How it Happened: Indiana suffers first loss of season in Coconut Hoops vs Iowa State

For the first time in the 2025-26 season, Indiana finds itself in the loss column. The Hoosiers were bested by No. 10 Iowa State, as the Cyclones were victorious in the Coconut Hoops Championship by a 106-95 final score.

Indiana beat Gonzaga and Iowa State beat Marquette to set up Sunday’s championship contest, as the Hoosiers were extremely impressive in their first-round matchup against the Zags. This started IU’s Fort Myers trip with two straight wins, but Iowa State made sure it wouldn’t be three, as the Cyclones left with the hardware from the Coconut Hoops tournament.

Center Audi Crooks was the star of the show, as she totaled 47 points for the game and simply dominated, especially in the second half. Forward Zania Socka-Nguemen was absent from the ballgame after being listed as questionable beforehand, and she was sorely missed with Crooks playing as well as she was.

Guard Shay Ciezki had a terrific showing as well, totaling 38 points and leading Indiana’s offense once again. The Hoosiers were solid on the offensive side of the ball for the majority of the game, as they shot 32 of 63, just over 50%.

Iowa State was better, though, as it went 39 of 61 from the floor and 6 of 14 from 3-point range. Indiana was 8 of 23 from deep, as it never developed a rhythm from the outside.

When it was all said and done, Indiana wasn’t the better team, but it fought with one of the best teams in the country. Here’s how it happened from the Hoosiers’ final game of their Feast Week trip.

Hoosiers contend with Cyclones throughout first half

The final score might show that Iowa State won by double digits, and that’s obviously correct, but this one was very competitive, especially early on.

Ciezki was phenomenal from the get-go, and Indiana was matching almost everything the Cyclones were doing on the offensive side of the ball. The Hoosiers were tied with ISU at the end of the first and shot 8 of 15 from the field. IU wasn’t great from 3-point range, but Ciezki was finding offense with speed down the lane.

Even Crooks was partially limited in the first half, as she scored just nine points in the first quarter and then eight in the second quarter. Obviously this is still a good amount, but compared to her second-half production, it was enough for the Hoosiers to get by.

The second quarter saw Indiana shoot just 7 of 18, but it stayed right there with ISU and was down by only three at halftime. The Hoosiers held their own for sure, as they weren’t getting out-hustled or out-physicaled by the Cyclones in the slightest.

While the second half told a different story, the opening 20 minutes showed that Indiana can contend with a top team on both sides of the basketball.

Iowa State pulls away in second half

The first half was neck and neck, but the Cyclones showed why they’re ranked inside the top ten throughout the final 20 minutes of action.

Indiana was still largely competitive in the third quarter, but ISU began to pull away with how well Crooks was playing, especially inside. The center scored 19 points in the third alone, more than how many she put up in the first two quarters.

Fouls started to mount for Indiana, as it had no answer for Crooks on the inside. The Hoosiers couldn’t keep up with what the Cyclones were doing offensively, and IU allowed them to take a seven-point lead going into the final quarter.

It wasn’t an insurmountable lead by any means, but you could just tell that Iowa State was in control of the action. That proved to be the case in the fourth, as ISU led by as many as 19, effectively ending the game with around four minutes left.

This is when Ciezki fouled out of the game, although Iowa State’s lead grew considerably when she was still out there. Esessa Noyan also fouled out, as she was guarding Crooks when she went crazy in the second half, resulting in the Cyclones’ victory in the end.

Ciezki couldn’t make up for Socka-Nguemen’s absence

Sunday truly was a battle of the two teams’ stars, Ciezki and Crooks, but with Socka-Nguemen missing from Indiana’s lineup, Crooks was able to dominate with ease. Noyan could only keep up so much, and Indiana’s starting forward would’ve surely helped.

The missing defense was certainly an issue, but also on the offensive side of the ball, adding another dimension to the effectively Ciezki-only offense would’ve helped out the Hoosiers.

Ciezki shot 12 for 21, as she took seven more shots than the next-highest total from Lenee Beaumont. She wasn’t effective from deep, though, as the guard went just 1 of 6, but spent the majority of the game driving into the lane.

If Socka-Nguemen was there, maybe she would’ve drawn more attention, giving Ciezki even more space to create offensively. This is all speculation, of course, but with one of its key players out, Indiana still competed and played extremely hard against a top team in Iowa State.

Crooks was sensational, but maybe she wouldn’t have been if Socka-Nguemen was there. Alas, Indiana suffered its first loss of the season, dropping it to 7-1 in a season that looks very promising moving forward.

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