Ali Patberg
Indiana faces a tall order in this afternoon’s NCAA Women’s Sweet Sixteen game against Connecticut, and for Ali Patberg and three other Hoosier seniors, they’re hoping it’s not their final game.
But no matter how Indiana fares today, and no matter when its season comes to an end, Patberg will have the satisfaction of winning her final game in Assembly Hall. She helped the Hoosiers do that with a 56-55 second-round win against Princeton on Monday night.
Her teammates and coaches couldn’t be more thrilled for the Columbus North graduate.
“There’s nobody that deserves it more than Ali Patberg obviously because of the player she is and what she’s done for this program,” senior All-American Grace Berger said. “On the court that kind of speaks for itself. But the person she is off the court, we talk about it all the time, but it really is true, just how she’s taken every single one of us under her wing and allowed us to have individual success. She’s put the team over herself a hundred percent of the time and sacrificed for others on the team to shine, as well. She’s just a complete team player. She does everything she can to win. We want to work really hard for her, our leader, and give her as many wins as we can.”
While Berger has announced she is coming back for a fifth season at Indiana, seniors Nicole Cardano-Hillary and Grace Waggoner played their final games in Assembly Hall on Monday and senior Aleksa Gulbe likely played her final game there.
“You know, I was thinking about Ali and all the seniors, Leks, Grace Waggoner, Nicki, on my way home from shootaround (Sunday),” Indiana coach Teri Moren said. “When I think about Tyra Buss and Amanda Cahill, when we won the NIT (in 2018), how cool is it that your last game that you play in the hall you win, and it’s something extra special, right, so you win the NIT and then obviously today with those four seniors we’re making another trip to the Sweet 16.
“But Ali, I think Grace said it the best, she’s been everything for our program,” she added. “She’s our leader, off the court, on the court, and she’s a terrific competitor. She is a great human being. She pours into her teammates, and she makes everyone around her better. I think that’s including her staff, too. She wants to be a coach, so she’s curious always. She’s willing to watch extra film. She wants to be in the gym. So I think this is a profession that suits her quite well at some point when she’s done playing. I will say this: Nobody is more excited for Ali Patberg than her teammates are and her staff.”
Patberg has spent the last five of her seven-year college career at Indiana. She took advantage of the extra year granted by the NCAA because of the COVID-19 pandemic to return this season and help lead the Hoosiers to their second consecutive Sweet Sixteen appearance.
Indiana was able to play first- and second-round NCAA Tournament games at home for the first time this season and beat Charlotte and Princeton to advance.
“I love Assembly Hall,” Patberg said. “I grew up coming to games. Dreamed about playing here. And I’m just thankful that I had two more games than I normally would have.”
Patberg came to IU in 2017 after spending her first two years at Notre Dame. She ranks in the top 10 on Indiana’s career scoring list and the top three in career assists.
“I think a couple of years — well, I don’t know how long ago — I can’t even remember when she joined us, I feel like it’s been so long ago, but the plan was when Tyra Buss graduated, we needed a guard that would come in with experience, that was going to be able to sort of just take over where Tyra left off, and Ali Patberg was that kid for us,” Moren said. “And so I think from, set aside what she is as a player, I think she’s probably meant more as a teammate to those guys in the locker room. She’s mature. I’ve said it over and over. She pours into them.
“She has a relationship with every single one of them,” she added. “Sure, it’s easy to have one with a group, a team, but it’s more difficult to have one with every individual in that locker room. That takes effort. It takes time, and Ali has always been willing to do that with whatever group that we’ve brought in here to Indiana. She’s been integral in our recruiting a lot of these guys. And so she’s meant so much to helping us build this thing the right way. And I think that she will be remembered as one of the best players here in school history.”
