After losing back-to-back games for the first time in two years, the MSU women’s basketball team (12-7 overall, 4-2 Big Ten) looks to get back on track Monday (7:30 p.m., Big Ten Network) as it takes on No. 13 Purdue (16-3, 6-0).
It’s been 10 years since Purdue won the Big Ten regular season title, but the Boilermakers return 11 players and 97 percent of their offense from last season and appear to be a legitimate contender.
Purdue is the only Big Ten team without a conference loss and have the largest margin of victory in the conference, despite losing last year’s second leading scorer — senior forward Drey Mingo — to a torn anterior cruiciate ligament before the season.
The game features a matchup of the Big Ten’s top defensive teams, with MSU in second — holding opponents to 58.5 points per game — and Purdue leading the Big Ten, limiting opponents to 56.3 points per game.
The Boilermakers defensive dominance starts with forward Sam Ostarello, an early contender for the Big Ten defensive player of the year award and the conference’s leading rebounder and one of its top shot blockers.
With Ostarello leading the way, Purdue is first in blocks, steals and field goal percentage defense.
To create more offense, MSU head coach Suzy Merchant could decide to return Porsché Poole to the starting lineup.
Poole is MSU’s leading scorer and was the only Spartan to score in double figures in MSU’s last game against Minnesota.
Junior guard Jasmine Thomas replaced Poole in the starting lineup earlier in the season but has struggled in Big Ten play, averaging five points per game on 30 percent shooting.
Following a victory over Indiana on Jan. 12, Merchant said she noticed Thomas had lost some confidence and hinted that she was considering a switch.
“We’re going to need her athleticism and her toughness,” Merchant said of Thomas. “She needs to kind of step it up a little bit here and search a bit deeper into herself so we can get more out of her.”
The strength of Purdue’s offense has been its balanced scoring with three players averaging double figures in points, led by guard Brittany Rayburn, the Big Ten’s seventh leading scorer at 16.8 points per game, and guard K.K. Houser, who is in the conference’s top five for assists, steals and 3-point shooting percentage.
Following a Jan. 18 practice, junior forward Courtney Schiffauer said part of the reason MSU has been able to avoid extended losing streaks is because the team has excelled at studying each loss.
“I think we’re pretty good at learning from our losses … (because) everybody does a good job of focusing on what they did wrong,” Schiffauer said. “Everybody on the team wants to be good, wants to be the best, and I think that’s what’s going to get us over the hump.”
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