Indiana Women’s Basketball Draws No. 9 Seed in Big Ten Tournament

With a win Sunday afternoon over the Purdue Boilermakers that put Indiana at 10-8 in Big Ten play, the Hoosiers have earned a nine seed in this week’s Big Ten Tournament.

With the nine seed, Indiana gets a first round bye and will begin postseason play in the second round Thursday against the eighth seeded Oregon Ducks.

The 2025 Women’s Basketball Big Ten Tournament will be held in Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianpolis. Of the 15 teams in the field, the Hoosiers are the closest geographically, and should have a big fan presence at the event.

Indiana and Oregon have already met once this season, a game Indiana lost 54-47 on the road in late January. The Hoosiers led for three quarters in that game, before losing the fourth quarter 20-11 in a loss that dropped them to 4-4 in Big Ten play.

The loss at Oregon was one in which all of Indiana’s recurring issues reared their heads. The team shot poorly from 3-point range, got out-rebounded by the Ducks, and lost the turnover battle by six.

Since that meeting Indiana has shown flashes of being dominant, like in a pair of big wins over Purdue and a 10-point home victory over Ohio State.

Indiana has struggled to be the team that beat the top-10 Buckeyes with any consistency, though. Before beating Purdue in a Quad Four road game, Indiana had dropped three straight road games, and lost both of the big matchups after the Ohio State game – road game in East Lansing and senior night against Maryland.

The winner of the rematch between Oregon and Indiana will take on JuJu Watkins and the No. 2 USC Trojans Friday afternoon.

Indiana hosted USC earlier in this season, losing 73-66 in another hard-fought battle with an elite opponent. The Hoosiers won the first and third quarters, but were unable to control the bleeding when the Trojans went on runs, which cost them the game.

The Hoosiers also struggled to defend Watkins last time out. She went for 22 points, six rebounds, and two steals on 2-4 shooting from 3-point range, something Indiana did not have an answer for.

Indiana will need to be at its best to even earn a rematch with Watkins and USC. The Hoosiers didn’t have their worst game against Oregon the first time out, but will need to play a full four quarters Thursday afternoon to advance to the Friday Quarterfinal