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INDIANAPOLIS – On January 24, Indiana led Oregon 32-22 with five minutes left in the third quarter at Knight Arena. It was the first game of Indiana’s West Coast trip. The Hoosiers were in a position to start their road trip off with a win, but they crumbled.
A costly fourth quarter featured seven Indiana turnovers and one made basket in the final four minutes. The loss extended IU’s losing streak to three games and they had to accept a loss that slipped out of their hands.
But Thursday afternoon in the Big Ten tournament’s second round at Gainbridge Fieldhouse was a different story. Indiana learned from its mistakes in the first matchup and opened up the postseason with a 78-62 win against the Ducks.
The most significant difference on the floor was Indiana’s defensive intensity, which was not at the same level in Eugene. Indiana pressured the ball whenever it had the chance. Oregon would try to crash the lane, but the Hoosiers got in their way and thwarted dribble penetration. This led to seven Oregon turnovers in the first quarter.
Teri Moren and her players always mention how “defense leads to offense,” and the first quarter proved that. Fueled by Oregon’s turnovers, Indiana outscored the Ducks 23-11 in the first ten minutes. Shay Ciezki had 11 points in the opening quarter.
“We definitely executed, I think, amazing on the defensive end,” Sydney Parrish said postgame. “We knew they were bigger than us in some aspects. We needed a couple times to throw second bodies at their post players. It was an emphasis this week going into the Big Ten Tournament that defense helps our offense. I think that we really bought into that this week before coming here, and I think it showed today.
“We knew we had to throw the first punch, and have the most energy. We had an amazing crowd of Hoosiers fans, and I think that helped us also on the defensive end.”
A key difference between this game and the one from January is that Indiana pushed back when Oregon made their push.
The Ducks picked up the pace in the second and third quarters, finding much more offensive success. Oregon’s physicality in the paint played a significant factor in causing problems for Indiana’s post players. Karoline Striplin and Lily Meister dealt with early foul trouble, which caused them to sit on the bench for large portions of the quarter.
Moren decided to play freshman Faith Wiseman, who had only played 28 minutes total all season before Thursday’s game. Against the Ducks, Wiseman played 10 minutes.
Oregon tried to take advantage by playing their typical brand of physical basketball, emphasizing getting shots around the basket. This led to them taking 12 trips to the free-throw line, going 8-for-8 in the second quarter and 3-for-4 in the third.
“They may not be a high-scoring team, but where they concern you is how physical they are, right?” Moren said. “I think our charge, or my charge for our kids was, look, we’re playing against a physical team, an aggressive team. We’ve got to be that too, like we have to be strong with the ball, we have to be strong in our cuts, we have to be strong in our entry passes, getting open and so forth.”
This change of pace caused Indiana to make a change on the floor. Indiana was dealing with foul trouble and decided to switch to a much smaller lineup, running a four-guard lineup of Lexus Bargesser, Ciezki, Chloe Moore-McNeil, Parrish and Wiseman. The smaller lineup held off the Oregon push despite the Ducks making it a five-point game late in the third quarter.
A month and a half ago, Indiana saw a similar push from Oregon in the third quarter. In Eugene, it worked for the Ducks, but in Indianapolis, it didn’t. Indiana held them off, thanks to hot 3-point shooting (11-for-25) and four different Hoosiers in double figures. Yarden Garzon led all scorers with 18 points and Ciezki added 17.
The Hoosiers wouldn’t have been able to make these necessary changes if they hadn’t lost on Oregon’s home floor. Moren and her squad took time to look directly in the mirror, which ultimately paid off.
“It was just a good feeling to get another crack at them, mostly because we watched the game that we played at Oregon, and we were very, very poor defensively, offensively, turnovers,” Parrish said.
Indiana will face No. 1 seed USC tomorrow afternoon in Indianapolis, another opponent requiring them to make more adjustments. USC beat Indiana 73-66 on January 19 in Bloomington.
“This is a really good USC team. We have a tremendous amount of respect for them,” Moren said. “We know this; it’s going to take our very best.”
(Photo credit: IU Athletics)
Category: Women’s Basketball
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