IU looks to end road struggles

The last time the IU women’s basketball team won a Big Ten road game was Feb. 10, 2011 against Illinois.

Almost three years later, that streak has accumulated into 19 consecutive road losses with Wednesday’s defeat at Wisconsin. The Hoosiers will look to put an end to that streak when it faces Purdue 7 p.m. Friday at West Lafayette.

And it won’t get any easier having only one day between games to prepare, in addition to the two-hour time block the team will have before tipoff.

“Not only are we going on the road against a team that draws the best in the league, we’re going on the road and have one day prep to prepare for a very veteran and very complex team in Purdue,” IU Coach Curt Miller said.

Miller said as a result, the team will enter Friday’s game as the underdog.

“Now it’s really a difficult challenge for us,” he said.

The Boilermakers have challenges of their own heading into the game. Like the Hoosiers, they also played Wednesday night and consequently have only one day of preparation. IU was on the road, however, while Purdue was at home.

The teams were scheduled to play each other on Jan. 6, but the threat of inclement weather forced the game to be rescheduled for Friday night.

IU was already practicing and preparing in the days leading up to the Jan. 6 game and will now be preparing a second time because of the reschedule.

Miller said having already practiced to play the Boilermakers helps.
“It’s almost like you’re getting ready to play them for a second time because you started to prepare,” he said.

Had the original game day gone on as scheduled, the Hoosiers would have had three or four days to prepare for Purdue because the team just played Iowa at home on Jan. 2.

Having only day prep, though, will limit the Hoosiers to two hours of preparation on game day.

“When we were preparing for them earlier, we had all these days of preparing leading up to that game. So you could take and spread it over three or four days how to guard them,” Miller said.

“Now you’re crunched in when you’re already practicing on the road, and you crunch all that in a two-hour time block that they give you.”

The time crunch is also evident in the Hoosiers’ schedule.

Friday’s game is the middle of a stretch of three games in five days. Subsequently, it’s the second of six games in 14 days.  

In addition to the day between games to prepare, Miller said the two-hour time block presents challenges for a team that relies heavily on scouting like the Hoosiers.

“The hardest part is we’re a scout heavy team,” Miller said. “We believe in really analyzing and preparing for opponents plays and opponents sets and Purdue has tons of quick hits.”

Miller said the desire to bring back the Barn Burner trophy for the second straight year will provide the team with additional motivation, but it will be difficult on one day of preparation.

“It’s a tough challenge for us on a lot of day prep. Now having it on a one-day prep on the road is really difficult for us,” he said.

Follow reporter Stuart Jackson on Twitter @StuartJackson1.