That one was a rollercoaster.
That one was a rollercoaster,
First, whoever decided to schedule Indiana and Maryland men’s and women’s hoops roughly an hour apart when both programs have a senior day celebration happening made an awful mistake. Putting one on Peacock made it worse.
Indiana pulled out the win here but the immediate future in the Big Ten tourney got a bit murky in the second half.
Here’s three things:
The injury bug
Both Mackenzie Holmes and Lilly Meister had awkward landings that resulted in injuries to the knee and ankle, respectively. Both left the game and Teri Moren put 6-3 guard Yarden Garzon in at the five.
They’re each day-to-day, but it’s worth noting that Holmes returned to the bench after spending some time in the locker room and both were standing during Indiana’s postgame senior recognition.
That’s bad news because those two are 1-2 on the depth chart at center. Indiana’s frontcourt has been thin for two years now and Moren will need to get even more creative than usual if neither is available for the Big Ten Tournament.
Physicality
Brenda Frese’s program is a tough one. The Terps are big, strong, take the weight room seriously and use all that size to their advantage.
Maryland’s pressure caused a few issues throughout the game, but Indiana usually had an answer to get the ball in the hoop. The Terps’ guards picked up the Hoosiers at halfcourt to cause some early disruption before pressuring the ballhandler in halfcourt situations.
Indiana had to answer and counter with some physicality of its own, which led to a total of 36 fouls called. That’s just a bit lower than one per minute. Two Hoosiers and one Terp were at the four foul mark at the final buzzer with one player having fouled out on each side.
Miami’s physicality last season really caught Indiana on its heels in the NCAA Tournament. You’d rather have experience against a team that plays like that, especially one as good as Maryland, heading into March Madness.
Senior night
Indiana celebrated Mackenzie Holmes, Sara Scalia and Arielle Wisne for senior day.
There was a pregame ceremony to honor the three with their families before Wisne took the mic for the national anthem. It came as a surprise to her teammates, who turned around the second she was finished to hype her up.
It’s hard to say in just a few words what each has meant to this program. Holmes is on Indiana’s “Mt. Rushmore” with a case as the greatest player in the Hoosiers’ history. Scalia broke the season record for made 3s a while ago and is still making them to extend her lead. Wisne has been there through it all as an incredible teammate and sealed the win today with a block on the Terps’ final possession.
We’ll have more on those three soon, but it was an emotional day in Bloomington all around.