BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana’s 3-point shooting woes last season contributed to its first missed NCAA Tournament in three tries under coach Mike Woodson. 

Indiana shot 32.4% from 3-point range in 2023-24, which ranked 12th in the Big Ten and tied for 269th out of 363 teams nationally. The Hoosiers’ 513 3-point attempts tied for 349th, and their 166 3-pointers made tied for 344th, both conference-worst numbers.

Indiana’s strength and most efficient route to scoring was through the post with Kel’el Ware and Malik Reneau, who combined for 31.3 points per game on 57.1% shooting. Had the team that lacked shooters hoisted even more 3-point attempts, its record may have been even worse than the 19-14, 10-10 outcome.

Frustrated that his team was watching March Madness from home, Woodson approached the offseason determined to address three main aspects of the 2024-25 roster: perimeter play, shooting and finding a starting center to replace Ware. He did the latter by landing Oumar Ballo, Langdon Hatton and Dallas James. But focusing on the first two factors is perhaps the biggest reason Indiana is viewed as a top-25 team heading into the season.

“I’m hoping and feeling good about us addressing our shooting from the perimeter by bringing [Luke] Goode and getting Mack [Mgbako] back, and I think Kanaan Carlyle and guys like Myles Rice can knock shots down,” Woodson said on the College Hoops Today with Jon Rothstein podcast. 

“Gabe [Cupps] is shooting the ball extremely well this summer, and then we got [Trey] Gallo and Anthony [Leal] and Jakai Newton coming back. So I mean, I feel good about our perimeter play. Just gotta put it all together and get them comfortable when they’re out on the floor making shots.”

From a percentage standpoint, Goode is the best 3-point shooter Indiana added this offseason. The Fort Wayne, Ind., native shot 38.8% on 219 career 3-point attempts across three seasons at Illinois, including making a career-high 61 threes last season. At 6-foot-7, Goode has positional versatility and plenty of reps against top competition, helping Illinois reach the Elite Eight last season.

“Goode has really played extremely well for us this summer,” Woodson said. “So I’m hoping for big things out of him because he is a senior and he has experience playing in the Big Ten.”

Rice and Carlyle are the other transfer portal additions Woodson hopes will bolster Indiana’s outside shooting. A 6-foot-3 point guard, Rice was named Pac-12 Freshman of the Year and made the All-Pac-12 first team in 2023-24. 

Rice shot 33% from 3-point range in his first 26 games, including three games with four or more threes made. But he went on an 0-for-22 stretch across his final five regular season games and two Pac-12 tournament appearances. Rice made 2-of-6 3-point attempts as he helped Washington State reach the NCAA Tournament Round of 32, ending his freshman season with a 27.5% mark from beyond the arc.

Like Rice, Carlyle was a streaky shooter. In the fourth game of his career, the 6-foot-3 guard made 6-of-8 3-point attempts in a 28-point game against Arizona, and he capped off the regular season by sinking 4-of-5 3-pointers. But he also went 2 for 9 against USC and 2 for 11 against Colorado, which contributed to his season-long mark of 32%.

Rice’s 36 made 3-pointers and Carlyle’s 32 would have ranked second among Hoosiers last season, though their percentages leave room for improvement. Indiana will hope they can find more consistency as sophomores.

Similar to the newcomers, Indiana’s 3-point shooting improvement relies on Mgbako sustaining his best performances for longer stretches. The 6-foot-8 forward struggled from beyond the arc to begin his freshman season, going 8 for 38, or 21.1%, in his first 11 games. But as the calendar flipped to January, he shot 37.2% from beyond the arc in the final 18 Big Ten regular season games and was named co-Big Ten freshman of the year.

Woodson resisted putting expectations on Mgbako’s sophomore season, but he was proud to see the 6-foot-8 forward improve throughout his freshman year and hopes that continues.

“Only time will tell, man. I don’t sit here and predict anything,” Woodson said. “He’s still gotta go through practice. He’s still gotta develop each and every day in practice and there’s gotta be a carry over in the ball game. But I’m expecting big things out of him. He got off to a somewhat slow start last season and he was able to flip it based on the body of work and he continued to work hard in practice and he got better as the season went along, which is kind of nice to see.”

Woodson also said Cupps has shot the ball “extremely well” this offseason after going 14 for 39, or 35.9% as a freshman. At 6-foot-2, Cupps struggled to create his own shot off the dribble as a freshman, but he was reliable in catch-and-shoot situations. He was a strong 3-point shooter as a state champion and Ohio Mr. Basketball winner in high school, shooting 39.5% as a senior and 44.3% as a junior. 

Galloway led the 2022-23 Hoosiers by shooting 46.2% from 3-point range, but that figure dropped all the way to 26% last season. He’s a 30.1% 3-point shooter in 108 career games for the Hoosiers, who’ll need their fifth-year senior guard to trend back toward his junior year numbers.

Outside shooting production from returning Hoosiers like Leal and Newton is more of a mystery due to their limited production. Newton used a redshirt last season due to a knee injury, and Leal is 25 for 71, or 35.2%, on 3-point attempts across his four-year career, with no more than nine made in any season.

Woodson had dominant post players in his first three seasons with Trayce Jackson-Davis and Kel’el Ware, who constantly drew double-teams in the paint. There should be a similar dynamic with Ballo and Malik Reneau this season, creating the possibility for kick-outs and open shots on the perimeter.

This time, Woodson feels better about capitalizing on those opportunities.

“I look at our last three years, we got good looks from the perimeter and we just didn’t knock them down,” Woodson said. “I’m hoping this year, you’re going to get some of the same looks.”

ATLANTA — On Monday night, Indiana accomplished a feat it hadn’t sniffed since Fever legend Tamika Catchings hung up her sneakers in 2016: It won more than 13 games in a single season.

Indiana’s 14 wins this season are the most since the Fever’s 2016 squad went 17-17. Only Fever guard Erica Wheeler was on the Fever that season, completing her first stint with the franchise. Other than that, it’s a completely different team — different players, coaches and front office.

The last time the Fever won 14 or more games in a season, Fever rookie Caitlin Clark was a freshman in high school.

‘I look really soft.’ Caitlin Clark brushes off slight ankle injury in Fever win

It’s been a long turnaround for the Fever since Catchings and coach Stephanie White left eight years ago. Now, they’re rebuilding into something sustainable.

“I think in our locker room, even when coaches talk about it, we focus from game-to-game,” said seventh-year pro Kelsey Mitchell, the longest-tenured Fever player. “But we’re not crazy, you know, playoffs is a big deal for all of us, and I think we try to stay focused on what’s right, and I think the main thing is game-by-game.”

The Fever, who held on to beat Atlanta 84-79 Monday, are full of young players. Three of their five starters (Clark, Boston and third-year NaLyssa Smith) are still on rookie contracts, while Katie Lou Samuelson is in her fifth year. Indiana’s first option off the bench, Lexie Hull, is a third-year player, too.

Not many of the players on the Fever have playoff experience — only Damiris Dantas and Temi Fagbenle have gone deep into the playoff push, winning championships with the Minnesota Lynx in 2015 and 2017, respectively, both coming off the bench.

“We all feel like we can continue to get better in a lot of ways.,” Clark said. “This team is young, has a lot of young talent, and I feel like we’re just starting to put it together a little bit. So, hopefully that continues to come along.”

Based on past seasons, the Fever will likely need to win at least 17 games to have a good shot at the playoffs. A minimum record of 17-23 would put the Fever at a .425 winning percentage in the regular season, and the averaged record of the league’s playoff No. 8 seeds from 2017-23 was .428.

More: How many more wins do Fever need to snap playoffs drought? A look at the schedule.

Plus, the Fever now have the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Dream (Indiana is 3-0 vs. Atlanta), and it’s looking more and more likely Indiana will finally break its streak of missing the playoffs. A win against the Sky next Sunday would give Indiana the head-to-head tiebreaker over Chicago as well.

Three teams — New York, Connecticut and Minnesota — have already clinched playoff berths. Seattle is close to officially making the playoffs, as well as Phoenix. Right now, ESPN gives Indiana a 94.4% chance of making the playoffs. The next highest is Chicago, which ESPN predicts a 56.2% chance. Chicago and Atlanta, which has a 47.5% chance, will likely battle for the final playoff spot.

And it will likely take a lot of worry out of Indiana’s camp if it can ensure it has the head-to-head over both of those teams.

There are a bevy of winnable games for the Fever left on the schedule, including their final game against the Dream at home Sept. 8. The Fever also play the three teams who are all but out of the playoffs, including Los Angeles, Washington and Dallas (twice).

Those are six games the Fever will likely be favored to win, and that could put them in great standing for the playoff picture. But that’s easier said than done.

The Fever led by as many as 18 points against the Dream in the second half Monday but allowed them back within two points. The Dream trailed by just three with 30 seconds left and did all they could to force overtime — including grabbing two offensive rebounds in the same possession before the Fever could regain control of the ball.

Winning the game itself was a big step for the Fever — earlier in the season, there were times when they crumbled in those situations, taking the loss without a fight. Indiana is still a young team, still learning how to control those situations. To be truly successful, though, the Fever need to make sure those big end-of-game runs don’t happen in the first place.

“I think just figuring out a way to kind of play with the lead a little bit better; we’ve kind of struggled with that this year, and I think at times we get a little stagnant and don’t play with the same pace that we played with in the first half,” Clark said. “… just don’t get stagnant and find a way to continue to push it and extend the lead out, rather than just letting them hang around.”

Follow IndyStar Fever Insider Chloe Peterson on X at @chloepeterson67.

ATLANTA — The Indiana Fever eeked out a victory over the Atlanta Dream, 84-79, Monday night for their 14th win of the season — their highest number of wins since 2016, Tamika Catchings’ final season and Indiana’s last trip to the postseason.

The Dream (10-19) didn’t make it easy, though. The Fever nearly blew a 14-point lead, with the Dream getting within two points at the 3-minute mark of the fourth quarter. But ill-timed fouls by Atlanta kept Indiana in front, allowing the Fever just enough breathing room in the final minutes.

‘Pace and passing’: Lynx coach reveals Caitlin Clark’s biggest assets for Fever

The Fever are now 14-16 and remain seventh place in the WNBA standings, still in the playoff picture.

Here are three observations:

Caitlin Clark rolls ankle, quickly returns to game

Fever fans in the building collectively held their breath when Fever rookie Caitlin Clark fell, clutching her ankle, in the middle of the first quarter. She got tied up with Nia Coffey near the free-throw line and rolled her ankle, tumbling to the ground in pain.

Clark stayed on the ground for a while, her teammates surrounding her as the Fever called a timeout and had trainers come over to check out her ankle. After a long pause, Clark eventually was helped up off the ground and walked back to the bench.

Evidently, it didn’t seem like it was anything to worry about. Clark never left the bench, getting taped up as play resumed and Erica Wheeler subbed in for her. She sat on the bench for the rest of the quarter (about three minutes of game time), then checked back in for the second quarter with no limp in sight.

Slight ankle injuries aren’t new to Clark — she rolled the same ankle against the Sun back in May, going back to the locker room to get it checked out. She eventually returned to that game, too, and said postgame, “every basketball player has an ankle injury. If you don’t, you’re not a true baller.”

Lexie Hull starts second half in place of Katie Lou Samuelson

For multiple games at the beginning of the season, Lexie Hull sat on the bench for full games. DNP-Coach’s Decision showed up to her name next to multiple box scores — a stark difference for someone who started most of the Fever’s games in 2023.

Now, Hull is getting starter-level minutes off the bench.

She played 30 minutes Monday night, finishing with two points, four rebounds and two assists and had +/- of +4.

The third-year guard has played 20 or more minutes in each of the Fever’s past three games, including Monday’s contest against the Dream. She’s known for her defensive abilities, but she also has flashes of offensive prowess — including a career-high 22 points on 6-of-7 shooting against the Storm last week. She tallied a second-straight double-digit game against Minnesota, putting in 10 points in the Fever’s loss to the Lynx.

While Hull has been playing more and more minutes, it means fewer for Katie Lou Samuelson, who typically starts at the 3. Samuelson only played 14 minutes against the Lynx on Saturday, while Hull played 26. On Monday, Samuelson was limited to seven minutes and took just one shot. Samuelson has only made one shot in the three games since the Olympic break, going 1-of-11 from the field.

Kelsey Mitchell notches fourth straight game with 20+ points

If her recent play is any indication, the Olympic break was great for Fever guard Kelsey Mitchell. A two-time All-Star, Mitchell is averaging over 24 points per game in the Fever’s four games since the Olympic break.

She’s been a consistent scorer the entire season, averaging 17.8 points per game, but her scoring has found a new level.

More: Kelsey Mitchell ‘excited’ for free agency — that’s if she hits market.

Mitchell weaved around defenders in the 38 minutes she was on the floor Monday night and shot 10-of-23 from the field. Her two free throws with five seconds left put the Fever up five points, sealing a victory and giving Mitchell 29 points.

How many points did Caitlin Clark score against the Dream?

Clark tied the rookie record for 3-pointers made Monday night, making four to bring her total to 85. The Dream’s Rhyne Howard set the record in her rookie season in 2022. Now, Clark has 10 more games to set her own record.

The Fever rookie finished the game with 19 points on 6-of-14 shooting (4-of-8 from 3-point range), and added on seven rebounds and seven assists.