Coming off a big win at Iowa on Sunday, hopes were high for another Indiana victory, though that would not come to be, as Indiana lost to Illinois 68-54 at Assembly Hall. The Hoosiers just weren't physical enough, resulting in the Illini getting out to a lead that IU just couldn't climb all the way back from.
"They were physical with us. We didn't respond in the right way" head coach Teri Moren said postgame, outlining that Kendall Bostic and the rest of the Illini were having their way throughout the game thanks to the less-than physical play from Indiana.
Bostic scored 21 for the game, many of which came inside against Lilly Meister, who only played three minutes in the second half because of Bostic's dominance early on.
"We don't need an okay Lilly. We need a really good Lilly to help us, because we have to have great balance and, you know, just not a good matchup with Bostic" Moren said postgame, explaining why Meister played such limited minutes in the second half.
She wasn't the only one who struggled with physicality on the defensive side though, as Yarden Garzon played just four minutes after halftime, Moren saying that "Yarden had a hard time guarding and we needed to get stops."
This can all be traced back to the physicality of the game and how the Hoosiers response led to the Illini taking a large lead early on in the game.
Illinois was up by 11 after the first quarter and 13 after the second, with 15 being the largest lead possessed all game. While Indiana did end up cutting it to four in the middle of the fourth quarter, Illinois' lead proved to be just too much as the Hoosiers couldn't cut it closer than that, physicality, or lack thereof being the main reason why.
This one was increasingly physical from the start, as both teams tried to impose their will , though only Illinois was truly successful.
You could see early on that Indiana just wasn't as physical as Illinois was, especially as the Illini lead mounted in the first quarter, the Hoosiers just not being able to defend the physical offense that U of I was running.
"It's tough when they're getting downhill and we can't, can't seem to stop them. I think coming out the first quarter we kicked ourselves in the foot by I mean, they had 25 points in the first quarter that led to us being down the rest of the game. We have to come out a lot harder" Sydney Parrish said postgame, shining some light on her team's struggles early.
Parrish is certainly right, as the 25 points Indiana allowed dug it into a hole that it wasn't able to get out of, even with a better second half.
Despite being down by as many as 15, Indiana battled back and made it a close game with just a few minutes remaining. With the help of the Assembly Hall crowd, it was just 49-45 with 7:46 remaining, though IU wouldn't get it closer than this.
That's because Illinois scored six straight points and ended up going on a 19-9 run to end the game, as the Hoosiers had run out of gas after an attempt at a comeback.
This gave Indiana its fifth loss on the season, though Moren believes that this one may have been because of poor preparation in addition to Illinois dominating things physically.
Moren said that her team's workout yesterday was "was not a good practice for us. And as I always tell them, you play how you practice. And I thought our practice was not very good yesterday."
She also went on to mention specific issues with the practice, saying that "low energy, not being focused" and "turning the ball over too much" were some of the things that went wrong, with all of these things showing themselves against Illinois.
This may have directly led to Illinois dominating Indiana physically, as the Illini showed that they wanted to get downhill, and they certainly did with players like Adalia McKenzie, Berry Wallace, and Genesis Bryant, in addition to Bostic, all having fantastic games.
Because of that, Moren said that these performances are "probably something that they got to look at from an individual perspective and realize that teams are going to be physical with us, and you know, we have to be able to be as physical back," explaining how physicality is something that her teams needs to work on.
It's something Indiana needs to work on quick, as the physicality just wasn't there for the Hoosiers against Illinois. Whether it was because of the poor practice or not, these issues need to be figured out if Indiana wants to upset No. 4 USC, as Indiana plays host to the Trojans on Sunday.
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