Striplin Rises to Starting Challenge, South Carolina Opportunity

By Pete DiPrimio
IUHoosiers.com
COLUMBIA, S.C. - Starting opportunity arrived and Karoline Striplin embraced it, thrived with it, made it her own.

The result -- the Tennessee transfer has become a key inside factor for a ninth-seeded Indiana team (20-12) seeking to rock the NCAA tourney landscape against top-seed South Carolina (31-3) Sunday afternoon.

For this, and so much more, the 6-3 Striplin gives thanks -- to coach Teri Moren, to her teammates, to Hoosier Nation.
"This means a lot," she says. "I am just extremely thankful to be able to have finished my career here. Coach Moren allowing me to step into the starting lineup was really special. I'm grateful to put on the uniform that so many people have paved the way to help get back to this March Madness stage.

"It's special and it means everything. I'm thankful that I've been able to play with players like (guard Sydney Parrish) and everyone on my team."
It took 17 games for Striplin to supplant Lilly Meister as a starter, although she gave early signs of what she could do, highlighted by a 27-point effort at Penn State, then following that with 18- and 16-point performances.

Striplin has started the last 15 games, and scored in double figures in 11 of them, with a high of 28 at Michigan. Her Hoosier rebounding high is eight against Bellarmine. She had seven rebounds at Michigan. For the season, she averages 10.1 points and 3.6 rebounds. She shoots 57.1 percent from the field and 82.1 percent on three-pointers.
This was what Moren saw when she recruited Striplin out of the transfer portal.

"I think about how quickly Strip came in and just was seamless with the transition," Moren says. "What a blessing she's been having her in our program."

Striplin is among the reasons why the Hoosiers believe they have a chance to upset the Gamecocks on their home court.

"It's a huge opportunity for us to play at their place," Striplin says. "We've known that since the moment our name was called (on Selection Sunday). Their fans are going to bring a lot of energy and we're going to try and quiet them as much as we can."

Striplin showed steady progress at Tennessee, going from 2.6 points and 2.1 rebounds as a freshman, to 4.7 and 3.0 as a sophomore, to 7.2 and 3.1 last season. Now, she and Meister (6.8 points, 3.6) will have huge roles against the tall and athletic Gamecocks, who have nine players 6-feet or taller. They out-rebound opponents by 8.3 boards per game. They have blocked 197 shots, totaled 323 steals and forced 571 turnovers.

"They have to be rock solid," Moren says of Striplin and Meister. "This is going to be as much of a mental game as it's going to be a physical game.

"For us it's understanding tendencies and also rotations, where we can be, where we can help off of. If there is an opportunity there because of spacing purposes, can we help each other?
"(South Carolina) is incredible with their high-low game. Where they really get you is the offensive rebounds. We have to do our job, especially (Striplin and Meister) of keeping (forwards Sania Feagin, Chloe Kitts and Joyce Edwards) off the offensive glass.

"The most important job they'll have starts with keeping (the Gamecocks) from getting those second, third shot opportunities."

Adds Striplin: "They like to block shots and are really smart and know how to play defense well. It's going to come down to me executing what I know Coach Moren wants me to do."

South Carolina is coming off a 108-48 opening-round win over No. 16 seed Tennessee Tech. The defending-national-champion Gamecocks, who also won titles in 2017 and '22, jumped to a 33-12 first quarter lead and cruised from there.

IU's game plan for beating South Carolina, as it is for every team, starts with basic fundamentals the veteran Hoosiers understand.
"I don't have to tell them," Moren says. "They know when our turnovers are low and our assists are high and we're guarding at a high level, we can beat anybody. I believe that. I think they believe that. They know that."

IU is steeled by a grueling Big Ten run that included two games against USC and one against UCLA. Both teams have spent the season ranked in the top-five nationally. The Hoosiers have also played top-25 teams in Ohio State, Michigan State and Maryland, plus ranked non-conference opponents in Baylor, North Carolina and Stanford.
South Carolina, by the way, lost to UCLA 77-62 in late November.

Moren talks about how great a conference the Big Ten is -- the addition of UCLA and USC likely makes it the strongest in league history -- and how well it's prepared IU for every imaginable style.

"We will lean on, not just our preparation," she says, "but our experience of playing in a really good league."
Adds Striplin: "We had a lot of games in the Big Ten that prepared us for this moment. We were on the road at a lot of huge crowds. One that comes to mind is Iowa. Michigan State brought like the loudest crowd I felt like of the whole season."

South Carolina seeks to become the first team to win back-to-back national titles since UConn won four straight from 2013-16. It has won eight consecutive games, all by at least 16 points, since a Feb. 16 87-58 loss to UConn.

The Gamecocks, whose other loss came at Texas, 66-62, in early February, lead the nation in points in the paint, at 42.6. They average 81.3 points and allow 57.5, for an average victory margin of 23.8 points. Nine players average at least 5.0 points. Forward Joyce Edwards leads at 13.4 points, plus 4.9 rebounds. Guard MiLaysia Fulwiley averages 12.1 points and has a team-leading 55 steals. Forward Chloe Kitts averages 10.1 points and 7.8 rebounds.

Coach Dawn Staley said Gamecock keys are being disciplined and playing well because, "good basketball is contagious and bad basketball is contagious."
"I hope we bring our ability to shoot the ball well as we shot the ball (against Tennessee Tech)."

South Carolina shot 67.2 percent from the field in that game, 63.2 percent on three-pointers.

IU is coming off a 76-68 win over Utah. Moren says that win was a "great dose of confidence for our players."

As for the inconsistent nature of Indiana's season, Moren says the quality of the opponents had a lot to do with it.

"There were some up-and-downs. There were some twists and turns. But I think through it all that we gained great experience.

"The nights that we came up short was more than likely because (the other team) just played better than we did that night. There were nights that we played great and won, there were nights that maybe we didn't play as well, but at the end of the day, all of those experiences have put us in the position to win (Sunday)."

Striplin says the Hoosiers are determined to make the most of it.

"I came here with expectations of making it to the tournament, and I'm thankful we did. But what makes the tournament special is it's basically a new season. It's two teams going head to head.
Whoever is playing the best is going to win. I'm excited."

Striplin Rises to Starting Challenge, South Carolina Opportunity

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