Indiana University Athletics
Role Player Extraordinaire -- Bargesser Thrives as Facilitator and More
3/25/2024 9:43:00 AM | Women's Basketball
By Pete DiPrmio
IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Lexus Bargesser as shot-blocking intimidator? Could that be right? Is Indiana's sophomore guard set to block somebody's world?
And what about trying to out-run her. Can any Hoosier do that?
Hold those thoughts.
Bargesser's time is coming on IU's powerhouse basketball team, when she becomes a full-time starter and difference maker, when she scores to equal the rest of her do-it-all game.
For now, though, she does what the Hoosiers (25-5) need -- as a starter to replace injured guard Sydney Parrish or a backup point guard to Chloe Moore-McNeil when game plan and necessity dictate.
Opportunity resumes Monday night when fourth-seed IU plays No. 5-seed Oklahoma (23-9) in a NCAA tourney second-round game at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.
Teammates are fully aware of Bargesser's importance.
"She does a great job of knowing her role," senior guard Sara Scalia says. "We need her to come in, and she has a big impact. She does a lot of the little things. She's a really good defender. She's really quick. She has the ball in her hands a lot.
"She's a very important piece to our team. She's grown a lot from last year, just as far as her confidence as a player."
Growth accelerated this season when Parrish missed seven games with an injury. Bargesser replaced her and coach Teri Moren made it clear that on a team loaded with scorers, Bargesser's top priority was to facilitate.
"She didn't try to do too much," Moren says. "She tried to make her teammates better. She gave us another great on-ball defender. She's a great athlete. She can jump. She's quick."
The Hoosiers are reaping the benefits.
"It gave her great experience as we go (deeper) into this tournament," Moren says.
How does Bargesser, once a dominant scorer on a Grass Lake High School program that won three straight Michigan state titles, see her role?
"All I can do is play it to the best of my abilities. Do what Coach is asking. Do what puts my teammates in the best position. Shine in that role. Nothing crazy. Do what I know I can do and be confident in it."
Bargesser's upside is impressive. She averages 4.5 points while shooting 49.5 percent from the field. She thrives as a facilitator with 89 assists against 38 turnovers. She had seven points and a career-high six assists against Fairfield.
It's a big jump from her freshman season, when Bargesser averaged 2.1 points, 0.9 assists and 1.0 rebounds. Improvement comes from effort, which is why assistant coach Ali Patberg calls her one of the team's hardest workers.
Offense is a work in progress given Bargesser is just 3-for-10 on three-pointers and shoots 55.6 percent on free throws. She works daily on her free-throw-shooting stroke with Patberg.
"It was Ali's decision to try to help her with the free throw," Moren says.
Moren and her staff rarely change a player's shooting mechanics during the season, "but with Lexi, we felt it seemed to suit her best if she could go to that kind of one-handed shot with a little bit of a guide hand on the side."
Defense, as you would expect on a team that prides itself in that area, is another of Bargesser's priorities. Her 30 steals rank second on the team to Moore-McNeil's 40.
"I've always enjoyed playing defense," she says. "Getting stops is exciting. It gives our team energy and momentum on offense.
"I've always worked hard on defense. Since coming here, the coaches have helped me so much in improving my game."
Improvement sometimes delivers crowd-roaring moments. Flash back to Saturday's NCAA tourney opening win against Fairfield. Stags guard Janelle Brown, the 5-foot-6 ultra-quick Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference player of the year, took an outside shot as she so often does in their push-the-pace attack.
The 5-9 Bargesser stuffed it with the kind of emphasis normally reserved for shot-blocking center Kel'el Ware of the IU men's team. It was her 11th block of the season. That ranks sixth on the team, identical to her standing on minutes played.
Are more blocks in her future?
"Throughout the year," she says, "I've been able to get my hand on the ball a few times. It's being able to time it up. It only helps if I keep blocking shots like that.
"Usually, I'm trying to play solid defense with hands up, But if I see them jumping, I'll try to jump at the same time and hopefully get a hand on it."
Bargesser's overall success comes, in part, because she's the fastest Hoosier, and the numbers back it up.
As a freshman, Bargesser tied Tyra Buss's program mile record of 5 minutes, 40 seconds. Last summer, she ran a 5:46, 20 seconds better than anyone else.
This isn't an aberration. Bargesser won Michigan high school state track titles in the 100, 200 and 400-meter races, a combination of speed, fitness and, as anyone who has ever run the 400 will tell you, competitive toughness. She briefly thought about running track in college, but her love of basketball took precedent.
Her favorite race, she says, was the 400.
"I was able to beat people pretty well off of that," she says. "I liked that the competitiveness of being able to keep the same pace for the whole lap. That extra kick at the end is where I really got girls."
Bargesseer's speed and fitness has been refined at Indiana, where a series of summer conditioning sessions focus on sprints and culminates in that mile run.
Regardless of distance, Bargesser says with a laugh, she wins.
"Every time, it's a competition, and I'm trying to win."
Competition resumes Monday night against an Oklahoma team that won the Big 12 regular season title, and beat Florida Gulf Coast in its Saturday NCAA tourney opener, overcoming an early 14-point deficit.
At stake is a Sweet Sixteen shot against top-ranked South Carolina (34-0) on Friday in Albany, N.Y.
"We need to be ready to rebound and out-work them for 40 minutes," Bargesser says.
