Indiana Women Take On No. 1 UCLA At Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Welcome to Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall! We’re back with a women’s live blog as the Hoosiers try to succeed in the monumental task of beating unbeaten No. 1 UCLA.

Some good news straight away. Indiana all-everything Yarden Garzon should be good to go. She is not listed on the Big Ten injury availability report and has taken part in all of the pregame warmups. She left Sunday’s game against Wisconsin after a fourth quarter collision. Didn’t seem serious at the time and it turned out that it wasn’t.

UCLA lists no one on its injury report. For an overview of the Bruins, read this.

This game is on national TV on FOX, a forum worthy of the occasion. Crowd should be decent. The bad weather isn’t supposed to descend on Bloomington until Sunday.

• Starters – Indiana: Lilly Meister, Shay Ciezki, Yarden Garzon, Sydney Parrish and Chloe Moore-McNeil.

UCLA: Kiki Rice, Elina Aarnisalo, Gabriela Jaquez, Angela Dugalic and Lauren Betts.

• It’s the first time since 1994 that a No. 1 women’s basketball team has played inside Assembly Hall. Penn State was No. 1 when it visited that season and the Nittany Lions prevailed in a close game.

• Lower bowl is well-populated, but this won’t be a sellout. Balcony has a few fans, but not many.

• I don’t know who decided what shade of blue was the right one for UCLA way back when, but it is such a good hue. UCLA’s uniforms in all sports are always a joy to see. Two teams that have classic basketball uniforms that should never change them.

• Ha! I write that … and Indiana is wearing black uniforms today. They’re sharp, but Indiana has good colors and shouldn’t deviate from their core look. I just think of fans who might only to get to see one game. They’d probably want to see the Hoosiers in the classic duds. That’s why I’m not in retail marketing.

It’s game time! Let’s go.

• UCLA 13-4, 4:43 1Q. Wow. UCLA center Lauren Betts is a problem, but we knew that going in. In the Meet The Opponent story we did, I compared her influence to what Purdue’s Zach Edey had in men’s games during his career and that seems spot on. The only thing stopping her is UCLA itself as the Bruins didn’t feed the post on a couple of possessions.

It’s not just on the offensive end. The lane is basically a no-go zone. Shay Ciezki tried to dribble around Betts, orbiting her at one point to try to find space. She thought she found it at the free throw line, but Betts stepped out to block the shot anyway.

Fans are incensed with what they perceive as non-calls or wrong calls. I don’t know. Objectively? UCLA is big all-around and you get back to that debate on how you officiate size. The Bruins are just way bigger than the Hoosiers and I don’t think they’ve gotten away with anything untoward.

• UCLA 15-7, 3:48 1Q. Hoosiers forced to call a timeout as they couldn’t get the ball up the court. UCLA is 7 of 12 from the field. Indiana is 3 of 8 with three turnovers.

• UCLA 18-14, 1:39 1Q. Hoosiers finding their feet a bit. Nice job by Sydney Parrish to draw Lauren Betts away from the rim as she fed it past her to Lilly Meister for an easy bucket. Indiana defense is doing a solid job on the perimeter, forcing the Bruins’ guards into difficult shots.