No. 13 Hoosiers Set for Second Game Versus Samford
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — It's been over a week since No. 13 Indiana has taken the court and dismantled Eastern Kentucky 100-51.
Now, the wait to take the floor again is over as the Hoosiers get set to host Samford in Assembly Hall on Thursday night at 6 p.m. ET.
"It's different. It's new for all of us," head coach Teri Moren said about the nonconference schedule. "We're trying to manage our practice time as much as we can."
Samford has started out its season with a very tough schedule so far, suffering two losses to Alabama and Auburn to begin the year.
The Bulldogs took it to Auburn, though, only losing 66-64.
It's a very experienced Samford team as well, led by led by senior guard/forward Shauntai Battle, who is one of three double-figure scorers with 20 points per game.
Battle was named the Southern Conference's Player of the Week following the first week of action. She is shooting 51.6 percent from the floor and 46.2 percent from three-point range. She is also averaging 3.0 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game through the first two games of the season.
She's joined by senior center Natalie Armstrong (17.5 ppg, 8.0 rpg) and senior guard Katie Allen (10.5 ppg). The Bulldogs are coming off a 2019-20 season where they finished 18-14 overall and won the SoCon Postseason Tournament.
"This is really good basketball team," Moren said. "Four seniors in the lineup. This is a veteran team. It'll be one of the most sound teams we play this season in terms of their discipline."
The last meeting between these two teams came on Dec. 11, 2015, and Indiana won 65-56 in Bloomington.
Moren expects to see a lot of zone from the Bulldogs Thursday night. The good thing is the Hoosiers saw a decent amount of zone from EKU in the season-opener and dealt with it pretty well.
Mackenzie Holmes especially had no issue with it, going a perfect 13-of-13 from the field for a career-high 26 points. She also added eight rebounds and a career-high seven blocks.
It set a new school record for single game field goal percentage and ties the Big Ten record set by Iowa's Megan Gustafson set in 2018.
"We had a lot of fun on the court," Holmes said. "And we're ready for the next battle. "
This upcoming weekend will consist of two games for the Hoosiers, starting with Samford and ending with No. 11 Kentucky on Sunday in Lexington.
It will be the first time the Hoosiers take the road this season, and even though it's a top-25 matchup on ESPN2, Moren doesn't want her to team to look past a Samford team that has shown they can hang with Power 5 conference teams.
"We have to not only match, but exceed their energy when they come in here tomorrow night," Moren said.
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