Holmes Siblings Bring Competitive Nature To Indiana Women’s Basketball
11/16/2020 2:00:00 PM | Women's Basketball
By Pete DiPrimio
IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – The question has to be asked. It suggests drama, intensity and the kind of sister-brother rivalry that leads to basketball excellence.
In Indiana sophomore standout Mackenzie Holmes' case, it has, at a national level.
So, who is the better shooter -- Mackenzie or brother Cam, a Hoosier practice player with a strong game?
Cam doesn't hesitate.
"I would have to say me. If she tells you it isn't me, she's lying."
Will Mackenzie lie?
"He is the better shooter," she admits. "That's fair."
And then, a touch of competitive ribbing.
"That's pretty much all he does, so I'll give that to him."
Cam offers a concession.
"She's the better player in every other aspect, but shooting is one of the few categories I have her beat in."
Mackenzie is coming off a record-breaking freshman season. No Hoosier has ever matched the 6-3 forward's 63.4 percent shooting. That easily topped the previous mark of 61.1 percent set by Jenny Dittfach during the 1995-96 season.
She averaged 10.8 and 5.2 rebounds and earned a program-record three Big Ten Freshman of the Week awards.
If you believe Cam, that's just the beginning.
"I can see how much she's grown as a person and a player."
Mackenzie's old-school-style game has been compared to former Boston Celtics superstar Kevin McHale for her ability to read defenses and play angles, although coach Teri Moren adds comparisons to another ex-Celtic, and former state-of-Indiana legend, Larry Bird, because she plays beyond appearance.
Mackenzie was a big reason, but not the only one, why IU won a program-record 24 games last season.
Mackenzie wants more. The Hoosiers want more. That means work.
"I want to become a better defender and be able to defend the 4 (power forward) spot. That was a weak point last year. I want to stay on the court at a high level for longer. Not get as tired as quickly. Try to stretch the floor as much as I can."
The reward could be enormous for Mackenzie and the Hoosiers – if the pandemic allows it.
Moren has assembled a team deep in talent, experience and size. Optimism is at an all-time high.
"We have a lot of pieces to help us be successful," Mackenzie says. "We're strong in every position.
"It won't be a normal season because of Covid-19, any day we get to be on the court together is a great day. Every day it gets closer to the season, we get more excited."
A big goal for Mackenzie, and many of the Hoosiers, is improving the perimeter shooting. Indiana shot just 30.3 percent from three-point range last season to rank No. 220 nationally.
Mackenzie never took a three-pointer last year despite being a solid high school perimeter shooter at a senior (12-for-32) while earning Maine Gatorade Player of the Year honors.
The reason -- IU coaches didn't need it from her then.
They do now.
"In high school, I shot outside from the perimeter because I was able to," Mackenzie says. "If I had an open three, I would take it.
"Last year, it was not what they needed me to do. It wasn't my role."
After the pandemic ended all of college sports last spring, Mackenzie returned to her Gorham, Maine, home. Assistant coach Rhet Wierzba suggested using the time to improve her outside shooting.
"We thought it would be good to stretch my game past 12 to 15 feet. I had the time to do it, to go at my own pace to get comfortable beyond the arc.
It helped that her father, Lenny, is a long-time and highly regarded shooting instructor and AAU coach (her mother, Denise, is a college assistant coach).
Lenny installed a basket in the front yard for outside work. Mackenzie also had occasional access to a gym that had a shooting gun.
Father did a lot of rebounding for her. Brother, not so much.
"Cam did not rebound for me," Mackenzie emphasizes with a laugh.
Still, Cam sees the improvement.
"She's expanded her game. She can take people off the dribble from the perimeter rather than being a back-to-the-basket kind of player."
Adds Moren: "Mac has completely added another element to her game. She's able to knock down the long ball with consistency."
The pandemic forced the closing of many facilities, which meant Mackenzie had to get creative with workouts while at home.
For instance, all she had was a set of dumbbells, a bike, a treadmill and a leg press machine. Strength coach Kevin Konopasek devised a program for her.
"He gave me a lot of lifts and options. I maintained my lifting. We had Zoom workouts with the team twice a week."
Another obstacle was the southern Maine weather, which wasn't always conducive to outdoor workouts.
"For a while, I couldn't run outside. The Maine weather wasn't letting it happen. It stayed snowy till end of April."
When Mackenzie got outside, the goal was to take advantage of area football fields' 100-yard dimensions for running work.
The problem -- all such fields around Mackenzie were closed, and when she tried to sneak on, she got kicked off. So, she improvised at a nearby open field where grass cutting was not always a regular occurrence and holes could be ankle-twisting hazards.
She used an extra pair of shoes to walk off what she thought was 100 yards, and kept an eye out for holes.
"I worked with what I had. It was tough, but the fact I was able to work through it paid off.
"It was not like running on a turf. It wasn't even. I tried to find a straight line with the least amount of divots. If I saw one, I'd try my best to go around it. It sounds ridiculous now talking about it."
Along the way, Mackenzie lost 25 pounds, although it wasn't by design.
"The first couple of weeks (of the pandemic break), I was in shock. I was not aware of what was going on. The more it became a reality that this won't go away any time soon, I did the things I knew I needed to do to prepare.
"I wanted to change my body to stay in the game longer, be quicker, defend better. I changed my diet. Started eating better. Of course, I was exercising, and started losing weight. I wanted to see how far I could go with it. It's been a long journey, but I'm happy with how I feel now."
Mackenzie says it's helped her game.
"I feel quicker. I can get up and down the court better. I can get up more when shooting. I can defend better.
"It was something I needed to do to take my game to the next level."
That leads us back to practice, and the challenge of facing a brother who refuses to back down.
IU coaches don't try to separate them.
"It all depends on the day," Cam says. "I'm usually a guard-forward type of player, but when the big (practice player) doesn't show up I'll go against her. Sometimes it's in drills. Sometimes it's in scrimmages.
"I would say at least a few times a practice."
There's no let up when brother and sister go at it, and they do go at it.
"It doesn't matter if it was brother-brother or sister-sister," Cam says, "it's pretty much the same thing.
"When she goes against me, she'll go a little harder. She'll give me a little more of an elbow or two. I'll do the same to her. It's a good back and forth.
"When I'm guarding her, she'll try harder to score than if someone else guarding her."
A pause.
"I do as well so she has no bragging rights over me," he adds with a laugh.
Cam worked with the women's team at Rhode Island's Bryan University for a year before transferring to IU last season when his sister arrived.
"It's everything I expected," he says. "It's better than being a manager. I enjoy the competitiveness and helping the girls.
"I'm very invested in the team. I've built a lot of great relationships here. The culture is great. Very upbeat. It makes a manager or a practice player want to come every day because they treat you special."
His sister agrees.
"We have something special," Mackenzie says about the team. "Our chemistry is great. We have this competitiveness we bring to practice every day.
"We're very excited."
IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – The question has to be asked. It suggests drama, intensity and the kind of sister-brother rivalry that leads to basketball excellence.
In Indiana sophomore standout Mackenzie Holmes' case, it has, at a national level.
So, who is the better shooter -- Mackenzie or brother Cam, a Hoosier practice player with a strong game?
Cam doesn't hesitate.
"I would have to say me. If she tells you it isn't me, she's lying."
Will Mackenzie lie?
"He is the better shooter," she admits. "That's fair."
And then, a touch of competitive ribbing.
"That's pretty much all he does, so I'll give that to him."
Cam offers a concession.
"She's the better player in every other aspect, but shooting is one of the few categories I have her beat in."
Mackenzie is coming off a record-breaking freshman season. No Hoosier has ever matched the 6-3 forward's 63.4 percent shooting. That easily topped the previous mark of 61.1 percent set by Jenny Dittfach during the 1995-96 season.
She averaged 10.8 and 5.2 rebounds and earned a program-record three Big Ten Freshman of the Week awards.
If you believe Cam, that's just the beginning.
"I can see how much she's grown as a person and a player."
Mackenzie's old-school-style game has been compared to former Boston Celtics superstar Kevin McHale for her ability to read defenses and play angles, although coach Teri Moren adds comparisons to another ex-Celtic, and former state-of-Indiana legend, Larry Bird, because she plays beyond appearance.
Mackenzie was a big reason, but not the only one, why IU won a program-record 24 games last season.
Mackenzie wants more. The Hoosiers want more. That means work.
"I want to become a better defender and be able to defend the 4 (power forward) spot. That was a weak point last year. I want to stay on the court at a high level for longer. Not get as tired as quickly. Try to stretch the floor as much as I can."
The reward could be enormous for Mackenzie and the Hoosiers – if the pandemic allows it.
Moren has assembled a team deep in talent, experience and size. Optimism is at an all-time high.
"We have a lot of pieces to help us be successful," Mackenzie says. "We're strong in every position.
"It won't be a normal season because of Covid-19, any day we get to be on the court together is a great day. Every day it gets closer to the season, we get more excited."
A big goal for Mackenzie, and many of the Hoosiers, is improving the perimeter shooting. Indiana shot just 30.3 percent from three-point range last season to rank No. 220 nationally.
Mackenzie never took a three-pointer last year despite being a solid high school perimeter shooter at a senior (12-for-32) while earning Maine Gatorade Player of the Year honors.
The reason -- IU coaches didn't need it from her then.
They do now.
"In high school, I shot outside from the perimeter because I was able to," Mackenzie says. "If I had an open three, I would take it.
"Last year, it was not what they needed me to do. It wasn't my role."
After the pandemic ended all of college sports last spring, Mackenzie returned to her Gorham, Maine, home. Assistant coach Rhet Wierzba suggested using the time to improve her outside shooting.
"We thought it would be good to stretch my game past 12 to 15 feet. I had the time to do it, to go at my own pace to get comfortable beyond the arc.
It helped that her father, Lenny, is a long-time and highly regarded shooting instructor and AAU coach (her mother, Denise, is a college assistant coach).
Lenny installed a basket in the front yard for outside work. Mackenzie also had occasional access to a gym that had a shooting gun.
Father did a lot of rebounding for her. Brother, not so much.
"Cam did not rebound for me," Mackenzie emphasizes with a laugh.
Still, Cam sees the improvement.
"She's expanded her game. She can take people off the dribble from the perimeter rather than being a back-to-the-basket kind of player."
Adds Moren: "Mac has completely added another element to her game. She's able to knock down the long ball with consistency."
The pandemic forced the closing of many facilities, which meant Mackenzie had to get creative with workouts while at home.
For instance, all she had was a set of dumbbells, a bike, a treadmill and a leg press machine. Strength coach Kevin Konopasek devised a program for her.
"He gave me a lot of lifts and options. I maintained my lifting. We had Zoom workouts with the team twice a week."
Another obstacle was the southern Maine weather, which wasn't always conducive to outdoor workouts.
"For a while, I couldn't run outside. The Maine weather wasn't letting it happen. It stayed snowy till end of April."
When Mackenzie got outside, the goal was to take advantage of area football fields' 100-yard dimensions for running work.
The problem -- all such fields around Mackenzie were closed, and when she tried to sneak on, she got kicked off. So, she improvised at a nearby open field where grass cutting was not always a regular occurrence and holes could be ankle-twisting hazards.
She used an extra pair of shoes to walk off what she thought was 100 yards, and kept an eye out for holes.
"I worked with what I had. It was tough, but the fact I was able to work through it paid off.
"It was not like running on a turf. It wasn't even. I tried to find a straight line with the least amount of divots. If I saw one, I'd try my best to go around it. It sounds ridiculous now talking about it."
Along the way, Mackenzie lost 25 pounds, although it wasn't by design.
"The first couple of weeks (of the pandemic break), I was in shock. I was not aware of what was going on. The more it became a reality that this won't go away any time soon, I did the things I knew I needed to do to prepare.
"I wanted to change my body to stay in the game longer, be quicker, defend better. I changed my diet. Started eating better. Of course, I was exercising, and started losing weight. I wanted to see how far I could go with it. It's been a long journey, but I'm happy with how I feel now."
Mackenzie says it's helped her game.
"I feel quicker. I can get up and down the court better. I can get up more when shooting. I can defend better.
"It was something I needed to do to take my game to the next level."
That leads us back to practice, and the challenge of facing a brother who refuses to back down.
IU coaches don't try to separate them.
"It all depends on the day," Cam says. "I'm usually a guard-forward type of player, but when the big (practice player) doesn't show up I'll go against her. Sometimes it's in drills. Sometimes it's in scrimmages.
"I would say at least a few times a practice."
There's no let up when brother and sister go at it, and they do go at it.
"It doesn't matter if it was brother-brother or sister-sister," Cam says, "it's pretty much the same thing.
"When she goes against me, she'll go a little harder. She'll give me a little more of an elbow or two. I'll do the same to her. It's a good back and forth.
"When I'm guarding her, she'll try harder to score than if someone else guarding her."
A pause.
"I do as well so she has no bragging rights over me," he adds with a laugh.
Cam worked with the women's team at Rhode Island's Bryan University for a year before transferring to IU last season when his sister arrived.
"It's everything I expected," he says. "It's better than being a manager. I enjoy the competitiveness and helping the girls.
"I'm very invested in the team. I've built a lot of great relationships here. The culture is great. Very upbeat. It makes a manager or a practice player want to come every day because they treat you special."
His sister agrees.
"We have something special," Mackenzie says about the team. "Our chemistry is great. We have this competitiveness we bring to practice every day.
"We're very excited."
Players Mentioned
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