UCLA women’s basketball goes to Indiana on Saturday to face the Hoosiers. If you want one big game key — the one thing UCLA must do in Bloomington — it’s very simple. The Bruins must limit Indiana’s effectiveness as a 3-point-shooting team.
The Indiana blog site Crimson Quarry laid out the details on this point:
Indiana’s greatest strength offensively is its shooting ability from beyond the arc. You’d feel good about all but one of the Hoosiers’ usual starters (Meister) taking shots from deep.
When Indiana had to contend with South Carolina’s size in last year’s Sweet Sixteen, Teri Moren leaned on a gameplan that heavily emphasized the Hoosiers’ shooting ability from deep and it helped the team nearly come back and threaten the Gamecocks in the closing minutes.
UCLA’s Cori Close is well aware of Indiana’s shooting and is preparing the Bruins to run the Hoosiers’ off the three point line. Any attempts in the paint are going to have to contend with Betts looming, so Indiana has to find a way to shoot.
The Hoosiers will need big games from Yarden Garzon and Shay Ciezki in order to have a shot in this one. Help from Chloe Moore-McNeil, Sydney Parrish or even Henna Sandvik off the bench would go a long way.
The game starts just after 9 a.m. Pacific time on Fox Sports.