BLOOMINGTON — Indiana women’s basketball entered this season with as little certainty as the program’s had in a long time.
IU overhauled much of its roster during the offseason, and the squad is very different from previous iterations as a result. The new-look Hoosiers played their lone exhibition game ahead of the season Monday, a 100-32 win over Missouri S&T at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.
Exhibition games should always be processed with a grain of salt, but being the first opportunity to watch an Indiana team with so many new pieces, there was still a lot to learn.
Here are some key takeaways from IU’s performance on Monday.
‘Z’ is the X-factor
Head coach Teri Moren has had several skilled post players through the years, and those players, such as Mackenzie Holmes and Amanda Cahill, have often been focal points of those IU teams.
But Moren hasn’t had a center quite like Zania Socka-Nguemen. The sophomore transferred in from UCLA during the offseason, after she chose the Bruins over the Hoosiers as a high school recruit.
She may be Indiana’s biggest X-factor this season — figuratively and literally.
At 6-foot-3, Socka-Nguemen isn’t IU’s tallest player — Faith Wiseman has an inch on her, and four others on the roster also stand 6-foot-3. But the Silver Spring, Md. native plays like she’s the biggest player on the court. And she brings a type of athleticism that Indiana hasn’t had in its recent successful bigs.
Socka-Nguemen can dunk — she didn’t against Missouri S&T, but it’ll be something to watch for throughout the season. But the athleticism goes beyond that ability. She runs the floor extremely well for a center, and that’s something IU has been missing. Socka-Nguemen plays with a lot of physicality, unafraid to go right at opponents in the post and defend them just as aggressively. She might have to make some adjustments to that style once Big Ten play arrives, but it’s not a bad starting point.
But it’s the speed and athleticism that makes Socka-Nguemen a huge piece for this IU team.
“She gets up and down the floor really fast,” Moren said after the game. “She’s going to beat most 5s down the floor. There’s no question. We gotta reward her for that.”
Some depth concerns
Despite Socka-Nguemen’s presence, Indiana’s frontcourt looks like it could have some issues.
Specifically, the depth behind her could be a problem.
Redshirt freshman Sydney Fenn, who missed all of last season with a knee injury, suffered a setback and needed another knee surgery that will keep her out for the entire season. French forward Jade Ondineme, who transferred in from a junior college, appears unlikely to play a significant role this season.
That leaves only two post players behind Socka-Nguemen: Wiseman and Virginia transfer Edessa Noyan.
Noyan will play, and she showed potential, but looked more like a 4 than a true 5. She’s 6-foot-3, like Socka-Nguemen, and she grabbed seven rebounds on the night, but the UCLA transfer was a more imposing presence all around.
Wiseman played only nine minutes on Monday, indicating she may not be in Indiana’s rotation to start the season. She stepped up for the Hoosiers in the Big Ten Tournament last year, but that small sample size doesn’t directly translate to improvement for this year.
But Moren will need Noyan and Wiseman to find ways to make it work backing up Socka-Nguemen. Otherwise, the team could be in trouble if the UCLA transfer suffers an injury or gets in foul trouble.
An uncharacteristic youth movement
Throughout Moren’s tenure in Bloomington, the Hoosiers haven’t typically given true freshmen a lot of game time.
There have been exceptions, obviously. Yarden Garzon started the entire 2022-23 season as a true freshman, though she came in with a lot more high-level experience than most freshmen have. Holmes was IU’s sixth player in 2019-20. Tyra Buss started all year in 2014-15. Lenée Beaumont and Jules LaMendola played small, but consistent, roles off the bench in 2023-24.
All that’s to say, true freshmen have really had to earn their opportunities under Moren.
That’s why it’s significant that both of Indiana’s freshmen appear set for major roles this season.
Moren has showered praise on guard Nevaeh Caffey during preseason, and the Warrenton, Mo. native cracked the starting lineup for the exhibition game. And she didn’t look out of place in that role. Moren compared her defensive tenacity to Nicole Cardaño-Hillary — a big statement to make about a true freshman.
“She just gives us something completely different that we never have had … somebody that can pressure the ball the way Nevaeh can and make you uncomfortable,” Moren said. “She’s bigger than Nikki. They’re different. But we didn’t have that a year ago, or the last, probably, two years: somebody that’s going to heat the ball up the way Nevaeh can heat it up.”
Fishers native Maya Makalusky was part of Indiana’s first wave of substitutions in the first quarter, along with Arkansas transfer Phoenix Stotijn. But she played more minutes off the bench than any other Hoosier on Monday.
Makalusky is listed as a 6-foot-3 forward, and she can hold her own in the post and grab rebounds. But she’s more of a wing than a true post player — a combo 3-4 player.
Her 3-point shooting ability could be really important for Indiana this season. At her preseason media availability in late September, Moren expressed some concern about her team’s outside shooting this year. IU lost most of its best 3-point shooters from last season — Shay Ciezki is the only returnee who posed a real 3-point threat last year. Beaumont can also hit those shots, but she missed last season with a knee injury. Valentyna Kadlecova, who joined Caffey, Ciezki, Beaumont, and Socka-Nguemen in the starting lineup, went 3 for 7 from long range, and looked comfortable taking those shots. But she hardly played last year as a true freshman.
But Makalusky won Indiana Miss Basketball at Hamilton Southeastern in large part because of her lethal 3-point shooting. She went 2 for 6 from beyond the arc on Monday, but Moren suggested she’s already more comfortable than she was when practice began. If that trend continues and Makalusky settles into a shooting groove in November, she could become a dangerous player.
She’s a bit behind Caffey defensively, but that’s more so Caffey being an advanced defender for her age than Makalusky showing atypical learning curves.
“I thought Maya came in and did a lot of really good things,” Moren said. “Just really great energy. Was physical. It’s great to see. She heard my message, because I thought she came out from the jump, was really focused in defensively.”
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