Hoosiers hope to get back on track against Ohio State

First-year IU women's basketball coach Felisha Legette-Jack's welcome into the Big Ten has not exactly been easy.\nSo far, in the first seven games of conference play, Legette-Jack has seen two teams -- No. 23 Michigan State and No. 12 Purdue -- that are among the elite in not only the conference, but the nation. And she's had to see them both twice.\n"We're just not thinking about it," Legette-Jack said of the schedule. "We have an opponent and we're going to prepare and we're going to continue. Our kids understand there's nothing we can do about the schedule, we just got to go out there and play."\nThe recent tough stretch has brought the Hoosiers to a 2-5 start in the Big Ten season, putting a bit of a damper on an 11-2 non-conference record.\n"We're staying positive with it," senior center Sarah McKay said. "It's good to look ahead and see that we can finish strong. If we play our game we can do big things in this conference and still finish with pretty good standings."\nThe schedule doesn't look any easier, at least not yet. IU travels to Columbus, Ohio, today to take on No. 5 Ohio State at Value City Arena.\n"We're just going to get better from here," sophomore forward Whitney Thomas said after IU's 81-58 loss against Purdue on Sunday. "There is just so much that we did wrong and so much we can improve on, and we will see how we can beat Ohio State."\nThe Buckeyes are 17-1 overall, 6-0 in the Big Ten, and are riding a 10-game unbeaten streak. The Buckeyes feature center Jessica Davenport, who leads the Big Ten in both scoring and rebounding and has been named the Big Ten player of the week three of the past four weeks.\n"She's a very good player," McKay said. "We came in together as freshmen and it's been interesting to see how both our games have been developing. This will be my first chance to start against her since my freshman year, so I'm really looking forward to it."\nBut Legette-Jack knows that to stop the Buckeyes, the Hoosiers will need to stop more than just Davenport. She noted the talent of three other starters for Ohio State: guards Brandie Hoskins and Marscilla Packer and forward Star Allen.\n"We know all about those guys," Legette-Jack said. "However, it's just really about what we're trying to do. We're going to continue to stay with our defense and our push offensively and see how that measures up against the great team called Ohio State."\nThe Buckeyes bring a 24-game home winning streak, the third-longest current streak in the nation, against the Hoosiers.\n"Us upperclassmen know what it's like playing in front of big crowds," McKay said. "Our freshmen got to see it against Notre Dame and Kentucky. But it's stuff that we can't control, so we got to keep playing our game and doing the things we have to do to play well"