Indiana Women's Basketball Starts Off Big Ten Play with Penn State at Home

Indiana has only two losses this season falling to last year's reigning NCAA champion, Stanford, and last year's top seed, N.C. State. Head coach Teri Moren believes these tough matchups will prepare her team for Big Ten play, a challenging conference. Indiana will face Penn State at home to get the Big Ten show started.

IU Athletics

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — The No. 6-ranked Hoosiers will start Big Ten play at home versus the Penn State Nittany Lions. 

Penn State leads the series 33-17, but last season, Indiana shut down the Nittany Lions 90-65. The Hoosiers have won the last eight of nine matchups and have a four-game winning streak.

Penn State is currently stuck in a rut this season after a three-game losing streak, most recently to Boston College in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge.

The team is led by junior guard Makenna Marisa who's averaging 21.4 points and 5.5 assists per game. Transfer sophomore forward Ali Brigham adds 13.1 points per game and a team high 5.4 average rebounds.

Indiana is sitting at 5-2 after its loss against No. 2-ranked N.C. State, the team it knocked out of the NCAA tournament in the Sweet Sixteen round last season, on Thursday. 

The game was close until the fourth quarter when the Wolfpack secured their win 66-58 gaining redemption in the process.

"Like any loss, any time you come up short, there's going to be things inside the games that we're going to learn," Indiana head coach Teri Moren said. "We got to put that in the back and forget about it and worry about a really good Penn State team."

The Hoosiers shot 33.8% from the field, a percentage that simply won't win games. Moren said she was pleased with her team's defense, but the shots weren't falling, except for those that came off the hands of junior forward Mackenzie Holmes.

Holmes led the Hoosiers with 24 points and and also added four rebounds. 

"I don't know if it was so much we struggled with our defense rather than we just weren't hitting shots," Holmes said. "I think we got a lot of good looks actually."

Moren agrees. There were plenty of times when the Hoosiers went for three-pointers but ended up with a 29.2% from the arc. 

Even still, N.C. State is predicted to win the ACC conference and has plenty of weapons to do so. Moren thought Indiana did a great job at stopping 6'5" forward Elissa Cunane, a player she knew would be a problem.

"Those games against teams like the Stanfords, the N.C. States, they're going to serve us well in the Big Ten because we know how big a grind that is," Moren said.

Tipoff versus Penn State is Monday at 6 p.m. ET at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall on Big Ten Network. 

Let conference play begin.

How to watch Penn State at Indiana

• Who: Penn State Nittany Lions (4-4) vs. Indiana Hoosiers (5-2)
• When: 6 p.m. ET, Monday, Dec. 6
• Where: Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall, Bloomington, Ind.
• TV: Big Ten Network
• Radio: WHCC 105.1 FM

Related stories on Indiana women's basketball

• INDIANA FALLS TO NO. 2 N.C. STATE IN SWEET SIXTEEN REMATCH: Last season, the Hoosiers knocked out the top seeded N.C. State in the NCAA tournament Sweet Sixteen game. The narrative is different Thursday in Bloomington after the Wolfpack redeemed themselves defeating Indiana 66-58 in a top ten matchup thriller. CLICK HERE.
• LOOKING BACK AND AHEAD TO INDIANA'S MATCHUP VERSUS N.C. STATE: Last season, Indiana knocked out No. 1-seed N.C. State in the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA Tournament. Now, the Wolfpack head to Bloomington for what coach Teri Moren thinks will be a thrilling game in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge on Thursday night. CLICK HERE.
• INDIANA RANKS NO. 6 IN AP POLL: After its 69-66 loss to defending national champion Stanford on Thursday, Indiana fell in the weekly Associated Press top-25 poll, but only to No. 6 from No. 4. CLICK HERE.