The Hoosiers walked into Knoxville Tuesday night looking for their first ever win against one of the top women's college basketball programs of all time. No. 12 Indiana took care of business, walking out with a 79-67 win over No. 11 Tennessee and moving on to 3-0 on the season. This win is one of the biggest wins in recent years for the Hoosiers as they continue to climb the women’s basketball hierarchy. As the Hoosiers come out on top in one of their biggest wins of the season, here are three things that stuck out in the win over the Lady Volunteers.
Indiana’s depth shines
Last year Indiana had essentially no bench and only played six or seven players which limited them once they got to the NCAA tournament. After their loss to UConn, Teri Moren and Indiana got to work, paying off in Monday’s game. The Hoosiers got several players in the transfer portal, bringing in a wide display of talent proving Monday that Indiana is a completely new team. Five different players for Indiana scored in double digits, something that would have been hard to come by last season. Sydney Parrish and Sara Scalia were two of those five players, scoring 16 and 13 points respectively. Indiana added Parrish and Scalia from the transfer portal and their performance against Tennessee is the perfect example of Indiana going out and doing things right in the off season. This is a brand-new team with a layer of depth that we haven’t seen before so for Indiana to go out and share the ball against a top program shows how the Hoosiers are working with different tools this season.
With the departure of Nicole Cardano-Hillary, Ali Patberg and Aleksa Gulbe, a lot of pressure was put on the shoulders of Grace Berger and Mackenzie Holmes coming into this season. Monday’s game was a sign that those two don’t have to carry the workload like some feared going into the 2022 season. Indiana now has depth and that lone reason could be why we see them playing basketball in late March.
This is the Chloe Moore-McNeil that Indiana needs
Moore-McNeil saw more playing time during the season last year and finished out the year averaging 5.2 points, 2.9 rebounds and one assist a game. The Sharon, Tennessee native was expected to have a bigger role on this team and in her homecoming game, she showed what type of impact she can make. Moore-McNeil put on one of the best performances that we’ve seen from her in an Indiana jersey. Moore-McNeil finished the night with 15 points, two rebounds and five assists.
By far one of the most impressive performances from the junior guard and it could be a good sign of what to come in the future. Moore-McNeil has shown signs of promise last year and if she can continue to have these types of games for the Hoosiers, she can put herself in a position to be one of the most effective players for this team.
Sydney Parrish plays a huge role on this team and it looked nearly perfect against Tennessee
Parrish could easily start for many programs across the country but she has been the main player to come off the bench for the Hoosiers. Moren has talked about how some of the players on this team will have to make sacrifices moving forward. Parrish has been one of those players. She was inserted into this new role and so far it has worked pretty well for both Parrish and the Hoosiers. In the win against Tennessee, Parrish had 13 points, four rebounds and five assists.
Parrish adds stability for that second unit, something that is extremely important as the season gets deeper. Parrish has embraced her new role and so far Moren has also shown how good of a coaching job she has done despite all the new faces on the team. So far the start of the Indiana native’s career in the cream and crimson has gotten off to a storybook beginning. The way that Moren has utilized her new strategies goes to show that this season could be very special for Indiana.
