A little over a year after getting upset at home in the second round, Indiana got its revenge. The No. 4 Hoosiers’ 75-68 win over No. 5 Oklahoma was a back-and-forth, action-packed affair that featured 21 lead changes. The victory pushed Indiana into the second weekend of the tournament, which marks its third Sweet Sixteen appearance in five years.
Mackenzie Holmes’s second-half takeover willed Indiana to victory
The program’s all-time leading scorer had a different look in her eye in the second half Monday. Holmes scored 20 of her 29 points in the second 20 minutes on 8-for-12 shooting while going 4-for-5 from the free-throw line. Despite missing looks she usually knocks down easily, Holmes credited Indiana’s associate head coach Rhet Wierzba for instilling energy and confidence in her to just keep shooting.
The constant support from Wierzba, who is her position coach, must have helped as it seemed Oklahoma had no answer for Holmes in the second half. In the fourth quarter at one point, she scored six consecutive points for the Hoosiers to give them a 66-64 lead. Holmes said her team’s belief in her fueled her desire to give her everything in her last game at home.
“We all know how it felt last year and I was gonna do everything in my power to not let that happen again,” Holmes said.
This team’s X-factor is its ability to have multiple people step up
In the first-round game against Fairfield, it was Sara Scalia’s game. Monday, it was Mackenzie Holmes’ game. Indiana’s ability to have different players step up each game has been its calling card this season and will be key to its success for the rest of this tournament. Holmes said this is what she believes makes this Indiana team special.
The Hoosiers’ maturity and composure allowed them to get the ball to the hot hand in the game, which was Holmes. The graduate forward’s 29 points set a new program record for points in an NCAA Tournament game. But, the record broken Monday was only two days old and had been set by Scalia previously in Indiana’s first-round win when she scored 27 points.
This showed the country Indiana can win a game regardless of who’s leading the charge.
Hoosier Nation was the difference maker
Indiana did not shoot it very well in the first three quarters, but the home-court advantage that Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall offers gave the Hoosiers life during many of the Oklahoma runs earlier in the game.
The crowd helped to keep the Hoosiers’ momentum high in the fourth quarter by making it hard to hear much of anything. This is why Indiana hosting the first two rounds was so important to the team because they know the upper hand it gives them — after all, the Hoosiers were undefeated at home this season.
“We needed everybody that was in Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall tonight,” head coach Teri Moren said. “They showed up big and gave us the energy and the push to get to the finish line.”
