My Two Cents: Indiana Women Scratch Off Another 'Bucket List' Item at Tennessee

Indiana sent a loud message to the college basketball world on Monday night when it went on the road and dismantled a good Tennessee team with Final Four aspirations. The Hoosiers are really good, and Monday's win was a huge statement.

Tom Brew | Nov 15, 2022

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — There's nothing better than scratching things off the bucket list.

Nothing at all.

There is no more sacred ground in women's college basketball than Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville, along with whichever arena Connecticut is playing in at the time. There are eight national championship banners that flutter in the breeze in this spacious building, with an eye on more sometime soon.

This was the environment that Teri Moren's Indiana team rolled into on Monday night. And say this about the Hoosiers, who are trying to claw their way onto the national stage the past two or three years. They looked like they totally belonged on Monday night.

Indiana beat Tennessee 79-67, knocking off a Volunteers team that was ranked No. 4 in the country in the Coaches preseason poll. Indiana, who was No. 11 but dropped a spot last week despite two blowout wins, will certainly move up now after what might have been the most impressive regular season win in the already-impressive Teri Moren era.

This Indiana team, make no mistake, is very, very good. And what they proved Monday night was that they could go on the road and beat a very good team, and take their best shot over and over and never flinch. It was their first-ever win over blueblood Tennessee.

And we know about bluebloods.

"I can’t even tell you how proud I am of our group tonight,” Moren said. "I'm really, really happy with how we handled ourselves, how we shared the ball and how we answered the call when it felt like Tennessee started making a run.''

Indiana coach Teri Moren watches the action during the Hoosiers' win over Tennessee on Monday in Knoxville, Tenn. (USA TODAY Sports)

She has every right to be proud, because Indiana made a huge statement on Monday night. They proved, even against an explosive inside-out team like Tennessee, that they can guard. Indiana forward Mackenzie Holmes answered the call on the blocks defensively, and the IU defense was aggressive and disruptive all night long. They got an early lead and kept it, thanks mostly to making stops and outrebounding a bigger team.

"I thought our activity in our gaps was extra special tonight. It made it really difficult. We tried to clog the gaps make it harder for them. We didn't do a great job on some of their shooters as well as we wanted to — (Tennessee did make nine three-pointers) — but at the end of the night we did enough. The rebounding was going to be the key tonight. We outrebounded them by two. I don't care if that is one or two, we outrebounded Tennessee and that was the most important key to the game tonight."

Moren basically relied on a six-player rotation, with Holmes, Grace Berger, Chloe Moore-McNeil, freshman Yarden Garzon and transfers Sara Scalia and Sydney Parrish playing 191 of the potential 200 minutes. Five of the six scored 13 points or more, with only Garzon, who dealt with foul trouble much of the night, scoring just four points.

Holmes (16) was terrific in closing out the game, scoring eight fourth-quarter points. Berger was, well, Berger. The veteran point guard controlled the pace of this game, scoring seven points early and then hitting one big shot after another every time Tennessee made a run. She had 13 points

Chloe Moore-McNeil was spectacular, too, in an emotional homecoming. And then there was Scalia and Parrish, who came to Indiana via Minnesota and Oregon, respectively. Scalia had 16 points and Parrish had 13, including seven in her first four-plus minutes off the bench late in the first quarter when she triggered an 11-0 Indiana run.

These two make a huge difference to this Indiana team, because they've stepped in and filled the gaps left by the departures of starters Ali Patberg, Nicole Cardaño-Hillary and Aleksa Gulbe.

It's blasphemous, but this year's team is better than last year's, which went 24-9 and lost in the Sweet 16 at Connecticut.

Saying a lot? Yep.

And happy to say it.

“It's hard to find a kid as tough as Ali Patberg and a young lady as tough as Nicole Cardaño-Hillary and the monster that Aleksa Gulbe was on the boards for us,” Moren said. “So I’m not trying to compare, but not only did we lose their skillset, we lost the moxie and their confidence and their toughness that all three of those young ladies play with.

"But tonight, we played that way, I liked how we never backed down when Tennessee came after us, and we knew they would. We were tough.''

Grace Berger (right) had 13 points and 10 rebounds in Monday's win. (USA TODAY Sports)

A lot of that credit can go to Berger, who's not only a great team leader but a complete pest on defense as well. Indiana's point of emphasis was to hold their own on the boards, and they did just that. Berger, who's just 6-foot tall, had 10 rebounds from her guard position, which surprised absolutely no one. It's easy to forget that she was Indiana's second-leading rebounder a year ago, too.

Grace Berger has will. And her teammates follow.

“We’re always going to be a team that really just plays off of Grace’s toughness,” Moren said. “And there’s not a greater competitor — not only on our team, but in the country — when it comes to women’s basketball. But she’s just so even-keel. And her composure, I thought, was tremendous.”

The best feels were left for Chloe Moore-McNeil, the junior from Sharon, Tenn. Make no mistake, she knows all about the Tennessee basketball aura growing up in the state. She chose to come to Indiana, but two of her high school teammates at Greenfield High School, came to Tennessee. One of them, Tess Darby, had nine points on three-pointers Monday. Their paths crossed often.

And winning at Tennessee for her was a huge, huge deal.

"It meant the world to me, to see my old former teammates and have the whole town of Greenfield coming to this game,'' she said. ''It shows how much they're behind me, but also Tess as well.''

Moore-McNeil had a huge night. She scored 15 points and hit three three-pointers. One came right after Darby, her old teammate, hit two in a row to cut the Indiana lead to four points. McNeil answered on the next possession, and the Hoosiers were never threatened again.

It was all huge.

This is a team, clearly, that relished this national-stage opportunity. They made the most of it. And now they move on from here.

There was talk in the preseason that Tennessee had Final Four talent. Indiana was clearly better on Monday night. Are they Final Four worthy as well?

Tennessee coach Kelley Harper, who won three national championships as a player in Knoxville, was very impressed. She knew Indiana would guard, but she also was really impressed with how they can score. And Moren, of course, she really likes this team, too.

Last month at media day back in Bloomington, she talked about Final Fours and ''getting one of those for us'' when pointing up to the five banners in Assembly Hall won by the men's team.

They had one of their best nights ever under Tennessee's eight championship banners. We've already learned that Indiana is pretty good these past couple of years.

Now, after Monday night, we've learned even more.

They are really, really good.

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