Indiana’s Shooting Woes, Turnovers Lead to 56-46 Loss at Butler

Indiana shot 34% from the field and committed 16 turnovers Wednesday against Butler at Hinkle Fieldhouse, leading to a 56-46 loss with rare offensive numbers under coach Teri Moren.

Indiana's Sydney Parrish (33) defended by Butler's Jocelyn Land (14) at Hinkle Fieldhouse. / Grace Smith/IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

INDIANAPOLIS – Butler coach Austin Parkinson’s defensive game plan played out just as he drew it up.

He wanted Butler to “pressure the heck out of” Indiana’s guards on the perimeter and never double-team the post. He could have done without the Bulldogs’ 35.1% shooting and their 16 turnovers, but their defense was stingy enough to take down Indiana 56-46 Wednesday at Hinkle Fieldhouse, a program he called the state’s gold standard in recent seasons. 

Indiana took a six-point lead after Shay Ciezki’s 3-pointer with 7:56 left in the third quarter, but the Hoosiers scored just 11 points the rest of the game, two of which came on a layup with two seconds remaining when the outcome was long decided. Coach Teri Moren’s team shot 34% from the field and committed 16 turnovers. 

Though Butler played defense how Parkinson wanted, he acknowledged he was shocked to hold Indiana to 46 points. Wednesday marks Indiana's first game with less than 50 points since its 69-49 loss to Northwestern on Feb. 26, 2019. It matches Indiana’s fewest points since a 68-46 loss to Michigan State on Dec. 28, 2017. It’s tied for the fewest points of Moren’s tenure, and it’s only the fourth time her Hoosiers have scored less than 50 points. 

Moren said Butler’s defense forced Indiana out of what it wanted to do in half-court offense.

“Absolutely, and I think Harvard did the same thing,” Moren said. “We just talked to the kids about it, and that is so bothersome to our staff and I know our players. You could use the term soft. You could use it. That’s part of the game plan for Indiana, is to be super physical with our guards. They don’t like that. But we have to recognize that, and we gotta bow up and be better. We just gotta be tougher. We gotta be more physical, embrace it, and realize that’s what teams are doing to us. They really try to be physical, especially in the first couple minutes of the game, and it’s really stifling. They stifled us. So yeah, it’s a problem.”

Indiana Hoosiers guard Yarden Garzon (12) dribbles against Butler at Hinkle Fieldhouse. / Grace Smith/IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

With this loss, Indiana falls to 1-2 on the season, its worst start since the 2008-09 season. The Hoosiers began this season ranked No. 25 in the AP Top 25 poll, but they fell out of the rankings after Thursday’s 72-68 overtime loss to Harvard at home, when they committed 27 turnovers. Moren was disappointed the team didn’t come out with more urgency against Butler after the Harvard loss.

“Some of our issues continue to be some of our issues,” Moren said postgame. “We’re not taking care of the ball. We’re not shooting the ball particularly well. I thought, defensively, there were moments that we were really good, but we couldn’t finish plays, gave up 11 offensive rebounds. I thought Butler, give them credit, they played with a greater sense of urgency.”   

It doesn’t get any easier moving forward, as Indiana returns to Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall for a high-profile nonconference matchup against No. 24 Stanford, which has reached the Final Four nine times since 2008. The game is set for Sunday at 2 p.m. ET, and it will air on FS1. After 38 seasons under coach Tara VanDerveer in the Pac-12, Stanford joined the ACC ahead of its first season under coach Kate Paye.

Parkinson recalled Butler’s 67-50 loss to Indiana at Assembly Hall on Dec. 21, 2022, after Wednesday’s game. He remembered being so focused on double-teaming Indiana’s all-time leading scorer, Mackenzie Holmes, in the post that current Hoosiers like Sydney Parrish and Yarden Garzon were freed up to make 5-of-12 3-pointers. But with Holmes gone, Parkinson completely changed Butler’s game plan, and Indiana couldn’t adjust. 

Forwards Lilly Meister and Karoline Striplin are expected to fill in for Holmes, and they combined for eight points on 3-for-13 shooting and just five rebounds. Meister turned the ball over twice, and both players committed three fouls. The Bulldogs opted not to double team Meister and Striplin, which allowed them to increase the pressure on Indiana’s guards. 

"Certainly you miss Mackenzie, but I miss Sara Scalia too, right. Lilly has to be better. Striplin has to be better. There's no other way to say it. Those two have to be better for us," Moren said. "We have to have great balance. We have to have an inside presence, and Lilly, this was not one of her best games and she knows that. But Strip has to give us something, too, when we go to our bench."

Parrish finished 3 for 12 from the field and 1 for 7 from 3-point range, along with eight rebounds and two turnovers. Yarden Garzon and Chloe Moore-McNeil combined to shoot 5 for 10 from the field, and Ciezki matched that on her own. But Ciezki committed a team-high five turnovers, while Garzon and Moore-McNeil added two apiece. 

“We gotta remain confident, right, that we still have an old team, and the things that we have in, we gotta, offensively, look a lot better,” Moren said. “Again, it starts with taking care of the ball. It starts with embracing the physicality. But it starts with we gotta shoot the ball better. … It’s a hard game when you can’t score.”

Indiana's Chloe Moore-McNeil (22) defended by Butler's Karsyn Norman (1) at Hinkle Fieldhouse. / Grace Smith/IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

For a moment in the second quarter, Indiana threatened to pull away. A 3-pointer from Yarden Garzon, followed by an offensive rebound and put-back from Sydney Parrish gave Indiana a 26-20 lead, its largest lead to that point. Butler called a timeout after the 7-2 run, and perhaps that helped to flip the momentum.

After an offensive foul from Parrish, Indiana was slow to close out on a 3-pointer from Butler’s Caroline Strande. Parrish jumped the passing lane for a steal shortly after, but she missed the fast-break layup. With less than a minute left in the second quarter, Moore-McNeil got her second steal of the game, but Parrish missed the transition 3-pointer. 

Those kinds of missed opportunities hurt Indiana in the first half. After leading by as many as six points and looking like it may pull away, Indiana’s lead was back down to 28-26 at halftime. The Hoosiers shot 39.1% from the field in the first half and committed nine turnovers, but Butler wasn’t much better at 40% and nine turnovers.

Indiana pushed its lead back to six points with a quick start to the second half. Parrish deterred a Butler layup, which led to a Ciezki layup going the other way. Moore-McNeil took her third steal coast to coast for an easy layup, and Ciezki’s 3-pointer gave the Hoosiers a 35-29 lead with 7:56 left in the third.

But like the first half, right when it seemed Indiana might be ready to create some breathing room, Butler answered right back. In less than a minute, Norman and Riley Makalusky each made 3-pointers to tie the game at 35. During that run, Indiana went on a scoring drought from 7:56 to 2:49, with four turnovers and 0-for-5 shooting. Striplin ended the drought, only for Indiana to go scoreless from 2:49 until the third-quarter buzzer. 

The Hoosiers didn’t surrender in the fourth quarter, though. Garzon made her second 3-pointer of the game, and a Ciezki pull-up jumper cut Butler’s lead to 44-42 with 7:59 to play. Butler called a timeout in hopes of calming the Hoosiers’ run, such was the nature of Wednesday’s back-and-forth game.

In the final five minutes of the game, Indiana generated several shots around the basket. Garzon used a screen near the free throw line to get to the basket, but her layup rolled around the rim and out. Striplin and Meister both had looks in the paint but couldn’t get their layups to fall. 

Sydney Jaynes extended the Bulldogs’ lead to 50-44 at the 2:36 mark with a mid-range jumper and a layup. A Moore-McNeil turnover and two missed 3-pointers from Parrish shut down any potential for an Indiana comeback after nearly five minutes without scoring. 

The Hoosiers’ only hope was to foul, and Butler iced the game with six free throws in the final minute. Butler outscored Indiana 30-18 in the second half and held the Hoosiers below 10 points in the third and fourth quarter. 

Indiana's Karoline Striplin (11) against Butler at Hinkle Fieldhouse. / Grace Smith/IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Moren and Parrish know Indiana must improve in a variety of areas, but they have not lost hope in the season.

“It’s game three, we’re good. It sucks. It hurts. It hurt last game,” Parrish said. “We’re about to face a really good Stanford team, and we gotta be better.”

“We still have a lot of things that we have to work on in order for us to continue to get better and do the things we want to do. So once again, disappointed, but I still love this group and I think that we have a ton of potential. We’re just having to work through some things right now, so we’re gonna continue to fight.”