Illinois runs “the buzz,” where defenders fly around, trying to disrupt the offense and trapping on every catch. It’s almost a mix of a man-to-man and zone defense. Defenders don’t have an assigned player to guard, they’re just guarding the ball.
IU Coach Teri Moren turned to colleagues that had faced the buzz before in preparation to attack that particular defense.
And Wednesday night, IU had a formula that worked: passing, passing and more passing. They had a total of 23 assists in a 85-58 win against Illinois on Wednesday night in Assembly Hall.
Moren knew poise and composure on offense would be key to beating the buzz.
“It’s not ordinary,” Moren said of Illinois’ defense. “It’s something that you don’t have to go against very often. I just thought, especially in the first half, our ball ?movement was tremendous.”
Oftentimes the Hoosiers were making the extra pass, even when it wasn’t needed.
At one point in the second half, sophomore guard Larryn Brooks got a steal and threw a baseball pass ahead to Karlee McBride on the other end of the court. It was a 2-on-1 situation where she could’ve taken the layup herself. Instead, she passed it off to Tyra Buss for the score.
McBride said IU’s goal was to pass quickly around the perimeter on offense to make the Illini tired. Making the extra pass comes naturally with a big lead, she said.
Getting steals — the Hoosiers finished with nine of them — and scoring in ?transition was just a bonus.
“I love giving the ball to my teammates,” McBride said. “It gets the crowd going, it just brings a lot of energy.”
The Hoosiers scored 18 points off turnovers and outscored Illinois 9-0 in fast break points. As usual, it all started with shooting.
The Hoosiers were 55 percent from the floor, including making 13 of 23 attempted 3-pointers. Brooks and freshman forward Amanda Cahill, who was an uncharacteristic 2-of-2 from three, each scored 14 points. McBride had 13, and Buss added 11.
“Once we started to share the ball and shots were falling,” Moren said, “it seemed like it transferred over to anything we were running.”
While the Hoosiers hit shots to open games against Northwestern and Ohio State in the past week, that consistency didn’t carry over to the second half. The offense fell flat and the defense followed. And it resulted in two close losses, by six and eight points.
Against the Illini, that wasn’t the case. IU opened the second half 4-of-5 from the field and shot 60 percent from three in the final 20 minutes. By the end of the game, every player in the lineup had scored.
Brooks said they focused on making sure when shots aren’t falling, it doesn’t effect the rest of the game.
They’re learning from past mistakes, Moren said.
“This tells us what we’re capable of,” she said. “Now, can we do it night in and night out, whether we’re in Assembly Hall or on the road.”
