, the coaching staff, they believe in me, so I think it's about time I believe in myself."

Senior forward Mackenzie Holmes said she saw Moore-McNeil begin to lead last year. Everyone respects her and wants to follow suit with what she's doing, she said.

"I think Chloe's the type of person she's not one of the people that is constantly talking, but when she has something to say, everyone listens because we know it's going to be something important," Holmes said. 

Moore-McNeil has her toughest challenges ahead of her as she once again awaits Purdue and Iowa's best players to guard. Then, the pressure is on as the postseason rolls around with the Hoosiers trying to make a run at their first banner.

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