How Hoosiers Avoided Deja Vu All Over Again to Reach Sweet 16

Indiana women's basketball faced a familiar situation in Monday night's NCCAA Tournament second round, but the Hoosiers were motivated by last year's loss and won to advance to the Sweet 16.

Indiana's Mackenzie Holmes (54), Sydney Parrish (33) and Sara Scalia (14) celebrate after the game / Rich Janzaruk/Herald-Times / USA TODAY

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — On the surface, No. 4-seed Indiana women’s basketball plainly returned to the Sweet 16 for the third time in four seasons Monday night by beating No. 5 Oklahoma, 75-68. The only gap in the streak came last year, when the top-seeded Hoosiers were upset in the second round by No. 9 Miami.  

To avoid another stumble, the Hoosiers used that loss as motivation to overcome some stark similarities. Miami and Oklahoma were in eerily familiar situations when they faced Indiana as underdogs in second round games at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. Last season, Miami was tested in its first round game, came from 17 points behind to win by one, and played aggressively against Indiana and never trailed on the way to the Sweet 16. 

This season, Oklahoma trailed in its opening round game by 14 points before beating No. 12 Florida Gulf Coast by three. Both last season and last weekend, Indiana blew out their first-round opponents. The Sooners played aggressively and led Indiana at the half Monday before Indiana stormed back, outscoring Oklahoma 29-20 in the final quarter. 

There’s more comparisons. Last season, the Hurricanes entered the tournament after playing a tough schedule that included Michigan, Notre Dame, North Carolina, Virginia Tech, NC State, Duke and Florida State at home and away. All of those teams reached the NCAA Tournament. This season, Oklahoma played at Mississippi, North Carolina, Kansas State and Texas. Last year, Miami beat a No. 1-seed in Virginia Tech during the regular season. This year, Oklahoma beat No. 1-seed Texas. 

Before Monday's game, Indiana head coach Teri Moren downplayed the comparisons.

“Yeah, well, we don’t look backwards,” Moren stated Sunday, at the media day prior to the second round. “Only look forward to what’s ahead of us. We feel really good about being where we are right now, great about being at home and being able to host once again. So, we've only looked forward. We don't tend to look backwards. At least I don't.” 

But Moren spoke more candidly following Monday’s victory. 

“I tried to not go down the rabbit hole yesterday with you guys,” Moren said. “In terms of, did it still bother us how things went last year? But it's bothered us, it really has. If that gave them some extra motivation, very well could have. I selfishly wanted Mack and Sara and Arielle to win their last game in the Hall. To be able to do it for a trip to the Sweet 16 makes it even sweeter.”

Before the win over Oklahoma, Indiana’s players didn't openly reference Miami as motivation. On Friday, Chloe Moore-McNeil said players mentioned it in their recent meeting, though it was more generally about the chip on their shoulders. Sydney Parrish said Saturday they tried not to think about last season and did not want to relive it. Holmes said it was on their minds, though they needed to put it past them.

But after Monday's game, it was clear the Miami loss weighed on Holmes' mind. 

“Like coach said, this win goes to Grace [Berger] and what we weren't able to do for Grace last year,” Holmes said. “So, I'm really happy she was here tonight to be able to see that and I hope she knows how much that win means for us and to her. I know that she was up there smiling.” 

How could Moren and players not blank it out? Indiana won 28 games last season and won the Big Ten regular-season title for the first time in 40 years. The Hoosiers were 17-0 at home prior to the Miami loss, and they went into Monday’s game eerily needing to win to go to an unbeaten 17-0 in 2023-2024. Holmes stepped up to the occasion. She scored 20 points in the second half and led Indiana's comeback. 

Three second-year starters, Sydney Parrish, Yarden Garzon, and Sara Scalia, had only experienced postseason failure at Indiana. They all contributed to avoiding a repeat of last season, helping Holmes to her first unbeaten home season in her five-year, and historic career — after they couldn't get it done for Berger last year.

“I'm literally going to start crying, but I'm not going to,” Parrish said. “I thought about it earlier this week and it made me think about last year how we lost and how, like I was sitting –– me and Grace Berger's lockers were next to each other –– and just knowing that I let her, you know, leave the Hall with a loss. Just playing with these girls this past year has been so much fun and we said it every single game that we played at home: that we needed to protect Assembly Hall.” 

Last season, Holmes bawled on the court and didn’t even put her hand up in the team’s final huddle. Monday, she sprinted into the student section like she did in 2022 –– and asked Moren if she could. It took time for all the Hoosiers to get up those not-so-spaced steps on the wooden bleachers. Their journey to this moment has also been in tiny steps: after Miami, following road blowouts at Iowa, Stanford, Illinois, and Michigan. They regrouped, and now they are on their way to Albany, N.Y., to face top-ranked South Carolina. 

It wasn't easy. Third quarters have occasionally plagued the Hoosiers this season, and it trended that direction once more Monday. The Sooners went up 45-38 with 4:37 to go in the third quarter. They were loose, they were smiling. In three seasons under head coach Jennie Baranczyk, Oklahoma was 14-1 in contests decided by three points or less. Indiana called timeout. It rallied. Moore-McNeil sank clutch baskets, Yarden Garzon stuck the decider. They fought for both Holmes and Scalia. 

“We talked about no regrets,” Garzon said about going into the fourth quarter. “We didn’t want to finish this game and regret something that we could do. We all locked in and knew what we had to do. I feel like Mack really tried to talk to us, to make us understand how big it is for all of us.” 

They didn’t just protect Assembly Hall Monday night. They saved their legacy.