‘I think it was a pride thing.’ Indiana women’s basketball turns page on Iowa loss

BLOOMINGTON — The Indiana women’s basketball team returned to form on Wednesday night with a 85-62 win over Minnesota. 

Mackenzie Holmes had a game-high 32 points (one shy of her career-high) while Sydney Parrish and Sara Scalia each hit five 3-pointers. 

The Hoosiers (15-2; 6-1 Big Ten) went into halftime up 47-29 after going on a 19-2 run late in the second quarter. The lead never dipped below 12 points in the second half as they shot 58.9% as a team. 

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It was in stark contrast to the way IU played in a 27-point loss to Iowa over the weekend in what coach Teri Moren described as a “disconnected” and “uninspired” performance. 

“We didn't build this program on those things,” Moren said, on Wednesday night. 

After the Iowa loss, Moren told The Herald-Times that she held a lengthy player-led meeting where she asked players to speak up about what went wrong and how to avoid it from happening again. 

Those discussions continued when they reviewed film of the loss back in Bloomington. 

"We try to pride ourselves on being truth tellers to our players,” Moren said. 

Indiana forward Mackenzie Holmes vouched for Moren’s honesty as she described the “tough” film sessions in the days that followed. 

“I believe it hurt every single one of us to hear coach question whether or not we were ready to play that game (against Iowa),” Holmes said. “I think it's the last time we need to have that conversation. I think we all just took it personally, we hate losing more than we like to win.”

It might help explain why Indiana pushed the pace right out of the gate on Wednesday night with 12 fast break points in the first half. The Hoosiers didn’t want to leave any doubt that they heard the message Moren delivered loud and clear. 

"I think it was a pride thing,” Holmes said. “We really don't want to have that conversation again."

Michael Niziolek is the Indiana beat reporter for The Bloomington Herald-Times. You can follow him on X @michaelniziolek and read all his coverage by clicking here.