Indiana’s men’s and women’s basketball teams open Big Ten tournament play Thursday in Indianapolis, but the programs are heading in opposite directions.
The Hoosier men ended their season Saturday with a loss at Purdue, its fifth straight, to finish 7-12 in the Big Ten and 12-14 overall.
"Offensively, we need to get smarter," Indiana coach Archie Miller said after the game. "We have to figure out how we can do things. We have to keep teaching.
"We're getting stops, but when we get stops, and don't score, at some point, you cave in. To our guys' credit, we haven't caved in."
Sophomore center Trayce Jackson-Davis leads the Hoosiers in scoring and rebounding with 19.1 points and 9.0 rebounds per game.
Indiana will be the 10th seed for the Big Ten tournament and will face No. 7 seed Rutgers at Lucas Oil Stadium. The game is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
It’s the third time in the past five years the Hoosiers have finished 10 th or worse in the Big Ten.
The Indiana women, meanwhile, routed Purdue Saturday for their ninth straight win and finished 16-2 in the Big Ten and 18-4 overall. The 16 conference wins are the most ever for the women.
They will head into the postseason ranked No. 9 in the nation, the Hoosiers' highest ranking ever.
“The record means a lot just because of the circumstances and the kind of year, the challenges that we’ve had to endure this entire season,” Indiana coach Teri Moren said.
“It will be a season that we won’t forget for a lot of reasons. I’d like to think on a positive side, it’s going to be one that we remember because of the amount of wins we were able to get this season with this group when we had adversity throughout.”
The Hoosiers earned the No. 2 seed and will face the winner of the Penn State-Michigan State game in their conference tournament opener at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. The game is also scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
Sophomore center Mackenzie Holmes averages 18.2 points and 7.7 rebounds to lead the Hoosiers. Junior Grace Berger adds 15.1 points per game and senior Ali Patberg 14.0 points per game.
