Peek over at the bench after the Hoosiers score or make a defensive stop during an IU women’s basketball game, and you may see some peculiar interactions.
During a recent IU win against Purdue, players fell into each other’s arms to feign unconsciousness, freshman guard Ria Gulley jumped rope with a Gatorade towel, and sophomore guard Tia Elbert jumped in joy so enthusiastically that IU Coach Teri Moren said she’d never seen someone so small get so high.
It’s not uncommon for college basketball bench players to celebrate wildly. It can fire up the crowd and serve as an effective way to keep all the team’s players involved in the game. But typically, coaches pay more attention to what’s happening on the court and ignore any bench theatrics going on in the background. Moren, on the other hand, keeps a watchful eye on her substitutes.
“The energy that we get from one another is extremely important,” Moren said. “I was disappointed in watching our Northwestern game. It seemed like we were going back and forth, and the energy that Northwestern had on their bench was far different than ours. It was an opportunity for a teachable moment in film.”
That’s right — Moren and her staff don’t just watch film to evaluate on-court performance. They look at the bench too. The Northwestern game Moren referred to took place Jan. 14. It was IU’s second consecutive loss, and although the Hoosiers were able to tie that game in the middle of the third quarter, they let things slip away and lost by 13 points.
Moren thought the result of that game hinged, at least in part, on the bench’s failure to energize the players on the court during the tightly contested stretch in the third quarter that ultimately decided the outcome of the game.
Recently team video coordinator Erin McKinney has even begun compiling short two-minute clips for IU to watch during film sessions that focus solely on the bench and its actions during games, Moren said.
“That matters,” Moren said. “The chemistry, the enthusiasm, the energy — they all feed off each other, and I wanted them to see what the energy looked like. We were polar opposite of what Northwestern was that day.”
A few days after the loss to Northwestern, IU returned home to face its rival, Purdue, and Moren issued a challenge to her team. She said she wanted to see the bench revitalized and needed every player to help the cause.
The players on the court stepped up to deliver the win and were aided by those on the bench who celebrated every positive IU play with a renewed excitement. Junior guard Tyra Buss played all 40 minutes against Purdue and said the bench energy fueled her.
“We’ve talked about it in film,” Buss said. “We’ve had a meeting about just our energy and just being excited for one another and being happy for each others’ success,””
The Hoosiers went 2-0 on their most recent home stand, including the win over Purdue and a win against Penn State on Mon. As IU hits the road for its next two games, Moren said she is determined to see the same level of involvement from her bench during games. In more hostile environments she said she knows it will be more important for her team to support itself.
“It was great karma, great energy that we needed, and hopefully that’s something we’re going to continue to have,” Moren said of the bench attitude against Purdue. “We’ve got to take that energy and bottle it up and take it on the road with us too.”
