No. 16 Indiana Women's Basketball Hosts Illinois Sunday to Continue Big Ten Play

Indiana will play Illinois to resume the team’s Big Ten schedule for the remainder of the regular season. The Hoosiers won nine consecutive games to finish their nonconference schedule. The New Year’s Eve game will air on the Big Ten Network.

Indiana women’s basketball welcomes Illinois to Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall Sunday at 12:30 p.m. ET for the New Year’s Eve resumption of Big Ten play. 

The Hoosiers (10-1) enter the contest having cruised to two blowout wins at home last week. The Illini (6-5), No. 62 in the NET, are one of the few Big Ten teams to have traded wins and losses in their nonconference slate.

Regardless, Indiana’s entire starting lineup of returners is likely vigilant not to overlook Illinois. When these teams met last season in the conference opener in Bloomington, the Hoosiers barely snuck by, 65-61. Indiana’s Mackenzie Holmes had 23 points, and helped ice the win in the final minute. 

The Illini’s then-junior guard Makira Cook scored her season-high 33 points. The unanimous All-Big Ten first team selection by the conference’s coaches returned this season, though missed the team’s opening three games due to an injury. The senior’s field goal and three-point percentages both have currently declined in smaller sample size from last season — yet Cook still has averaged double-digit points — and the Illini have other scorers.

Senior guard Genesis Bryant has shot 23-for-55, or 41.8% from three this year and 85% at the free throw line. Bryant leads the team by averaging 15.2 points per contest. Forward Kendall Bostic, who snagged 14 rebounds at Indiana last season, posts the best field-goal percentage in the Big Ten through 11 games at about 70%.

“We're gonna have to be really good,” Indiana head coach Teri Moren said Friday. “How good that they are and the difficulties we had with them [last season] … Whether it's Sara [Scalia] guarding Genesis or Chloe [Moore-McNeil] guarding Cook, it doesn't matter. It is one-on-one, but we're gonna have to have an awful lot of help from our post players, cause they’re going to come off of a lot of high ball screens. Those coverages are going to have to be on point.”

Indiana remains an unbeaten 6-0 at home this season, and Illinois is 0-1 on the road. The Illini got crushed by Michigan 84-48 in their Big Ten opener in Ann Arbor, while the Hoosiers bested Rutgers on the road by 10 points in theirs. Like Illinois, Indiana returns plenty of veterans and All-Big Ten selections to the 2023-2024 starting lineup. Scalia recorded her best game with Indiana last week, hitting eight three-pointers for 32 points. Yarden Garzon had 30 the game before.

The Hoosiers have won the past 15 straight meetings with Illinois, and will try for 16 straight Sunday afternoon. Last season’s four-point game in Assembly Hall was the closest score these teams have kept it in Bloomington since the Hoosiers won 68-66 back in the 2015-2016 season. The game starts at 12:30 p.m. ET on Sunday and will air on the Big Ten Network.

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• NONCONFERENCE RECAP, BIG TEN OUTLOOKS: Here is a look back at what we learned from nonconference play, a look forward at the Big Ten and thoughts on the roster thus far. CLICK HERE
• INDIANA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL 2023 REWIND: To wrap up 2023, here are the most memorable moments from this past — and ongoing — Indiana women’s basketball seasons. CLICK HERE
• SARA SCALIA HAS CAREER NIGHT, MAKES EIGHT THREES: Indiana women's basketball hosted Bowling Green in the team's nonconference finale Friday night at Assembly Hall. The Hoosiers won 84-35, as Sara Scalia had her best game in an Indiana uniform. CLICK HERE
• INDIANA BEATS EVANSVILLE, GARZON SCORES 30: Indiana beat Evansville Monday night in the return to Assembly Hall. Sophomore Yarden Garzon scored 30 points, and three other starters reached double figure points. CLICK HERE