After two emotional Big Ten victories through five conference games — one against Michigan in overtime and another against No. 18 Michigan State on Wednesday — IU women’s basketball (10-7, 2-3) will travel to Williams Arena to take on Minnesota (10-5, 2-2).
The Golden Gophers will be the fourth top-five Big Ten scoring team that the Hoosiers will have played through six conference games this season, giving IU Coach Teri Moren and her team challenges on the defensive end.
“I thought we had defensive slippage against Purdue, where we would guard a certain action well once but then couldn’t guard it well a second time,” Moren said. “That’s where we’re still looking for consistency.”
Moren also said before the Michigan State game that she thought the aspect of the Spartans’ game that separated them from the other teams at the top of the Big Ten was the scoring power of the fifth-best scoring offense — an offense that averaged 77 points per game.
IU held Michigan State to just 65 points in Assembly Hall on Wednesday night, pushing its home record to 7-0.
But there will be no absence of challenge awaiting the Hoosiers in Minnesota, though, as the Gophers have posted the fourth-best scoring offense in the conference, averaging 80.1 points per game.
A large part of that offensive success has come from two of the Big Ten’s top-five scorers. Senior guard Rachel Banham ranks second in the conference in scoring, averaging 23.4 points per game, and sophomore guard Carlie Wagner sits at fifth in the conference with 19.7 points per game.
Banham scored 39 points and hit 10 of her 15 3-point attempts Jan. 7 in the team’s 106-75 win at Illinois, and Wagner scored 33 points in Minnesota’s 98-85 win against Penn State on Jan. 3.
Countering its offensive production is Minnesota’s 12th-ranked Big Ten scoring defense, allowing 70.6 points per game and forcing the Gophers to consistently play in shootouts. The last shootout resulted in a loss for Minnesota, 93-86, at home against Michigan on Sunday.
Minnesota has scored more than 80 points in eight of its 15 games this season compared to IU’s three. When held to under 80 points, though, the Gophers are 3-4 on the season.
IU has restricted 14 of its 17 opponents to less than 80 points, including Michigan State — the second top-25 opponent the Hoosiers have defeated this season — in a game where Moren and the Hoosiers were more than satisfied with their defensive performance.
“It’s a big confidence boost,” sophomore guard Tyra Buss said after the win Wednesday night. “We believe in each other and the coaches told us after the game if we talk like we did today, set screens for each other and knock down shots, we can compete with anyone in the Big Ten. I truly believe that and I know these guys do too.”
Even with the upset win of the Spartans, the Hoosiers lost the rebounding battle, 42-28 on Wednesday. Rebounding is a battle that Minnesota rarely loses, as the Gophers boast second in the Big Ten in offensive rebounds per game and fifth in defensive rebounds.
It’ll be the high-caliber Gopher offense — an offense that leads the Big Ten in 3-point shooting — that will present a challenge to the Hoosiers as they go on the road for the fourth time in conference play.
“Teams that play at home are really good at home,” Moren said of Big Ten teams. “It’s difficult to win on the road in the Big Ten, but you have to in order to get yourself up in the standings. Good teams win on their home games, great teams win on the road.”
