Indiana University Athletics
INDIANA OPENS BIG TEN SEASON
12/21/1998 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
December 21, 1998
INDIANA OPENS BIG TEN SEASONGAME DATA - After closing out the nonconference portion of its schedule with three wins in three days Indiana, 11-3 overall, will begin Big Ten Conference play next week, hosting Michigan Monday, Dec. 28, at 7:30 p.m., and then Northwestern on Wednesday, Dec. 30 at 7:30 p.m., in Assembly Hall.
BIG TEN SEASON OPENERS - Since the Big Ten began sponsoring women's basketball in 1982, the Hoosiers have gone 7-9 in conference opening games. Under Head Coach Jim Izard, IU is 6-4 in league openers.
THE HOOSIERS - Indiana will put its nine-game winning streak on the line Monday as the squad heads into Big Ten play with an 11-3 mark. The Hoosiers wrapped up the nonconference portion of their schedule Dec. 20, defeating Tennessee Tech 89-75 in the championship game of the Hampton Inn and Fazoli's Classic. IU defeated Cleveland State 91-67 in the first game of the Classic on Dec. 18, and then beat Vanderbilt 84-61 in the Big Ten/SEC Challenge Saturday, Dec. 19. Senior Dani Thrush was named MVP of the tournament after posting 25 points, 14 rebounds and 16 assists in the two-games. Senior Cindy Kerns and freshman Jill Chapman were also named to the all-tournament team.
BIG TEN/SEC CHALLENGE - Indiana won its second Big Ten/SEC Challenge game Dec. 19, defeating Vanderbilt 84-61 in a game broadcast live by ESPN2. Cindy Kerns led IU in the game with 20 points and 14 rebounds. Senior Dani Thrush also came up big for the Hoosiers, just missing a triple-double with 10 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds.
KUDOS FOR KERNS - Forward Cindy Kerns was named Big Ten Co-Player of the week Dec. 21 for her performance in three weekend victories over Cleveland State, Vanderbilt and Tennessee Tech. For the weekend, the senior co-captain averaged 20.3 points and eight rebounds per game with 20 points and 14 boards coming in the win over Vanderbilt. In addition, she hit 64 percent of her field goals and 82 percent of her free throws over the weekend.
LEADERBOARD - The Hoosiers are currently averaging 76.1 points and 38.8 rebounds per game while shooting 47 percent from the field. Individually, Cindy Kerns leads the Hoosiers' offense, averaging 15.2 points per game along with 7.1 rebounds. Freshman Jill Chapman and junior Kay Morgan follow with 12.6 and 11.9 scoring averages per game, respectively.
STREAKING HOOSIERS - Indiana is currently on a nine-game win streak. The school record for most consecutive wins is 15-straight set in 1971-72. Under Coach Izard, the most-consecutive wins is 11 set during the 1992-93 season.
WOLVERINES VISIT - Monday's game versus Michigan will be the first played for the Wolverines since the squad posted a 86-43 victory over Illinois State on Dec. 12. Michigan, which is 8-1, is currently on an eight game winning streak after sustaining its only loss of the season to then-No. 20 Vanderbilt 57-45 on Nov. 13. Four players are averaging double-figure scoring averages and are led by junior forward Stacey Thomas' 16.8 points per game. She also averages 7.7 rebounds per game while shooting 56 percent from the field. As a team, the Wolverines are averaging 82.1 points and 43.6 boards per game while shooting 46 percent from the field. Michigan is coached by third-year head coach Sue Guevara who is 42-22 with the program. The Series: IU leads the series 31-6. Last season, the two teams split the series with each winning on the others' home court.
VS. NORTHWESTERN - The Wildcats open their league season Dec. 30 against the Hoosiers. Northwestern wound up its nonconference schedule with losses to Stanford and California last week to fall to 5-4 overall. Senior Megan Chawansky leads her squad, averaging 17.7 points and 6.0 rebounds per game. Teammates Dana Leonard and Leslie Schock follow, averaging 16.2 and 14.4 points per game, respectively. As a team, the Wildcats are averaging 77.0 points and 44.7 rebounds per game while shooting 42 percent from the field. Head Coach Don Perrelli is in his 15th season with the program and carries a 244-169 school record. The Series: Northwestern leads the all-time series 24-17. Last season the two squads split play with each winning on their homecourt.
A TOUGH SCHEDULE - According to the NCAA Women's Basketball RPI Report, the Hoosiers' rating percentage index (RPI) is 17th in the nation. The RPI is used by the NCAA women's basketball committee as supplemental data to help select at-large teams for post-season tournament play and to assist in the seeding of NCAA tournament teams. In nonconference play Indiana faced Southwest Missouri State, then-No. 10 Rutgers, then-No. 20 Florida, Western Kentucky and Vanderbilt who have all been ranked or have received votes in the USA Today/ESPN Women's Top 25 College Basketball Poll this season.
HEAD COACH JIM IZARD - Head Coach Jim Izard is in his 11th season at the helm of the Indiana program where he owns a 176-126 (.579) overall record and a 77-97 (.445) mark in the Big Ten Conference. As Indiana's all-time winningest coach, Izard has guided his teams to nine winning seasons, two NCAA post-season tournament appearances, a runner-up finish in the NWIT post-season tournament and most recently, a trip to the Final Four of the WNIT last season. His 17-year career record stands at 338-175 (.657).
ALMOST TRIPLE - Guard Dani Thrush just missed posting back-to-back triple doubles last weekend, registering 10 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds against Vanderbilt and then dishing out a career-high 11 assists, with 15 points and seven rebounds in the Hoosiers' win over Tennessee Tech the next night.
MORE ON THRUSH - Dani's assist angel has been working overtime as of late. Last weekend, Thrush dished out 26 assists in the three games while committing only seven turnovers for almost a 4:1 assist/turnover ration.
THE PASSING GAME - Indiana is averaging 17.7 assists per game compared to its opponents 12.7. Dani Thrush leads the squad, averaging 5.4 assists per game while Kay Morgan averages 3.7 per game. In addition, Morgan boasts a 2:1 assist/turnover ratio.
IT'S A SWEEP - Freshman center Jill Chapman is four-for-four on making all-tournament teams this season. Playing her first collegiate nonconference schedule, Chapman earned all-tournament honors in every tournament the Hoosiers played in, including the Preseason WNIT, the Hatter Classic, the Full-O-Pep Classic and most recently, the Hampton Inn and Fazoli's Classic. Chapman currently is averaging 12.6 points and 6.6 rebounds per game while leading the
TOUGH DEFENSE - While boasting a 39 percent field goal percentage defense, the Hoosiers have yet to allow an opponent to shoot 50 percent or above from the field this season. Indiana has shot 50 percent or better from the field five time this year and is undefeated when doing so.
OVER AND UNDER - When the Hoosiers score more than 70 points they are 9-0, when they score less than 70 they are 2-3.
LONG DISTANCE THREAT - As Indiana's explosive 3-point shooter, Kay Morgan leads the Big Ten with 33 3-pointers. Currently, the junior is averaging 2.3 per game.
GAME ONE-ZERO-ZERO - Senior co-captain Kristi Green will be playing in her 100th career game Monday against Michigan. The four-year starter is currently averaging 8.4 points, 3.1 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game.
FREE THROW WOES - Traditionally an excellent free throw shooting team, the Hoosiers have gotten off to a shaky start, connecting on just 65 percent of their shots from the charity stripe. Last season IU started off slow also, shooting just 63 percent from the free throw line before rebounding with a school record 75 percent season average.
AROUND THE BIG TEN - The Hoosiers currently lead the Big Ten in 3-point shooting, averaging 6.3 treys per game. IU also leads in assists with 17.7 per game and ranks second both in field goal percentage (.471) and in assist/turnover ratio (.97). Individually, Jill Chapman and Cindy Kerns ranks one-two in field goal percentage, shooting 59 and 58 percent, respectively. Chapman also ranks fourth in blocks with 1.36 per game while Kerns ranks 10 in rebounding with 7.1 per game. Dani Thrush ranks third in the league with 5.36 assists per game and is fifth in steals with 2.21 per game while Kay Morgan ranks fifth in 3-point field goal percentage (.398).
