BLOOMINGTON — Indiana women’s basketball has a rebounding problem.
The players know it. The coaches know it. They all know that if they aren’t able to clean up their rebounding, Big Ten play is going to be a gauntlet.
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“It’s about to get real with these kids,” Hoosiers coach Teri Moren said after their final nonconference game of the season Sunday. “Going into Big Ten play, they’re going to learn, hopefully sooner than later — it’s not going to take us two or three Big Ten games to figure out that we got to do a better job on the boards. They need to figure it out right now, because it’s something that we continue to talk about and talk about and talk about. If they’re not disappointed, that’s a problem. That is an absolute problem if you’re not disappointed that they got out rebounded by a team that we should have clearly not allowed that to happen.”
IU came out of nonconference play with an easy win on Sunday afternoon, taking down Western Carolina 71-44 at Assembly Hall. But one stat glared out at them from the box score: rebounding.
Western Carolina, a mid-major Southern Conference team, outrebounded Indiana at a 34-30 margin. The Catamounts grabbed 11 offensive rebounds, leading to 12 second-chance points. It was the second straight game that the Hoosiers were outrebounded by a mid-major team — Indiana scraped by Eastern Michigan 74-67 last week and lost the rebounding battle 39-31. Eastern Michigan grabbed 11 offensive rebounds for eight second-chance points.
In nonconference situations, when IU is clearly the better team, those rebounding numbers don’t matter much in the grand scheme of the game. But as the season turns to Big Ten play, and IU is evenly matched or over-matched, those rebounding numbers could play a big role in a win vs. a loss.
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The Hoosiers have, though, played with a thin bench the past couple games, especially in the frontcourt. Starting center Zania Socka-Nguemen has been out since Nov. 28 with a lower leg injury, while forward Faith Wiseman was hit in the jaw in practice and has missed three games. Forward Valentyna Kadlecova also left the program Dec. 15.
That has led to a small-ball style at times for IU, with forward Maya Makalusky needing to step in at the 5 at times and guard Lenee Beaumont needing to play the 4.
“It’s rebound by committee,” Beaumont said. “Speaking for myself, personally, I have to be better on the board to help our posts, our fours and our fives, especially if I’m at that four position, I’ve got to be relied on to get some rebounds. In the Big Ten, we’re not going to win games if we are outrebounded every day. We work on it every single day, so we’re going to continue to improve in it.”
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The Hoosiers do multiple rebounding drills every practice, Moren said, including ones where they rebound from the free-throw line. It will become even more of an emphasis as IU prepares for Minnesota on Dec. 29 following their holiday break.
“Rebounding is more heart, toughness and determination than it is anything else, right?” Moren said. “We have to continue to emphasize it, we have to continue to demand it, and at some point they’re going to have to take pride in doing it. Because if they don’t, that will be one of the reasons why we’ll have a hard time having any level of success, whether it’s non-conference or conference.”
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This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana women’s basketball rebounding problem must improve before Big Ten play
