Welcome to another edition of Beyond the Score. IU was blown out at home by Nebraska, 67-38, Thursday night, but there were a couple of bright spots and some interesting news regarding reserve point guard Candyce Ussery. You can check it all out below.
McGhee grinds through pain despite lopsided score.
IU was extremely overmatched in Thursday's 67-38 loss to Nebraska, but senior guard Jasmine McGhee was determined to stick it out through injury.
McGhee rolled her ankle against Northwestern Sunday and barely practiced the past two days. IU Coach Curt Miller said McGhee could not have done any more damage to her ankle by playing, and that her playing time was determined by her threshold for pain.
"That shows some toughness and guts that she wants to be out there fighting for this team and fighting for her teammates," Miller said. "One hour before the game, she was still a no go.
"The adrenaline got moving, she got moving, and she look at the trainer and said, 'Please let me play.'"
McGhee's gritty effort was not lost on her teammates, either.
"She definitely fought through it and I'm proud of her for doing that," junior center Simone Deloach said. "Of course you can't ask somebody to play with a broken whatever. She did her best and we appreciate that."
McGhee scored seven points on 3-of-10 shooting and grabbed four rebounds in 30 minutes.
Deloach pushing for starting role
The numbers speak for themselves. 28 percent shooting. 38 points. 3-of-15 from three-point range. No one was particularly good on offense for IU against Nebraska.
Except Simone Deloach, who had a second straight solid effort off the bench.
Deloach finished with 14 points on 6-of-10 shooting and four rebounds in 29 minutes. This latest gem of a performance comes one game after Deloach grabbed a career-high 15 rebounds and scored 8 points in Sunday's win against Northwestern.
Like in her performance against Northwestern, Deloach bailed out ineffective frontcourt starters Linda Rubene and Milika Taufa. The two went scoreless and shot a combined 0-of-7 from the field on Thursday.
Miller said Deloach is the team's most physical post and has done a good job of rebounding. If she keeps it up, her role could change for good.
"Tonight she was the only post that could really make something happen with her back to the basket and she's put together two really good games and you have to recognize- and I like her coming off the bench- but you have to discuss the fact that maybe Simone's the starting center for the rest of the year," he said. "She's really earned that."
Not that Deloach is celebrating her own recent success.
"I have to step up whenever (my team) needs it," she said. "My teammates are helping me with that. I think just these last two games we've come together even though the score wasn't what we wanted....I give all my credit to my teammates."
Deloach came into Thursday's game averaging 3.5 points and 3.6 rebounds in 13 minutes per game. In the last two, she's averaging 11 points and 9.5 rebounds in 31.5 minutes per game.
Ussery quits team, to transfer
Reserve point guard Candyce Ussery quit the IU women's basketball team Monday and is immediately looking to transfer, Coach Miller said.
"We've supported her desire to go look for more playing time and again we're helping her out as best we can in a really, really short time that she's trying to get admitted and start at a new school," he said. "Hopefully that is all completed by the end of the week."
Ussery, a sophomore , played in 30 games last season and was slated to be the starting point guard before a multitude of offseason injuries limited her practice time and consequently, her playing time this season.
Ussery averaged just 2.8 minutes per game while only playing in eight of the team's 17 games. She played a season high eight minutes against Xavier on Dec. 21, 2012.
"We wish her the best and certainly understand the desire of Division I athletes desire to play and playing time," Miller said. "With multiple point guards signed in the 2013 class and her playing currently behind Andrea (Newbauer) and Nicole (Bell), I don't hold it against her and really support her looking for another opportunity."
Ussery is the third player to leave the program this season. In late December, center Quaneisha McCurty transferred to Florida State. Freshman Carmela Roeschlein quit in November.
