Hoosiers struggle on the road, fall to Illinois in Champaign

Put simply, Sunday was not a good day for the IU women’s basketball team. Poor shooting combined with the inability to stop Illinois sophomore forward Jenna Smith spelled doom for the Hoosiers, as the Illini roundly defeated IU in Champaign, 73-62. \nThe Illini were up by eight at the half and they quickly stretched that lead to \ndouble digits. \nA rare 3-pointer from junior forward Whitney Thomas was part of a late IU run that managed to cut the deficit to 11, but it was not enough as the Hoosiers dropped to 14-10 overall, and 7-5 in the Big Ten. \nThomas led the Hoosiers in the loss with 19 points and seven rebounds, and junior guard/forward Kim Roberson added 15 points and seven boards of her own. \nAs a team, IU had four players in double figures, but saw virtually no offensive production from the rest of the team. \nThe Hoosiers also struggled to take advantage of second chance opportunities. They pulled down 18 offensive rebounds, but managed just 18 points off the boards. \nBut in the end, it was Smith – the No. 2 scorer in the Big Ten coming into Sunday’s action – and IU’s poor shooting that made the difference. The Illini forward shot 10-of-16 from the floor and 10-of-12 from the free-throw line en route to 30 points. Preseason All-Big Ten guard Lori Bjork added 19 for the Illini, going a perfect 3-of-3 from behind the arc. \nOn the other end, the Hoosiers shot just 33.3 percent from the floor, and made just 2-of-14 attempts from beyond the arc. IU also had only three assists on the afternoon. \nPrior to this weekend’s action, the Hoosiers had been getting attention from NCAA Tournament pundits. ESPN’s Charlie Crème slotted the Hoosiers as a No. 10 seed in the New Orleans bracket in his latest projections. The Hoosiers’ record in the projection did not take into account either the loss at Illinois or IU’s win at home against Northwestern last Thursday. \nNext up for the Hoosiers will be a Valentine’s Day matchup with Michigan State, a traditional conference front-runner struggling this season. The Spartans are 13-11 overall and 5-7 in conference play, with one of those losses coming at the hands of the Hoosiers in East Lansing. \nAnchoring the Michigan State attack is sophomore center Alyssa DeHaan, the Big Ten’s tallest player at 6-foot-9. DeHaan averages 14.8 points and 8.0 rebounds per game. \nThe game against Michigan State marks the beginning of a stretch run that will see the Hoosiers play four of their last six games at home.