A new post in town.
Karoline Striplin is a familiar foe for Indiana, having one of her best games on the season against the Hoosiers with Tennessee in the 2023 Fort Meyers Tipoff Classic. She had 13 points and two rebounds in 22 minutes of action, going 2-4 from 3-point range.
Watching the highlights from that game, one thing jumps out immediately: she was not in the starting lineup. She only started 11 of Tennessee’s 33 games last year, a dropoff from her 28 starts the year before.
Tennessee being the program that it is means that coming off the bench isn’t necessarily an indictment of Striplin’s talent or playing ability. It’s more so an indication that Moren isn’t replacing Holmes with a known commodity.
Given Holmes’ development under associate head coach Rhet Wierzba during her time in Bloomington, this should not be a point of concern.
Getting into the film from her game against Indiana last year, there’s a lot to like about Striplin either as a starter or in a reserve role behind Lilly Meister. She first appears around the 3 minute mark, dragging Holmes out to the perimeter before being called for a moving screen on the pick and roll.
Unlike Holmes and Meister, Striplin brings a legit perimeter game to the frontcourt. In just under 15 minutes per game, she averaged 1.8 3-point attempts per contest, hitting 31%. With a lower shooting volume the prior season, she shot 38.7% from deep.
Her perimeter game extends to the defensive side as well. On multiple possessions last season, she defended Yarden Garzon or Sydney Parrish on the perimeter effectively.
Against Indiana, there’s a stretch in the third quarter where she was almost exclusively a perimeter player, on both sides of the ball. Defensively, she guarded Parrish, while on offense she set screens and hunted shots without ever stepping into the paint.
She hit both of her threes in this stretch, one off the dribble after Holmes failed to close out, and the other after setting a screen and stepping out behind the arc for the pass.
At this stage in their careers, Meister is probably the better interior player, especially on the glass. Against Indiana especially, you can see Striplin struggle to establish herself inside in the halfcourt, especially when she’s not involved in some kind of screening action, high or low.
Still, having a forward who can play on the perimeter gives Moren something she hasn’t really had that often. Indiana can use her to space the floor on offense or even possibly alongside Meister if the matchup demands it.