With the way Nebraska’s Jessica Shephard has been playing in her first season in Lincoln, though, IU Coach Teri Moren said she was satisfied with how the Hoosiers limited the 6-foot-4 forward.
In a combined effort, junior center Jenn Anderson and sophomore forward Amanda Cahill forced Shepard to commit 11 turnovers in IU’s 59-47 victory Sunday. The win improved the Hoosiers to a perfect 11-0 at home, IU’s best start at Assembly Hall in program history.
The Hoosiers are now 14-9 overall, with a 7-5 mark in Big Ten play. Sunday’s victory pushed IU into fifth place in the Big Ten standings.
Entering Sunday’s game, Shepard averaged 20.4 points and 8.9 rebounds per game for the Huskers. The in-state product was named the nation’s third-best player on ESPN in high school. Shepard was also named to the Naismith Trophy Watch List for the country’s top 50 players.
Big Ten teams have struggled to contain Shepard all season. She poured in 35 points and 20 rebounds against Michigan earlier in the year, a statline that altered Nebraska history. In half of the Huskers’ Big Ten games, Shepard has surpassed the 20-point mark to lead her team to seven wins.
“She’s a great player,” Cahill said. “She’s come into the league and has had a great start. Without her, I think they’re kind of a different offensive team. A lot of credit to Jenn, I think she did a great job defensively and making it hard for Shepard.”
Anderson and Cahill, the Hoosiers’ starting frontcourt choices, have faced strong opposition from a number of opponents this season. Northwestern’s Nia Coffey, along with Illinois’ Chatrice White, lead the conference in rebounding. Moren said Sunday’s limitation of Shepard frustrated the Husker forward.
While others helped, Anderson provided the primary defense that forced Shepard to work for every bucket the country’s top freshman earned.
“Shepard is a tremendous post-player in this league,” Moren said. “I thought Jenn Anderson did a really great job of making her uncomfortable. She had 18, but it was a well-earned 18 because of Jenn’s focus to keep her at bay and off-balanced. She made it difficult for her this afternoon.”
Anderson, who tallied six points and six rebounds to go along with her defensive effort, has been playing with a broken finger for the majority of the Big Ten season. The junior center said the injury has simply been a nuisance for her success.
“You’ve got to put that on the backburner,” Anderson said. “I’ve been playing with a broken finger for five, six weeks now. I’m just helping my teammates anyway I can to play through it.”
Moren, meanwhile, said the finger injury has been a clear limitation for her stalwart center. Anderson shot just 3-of-10 from the floor against Nebraska as she struggles to find her touch inside.
“Even though it’s on her non-shooting hand, Jenn is a kid that can score left or right,” Moren said. “Right now, she’s being limited because she’s really all right-handed. She doesn’t look very comfortable when she has the ball in her left hand.”
In many games this season, IU has had to rely on the offensive performances of players such as Buss and Cahill. Recently, however, the Hoosiers have been able to win games by strong defensive performances. IU shot a lowly 23-of-72, or 32 percent, from the floor against Nebraska, including converting just 2-of-16 from 3-point range. Regardless, the team’s defense compensated for a low shooting percentage.
“Is it something that we need to keep continuing? Absolutely,” Moren said. “Today, we struggled offensively. There was no flow, no real momentum. It just seemed like they were hard to get easy shots on. We relied heavily on what we were doing defensively and that’s how we won the game.
IU will travel to Champaign on Wednesday to face Illinois (8-15, 1-11) in hopes of securing its second Big Ten road win of the season. Meeting them there will be White, who tallied 11 points, nine rebounds and five blocks in a prior meeting. White averages 18 points and 10 rebounds per game.
“There’s great post-players in this league and Jenn just happens to be one of them,” Moren said. “The knack that Jenn has is that she’s just really sound defensively. She doesn’t give in, she doesn’t get scored on that easily. She challenged every shot, which is what you want her to do.”
