Indiana women’s basketball vs Iowa State key matchups: Guarding Audi Crooks

Indiana women’s basketball is set to face one of the toughest players to defend in the country.

The Hoosiers got used to dominant, reliable scoring in the paint in the five seasons Mackenzie Holmes spent in Bloomington. They’ll get a sense of what it was like to be on the other end of that on Sunday afternoon against No. 10 Iowa State’s Audi Crooks.

Crooks, one of the top centers in the country, is averaging 24.9 points, 6.1 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game while shooting a staggering 74% from the field. That’s while playing 24.4 minutes per game, with the Cyclones’ schedule lacking a solid amount of strong opposing teams.

That’s very much not to say Crooks is feasting on interior competition, she puts up similar numbers against high-major teams. Last season, she averaged 23.4 points, 7.5 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game, shooting 60.5% from the field across 35 games. For comparison’s sake, Holmes shot 68% and 65% from the floor in her final two seasons with the Hoosiers.

Like Holmes, part of the equation in guarding Crooks is that she’s got some reliable shooting around her thanks in part to talent on the roster and the gravity she creates on the block. Indiana will have to be mindful of Addy Brown, Arianna Jackson and Kenzie Hare, all of whom are shooting over 40% from distance this season.

When it comes to Crooks herself? Well, there really isn’t a reliable strategy to guarding her. She’s just too strong for most matchups and the Hoosiers will have to rely on a rotation of Zania Socka-Nguemen and Edessa Noyan, with potential for Faith Wiseman to get into the game at times.

One thing to watch for is Crooks’ ability to get to the foul line, she’s averaging 7.9 free throws per game and converting on 71.4% of her attempts at the charity stripe. Socka-Nguemen has had some issues with foul trouble as she settles into Indiana’s system and she hasn’t faced a player anywhere near Crook’s level at the college game just yet.

If Crooks gets the Hoosier front line into foul trouble and Teri Moren has to reach deeper and deeper into her bench, it could spell trouble. There could be more of it if the Cyclones’ shooters can leverage the space she creates to burn Indiana from deep.

Indiana could match Socka-Nguemen or Noyan up with Crooks 1on1 in the post to keep shooters from getting open, but that opens up the aforementioned foul trouble concerns and could create some easy looks for her.

One way or another, it’ll be a big test for this Hoosier squad on the young season.