Sunday’s exhibition will mark the official start to IU Coach Teri Moren’s second season in Bloomington. Moren has promised the Hoosiers will play at a much faster tempo in year two under her reign.
“One of the things about Tyra Buss is that she wants to get it and go,” Moren said. “She wants to drive it as hard as she can or get it to her wings. We’re going to play faster, but the catch in that will be if we can play faster and still take care of the basketball.”
Slippery Rock will also serve as the first game in which sophomore star Buss will play point guard for the Hoosiers. Buss averaged 11.7 points per game in her freshman year on the wing after finishing her high school career as Illinois’ all-time leading scorer. Buss’ involvement as IU’s point guard will allow the Hoosiers to play faster.
“I’m really looking forward to it,” Buss said. “It was a little different last year because I used to always have the ball in my hands — I was a point guard ever since I was little. It was definitely a change playing the wing and not always having the ball. Having that responsibility of running the offense and seeing the players is definitely going to be important for me.”
Slippery Rock comes to Bloomington following an 11-16 season, including a 7-15 mark in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference play. “The Rock” brings back three of its top four leading scorers from last year’s campaign, including senior guards Taylor Siggers and Erica Aiello.
Slippery Rock’s backcourt duo averaged a combined 20.6 points per game and 5.2 assists per game in 2014-2015.
The Rock will have to replace their leading scorer and rebounder from last year’s team, as SRU lost 5-foot-11 wing D’Asia Chambers to graduation. Chambers nearly averaged a double-double last season with 16.8 points per game and 9.6 rebounds per game.
The Hoosiers and 6-foot-2 sophomore forward Amanda Cahill will look to take advantage of a undersized Slippery Rock squad. Cahill tallied 10.8 points and 7.7 rebounds per game as a freshman and is expected to be even more involved in the offense this season.
“I’m a little bit more in the flow of the offense this year,” Cahill said. “Getting some different looks that I should hopefully be successful in. It’s definitely something me and the other forwards have been working on in the offseason to get some of those looks.”
The Hoosiers will open their competitive slate Nov. 13, when IU is to play host to Tennessee State at noon.
