Women's basketball travels to play Michigan State

IU women’s basketball travels to East Lansing, Mich., Saturday with Big Ten Tournament seeding hanging in the balance.

The Hoosiers (18-10, 5-10) are in a three-way tie for eighth place in the league with Ohio State and Northwestern, and will finish at best in 8th place — and at worst 10th. Both the Buckeyes and the Wildcats own tie-breakers against the Hoosiers, both defeating IU in the regular season.

The Spartans (20-8, 12-3) are in a three-way tie with Nebraska and Penn State for the Big Ten regular-season championship but lose to both in tie-breakers. With both teams fighting for leverage in the overall standings, the result of the 6 p.m. game will help shape the Big Ten Tournament bracket.

Because of the numerous scenarios that could play out this weekend impacting seeding, IU Coach Curt Miller said he is trying to have his team focus on the game ahead rather than what it means in terms of tournament matchups.

“We can only control what we can control,” Miller said. “We don’t know who else is going to win these last few games.”

Michigan State returns home having defeated Northwestern 75-44 on Friday. The Hoosiers will look to rebound from a 73-62 loss to Minnesota.

The Spartan offense is led by do-it-all guard Aerial Powers. The 6-foot freshman leads Michigan State with 13.3 points per game while also hauling in 7.7 rebounds per game, the eighth most in the conference.

Powers recorded a double-double with 19 points and 13 rebounds against Northwestern Friday night.

Michigan State typically start three forwards who stand taller than 6-foot. Their length has helped the Spartans become the second-best rebounding team in the conference, hauling in 41.4 boards per game. 

The Hoosiers struggled in matching up with Minnesota freshman Amanda Zahui B. in their last game. The 6-foot-5 post player recorded 26 points and 19 rebounds on Friday.

Zahui’s performance in the post, combined with poor shooting, were too much for IU to overcome. IU shot just 30 percent from the field and 42 percent from the free-throw line.

Miller will be looking for IU to shoot better against Michigan State. He said the poor second-half shooting against Minnesota was too much to overcome.
“All those things add up,” he said.

The Hoosier offense will likely rely on freshman guard Larryn Brooks to get back on track. Brooks, IU’s leading scorer with 16.3 points per game, set the IU freshman single-season scoring record on Friday with her nine-point performance. She now has a program-best 456 points on the season.

Sunday’s game marks the final chance for IU to pick up momentum before the conference tournament at Bankers Life Fieldhouse begins on Thursday. Miller said his team has not peaked yet this year, and wants IU to have confidence going into the postseason.

“We just need to hopefully be playing well going into the Big Ten Tournament,” Miller said.

@Sam_Beishuizen