IUWBB GAME PREVIEW: Makes Trip To Michigan State Thursday Night (BTN)

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BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana Women's Basketball will look to win its fourth-straight game as it travels to East Lansing on Thursday night to face the Michigan State Spartans. Tipoff time is set for 6 p.m. ET and will be live on Big Ten Network and WHCC 105.1 FM.

Indiana (15-6, 5-4 B1G) at Michigan State (15-7, 5-4 B1G)
Thursday, February 2, 2017 • 6 p.m. ET
Breslin Center (14,759) • East Lansing, Mich.
TV Broadcast:BTN (Lisa Byington, Christy Winters Scott)
Radio:IU Radio Network (Greg Murray)
Live Stats:Gametracker
Social Media:Facebook | Twitter

ABOUT THE COACHES
Indiana
Teri Moren
Career Record: 250-164 (14th Season)
Indiana Record: 51-34 (3rd Season)

Michigan State
Suzy Merchant
Career Record: 419-223 (22nd Season)
Michigan State Record: 218-103 (10th Season)

ABOUT THE SPARTANS
Michigan State returns to Breslin Center after a 93-74 win at Minnesota on Monday night. They are led by senior guard - and the Big Ten's second leading scorer - Tori Jankoska who averages 21.8 point, 8.0 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game. Jankoska also leads the Big Ten with a 90 percent clip from the free throw line. Notre Dame transfer senior forward Taya Reimer follows with 9.0 points and 5.7 boards per game for a squad that averages 72.0 points per game and shooting 43 percent.

SERIES HISTORY
Michigan State leads the series, 45-26
Last Meeting: 1/13/16 - W, 81-65 (Bloomington, Ind.)

WIN AT WISCONSIN
For the first time since 2009, Indiana picked up a win inside Kohl Center over the Wisconsin Badgers on Sunday, 78-54. Four players scored in double figures led by 19 points from junior guard Tyra Buss as IU used a 21-3 advantage in the fourth quarter to come away with the win.

LOOKING TO WIN ON THE ROAD, AGAIN
Indiana has another shot at redemption at a road venue, this time on Thursday at the Breslin Center. The Hoosiers have not won at Michigan State since 2009 as it also picked up its first win since that year on Sunday at Wisconsin.

250 WINS FOR MOREN
Indiana third-year head coach Teri Moren picked up her 250th victory as a head coach with Sunday's win at Wisconsin. She hits the career mark in her 14th season as a head coach, including the last three at the helm of the IU program. She also reached her 50th Hoosier win on Jan. 23 vs. Penn State and became the third fastest coach to reach 50 wins in school history in 84 games at the helm, behind Bea Gorton (60 games) and Felisha Lagette-Jack (82 games).

BUSS NAMED TO B1G HONOR ROLL
Tyra Buss earned a place on the Big Ten Player of the Week Honor Roll on Monday for her performances against Penn State and Wisconsin. The Mt. Carmel, Ill. native averaged 20.0 points, 3.0 assists, 2.5 steals and 2.5 rebounds in a pair of IU wins. It marked the second time this season the Hoosiers have placed a player on the Big Ten honor roll, as Alexis Gassion picked up honors on Jan. 9.

HEAD TO THE LINE
Indiana made it a priority to get to the line last week and capitalized on free throws in two wins. IU went 53-for-61 (81.0 percent) from the charity stripe against Penn State and Wisconsin, while holding opponents to an 11-for-18 performance (61.1 percent).

JENN'S CONTINUES TO SCORE
Senior center Jenn Anderson continues to provide a solid scoring threat for the Hoosiers. She posted her fifth-straight double figure scoring game on Sunday when she added 14 points in the win at Wisconsin. She is now averaging 11.8 points in Big Ten play on a 66.7 field goal percentage and grabbing 6.3 rebounds through seven league games.

MOVING UP THE CAREER BLOCK LIST
In addition to three active players on the all-time scoring list, IU also has three active players on the all-time career blocks list. Senior guard Alexis Gassion leads the trio of players with 79 career swats, which ranks eighth all time. Junior forward Amanda Cahill also registers on the list with 72 blocks, which ranks tied for ninth while senior center Jenn Anderson has tallied 55 blocks in her career which is 11th all-time.

58 AND COUNTING
Tyra Buss secured her 58th-straight game in double figures as she scored a team-high 19 points in the win at Wisconsin on Sunday She officially broke the all-time school record with her 50th double figure scoring game on Dec. 21 against Stony Brook. She takes over the record from IU great Karna Abram, who did it 49 consecutive times between 1984-85 and 1985-86.

GOOD FROM THE FIELD
Shooting 50 percent or better in nine games this season, Indiana continues to be one of the leaders in field goal percentage. Their overall mark of 47.8 percent ranks sixth in the NCAA and second in the Big Ten. IU returned back to the 50 percent or better field goal percentage on Jan. 19 as it shot 50 percent in the win over Purdue.

CLEAN THE GLASS
Indiana continues to post positive margins on the glass this season, as it has outrebounded its opponent in 15 of 21 games this season and hold a +5.5 advantage on the glass this season - which is fifth in the Big Ten. The Hoosiers posted its largest margin on the glass this season against North Texas (+30), which is the largest margin since the record has been kept in 2008-09.

DOUBLE-DOUBLE MACHINE
Cahill recorded her eighth double-double of the season on Jan. 23 when she scored 11 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in a win over Penn State. She has recorded eight of IU's 12 double-doubles of the season and now has a total of 24 in her career - which ranks sixth all-time in school history. She also ranks sixth all-time in double-doubles in Big Ten games as she's recorded 13 in her career.

HOOSIERS IN THE RPI
Coming into Thursday's game, Indiana sits at No. 53 in the NCAA RPI while Michigan State comes in at No. 60. Overall, the Big Ten features nine teams in the top 100 of the latest RPI.

TRIO OF 1,000 POINT SCORERS
With the addition of Amanda Cahill as the 26th member of the 1,000 point club on Dec. 21, IU's roster now features three active players on the all-time scoring list at the same time.
• Tyra Buss – 1,384 (13th)
• Alexis Gassion – 1,212 (16th)
• Amanda Cahill – 1,131 (19th)

BUSS CLIMBS THE BOOKS
Buss has now made her way into the top 10 of both assists (T8th, 341) and steals (7th, 189). She sits at No. 13 all-time on the career scoring list with 1,384 career points and has the potential to become just the second player ever to be on the IU top 10 list in points, steals and assists joining Jamie Braun (2007-10). She needs 119 points to reach Shirley Bryant's 1,503 career points to move into the top 10 of all-time scoring.

SCORING AS A JUNIOR
Buss - who set the scoring record for most points as a freshman and sophomore - continues to climb the scoring chart for most points through a junior season:
1. Denise Jackson (1,505)
2. Rachelle Bostic (1,389)
3. Tyra Buss (1,384)
4. Jill Chapman (1,346)
5. Cindy Bumgarner (1,311)
6. Karna Abram (1,284)

LEX DOES A LOT TOO
Senior guard Alexis Gassion is also one of the Hoosier's most powerful pieces on both the offensive and defensive side of the ball. The Fairborn, Ohio native is IU's third leading scorer with 13.8 points per game and the team's second leading rebounder grabbing 6.1 boards per contest. She is also second in assists (4.5 per game) and holds a 50.2 field goal percentage. Her 3.1 assist to turnover ratio is leads the Big Ten and ranks ninth in the nation. Gassion has also posted 18 games in double figures this season including the last 14 of 15 games.

UP NEXT
Indiana comes home to face No. 3/3 Maryland in a Sunday tilt on ESPN2. Tipoff is set for 12 p.m. ET inside Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.

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Videos and live stats within:
iuhoosiers.com/news/2017/2/1/womens-basketball-iuwbb-game-preview-indiana-makes-trip-to-michigan-state-thursday-night.aspx

Go Hoosiers!

 

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IU women's basketball looks to continue win streak on road
by Josh Eastern

IU's 2016-17 Big Ten season bears some resemblance to its 2015-16 compatriot.

A season ago, IU started the conference slate 2-4. This season, the Hoosiers started 2-3. Both years IU reeled off a three-game win streak to get to five conference wins after sub-.500 starts. Currently, a pack of programs occupies the middle of the Big Ten standings, and the Hoosiers have been talking about separating and moving themselves into the upper echelon of the conference standings.

After a 78-54 win in Wisconsin on Sunday, the second of the back-to-back road games comes Thursday when IU travels to East Lansing, Michigan, to face Michigan State in the Breslin Center.

“They have been coming off of two really big wins,” IU junior forward Amanda Cahill said. “I think we need to go up there and play well. It’s really hard to play on the road against a team like that. We’re going to go up there and prepare and get ready to play them.”

The Hoosiers won seven of eight games in February in 2016, which helped catapult them into the NCAA Tournament and build some momentum in the lead up to the postseason. If IU wants to replicate last season's late run, now seems like a good time to start.

The Hoosiers have had plenty of road tests thus far this season, and they've embraced the challenges of playing away from Assembly Hall. IU Coach Teri Moren has talked about having to steal a few games on the road this season. Thursday's game is another chance to swipe one to add to their 4-5 road record. Michigan State sits one game back of IU in the standings at 4-4 in the Big Ten.

When looking back at the road game against Wisconsin, Cahill said there were a few things they needed to clean up.

“I think we had some mishaps on defense and had some mental lapses that we’re trying to fix,” Cahill said. “Things like that can’t really happen because everyone in the Big Ten is so good. We always have to come ready to play.”

Michigan State comes in boasting the second-best 3-point defense in the conference. The Spartans are holding opponents to just 29.1 percent from behind the arc. Over the past three road games, the Hoosiers have hit about 23 percent of their 3-point shots.

Spartan guard Tori Jankoska and IU senior guard Alexis Gassion could create a lot of action on the floor. Jankoska is Michigan State’s best offensive player and will cause problems for the IU defense. The senior averages 21.8 points per game and is coming off her 12th 20-point outing of the season.

“She has a lot in her bag of tricks,” Moren said. “There’s a lot to her game. She can fill it up fast. Really confident that Lex is going to have the assignment to begin the game with and she’s going to guard her and she’s going to do what she normally does — that’s to make it difficult for their team’s best offensive player and make it difficult for her to get any sort of comfort level.”

With a three-game winning streak on the line, the Hoosiers have a chance to keep things rolling. First-place Maryland comes to Bloomington on Sunday, and if IU can steal another road game, it would go a long way to their finishing spot in the conference.

“We’re going to have to be ready to turn around," Moren said. "Get our minds right and get ready for a difficult challenge up there.”

http://www.idsnews.com/article/2017/02/iu-womens-basketball-looks-to-continue-win-streak-on-road

Go Hoosiers!

 

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Indiana Women’s Basketball Falls at Michigan State

EAST LANSING, Mich. – Indiana could never quite get it going offensively as it fell on the road to Michigan State, 69-60, on Thursday night inside Breslin Center.

Junior forward Amanda Cahill led with 17 points and eight rebounds while junior guard Tyra Buss added 16 points and senior guard Alexis Gassion put in 10 points but Indiana (15-7, 5-4 B1G) shot its second-lowest field goal percentage of the season going a collective 33.9 percent.

Michigan State (16-7, 6-4 B1G) won the battle on the boards, 46-31, as IU went just 25 percent from 3-point range and committed 11 turnovers on the evening. Freshman guard Ria Gulley came in off the bench for seven points as senior center Jenn Anderson added six but it wouldn't help the IU attack who shot under 40 percent for just the third time this season.

Poor shooting was the tale of the first half for both teams, as MSU led 10-6 at the first official break. Cahill cut the lead down to two out of the timeout as it was part of a 9-0 run that pushed IU ahead on a triple from Gulley. A pair of Buss free throws with 2.5 seconds on the clock put IU up 16-12 at the end of the first quarter.

In the second, Michigan State opened the quarter by hitting one from long range but Buss and 1-of-2 at the line for McBride helped IU push its lead back to four with 7:14 remaining. The Spartans tie things up twice in the quarter but Buss would regain the lead on one of her three pointers and Cahill finished an and-1 opportunity for a 6-0 Hoosier run to lead 27-21. But Michigan State would close the half with four straight points as IU led 27-25.

The third quarter was not kind to the Hoosiers, who were outscored 22-13 coming out of the half. Michigan State took control from the opening possession of the second half, taking over the lead with the help of a 10-0 run midway through the third quarter. IU would fall behind 47-40 at the conclusion of the third and fall behind as many as 10 with 5:15 left in the game.

However, IU made it interesting in the final minutes of play, with a four-point swing on a MSU turnover that led to a Buss transition layup and Anderson's bucket cut it to 63-60 with 1:50 remaining. Indiana would be held scoreless for the rest of the game, as a Tori Jankoksa 3-pointer was the dagger with 42 seconds to play helped the home team close the win on a 6-0 run.

NOTES
Junior forward Amanda Cahill led Indiana with 17 points and eight rebounds
Junior guard Tyra Buss scored in double figures for the 59th-straight time of her career with her 16 points on the night.
Buss and Cahill combined for six points each and accounted for 12 of 14 of the team's assists on 20 made shots.
Indiana shot the second-lowest field goal percentage of the season, going 33.9 percent on the night. IU also scored its fewest points in a game this season and fewest since Feb. 7, 2016 at Nebraska.

UP NEXT
Indiana will return to the court on Sunday when it welcomes No. 3/3 Maryland to Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. Tipoff is set for 12 p.m. ET live on ESPN2.

Follow #IUWBB
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Boxscore within:
http://iuhoosiers.com/news/2017/2/2/indiana-womens-basketball-falls-at-michigan-state.aspx

Go Hoosiers!

 

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IU can't keep pace in second half in loss at Michigan State
by Jake Thomer

The Hoosiers were lucky to hold a halftime lead after a sluggish first half on Thursday, but coming out even flatter in the second sealed their fate.

IU women’s basketball did well enough on the defensive end to beat Michigan State on the road, but when the Spartans posted the two highest-scoring quarters of the game for either team in the third and fourth quarters, the Hoosiers were unable to keep up.

A nine-point advantage in the third quarter gave Michigan State a lead it would never relinquish, and an unsuccessful attempt to mount a late comeback ultimately led IU to fall 69-60 in the Breslin Center.

Despite the Hoosiers holding star senior guard Tori Jankoska to five points in the second half, other Spartans were able to step up in her stead. Senior forward Taya Reimer led a Michigan State post that scored 16 of its 24 points in the paint in the final two quarters.

“Came out of the half, and I thought Taya Reimer had about, what, six straight buckets it felt like,” IU assistant coach Janese Banks said on the postgame radio show on WHCC 105.1 FM. “We had to make some adjustments in the second half. It worked well in our favor for a little bit and then we just fell short on some execution down the stretch.”

Reimer did make six second-half baskets, though they may not have been as rapid as Banks felt they were. She finished the game with 15 points on 5-of-11 shooting and collected five rebounds.

Senior Hoosier guard Alexis Gassion drew the defensive assignment on Jankoska and locked her down for the most part by holding the Big Ten’s second-leading scorer to just 5 of 18 shooting in the game. Gassion scored just 10 points, but her defense on Jankoska forced Michigan State to shift its entire gameplan to try to score in the post.

“We knew their guards score a majority of their points,” Banks said. “We were very conscious of their guards. Not that their post players can’t score, because they are very good, but it was almost like that’s where we wanted them to beat us and then they played into that.”

Though Jankoska was largely stymied, her 3-pointer with less than a minute to go pushed the Spartans’ lead from three to six points and sealed the win. Throughout the final quarter, junior guard Tyra Buss and junior forward Amanda Cahill attempted to spearhead a comeback, but IU could never get closer than three points behind Michigan State. Cahill finished with a team-high 17 points as Buss nearly equaled her with 16.

On Sunday, IU will be host to No. 3 Maryland. The Terrapins are in first place in the Big Ten and have yet to lose a game in conference play. Maryland's only loss of the season came in a six-point defeat against No. 1 Connecticut in late December.

Senior center Brionna Jones anchors the Maryland frontcourt and leads the team in scoring with 19.4 points per game to go along with 10.4 rebounds per game. Six different Terrapins have 11 or more blocks this season, so the Hoosiers may have to live at the 3-point line in the 12 p.m. showdown Sunday that will air on ESPN2.

“They’re not top in the country for no reason,” Banks said. “They are a very good basketball team with All-Americans and all-conference players. It’s going to be definitely a tough task, but it’s nothing that we’re scared of, nothing we can’t handle.”

idsnews.com/article/2017/02/iu-cant-keep-pace-in-second-half-in-loss-at-michigan-state

Go Hoosiers!