Ali Patberg and the Indiana University women’s basketball team have made history by advancing to the Sweet Sixteen for the first time since the NCAA Tournament expanded to 64 teams.
But make no mistake about it, Patberg and the Hoosiers aren’t happy with just making it this far. They have bigger goals in mind.
“Our goal coming into the season wasn’t to get to a Sweet Sixteen and stop,” said Patberg, the senior point guard from Columbus North. “We have bigger goals, and we’ve had those goals.”
Indiana (20-5), the No. 4 seed in the Mercado Region, will play No. 1 seed North Carolina State (22-2) at 6 p.m. today at the Alamodome and San Antonio. The winner will play the Texas A&M-Arizona winner for the regional championship on Monday.
The Hoosiers advanced to the Sweet Sixteen by routing VCU 63-32 in Monday’s opening round and Belmont 70-48 in the second round on Wednesday.
“We understand that life is so short, so we want to enjoy all the steps that we’ve taken, all the milestones that we’ve reached,” Patberg said. “Coach (Teri Moren) has a 24-hour rule, so once that’s up, it’s time to get back to work. (Wednesday) night, we were already thinking about Saturday and our opponent. It’s been cool and it’s been fun to get to the Sweet 16, but our goal is a lot higher.”
The 80 points allowed by Indiana in its first two NCAA Tournament games are the fewest given up in the first two rounds by any women’s team in Big Ten history.
“We’ve just had a different mindset on the defensive end, a willingness, a toughness about us on the defensive end, a pride thing,” Patberg said. “Offensively, the first half of our first game, I thought we were stagnant, and there wasn’t a lot of flow, just because we had about a week-and-a-half off. But in the second half of our first game and then the last game, I thought we did some good things offensively, and I think that’s going to continue in our favor for the next game.”
The Wolfpack have four players averaging in double figures, led by 6-foot-5 junior center Elissa Cunane at 16.3 points. Cunane also is their leading rebound at 8.1 a game.
“They’re a fantastic team,” Patberg said. “They won the ACC Tournament. They’re the No. 1 seed in our region, so obviously, they’re a great team. They have a lot of great individual players, and they play well as a unit. Our coaches are I think one of the best in the country, and they’re going to have us prepared to the T. We just have to go out and execute and play with heart and toughness and just a willingness to do whatever it takes to win.”
Sophomore Mackenzie Holmes leads the Hoosiers with 17.8 points and 7.8 rebounds a game. Junior Grace Berger averages 15.5 points, 6.7 rebounds and 4.6 assists, and Patberg adds 14.0 points, 3.9 rebounds and 3.6 assists.
“The old saying, ‘When your best players are your hardest workers, you have something special in your program,’ and both Grace and Ali have been that for us,” Moren said. “They’ve been just a great example for their teammates, and I think that’s why we’re sitting here today.”
Much like the NCAA men’s tournament that is being played entirely in Indiana, the women’s event is taking place entirely in Texas, mostly in the San Antonio area. Although the teams have mostly had to stay in their hotels when they aren’t playing or practicing, the IU women have been able to get outside a little.
“We’ve been in our hotel rooms a lot, but we knew that going in,” Patberg said. “That has been the toughest part, but we were prepared for that. We’ve been doing that all year, making sacrifices in order to play here. So it’s really not that tough because there’s a lot of things to be thankful for. The fact that we’re able to play, that’s OK for us to stay in our hotel rooms. But we’ve taken a lot of walks, and you see the river. The weather has been fantastic. It’s been sunny, and you can tell that San Antonio is cultured, and it’s been cool to see that just from walking and riding the bus.”
But Patberg and the Hoosiers know they’re on a business trip, even if they are in uncharted territory making history.
“It’s an honor,” Patberg said. “We’ve worked so hard for this. When I got at IU and joined the program, we’ve been hard at work for this since I started here. To reach that is a great feeling. We had a good time (Wednesday) after the game enjoying the win, enjoying all the work we’ve done, but now, we’re on to the next game, and we’re looking to continue to win.”
