Indiana women's basketball vs Iowa: Same day travel a rare occurrence for the Hoosiers

IOWA CITY — The Indiana women's basketball team wasn't able to fly out to Iowa until the morning of its scheduled game against the Hawkeyes.

It's the first time since the 2016-17 season the Hoosiers travel plans were delayed until the day of the game, according to a team spokesperson.

Iowa City reported three inches of snow overnight on Thursday and the city was in the midst of a blizzard warning on Friday — according to National Weather Service, there were winds over 35 mph and visibility of less than a 1/4 of a mile — when IU was originally scheduled to fly out.

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"There's only so much you can control," Indiana coach Teri Moren said, before practicing on Friday morning. "We can not control the weather and what it's going to do. We will be light on our feet and do what we have to do."

Indiana women's players including Mackenzie Holmes, Chloe Moore-McNeal and Sydney Parrish attended the men's game against Minnesota at Assembly Hall on Friday night. They threw out t-shirts to the crowd during one of the time outs.

The Hoosiers chartered a plane on Saturday morning out of Bloomington to Cedar Rapids at 10 a.m. The flight took off a few minutes early and players made it to Carver-Hawkeye Arena for a pre-game shoot around.

Things didn't go as smoothly on Feb. 7, 2017 when Indiana's trip to Rutgers was delayed after the team's charter plane went off the runway and got stuck in the mud. The Hoosiers ended up on a commercial flight out to LaGuardia the day of the game then had to take an hour-plus long bus ride to Piscataway, but the wild turn of events didn't stop Moren's team from picking up a 63-52 win.

The last time the Indiana men's basketball team traveled on the same day of a road game was on Jan. 18, 2020. The Hoosiers beat Nebraska 82-74 after flying out that morning when weather and mechanical issues forced them to change their travel plans.

Michael Niziolek is the Indiana beat reporter for The Bloomington Herald-Times. You can follow him on X @michaelniziolek and read all his coverage by clicking here.