Indiana falls to USC in a hard-fought close game in Quarterfinal of B1G Tournament

Indiana was looking to be the second-ever No. 9 seed to take down the No. 1 seed in the Big Ten WBB Tournament but was unable to complete the accomplishment as they fell to the USC Trojans 85-79 on Friday in the Quarterfinal of the Big Ten Tournament.

The Hoosiers put up a good fight all throughout the game, but with about minutes left in the game, their offense went ice cold, allowing the Trojans to play the game to their speed and put it away to get the win. Indiana knew they would need to stop superstar JuJu Watkins in order to give themselves the best chance to win, but the star sophomore still went off for 31 points as well as 10 rebounds for the double-double against the Hoosiers.

Indiana put up a good fight, but their three-point shooting, which was key to their win over the Oregon Ducks yesterday, was nowhere to be found. Yaden Garzon, the leading scorer for the Hoosiers with 23 points, was one of just four Hoosiers to hit three-pointers in today’s game. The Hoosiers made eight shots from deep, but Garzon hit over half of them five.

Indiana, however, only shot 39.7% from the floor where, as USC shot a whopping 46.8% from the floor. Fouls were problems for both sides, as the Hoosiers and Trojans had multiple players in foul trouble. Only one player from both sides fouled out, with Kiki Irifen fouling out for USC late and Sydney Parrish fouling out of the game without about six minutes left, a huge hit offensively for Indiana.

Indiana’s balanced scoring continued again today as four of its five starters scored in double digits, with Parrish being the only one in single digits, but had she not fouled out; she probably would have found the last two points she needed.

Indiana will now await to see where they will fall in the NCAA Tournament, but at this point, they are almost guaranteed in as the Big Ten will send potentially 12 teams to the tournament this year, which would be a record. The Hoosiers will know where they fall on Selection Sunday at 8:00 p.m. EST.