Indiana Women's Basketball Becomes Outright Regular Season Big Ten Title Champions

After No. 7 Maryland defeated No. 6 Iowa Tuesday night, the Indiana women's basketball team became the outright Big Ten regular season title champions.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Indiana women's basketball is now the outright Big Ten regular season title champion as of Tuesday night.

𝗢𝘂𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁. 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀. 🏆

For the first time in 40 years, @IndianaWBB are @B1Gwbball champions. pic.twitter.com/J5R2neZ6Ka

— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) February 22, 2023

Sunday afternoon, the No. 2 Hoosiers did their part by defeating Purdue 83-60 to at least clinch a share of the title. All that could be done after the win was focus on defeating No. 6 Iowa in the Hoosiers' final regular season game on Sunday and sit back and see if they'd get the Big Ten title to themselves.

Tuesday night, No. 7 Maryland destroyed Iowa 96-68 in College Park as four Terrapins popped off for double-figure points while Hawkeyes guard Caitlin Clark was limited to 18, a slow night for the talent.

With one game left on the schedule, the best Maryland could potentially finish the Big Ten slate is 15-3 if it beats Ohio State on Friday. Since Iowa lost, the best it could do is also 15-3 if it beats Indiana on Sunday.

The Hoosiers are 16-1 in conference and have a shot at making that even better at 17-1 as they head to Iowa City.

© Rich Janzaruk/Herald-Times / USA TODAY NETWORK

"So many people kept saying to me from the media perspective, 'what a road you guys have in order to clinch a Big Ten championship'," Indiana head coach Teri Moren said.

Those people were right as Indiana has faced ranked opponent after ranked opponent, which led to Moren crediting the Big Ten as the best conference in the country this season.

"I clearly have talked about our stretch, the gauntlet, that we had after Iowa going to Ohio State and having to play a really good Michigan team, having to play a really good Purdue team, and then having to be on the road to finish it, and so we knew the stretch was going to be challenging," Moren said.

On Feb. 9, Indiana beat a No. 5 Iowa team at home and then turned around four days later and beat a No. 13 Ohio State on the road by more than 20 points. The Hoosiers returned back home to defeat No. 12 Michigan Thursday night by a sizable amount before handling rival Purdue to clinch the title.

"There was this mindset if we can do it in front of our home crowd, what a great experience and moment and memory that's going to be for our players," Moren said.

"To be able to do it in front of 17,000 fans, our friends, our families, certainly makes it extra special."

Although Iowa lost big on the road Tuesday night, the Hawkeyes are still going to be another tremendous challenge for the visiting Hoosiers looking to finish their regular season with just one blemish.

Related stories on Indiana women's basketball

• NO. 1 SOUTH CAROLINA COMPARED TO NO. 2 INDIANA South Carolina is the best team in the country as it's the last undefeated squad, but Indiana is right behind the Gamecocks with only one loss and could potentially meet them in the NCAA tournament if both teams make a deep run. See how its seasons compare. CLICK HERE
• SYDNEY PARRISH MADE THE RIGHT CALL Junior guard Sydney Parrish from Fishers, Ind. never got to cut down a net while playing with Oregon for two seasons. Now, Parrish is a starter for the Hoosiers and has a Big Ten regular season title on her resume. It's good to be back home. CLICK HERE
• GUARD GRACE BERGER — THE HEART AND SOUL OF INDIANA BASKETBALL Graduate student point guard Grace Berger has been nicknamed the heart of the No. 2 Indiana women's basketball team. She certainly was tugging at Coach Teri Moren's heart strings as she played her final regular season home game in Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall on Sunday for Senior Day. CLICK HERE