Indiana women’s basketball returns to Big Ten action on Monday evening, taking on Big Ten foe Minnesota at home.
Minnesota is a program that’s had the tools to be a consistent winner for a fair amount of time now and has been on the rise under head coach Dawn Plitzuweit, a Midwest native who was hired in 2023. The Golden Gophers are poised to give the Hoosiers a challenge.
Here’s three things to know about Minnesota:
Notable game: Maryland 100, Minnesota 99 in 2OT
Minnesota very nearly knocked off Maryland, and former Indiana star Yarden Garzon,
in a home matchup earlier this month that went into two overtimes.
Gophers guard Grace Grocholski (more on her later) went off for 31 points on 9-12 shooting from the 3-point line while dishing out six assists to just two turnovers. Minnesota as a whole shot 40% from deep but 19 turnovers kept it from pulling off the upset.
Key stat: 18.7 assists per game
Minnesota loves sharing the basketball.
Here’s how many assists the Gophers’ leaders in the category average, in descending order: 4.2, 3.3, 3, 2.3, 2.3. If you wanna get on the court for Plitzuweit, you’re gonna have to sacrifice some decent shots for good shots and good shots for great shots.
Indiana’s going to have to play with discipline on the defensive end of the court to keep Minnesota from finding any sort of rhythm with all that passing. Much of the Hoosiers’ roster is new to Bloomington and Teri Moren’s defensive principles, so this will be at worse a great teaching opportunity for Indiana’s staff. Forcing some turnovers and getting hands in passing lanes would go a long way.
Player to watch: G Grace Grocholski
As stated above, Grocholski went off against Maryland and nearly willed Minnesota to pull of the upset with some extremely hot shooting.
She’s not a volume scorer or ball dominant, she averages 13.3 points, 4.9 rebounds and 3.3 assists while shooting a blistering 51.7% from the 3-point line in 29.9 minutes per game. The Gophers’ next leading scorers average 12.8 and 11.3 points, it’s a balanced attack that relies on passing.
But she can’t be left alone at the 3-point line. You see the shooting percentage, it’s right up there, that’s wild. Indiana’s gotta stick to her even when she doesn’t have the ball, which is gonna help open up the Gopher offense a bit more. It’s a pick your poison, and you can live with someone else taking that shot. Not Grocholski.
