Indiana Drops Big Ten Opener to Michigan State

Thursday, December 28

Bloomington, IN

7 p.m.

Indiana University

7-7, 0-1

Michigan State

11-3, 1-0

Michigan State

Indiana

12/28/2017 9:36:00 PM | Women's Basketball

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BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana shot a season-low and couldn't keep pace with Michigan State as it fell, 68-46, in the Big Ten opener at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall on Thursday night.

Struggling from the field, IU (7-7, 0-1 B1G) shot a season-low 29.1 percent in the loss as the Spartans went 51.8 percent. The Hoosiers went just 27.3 percent from 3-point range and got outrebounded, 40-29.

Freshman guard Bendu Yeaney led Indiana with 13 points, seven rebounds and four assists. Senior forward Amanda Cahill chipped in 12 points, four assists and three blocks. Junior forward Kym Royster grabbed eight boards while freshman guard Jaelynn Penn added nine points, four rebounds and two assists.

The Spartans (11-3, 1-0 B1G) led from the opening minute as Indiana kept it within three with 5:14 left in the first quarter on a triple by senior guard Tyra Buss. But MSU countered with one of its own as IU called timeout. They would go up 16-11 after one and spread its lead out to double digits midway through the second quarter and led by 14 at the break, 31-17. Indiana found the basket just twice in the second quarter, shooting a game-low 15.4 percent and got outscored 15-6.

In the third, Buss went to the line for a pair which got IU within eight, 35-27, with 6:40 to go. But they had no answer to the Spartans pushed its lead back to double digits on the following possession. Indiana would face a 49-33 deficit after three quarters and shot its best quarter of the night in the fourth (45.5 percent) but it didn't stack up next to MSU's 66.7 percent clip.

QUOTABLE
Head coach Teri Moren
"I'm disappointed obviously at a lot of things. We never got comfortable and I didn't think we played with a whole lot of toughness tonight. Michigan State just came in and punched us right in the mouth and we didn't respond. That was for forty minutes. We shot the ball at 29 percent. Allowing them to shoot 52 percent that's a pretty good night for their team. We just didn't handle ourselves very well. It didn't have anything to do with their press. We handled their press fine. We just didn't hit shots against their zone, and you got to hit shots. At the end of the day when you're not hitting shots, you got to lock in defensively. You have to play with such a higher level of toughness. There is no x's and o's or scheme for that's just heart, determination and passion. Whether or not you're a competitor, that's what that comes down to. We didn't have that tonight. We didn't have anyone that was going to compete for forty minutes. That's what's disappointing."

NOTABLE

Freshman guard Bendu Yeaney led the Hoosiers with 13 points for her sixth game of the season in double figures and third straight. She also added seven rebounds and tied her season-high in assists with four.
Senior forward Amanda Cahill scored in double figures for the 13^th time this season and 91^st time in her career with 12 points. Cahill moved into 11^th on the Indiana all-time career scoring list and now has 1,508 career points.
Cahill added three blocks as she passed 100 career blocks and now has 101 for her career, which ranks seventh in program history.
Senior guard Tyra Buss scored eight points and now needs 38 points to set the Indiana all-time career scoring record.

UP NEXT
The Hoosiers hit the road for two league games starting with Ohio State on New Year's Eve. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. ET live on ESPN2.

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