With 5:47 left to go in the first half against Illinois, an irate head coach Teri Moren called a timeout after No. 14 Indiana women’s basketball allowed the Fighting Illini to their, at the time, largest lead of the game. The score at the timeout was 32-24 in favor of the Fighting Illini.
The Hoosiers looked to ignite a spark that would put them back in the game. That spark never kindled. The Hoosiers dropped the President’s Day matinee 86-66.
“Give Illinois a ton of credit for coming out and punching us right in the mouth from the beginning,” Moren said postgame. “We are very very very disappointed.”
The turning point of the game was the second quarter. From the beginning of the quarter, the two offenses went in different directions: the Illini outscored the Hoosiers by 15.
Moren described the second quarter as “awful.”
From the final three quarters, the Hoosiers shot 18-38 to Illinois 23-46. That margin is terribly uneven, but the Hoosiers missed too many opportunities and let the Illini have their way on offense. The struggles for Indiana on defense arose from simply being unable to guard the Illini backcourt.
“They are hard, their guard play is so great when they attack, they are quick,” Moren said. “They keep you constantly moving, which is hard to guard.”
The featured guard performance for Illinois was senior guard Makira Cook, finishing with 22 points on 40% shooting from the field.
Along with an angry Moren, a teary-eyed graduate forward Mackenzie Holmes expressed her displeasure with the performance.
“I don’t take losing very well, only have a few games left in the regular season so we got to figure it out. That's all there is to it,” Holmes said. “We got to figure out how to come from behind. I got to be better at protecting the rim.”
Holmes was the leading scorer with 24 points.
This was not the note Indiana wanted to enter their biggest home game of the season on. With No. 4 Iowa and one of the hottest names in sports, senior guard Caitlin Clark coming into Bloomington on Thursday, Moren stated that the Hoosiers will put their best foot forward against the Hawkeyes.
“We have three games left in the Big Ten season,” Moren said. “We got to figure somethings out, but I can tell you this, we are going to be much better on Thursday.”
If the Hoosiers can’t match up well with the Illinois guards, it could be a long night against Iowa.
The Hawkeyes’ offense will get everything they want and then some if Indiana doesn’t have a cohesive defensive performance. Clark being a force on her own will draw a ton of attention but it's about limiting the other Hawkeyes.
Iowa matches the physicality and speed that Illinois posed for Indiana. That's not even mentioning the scoring. Iowa will feature a lot of off-ball movement with starting senior guards Molly Davis, Kate Martin and Gabbie Marshall. The three combined for 40 points, in addition to Clark’s 30 in the first matchup on Jan. 13
Indiana’s second meeting with No. 4 Iowa is set for 8 p.m, Thursday with the game streaming on Peacock.
Follow reporters Dalton James (@DaltonMJames) and Quinn Richards (@Quinn_richa), columnist Ryan Canfield (@_ryancanfield) and photographer Olivia Bianco (@theoliviabianco) for updates throughout the Indiana women’s basketball season.
