On Sunday at 11:00 AM PT on FS1, No. 24 Stanford women’s basketball will take on the Indiana Hoosiers on the road in Bloomington. Stanford comes in at 4-0 overall while Indiana comes in at 1-2.
Last time out: Stanford is coming off a 69-56 victory over UC Davis on Wednesday. UC Davis took a brief lead at the end of the 3rd quarter, but Stanford was able to pull away in the 4th quarter. Nunu Agara led the way for the Cardinal with 25 points and 10 rebounds.
RECAP: No. 24 Stanford WBB pulls out gritty victory against UC Davis
On Indiana: The Hoosiers are off to a bit of a rough start. After soundly beating Brown 82-60, they fell to Harvard at home in overtime by a final score of 72-68 and then followed that up with a road loss to Butler by a final score of 56-46.
The Hoosiers are led by junior guard Yarden Garzon, who is averaging 15.3 points and 3.0 rebounds per game. Junior forward Lilly Meister (12.3 rebounds & 7.7 rebounds) and graduate student guard Sydney Parrish (11.3 points & 8.0 rebounds) are also scoring in double figures.
As a team, the Hoosiers are averaging 65.3 points per game on 40.3% shooting from the field, 25.5% shooting from 3-point range, and 84.4% shooting from the foul line. They’re averaging 37.7 rebounds, 11.7 assists, 8.7 steals, 2.7 blocks, and 20.3 turnovers per game. They also average a +7.0 rebound margin. Their opponents are averaging 62.7 points per game on 38.3% shooting from the field, 32.5% shooting from 3-point range, and 59.0% shooting from the foul line.
Keys to the game: For Stanford, the first thing they need to do is win the rebound battle. That’s an area that Indiana is really excelling in. Nunu Agara is averaging 19.3 points and 7.5 rebounds per game, leading the way in that department. Stanford is going to need her to do her thing inside.
Secondly, Stanford needs to contain Garzon. She’s the top offensive weapon on this Hoosiers team and if she doesn’t get going, it’s going to be really hard for the Hoosiers to win this one. Defense has been spotty at times for Stanford. They need to bring quality defense today. Especially against Garzon.
Finally, Stanford needs to not overly rely on the 3-point shot. We saw against UC Davis that they started to struggle a bit when they weren’t getting their 3-point shots to fall. While they should continue to shoot the 3-point shot as it has been a weapon for them overall (51.0%), if it for whatever reason doesn’t fall, they need to find other ways to put the ball in the basket.
Prediction: Indiana has been struggling a bit, but they are at home. I think this one will be a real fight. I got Stanford winning, but by single digits: 75-70.
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