Hoosiers must control glass to get revenge against Purdue

It has been has been more than a month since the IU women’s basketball team last won a game.

Maybe a week off and a big crowd will do the trick.

The Hoosiers will look to snap their 10 game losing streak and exact revenge when they take on No. 22 Purdue at 7 p.m. today in Assembly Hall during a “PACK THE PLACE” promotion.

IU (10-15, 1-11 Big Ten) last took the court one week ago, when they were drubbed by Michigan State 72-42 in East Lansing, Mich. The loss wrapped up a stretch of three games in seven days.   

“It’s definitely nice to have a week off but I think we’re all ready to come back and to continue fighting,” junior center Simone Deloach said. “We have a couple more games left in the season so it’s just making the most of it and playing to the finish.”

The Boilermakers (19-6, 8-4) beat the Hoosiers 59-42 Jan. 31 in West Lafayette, but have scuffled since. Purdue is 1-3 since beating IU and were embarrassed at home by Iowa on Sunday, losing 72-52.

They figure to enter Assembly Hall running on pent up frustration and hungry for a win.
In the first matchup, the Boilers dominated the glass, 45-30, and 22-8 in offensive rebounds.

The main reason for the comfortable Purdue victory was the amount of second-chance opportunities the Boilers manufactured, IU Coach Curt Miller said.

“When you go back and watch it, they out-physicaled us, out-hustled us to balls.” Miller said. “They’re guardable if you can get them slowed down in transition, and you can guard their sets.”

Forward Sam Ostarello was the most active player in creating those second-chance opportunities. The senior, who leads the Big Ten with 10.2 rebounds per game, grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds, five on the offensive glass.

“Boxing her out, boxing her out,” Deloach said about how to account for Ostarello in the post. “She’s a phenomenal defensive and offensive rebounder, so it’s just finding her in transition and it’s finding her on the block, wherever she is on the court.”

No one needed the week off more than senior forward Aulani Sinclair, Miller said. She has logged a Big Ten-high 37.9 minutes per game and battled flu-like symptoms last week.

“I think she’s the person that’s going to benefit most from having the bye date,” Miller said. “She seems to have a little bit of her legs back under her.”

Sinclair scored just nine points on 4-of-15 shooting and did not attempt a free throw in the last two games combined.

Sinclair, the team’s leading scorer, struggles when she fails to get to the charity stripe.
In the previous four games in which Sinclair did not attempt a free throw, she averaged 4.3 points per game on 6-of-46 (13 percent) shooting.

“If she can’t get to the rim and can’t get to the foul line, she’s relegated to a jump shooter,” Miller said. “We need to supplement that and get her to the foul line, but a lot of teams are doing a good job of not fouling (IU’s players) and keeping them away from getting penetration.”