Hoosiers travel to Minnesota

IU Coach Curt Miller said he thinks his team has yet to play to its full potential, but time is working against his Hoosier team.

The Big Ten Tournament is exactly one week away. The IU women’s basketball team has only two more games to reach the level of play Miller thinks his team is capable of before every game becomes a must-win.

The Hoosiers (18-9, 5-9) have an opportunity to get closer to that level tonight on the road against Minnesota (17-11, 6-8) in Minneapolis.

“I’d like this team to peak,” Miller said. “If we can finish strong, and I feel like we’re playing good basketball regardless of wins and losses. Peaking in March would be really important for us.”

IU has a chance to complete a season-sweep of the Gophers for the first time since 2000-01. Doing so would further solidify IU’s chances for a WNIT at-large bid.

Minnesota is playing with its NCAA Tournament hopes hanging in the balance. The Gophers are 43rd in the RPI and are coming off back-to-back double-digit losses to Purdue and Michigan State.

“They know they probably got to get to .500 (in the Big Ten) to get an at-large bid for the NCAA Tournament,” Miller said. “Both teams are playing for a lot, and we expect a very spirited Minnesota team.”

The Golden Gophers rely on a ball-screen offense that runs primarily through junior guard Rachel Banham and freshman center Amanda Zahui B.

The two combined to score 54 points against IU in the first meeting between the teams. Zahui B. shot 11-of-12 from the floor and hauled in seven rebounds in the losing effort.

The Hoosier likely to be charged with guarding the 6-foot-5 Zahui B. is senior center Simone Deloach. Miller called Deloach his most physical post player and said IU will need to limit Zahui B.’s touches if they want to contain her.

Deloach said she is ready for the challenge of competing against the Big Ten’s leading rebounder, Zahui B.

“It’s a defensive challenge for me, but I’m going in there with confidence and feel good about it,” Deloach said. “I’m just going to battle.”

At the other end of the ball-screens is normally Banham. She’s the Big Ten’s leading scorer, averaging 22.3 points per game and registered 31 points in Minnesota’s loss against Michigan State on Monday.

Banham took 47.6 percent of Minnesota’s shots in the loss to the Spartans, shooting 11-of-30 from the floor. Miller said IU can afford to let Banham score at a high clip as long as they force her to shoot a poor percentage like the Spartans did on Monday.

On the offensive end, IU will look to push the tempo of the game against a Minnesota team that ranks second in the Big Ten in scoring defense allowing 62.6 points per game.

IU has struggled in recent games making shots down the stretch. Freshman guard Alexis Gassion said she believes the IU offense is best when running the floor.

“(Miller) thinks that we’re best when we push,” Gassion said. “We’re not really thinking about it so we just go. I think we all like that better than taking our time up the court.”

The Hoosiers can finish as high as 7th in the Big Ten standings and as low as 10th in the conference depending on their games as well as other teams’ results.

Deloach said adding more wins in the final regular season games would give IU much needed momentum before a tournament run.

“It would definitely mean a lot,” Deloach said. “We’re excited about the Big Ten Tournament, but we’ve got two games left. I think it would just give us that much more confidence going into the tournament.”