The Indiana Hoosiers found themselves in a must-win game against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights on Wednesday. With their Big Ten Tournament hopes hanging in the balance, the Hoosiers overcame a slate of early turnovers to leave Piscataway with a much-needed win.
The game was extremely physical and fast-paced from the opening tip. Looking to set the tone early, Rutgers came out with a full-court press on defense that gave the Hoosiers fits. The Hoosiers had a whopping 8 turnovers by the end of the first quarter and had found themselves in a ten-point hole two separate times through the first.
Things did not get much better in the second quarter as the Hoosiers committed 6 more turnovers to bring the first half total to 14, matching the Hoosiers per game average. At one point, Rutgers had more steals than Indiana had made two-pointers. Despite the turnovers, the Hoosiers were continuing to hang around thanks to their shooting from behind the arc. Shay Ciezki and Maya Makalusky each had 3 made threes, leading the team at half with 11 and 9 points, respectively.
Almost immediately after the second half got underway, the Hoosiers found themselves in trouble. The combination of Indiana going cold from behind the arc and Rutgers heating up led to the Hoosiers quickly facing another 10-point deficit. In a scoring drought, the Hoosiers needed someone to step up and get a basket to stop the bleeding.
This is where freshman guard Nevaeh Caffey answered the call. Caffey quickly discovered that Rutgers couldn’t handle her speed or ball-handling and began driving to the basket. Caffey made three quick contested layups that helped cut the deficit to just three, the closest it had been since the second half started. Caffey finished her strong third quarter with a last-second three to keep the Hoosiers within striking distance.
With Caffey emerging as a scorer, Rutgers was forced to double her, allowing other Hoosiers, such as Ciezki and Makalusky, to get going. The Hoosiers trio ended with 21 points for Ciezki, 19 points for Makalusky, and 14 points for Caffey.
After continuing to hang around, the Hoosiers finally took the lead with 4:52 left to play off of a Ciezki layup. From that point on the Hoosiers did not look back, shutting out Rutgers in the last 2:46 minutes of the game, eventually winning by 10.
With this win, the Hoosiers have kept their hopes of making the Big Ten Tournament firmly alive. With the Penn State win on Wednesday, the Hoosiers’ tournament fate will come down to a matchup with the Nittany Lions at Assembly Hall on Saturday.