Ali Patberg and the Indiana women’s basketball team have put together a strong start to the season, and the national media and those who vote on awards are taking notice.
Patberg has led the Hoosiers to a 9-1 start and a No. 12 ranking in the country, the highest in school history, heading into today’s 2 p.m. home game against Youngstown State.
“We believe in ourselves,” Patberg said. “In the locker room, we believe. Coach always emphasizes that we haven’t arrived. We haven’t done anything yet. We’re 9-1, we’re ranked 12th, but that’s not our goal. We have a lot of work to do, especially after (Wednesday) night. It’s an honor for us and the school, but we’re definitely not where we want to be.”
Meanwhile, the redshirt junior point guard from Columbus North has garnered accolades. In addition to being named preseason All-Big Ten, she is on Nancy Lieberman Award watch list, Wooden Award watch list, Naismith Trophy watch list.
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Most recently, Patberg was one of 35 players named to the Ann Meyers Drysdale watch list for the nation’s best player.
“It’s an honor, but at the end of the day, I want to win championships at IU,” Patberg said. “I do work hard, but I’m all about the team, and none of that matters if my team doesn’t do well.”
Her team has done plenty well this season. The Hoosiers upset then-No. 5 South Carolina in the Paradise Jam in the Virgin Islands before taking its only loss of the season against No. 2 Baylor. The Hoosiers bounced back with a win against Washington State to finish the Paradise Jam.
“(Patberg) was really good in the Virgin Islands,” IU coach Teri Moren said. “She’s a terrific player, and she is an All-Big Ten kind of point guard, and I’d want 10 of her for sure … No longer does she need me on the sidelines to help her get through. She knows our playbook. I trust her.”
In the most recent outing on Wednesday, Patberg had a little bit of an off night — by Patberg standards — and didn’t score in the first half at Butler. But she put up 14 in the second half to lead the Hoosiers to a 64-53 win.
“It was a rough night, and we still won,” Patberg said. “A win is a win, but we’re going watch film, and I’m going to focus on what I did wrong to fix it. We have a lot of work to do, and we’re going to continue to work.”
Through 10 games, Patberg leads the Hoosiers with 5.3 assists a game and ranks second on the team with 11.9 points and 2.1 steals and third with 5.3 rebounds. She also leads the team with 78.1 percent free-throw shooting.
Although she leads the Hoosiers in minutes played with 32.8 a game, Patberg is getting a little more rest this season because of the team’s added depth.
“We’re a lot deeper, and that’s a testament to our coaches,” Patberg said. “They’ve really developed us individually and as a team. What’s great about our team is, we’re deep and we can play a lot of people, but we also trust one another because we all have put in the work. It’s going to be great for us because the Big Ten season is a grind.”
This summer, Patberg, the 2015 Miss Basketball and McDonald’s All-American who spent a redshirt year and one year playing at Notre Dame before transferring to IU, was granted a sixth year of eligibility by the NCAA. She sat out her first year with the Hoosiers before leading them to an NCAA Tournament berth last year, when she was a second-team All-Big Ten selection.
This year, Patberg is one of the leaders, along with the team’s lone senior, Brenna Wise.
“Just knowing what is expected out of me as a leader, especially as point guard, just knowing what coach wants and understanding the leadership aspect, I have a better feel for how she wants me and Brenna to lead and what we need to do,” Patberg said. “I think last year, throughout the season, there were a lot of ups and downs and I would say right now, we didn’t play very well (Wednesday), and this is a down. Like coach said, (today), we need to have a lot better performance because Big Ten season is coming.”
Following today’s game, the Hoosiers are off for a week before hosting UCLA on Dec. 22. IU then opens Big Ten play Dec. 28 at home against Michigan State.
“As I tell her all the time, the three people that can’t have bad practices are the head coach, the point guard and your best player,” Moren said. “She’s going to do things right, but she knows how to play the game right. Everybody has a ton of confidence in Ali Patberg.”
