Teri Moren discusses thought process behind Mackenzie Holmes’ playing time in Indiana women’s basketball collapsing loss to Michigan

For the second straight season the Indiana women’s basketball program saw a total collapse in the second half of its Big Ten Tournament appearance. Last year it was against Ohio State, and this year it was a massive upset to Michigan, 69-56.

Despite head coach Teri Moren trying to attack this week as any other week, it was anything but. Specifically because of the health issues for the Indiana women’s basketball roster. Not only was backup forward Lilly Meister questionable all week, All-American forward Mackenzie Holmes was as well.

Coming into the week, Moren was unsure if and how much either of the two would play. Before Indiana’s game on Friday, Moren provided more of an update emphasizing that Holmes would dress but wouldn’t start and likely wouldn’t play unless they needed her.

Through three and a half quarters, Indiana didn’t. Then, Moren decided to bring in her star center.

At the 6:28 mark of the fourth quarter, Holmes saw the floor for the first time as the Indiana women’s basketball program was looking to stop the bleeding. A 14-point halftime lead and 17-point lead midway through the third quarter had turned into a four-point deficit.

“So in terms of how healthy she is, she could have easily played tonight,” Moren said postgame. “We just were trying to hold her out as much as we could to see what the pieces that we did have that we did feel were healthy enough, if we could get past Michigan and into tomorrow’s semifinal.”

Holmes played just five minutes, going scoreless on 0-of-2 from the field and finishing with two fouls.

“I think it was just trying to figure out the balance,” Moren added. “Our goal was to be here till Sunday. So we were going to — she was available. We knew she was going to be available. We didn’t want to have to play her. We wanted to be able to use her tomorrow more. But she looked at me, and she said, I’m ready to go in, see if I can help.”

Indiana held a 35-21 lead at the half but was outscored 48-21 after halftime. It was 19-8 in the third quarter and 29-13 in the fourth quarter

Without Holmes in the starting lineup of on the floor for the majority of the night, Indiana went small with Yarden Garzon at the five. While it was a matchup advantage that Moren felt good about coming into the Big Ten Tournament, the offense struggled without a true post presence.

Indiana was just 5-of-17 from the field in the first quarter and shot 36.1 percent from the field for the game. Indiana shot 35 percent of less in three of the four quarters.

“We just didn’t seem like we — I felt like we were all just guilty of trying to do a little bit too much as individuals,” Moren said. “That’s what I love about this group so much because they want to do the right thing. Sometimes the right thing is maybe being guilty of forcing shots and not taking better care of the ball.”

Indiana women’s basketball now has a week off before it sees its first game of the NCAA Tournament — a long waiting game. It will be a mixed bag of emotions, however.

Indiana will use this time to get healthy — something it desperately needed. But, its first-round exit on Friday puts its ability to play host in the NCAA Tournament in jeopardy.

“I think our body of work speaks for itself,” Moren emphasized. “We’re not healthy by any stretch of the means. I think that.has to be part of the criteria or whatever they look at. This is not Indiana at full health right now. It’s not a healthy squad. But I do believe this, that come tournament time in two weeks we will have a much different looking, healthier basketball team.

“The two weeks in between is going to be really, really important for this group to get healthy. I think when the NCAA Tournament gets here, I think we’ll feel a whole lot different and much, much better.”

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