Patberg announces she’ll run it back with IU next season

In the wake of their season-ending loss to Arizona in Monday night’s Elite Eight, the Hoosiers made clear they wanted to make deep NCAA Tournament runs the expectation in Bloomington. With Ali Patberg coming back for the 2021-22 season, IU will indeed be well equipped for an encore.

Patberg announced on Wednesday night that she intends to return to IU for one more season next fall, giving coach Teri Moren’s team a trusted, gritty ball-handler to steer the Hoosiers back to the tournament in 12 months time.

Patberg averaged 13.9 points, 4.0 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game this past season, serving as the tough-minded senior leader every team needs for a memorable run in March. Patberg has been in school since the fall of 2015, when an ACL injury sidelined her for her true freshman year. After appearing in 22 games during the 2016-17 campaign, Patberg transferred to IU and sat out the 2017-18 season.

Over the past three seasons, she’s scored 1,309 points, averaged 15.2 points per game and dished 403 assists for the Hoosiers. She scored in double figures in each of IU’s four NCAA Tournament games, averaging 14.7 points during the Hoosiers’ stay in San Antonio.

She currently ranks fourth all-time at IU in assists, and will crack the top 10 in career scoring with 278 points next season.