Indiana Women's Basketball Prepares for 'Blizzard' Northwestern Zone on Sunday

The Hoosiers will hit the road Sunday, Jan. 8 to face a blizzard-like Northwestern zone defense. Match details and how to watch are inside the story.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Indiana women's basketball will face Northwestern in its fourth road game of the season in Evanston, Ill. on Sunday, Jan. 8.

No. 6 Indiana is coming off of an overtime win over Nebraska on New Year's Day while the Wildcats are fresh off three losses. Northwestern has yet to beat a Big Ten team but came within six points in its defeat to Illinois on Thursday.

The Wildcats are led by sophomore forward Caileigh Walsh, who's averaging 12.3 points per game followed by graduate student guard/forward Sydney Wood with 11.6. 

Northwestern averages 65.6 points per game and allows its opponent to score 70.1 per contest. The good news for Indiana is Northwestern former guard Veronica Burton, who led the Big Ten in steals last season with 45 more than the Hoosiers' Nicole Cardaño-Hillary, has since graduated and now plays for the Dallas Wings.

Without Burton, the Wildcats are figuring out their defense while offering a unique zone the Hoosiers are preparing for through film.

"They have a funky zone," Moren said. "You got to be able to hit shots but can't fall in love with the three ball either. You got to have a balanced attack inside and outside."

Moren said Wildcats head coach Joe McKeown, who's been coaching Northwestern for 14 seasons, is a strategic coach and will try to take things away from Indiana that it likes to do starting with leading scorer Mackenzie Holmes. 

"They're really going to hard double Mack inside of that, as they call it, blizzard zone," Moren said.

Holmes is averaging 20.9 points per game while four other players including the injured Grace Berger are also achieve double-figure scoring.

"Mack just has to continue to get better and stay patient," Moren said. "She's either going to have to catch it and score quick and or facilitate, and she's capable of doing both."

The Hoosiers haven't gotten a road win since Dec. 8 versus Penn State as Indiana most recently dropped its first game of the season to Michigan State after a long winter break. With a new year routine and time to get healthy, Moren said she's confident her guards can handle themselves in any zone scenario.

"Ball movement, body movement is going to be really important against that zone," Moren said.  

How to Watch Indiana Vs. Northwestern

• Who: No. 6 Indiana Hoosiers (13-1)(3-1) vs. Northwestern Wildcats (6-8)(0-4)
• When: Sunday, Jan. 8, 2023, 3 p.m. ET
• Where: Welsh-Ryan Arena — Evanston, Ill.
• Broadcast: B1G+
• Radio: whcc105.com

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