Indiana women's basketball coach Teri Moren did not hold back after her team's 72-68 overtime loss to unranked Harvard, marking a rare home defeat that ended the Hoosiers' 18-game winning streak in Bloomington. The No. 25 Hoosiers, who struggled across multiple facets of the game, now face what the team has described as a period of “soul searching” after a second straight disappointing performance.
The Hoosiers were outscored 28-24 in the paint and failed to register any fast break points. Even more concerning was Indiana’s turnover count — 27 in total, the second most in Moren's tenure. The turnovers came in various ways, with Harvard's aggressive full-court press exposing Indiana’s weaknesses. In a critical overtime moment, Chloe Moore-McNeil mishandled an inbound pass from Sydney Parrish, a sequence Moren pointed to as emblematic of the team's struggles. Moore-McNeil described the experience as “soul searching,” adding, “We're Indiana, we have our expectations as well, and clearly that was not it at all.”
‘Those are uncharacteristic of us, that's not what we normally look like,” Moren said, as reported by Michael Niziolek of The Herald-Times. “I'm more perplexed by it than worried because I know this group well enough to know they are competitors. They want to get it right and I'm confident that they will.”
Beyond just physical errors, Moren noted Indiana’s mental lapses, especially early on. She cited moments where her players seemed to “panic” under pressure.
“The hardest part about that is that the pressure was no surprise,” Moore-McNeil said.
The Hoosiers’ lack of composure became evident as Harvard intensified its press defense, exploiting Indiana's inability to execute under pressure. Moren had hoped the team could avoid the mistakes that plagued them in similar situations last season, like when they turned the ball over 22 times in a loss to Ohio State.
Looking ahead, Moren acknowledged that growth will take time, indicating that it may be a few games before the Hoosiers can regroup. The team’s veteran core, including Moore-McNeil and Parrish, will need to lead the way in tightening up Indiana's game.
The Hoosiers opened their season with a 82-60 win at home against Brown on Nov. 4. Next, Indiana will face Butler University on Nov. 13.
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