Indiana women’s basketball’s starting lineup consists of five upperclassmen — two of whom being graduate students in their fifth seasons of collegiate basketball.
And when the Cream and Crimson faced off against Illinois inside Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall on Thursday, all but one — sophomore guard Julianna LaMendola — of the eight Hoosiers who took to the court were upperclassmen.
But after Indiana began the contest with an overall lack of energy, it wound up trailing by 11 after the first quarter. And it wasn’t the only time the Hoosiers’ energy fell short.
“Yesterday, it was not a good practice for us, and as I always tell them, you play how you practice,” Indiana head coach Teri Moren said postgame. “And I thought our practice was not very good yesterday with some individuals, not all of them, some of them.”
Indiana’s lackluster opening quarter put the Hoosiers in a hole they weren’t able to recover from as they fell to the Fighting Illini 68-54.
“Low energy from some of them,” Moren said about the Hoosiers’ practice Wednesday. “I'm not going to say particular ones, but the ones we count on a lot. Low energy, not being focused, turning the ball over too much.”
It’s not a first-time occurrence, either.
Moren explained it’s not an uncommon sight for some members of her squad to display a lack of energy at practice. And it’s something that she said bothers her.
“Two days out, a day out before a really big game, you should feel good about the two hours that you're leaving the gym,” Moren said, “going, 'Our prep was good, our energy was good. I think we're on point with what we want to do from a scouting perspective. When we're on offense and we're playing against our practice guys, we look sharp offensively, not turning the ball over, not careless.'”
But that was not the case Wednesday and it foreshadowed Thursday’s result: the Hoosiers’ third loss on their homecourt this season compared to just three home losses over the previous three seasons.
Although Moren did not name anyone involved in the lackluster practice Wednesday, she did cite Lilly Meister for her 1-point performance against Illinois. The junior forward played just 11 minutes and went 0 for 2 from the field.
Over the Hoosiers last three contests, Meister averaged 6.3 points and 3.3 rebounds per game.
“Lilly has to be better,” Moren said. “She has to be better offensively. She has to be better defensively. And here, as of late, she's just been okay. And we don't need an okay Lilly, we need a really good Lilly to help us because we have to have great balance.”
While Meister struggled, so too did her junior counterpart Yarden Garzon. Coming off a 21-point performance against then-No. 23 Iowa on Jan. 11, Garzon tallied just 3 points Thursday, which came just 15 seconds into the game.
Not only was Garzon struggling to find an offensive rhythm, but she also could not contain Illinois’ Adalia McKenzie. The senior guard racked up 11 of Illinois’ 25 points in the opening quarter and totaled just 4 additional points over the final three periods.
“Yarden had a hard time guarding, and we had to get stops,” Moren said. “She had a hard time guarding and obviously she, 24, went right at her. And so we had to get a more athletic lineup on the floor just to try to do a better job defensively.”
Garzon headed to Indiana’s bench with just under six minutes left in the third quarter and did not return to the contest.
Although playing against a Big Ten foe like Illinois, which has given Indiana trouble in the past few meetings between the squads, is a critical game, it’s one the Hoosiers couldn’t overlook. And they didn’t, according to Moren.
But they didn’t treat it as a “big game” that they’ve grown accustomed to playing inside Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall over the years.
“Once we get into Big Ten season it’s game after game and we can’t just be up for a home game against Iowa,” graduate student guard Sydney Parrish said. “We have to come in for an Illinois game ... We can’t just show up for the big games, we got to show up for all of them.”
Coming off a loss, Indiana has yet another marquee matchup looming: No. 4 USC at noon Sunday in Bloomington.
If the Hoosiers display another showing like Thursday, they could be in for a long day against Trojans sophomore guard JuJu Watkins and graduate student forward Kiki Iriafen.
“We’re going to come in tomorrow, watch some film, learn from it, but we got to turn the page really quickly because if we play like this against USC, it’s going to be brutal,” Parrish said. “We know we have to show up for that game and be a lot better than we were tonight, and I know we will be.”
Follow reporters Dalton James (@DaltonMJames) and Savannah Slone (@savrivers06) and columnist Ryan Canfield (@RyanCanfieldOnX) for updates throughout the Indiana women’s basketball season.
