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March S[imulation]adness: Indiana faces biggest test in rematch against red-hot Baylor

By Lauren Rosenberg

INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA - MARCH 07: Grace Berger #34 of the Indiana Hoosiers brings the ball up the court while being guarded by Blair Watson #22 of the Maryland Terrapins during the first quarter at Bankers Life Fieldhouse on March 07, 2020 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Justin Casterline/Getty Images)
INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA - MARCH 07: Grace Berger #34 of the Indiana Hoosiers brings the ball up the court while being guarded by Blair Watson #22 of the Maryland Terrapins during the first quarter at Bankers Life Fieldhouse on March 07, 2020 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Justin Casterline/Getty Images) /
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A chance for redemption

[Please enjoy our March S[imulation]adness content. For more about this project, check out our explainer post.]

After pulling out the close upset against Arizona in the round of 32 behind Grace Berger’s 19 points and nine rebounds, the Indiana Hoosiers face a familiar regular season foe in the Baylor Lady Bears, who cruised past James Madison behind Juicy Landrum’s 19 points.

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Indiana and Baylor met earlier this season where the Lady Bears defeated the Hoosiers 77-62 at the Paradise Jam in November.

Indiana Head Coach Teri Moren knows what to do to tame Baylor and pull out the win. After all, they are familiar with each other and the Hoosiers were close to knocking off the Lady Bears. They have all the reasoning to go into this matchup with confidence and they know what their game plan is.

“We played them very tough. We were down 3 points with under 5 minutes to go. We know we are going to have to protect the inside against them. They have a great group of post players,” Moren told High Post Hoops. “We will go in with a similar game plan. We need to attack them early, and we need to play with confidence, knowing that we can beat them.”

Attacking them early is definitely key especially when you’re facing potential future WNBA lottery pick Lauren Cox in the post.

Instead of looking to exclusively get Cox into early foul trouble, the Hoosiers will look to drive whenever they can and stir up trouble in the paint like Aleksa Gulbe who, according to Coach Morens, has been “playing better and more confidently lately,” and Mackenzie Holmes.

“We won’t intentionally focus on getting Cox into foul trouble, but we will look to attack,” Moren said. “Being able to use the combination of Gulbe and Holmes is a great weapon for us, and they have the ability to put a lot of pressure on defenses because their styles complement each other.”

If the Hoosiers are able to fend off the Lady Bears and move onto the Elite Eight, it’ll cause a stir in the tournament and can be seen as a potential program changing moment, but Coach Moren doesn’t think of it in that way.

“We are not focusing on this game being a program changing win, but rather a great opportunity for this team. We have accomplished a lot so far this season, but we have not accomplished all of our goals for this season. This game is the next step in what we set out to do.”

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