Indiana University Athletics
Hoosiers Ready for Bout with Georgia
3/19/2016 10:49:00 AM | Women's Basketball
By: Tori Ziege, IUHoosiers.com | Twitter
SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Sixty-one games. 18 weeks. Two seasons.
All of them played with the same end-goal: Make it to the NCAA Tournament. But now that Indiana and Georgia are here, only one team's season can continue.
The other's will come to a close after 40 minutes.
And after being bounced in the first round of their respective conference tournaments, neither the Hoosiers nor the Lady Bulldogs want their campaign to end with another one-and-done.
"It really does mean a lot," sophomore guard Tyra Buss said. "I think every team comes into this tournament wanting to keep winning and not be a one-and-done."
The two teams that will meet opposite half court at 9 p.m. tonight have taken similar roads to reach the Big Dance in South Bend, but their postseason track records are markedly different.
Under first year head coach Joni Taylor, the Lady Bulldogs turned around a 2-5 start to SEC play, winning seven of their last nine to round out the season 21-9 and 9-7 in conference games. The performance earned No. 8-seeded Georgia a return to the postseason after the Lady Bulldogs saw their streak of 20 straight NCAA Tournament appearances snapped in 2015.
Overall, their 32 postseason bids are the second most for any school in women's college basketball.
"It's special for them," head coach Teri Moren said. "It's special for us. This is what we want to do year in and year out."
Joining the field of 64 for the first time in 14 years, Indiana hopes to become a mainstay in March as the Lady Bulldogs have. The No. 9-seed Hoosiers (20-11, 12-6) netted a spot in the bracket sooner than many expected, winning 10 of their last 12 to finish fourth in the conference after a 12th-place finish a season ago.
Oddly enough, three of the Hoosiers' five tournament appearances have matched them against the Lady Bulldogs, including a second-round meeting in South Bend in 1983.
But coming into tonight's NCAA Tournament matchup, the objective remains the same.
Extend the season to Monday.
"We're not just satisfied getting to the NCAA Tournament," Buss said. "It hasn't been done in a long time at Indiana University. We want to win and advance."
If the regular season is any indication, the teams' approaches to advancing in the tournament will be similar. Both are defensive-minded squads who thrive in transition, with Georgia able to limit opponents to an SEC-best 53.8 points per game.
The Lady Bulldogs are paced by leading scorer and Second Team All-SEC senior Tiaria Griffin. Seventy-two times this season, Griffin has connected from beyond the arc, including six straight treys in a career best 28-point performance against No. 22. Florida.
However in the same game, Georgia suffered a critical loss in second-leading scorer and First Team All-SEC senior Shacobia Barbee, changing the identity of the Lady Bulldogs.
But the two-week break has given them time to adapt.
"What they need to understand is our margin for error is just really small now because she did so much," Taylor said. "It's not just one person who has to fill her shoes."
Even without Barbee, Georgia's roster boasts a wealth of postseason experience shared by both players and staff.
Coupled with the fact that no Hoosier has been to the tournament before, Moren understands why her team would be nervous. If they didn't have nerves, she said, they wouldn't be ready to play.
But Moren wants her team to understand something themselves.
They deserve to be here.
"It's going to be a tremendous challenge for us," Moren said, "but we've had a lot of challenges this year, especially in the Big Ten.
"Our group really feels prepared for the moment."
SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Sixty-one games. 18 weeks. Two seasons.
All of them played with the same end-goal: Make it to the NCAA Tournament. But now that Indiana and Georgia are here, only one team's season can continue.
The other's will come to a close after 40 minutes.
And after being bounced in the first round of their respective conference tournaments, neither the Hoosiers nor the Lady Bulldogs want their campaign to end with another one-and-done.
"It really does mean a lot," sophomore guard Tyra Buss said. "I think every team comes into this tournament wanting to keep winning and not be a one-and-done."
The two teams that will meet opposite half court at 9 p.m. tonight have taken similar roads to reach the Big Dance in South Bend, but their postseason track records are markedly different.
Under first year head coach Joni Taylor, the Lady Bulldogs turned around a 2-5 start to SEC play, winning seven of their last nine to round out the season 21-9 and 9-7 in conference games. The performance earned No. 8-seeded Georgia a return to the postseason after the Lady Bulldogs saw their streak of 20 straight NCAA Tournament appearances snapped in 2015.
Overall, their 32 postseason bids are the second most for any school in women's college basketball.
"It's special for them," head coach Teri Moren said. "It's special for us. This is what we want to do year in and year out."
Joining the field of 64 for the first time in 14 years, Indiana hopes to become a mainstay in March as the Lady Bulldogs have. The No. 9-seed Hoosiers (20-11, 12-6) netted a spot in the bracket sooner than many expected, winning 10 of their last 12 to finish fourth in the conference after a 12th-place finish a season ago.
Oddly enough, three of the Hoosiers' five tournament appearances have matched them against the Lady Bulldogs, including a second-round meeting in South Bend in 1983.
But coming into tonight's NCAA Tournament matchup, the objective remains the same.
Extend the season to Monday.
"We're not just satisfied getting to the NCAA Tournament," Buss said. "It hasn't been done in a long time at Indiana University. We want to win and advance."
If the regular season is any indication, the teams' approaches to advancing in the tournament will be similar. Both are defensive-minded squads who thrive in transition, with Georgia able to limit opponents to an SEC-best 53.8 points per game.
The Lady Bulldogs are paced by leading scorer and Second Team All-SEC senior Tiaria Griffin. Seventy-two times this season, Griffin has connected from beyond the arc, including six straight treys in a career best 28-point performance against No. 22. Florida.
However in the same game, Georgia suffered a critical loss in second-leading scorer and First Team All-SEC senior Shacobia Barbee, changing the identity of the Lady Bulldogs.
But the two-week break has given them time to adapt.
"What they need to understand is our margin for error is just really small now because she did so much," Taylor said. "It's not just one person who has to fill her shoes."
Even without Barbee, Georgia's roster boasts a wealth of postseason experience shared by both players and staff.
Coupled with the fact that no Hoosier has been to the tournament before, Moren understands why her team would be nervous. If they didn't have nerves, she said, they wouldn't be ready to play.
But Moren wants her team to understand something themselves.
They deserve to be here.
"It's going to be a tremendous challenge for us," Moren said, "but we've had a lot of challenges this year, especially in the Big Ten.
"Our group really feels prepared for the moment."
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