IU loses to Michigan State, earns No. 10 seed

Newly-crowned Big Ten Champion No. 21 Michigan State outscored IU 20-2 during a six minute 10 second stretch en route to defeating the Hoosiers 76-56 on Sunday.

The loss secures IU a No. 10 seed in the Big Ten Tournament and a first-round matchup against No. 7 Michigan at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. The two teams will compete for a chance to play the same Spartan team that beat IU by 20 yesterday in the second round.

Senior forward Simone Deloach said IU (18-11, 5-11) wanted to enter the Big Ten Tournament with momentum, but the Spartans (20-8, 13-3) overpowered IU, ending the Hoosiers’ hopes of entering tournament on a winning streak.

After the teams exchanged buckets early, Deloach scored a layup with 12 minutes 17 seconds remaining in the first half to cut Michigan State’s lead to two. Michigan State junior forward Becca Mills responded with a 3-pointer, sparking a 9-0 run to put the Spartans ahead 23-12.

During the run and throughout the night, the Spartan defense forced the Hoosiers into taking low-percentage shots. Michigan State Coach Suzy Merchant played primarily with four players on the court who all stood taller than 6 feet.

The length of Merchant’s Spartan team gave the Hoosiers trouble throughout the game. IU was held to 37.1 percent shooting from the floor.

“(Merchant) has got great length on her team,” IU Coach Curt Miller said. “She’s got strong, powerful kids. Her length and athleticism has always been hard to score over.”

IU climbed back within five points when senior forward Milika Taufa converted on a 3-pointer with 1 minute 56 seconds remaining in the first half. Taufa’s trey would be the closest IU would get to retaking the lead.

Michigan State opened the second half with an 11-2 run to extend its lead to 49-28. The Spartans would keep the lead around 20 points the rest of the night.

IU freshman guard Larryn Brooks — the Hoosiers leading scorer averaging 15.9 points per game — was held to five points on 2-of-11 shooting.

The Spartans forced Brooks into five turnovers and stymied IU’s ball-screen offense. Freshman forward Lyndsay Leikem was the only Hoosier to record double-digit scoring.

“(Michigan State) has post players athletic enough to switch on fast guards late in shot clocks and give them troubles,” Miller said. “And big enough size with guards so that late in switches you can’t find that matchup fast enough.”

The Spartans were led by freshman forward Aerial Powers’ 23 points and 10 rebounds in 30 minutes of play.

IU had no answer for Powers, the game’s leading scorer. Miller said she has made obvious improvements since he saw her play in high school.

“Aerial Powers has really grown since high school,” Miller said. “She has all the talent in the world, but didn’t always play hard. Now you have (Merchant) having her play hard and a lot more discipline.”

Miller complimented Michigan State’s freshman class after the game. He said he compares both program’s freshmen as he tries to build IU into a program capable of winning the Big Ten crown as Michigan State did.

“We’ve had a really, really talented freshman class,” Miller said. “We’ve got to keep recruiting players like Michigan State does for us to rebuild the program like this.”