Indiana University Athletics
Value Driven -- Hoosiers Embrace Key Closing Stretch
2/16/2025 3:02:00 PM | Women's Basketball
By Pete DiPrimio
IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Sydney Parrish plays with passion, with resilience and, at long last, without a knee brace.
"I think it makes me play faster," Indiana's veteran forward says with a smile.
Parrish also plays from perspective. She understands the team's NCAA tourney prospects might come down to the next three games, starting Thursday night against No. 9 Ohio State (21-3 overall, 10-3 in the Big Ten) at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.
"We know the value of these games," she says. "They are huge opportunities."
Opportunity comes amid NCAA tourney at-large-big uncertainty, frustrating for a program that has qualified every year since winning the 2018 WNIT title. The 16-9 overall record, including 8-6 in Big Ten play, guarantees nothing. The Hoosiers need quality wins, Quad 1 wins, ranked wins, and all of that is available in these next three games.
After Ohio State comes a road trip to No. 22 Michigan State (19-5) and then a Senior Night home finale against No. 17 Maryland (19-6). IU ends the regular season at Purdue (9-16).
"We have Ohio State at home, so that will be great to be in front of our home crowd," Parrish says. "Then going to Maryland and playing Michigan State, those are really big games that will help us later in the year."
Success, adds guard Shay Ciezki, means staying in the moment.
"It's one game at a time. We have three big games back to back to back. Focusing on one game at a time will put us in the right mindset."
Adding to the postseason urgency -- recent winnable road games at Minnesota and at Michigan were lost.
"We didn't expect to go on the road and drop two games we had a lot of potential of winning," Parrish says.
Saturday's much-needed 78-56 home victory over Purdue showed the excellence IU can achieve and the vulnerability it can't afford. It shot 50 percent overall and 50 percent on three-pointers in jumping to a 30-10 lead after the first quarter en route to its 12th straight win in the series, nine straight as the Barn Burner Trophy game.
The Hoosiers totaled 13 steals (a game-high four from Parrish), forced 24 turnovers and, in the first half, played with ruthless pace the Boiler couldn't match. Guard Yarden Garzon set the early do-it-all tone and finished with 18 points, eight rebounds, four assists and two steals. Parrish added 19 points. Ciezki had 16.
"I loved our hot start," coach Teri Moren says. "A lot of good things were going our way. We hit some threes. Yarden was being really aggressive. Sydney did some great things defensively. We got some run outs. We executed."
It reflected the way Moren wants to play all the time.
"We want to set the pace. We want to get those layups, those rhythm threes. We want to see if we can get a piece of the paint, get a great shot and get everybody involved."
First-half domination became second-half parity. Purdue's press slowed the Hoosiers' previous fierce pace. Their 16 turnovers were too many, their 18 assists too few for Moren's liking. The Boilers won the final two quarters 34-30.
"We didn't run in the second half like we did in the first half," Moren says. "A lot of that had to do with Purdue's press.
"I'd like to get that (assist number) over 20. We had too many turnovers. Silly turnovers. There's a lot we need to clean up."
In looking ahead to these next three games, Moren adds, "We have to take care of the ball. We have to compete like crazy on the boards. We have to be sound and disciplined defensively."
She pauses.
"As elementary as it sounds, we have to hit shots. When we hit shots and share the ball, when our assists are high and our turnovers are low and we're sound defensively, we win a lot."
The addition this year of powerhouses No. 1 UCLA (23-1) and No. 6 USC (22-2) to an already strong Big Ten has ratcheted up the degree of difficulty. IU has played both competitively in defeat.
"This year, the Big Ten is better than it's ever been," Parrish says. "We might be losing more games, but we have never gone away from our culture of playing hard, of playing hard down the stretch.
"(Against Purdue), even though we were up 20-something points, we were playing as hard as we can. It showed the whole game. Our bench had great minutes. We need to play like that for a full 40 minutes."
IU's practice response in the aftermath of the Minnesota and Michigan losses, Parrish adds, is a blueprint for what needs to continue the rest of the season.
"We prepped our defense and being in the right position and helping each other and not leaving someone on an island.
"We had 13 steals (against Purdue) -- that's where we won the game. We emphasized that in practice and we showed it on the court. We have to keep doing it over and over, and not go away from the fundamentals of our defense."
Garzon is a catalyst. Her two three-pointers against Purdue gave her 197 for her three-year IU career. She leads the team in scoring (14.3 points) and three-point shooting (63-for-155, 40.6 percent). She's also second in rebounding (4.8), assists (75), steals (31) and blocked shots (16).
In the 70-67 loss at Michigan, she had just two points.
"She was disappointed in how we lost at Michigan," Moren says. "She only took four shots. We have to get her more.
"(Against Purdue), she came out more aggressive. She can score in a lot of ways. We need her to have that mentality she had (Saturday). She played with great pace. Her shots went down. Coming off ball screens, she was trying to make something happen. We need her consistency. When she's aggressive, she helps us so much."
That's true of all the Hoosiers in this crucial closing stretch.
"This was a great game to build off of," Ciezki says. "How we played defensively, we take a lot of pride in that. I think it will carry over to these next few games."
Carryover, Moren adds, means fixing season-long problems.
"Rebounding and turnovers have been a reoccurring issue for us," she says. "Going down the stretch here, we have to stop it from being an issue."
IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Sydney Parrish plays with passion, with resilience and, at long last, without a knee brace.
"I think it makes me play faster," Indiana's veteran forward says with a smile.
Parrish also plays from perspective. She understands the team's NCAA tourney prospects might come down to the next three games, starting Thursday night against No. 9 Ohio State (21-3 overall, 10-3 in the Big Ten) at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.
"We know the value of these games," she says. "They are huge opportunities."
Opportunity comes amid NCAA tourney at-large-big uncertainty, frustrating for a program that has qualified every year since winning the 2018 WNIT title. The 16-9 overall record, including 8-6 in Big Ten play, guarantees nothing. The Hoosiers need quality wins, Quad 1 wins, ranked wins, and all of that is available in these next three games.
After Ohio State comes a road trip to No. 22 Michigan State (19-5) and then a Senior Night home finale against No. 17 Maryland (19-6). IU ends the regular season at Purdue (9-16).
"We have Ohio State at home, so that will be great to be in front of our home crowd," Parrish says. "Then going to Maryland and playing Michigan State, those are really big games that will help us later in the year."
Success, adds guard Shay Ciezki, means staying in the moment.
"It's one game at a time. We have three big games back to back to back. Focusing on one game at a time will put us in the right mindset."
Adding to the postseason urgency -- recent winnable road games at Minnesota and at Michigan were lost.
"We didn't expect to go on the road and drop two games we had a lot of potential of winning," Parrish says.
Saturday's much-needed 78-56 home victory over Purdue showed the excellence IU can achieve and the vulnerability it can't afford. It shot 50 percent overall and 50 percent on three-pointers in jumping to a 30-10 lead after the first quarter en route to its 12th straight win in the series, nine straight as the Barn Burner Trophy game.
The Hoosiers totaled 13 steals (a game-high four from Parrish), forced 24 turnovers and, in the first half, played with ruthless pace the Boiler couldn't match. Guard Yarden Garzon set the early do-it-all tone and finished with 18 points, eight rebounds, four assists and two steals. Parrish added 19 points. Ciezki had 16.
"I loved our hot start," coach Teri Moren says. "A lot of good things were going our way. We hit some threes. Yarden was being really aggressive. Sydney did some great things defensively. We got some run outs. We executed."
It reflected the way Moren wants to play all the time.
"We want to set the pace. We want to get those layups, those rhythm threes. We want to see if we can get a piece of the paint, get a great shot and get everybody involved."
First-half domination became second-half parity. Purdue's press slowed the Hoosiers' previous fierce pace. Their 16 turnovers were too many, their 18 assists too few for Moren's liking. The Boilers won the final two quarters 34-30.
"We didn't run in the second half like we did in the first half," Moren says. "A lot of that had to do with Purdue's press.
"I'd like to get that (assist number) over 20. We had too many turnovers. Silly turnovers. There's a lot we need to clean up."
In looking ahead to these next three games, Moren adds, "We have to take care of the ball. We have to compete like crazy on the boards. We have to be sound and disciplined defensively."
She pauses.
"As elementary as it sounds, we have to hit shots. When we hit shots and share the ball, when our assists are high and our turnovers are low and we're sound defensively, we win a lot."
The addition this year of powerhouses No. 1 UCLA (23-1) and No. 6 USC (22-2) to an already strong Big Ten has ratcheted up the degree of difficulty. IU has played both competitively in defeat.
"This year, the Big Ten is better than it's ever been," Parrish says. "We might be losing more games, but we have never gone away from our culture of playing hard, of playing hard down the stretch.
"(Against Purdue), even though we were up 20-something points, we were playing as hard as we can. It showed the whole game. Our bench had great minutes. We need to play like that for a full 40 minutes."
IU's practice response in the aftermath of the Minnesota and Michigan losses, Parrish adds, is a blueprint for what needs to continue the rest of the season.
"We prepped our defense and being in the right position and helping each other and not leaving someone on an island.
"We had 13 steals (against Purdue) -- that's where we won the game. We emphasized that in practice and we showed it on the court. We have to keep doing it over and over, and not go away from the fundamentals of our defense."
Garzon is a catalyst. Her two three-pointers against Purdue gave her 197 for her three-year IU career. She leads the team in scoring (14.3 points) and three-point shooting (63-for-155, 40.6 percent). She's also second in rebounding (4.8), assists (75), steals (31) and blocked shots (16).
In the 70-67 loss at Michigan, she had just two points.
"She was disappointed in how we lost at Michigan," Moren says. "She only took four shots. We have to get her more.
"(Against Purdue), she came out more aggressive. She can score in a lot of ways. We need her to have that mentality she had (Saturday). She played with great pace. Her shots went down. Coming off ball screens, she was trying to make something happen. We need her consistency. When she's aggressive, she helps us so much."
That's true of all the Hoosiers in this crucial closing stretch.
"This was a great game to build off of," Ciezki says. "How we played defensively, we take a lot of pride in that. I think it will carry over to these next few games."
Carryover, Moren adds, means fixing season-long problems.
"Rebounding and turnovers have been a reoccurring issue for us," she says. "Going down the stretch here, we have to stop it from being an issue."
Players Mentioned
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