Women’s Basketball: Indiana Preview, Maryland Recap

Indiana Preview

The Michigan State Spartans are finishing a three game stretch on the road with a trip to Bloomington to take on the No. 16/15 Indiana Hoosiers tomorrow afternoon. The game will be on the Big Ten network and tip-off is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. EST.

The Spartans enter this game 9-3 overall and 4-3 in the Big Ten following the 92-52 loss at No. 7/10 Maryland on Thursday. After the first 12-games of the season, MSU ranks seventh nationally and second in the Big Ten with 19.9 assists per game, and also rank sixth nationally and second in the Big Ten in assist to turnover ratio at 1.5 per game.

The Hoosiers enter the matchup at 9-4 overall and 7-2 in the Big Ten. Indiana has only fallen to ranked teams thus far on the season including Tennessee, Kentucky, Maryland, and Ohio State. The most recent game for Indiana was also a loss, but unlike MSU it was a close one in a 78-70 home loss to No. 14 Ohio State.

Indiana excels at ball security as the Hoosiers average just 10.8 turnovers per game, good for fourth in the country and second in the Big Ten. Sophomore forward Mackenzie Holmes also ranks ninth in Division I on the season with 38 total blocks and 12th with her 2.9 blocks per game.

The Hoosiers are second in the Big Ten in scoring defense, giving up just 57.8 points per game to opponents. Holmes is seventh in the conference in scoring with her 17.8 points per game, while junior guard Grace Berger is 16th with 16.1 points per game.

MSU holds a huge lead over Indiana in the overall series, leading 48-29 and 21-16 in Bloomington. However, the Spartans haven’t won in Bloomington since 2017. Indiana has also won three of the last four, including the Big Ten season opener last season in Bloomington which was the only time the Spartans and Hoosiers faced each other last season.

Maryland Recap

The Spartans dropped their first road game of the season after falling in blowout fashion to the Maryland Terrapins on Thursday in College Park. The Spartans were outscored in each quarter and were more than doubled-up by the Terps in the third.

Just two Spartans managed double-digit scoring with Nia Clouden’s 15 points and Mardrekia Cook’s 11. MSU committed a season high 24 turnovers in the game.

Despite the Spartans getting the fast start, it was short-lived as Maryland went on a 17-0 run to seize a 20-7 lead. MSU committed five turnovers in the first four minutes alone, but went on a 6-0 late to close the first quarter down just 27-15.

Maryland went on to close out the half up 50-30. Cook managed a 6-0 run for MSU in the third quarter while Janai Crooms also scored five of her seven points in the third as well. However, the Spartans finished out the final period with a drought of over four minutes without scoring.

One bright spot is Nia Clouden is just 13 points shy of Jamie Wesley’s 1,075 career points and currently sits at No. 27 on the all-time career points list at MSU.