It makes sense why Lilly Meister might feel pressure this season.
Indiana women’s basketball’s junior forward will be tasked with filling the shoes of Mackenzie Holmes, a former first team All-American and the program’s all-time leading scorer. Meister embraced the role as Holmes’ understudy the last two years, but it’s clear she’s striving to carve her own path.
“I want everybody to know it’s Lilly Meister,” Chloe Moore-McNeil said Wednesday at Indiana’s media day at Cook Hall. “It’s not ‘Little Mack’, ‘Baby Mack’. Lilly, she has her own game.”
After logging 6.5 minutes per game as a freshman, Meister averaged 10.5 last season. Despite the uptick in her minutes, the offense remained centered around Holmes’ interior ability. That’s not the case anymore.
While Meister has attempted just two 3-pointers in her collegiate career, she’ll be asked to space the floor and step out beyond the arc much more this season. Teri Moren plans to implement principles from Princeton’s five-out offense and emphasize off-ball movement.
For Meister, that’s music to her ears.
“I think that boosts my confidence a little bit because that’s more of my game,” Meister said. “I grew up playing more of a five out and that just fits me. It’s who I am.”
That mentality will be key. Moore-McNeil — entering her fifth season at Indiana — said it’s easy to see Meister’s “fire” when she taps into her confidence. It helps, too, that there will be no shortage of surrounding shooters.
Indiana brought in junior Shay Ciezki from Penn State to recoup some of Sara Scalia’s production shooting. Moore-McNeil, Sydney Parrish and Yarden Garzon have proven adept from beyond the arc. In practice, Meister’s teammates are seeing why she might add a new dimension to the Hoosiers’ offense.
“Lilly didn’t get too much playing time behind Mackenzie the last two years,” Parrish said. “But coming into her new role this year, you see her stepping out to the 3-point line knocking down shot after shot after shot.”
While Meister’s playing time was limited, her practice reps were vital. Learning from Holmes, Meister improved both on offense with her back to the basket and on defense guarding the rim.
It helped her opponent was a Wooden Award finalist and force on both ends of the floor.
“Defensively, she got better having to do that day in and day out,” Moren said. “But on the other side of that, she was also going against Mack offensively, so she had to learn to score in different ways.”
Former players making an impact on staff
Moore-McNeil admitted it was weird to see Holmes without a jersey at practice.
After concluding an illustrious playing career, Holmes was hired as a graduate manager on the Hoosiers’ staff in July. But Holmes won’t be the only familiar face on the sidelines this season.
Keyanna Warthen played 116 games at Indiana and was a member of the 2021 Elite Eight squad. After spending last year as an assistant coach under former IU associate head coach Glenn Box at Miami (OH), Warthen was brought back to Bloomington.
Moren said it is invaluable to have staffers who can attest better than most to the program’s culture and expectations.
“That goes a long way, especially with the parents,” Moren said. “When you have former players that want to come back and they want to be a part of this place — want to be a part of your program — I think that speaks volumes to what we’ve been able to do.”
The staff makeover included the promotion of Ali Patberg, who will serve as a full-time assistant coach this season. Patberg earned four All-Big Ten selections as a player and was drafted by the Indiana Fever in 2022.
Her impact is evident in practices. Sophomore Lenee Beaumont said Patberg understands the “ups and downs of a season” and constantly provides reassurance and instills confidence.
Along with the development side, Patberg is already providing recruiting wins. When Ciezki entered the transfer portal, she had a phone call with Patberg that marked the beginning of a tight-knit bond. The two discussed faith and Patberg’s experience transferring to Indiana from Notre Dame and Ciezki was sold.
“We were kind of just joined at the hip since then,” Ciezki said. “AP is someone that I didn’t necessarily think I needed in my life until I met her. She showed me that there is a love of the game.”
‘Seamless’ transition for newcomers
Ciezki and Tennessee senior transfer Karoline Striplin quickly became close, which helped because they were the team’s only two transfers.
The first day Striplin was on campus, the two had dinner at Da Vinci Pizza & Pasta. Sophomore Lexus Bargesser said the team hangs out frequently off the court and has already developed strong chemistry.
Moren called the transition “seamless.” For Ciezki and Striplin, it helped too that they walked in with an understanding of Indiana’s mindset. Ciezski — who Moren calls a “bulldog” — was struck by the amount of players training on an early Saturday morning when she initially visited.
“It’s Saturday morning,” Ciezki said. “From that point I was like ‘OK they work here.’ These people are in the gym constantly, and I love it.”
Throughout the recruiting process, Ciezki’s golden word was “like-minded.” She wanted a team that plays relentless defense. She wanted a team that would join her in the gym to put up extra shots or run.
At Indiana, Moren preaches just that.
“Being in the gym, doing more than what’s required here isn’t just an expectation,” Moren said. “It’s become a lifestyle for our players.”
As for Striplin, who averaged a career-best 7.2 points and 3.1 rebounds last season, that work ethic was established at Tennessee. She backed up No. 4 WNBA draft pick Rickea Jackson and understands the standard a powerhouse program requires.
Striplin fits right in on a team where toughness and grit are prerequisites.
“Especially being a post, I think you have to be able to take a lot of hits without necessarily getting all of the glory,” Striplin said. “That’s something I’m ok with. I feel like that’s kind of the culture coach Moren has built here.”
(Photo credit: IU Athletics)
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