#6 IUWBB vs #2/3 NC State - 12/2/21 @ 7:00 on ESPN2

[HoosierTownie]

Tough loss.  As bad as they shot, they were still in the game with 3 minutes left and they let it get away.  Just like with the men's team the past few years, you have to be able to hit open outside shots.

[Aaron]

Very proud of team. No one else so far has come within 20 points of NC State (including Maryland) besides South Carolina who is top team in country.  The Wolfpack score 90 on everyone and our D did really well to hold them in check. 

IU's starters are as good as any in country but lack depth at all on bench. Still this is the top 5-10 team they are ranked and absolutely a Big Ten Title and Final Four contender. Now go beat Ohio State in 10 days which is a tough but winnable game and Maryland for first time at home in early January. That is much more doable than beating either Stanford or NC State and we almost did

[Aaron]

Well Maryland had just as much trouble as we did with Miami tonight before edging them out in similar fashion. Terps have also lost to NC State and Stanford in blowouts while we played them right to wire.

I would love to see us finally beat the Terps and/or edge them out for conference title. We play them in early January in Bloomington. We can talk about tonight being huge, but the reality is that Maryland game is biggest in program history and we have a legit shot to beat them for the first time since they joined the Big Ten.

Other results tonight in Big Ten/ACC Challenge:

1. Duke beat Iowa big. However, the Blue Devils are good and this was the Hawkeyes first game in a couple weeks after coming off a COVID shut down so would not read to much into this. I still believe Iowa is really good

2.   Louisville absolutely destroyed Michigan. This one is very surprising as both teams are among the nations best and I would of expected a better showing from the Wolverines. 

3. A middle of the road Notre Dame team edged out a struggling Michigan State team. This result matches expectations.

4. A good Florida State team easily beat a very bad Illinois Team. No surprise here.

5. A good Boston College team blew out a mediocre Penn State team that IU plays in their next game. No shock here and the Hoosiers have no excuse to not easily dispatch the Nittany Lions at home Monday.

6. A good Northwestern team that has fallen well short of expectations so far beat a pretty bad Clemson team. Expected but given the Wildcats early struggles there was no guarantee.