In the early part of the Big Ten season no team has proven unbeatable, making every game count.
MSU (8-6 overall, 1-2 Big Ten) has an opportunity to make a big difference at 7 tonight against Indiana at Breslin Center.
Indiana guard Jenny DeMuth, averaging a team-high 18.3 points and 6.7 boards in Big Ten games, leads the Hoosiers (9-4, 2-1) to battle.
Prior to today's matchup, Indiana eked out a 54-50 upset over No. 23-ranked Ohio State thanks to DeMuth's 21 points - two of which came from the line with fewer than 30 seconds left in the game to seal the Buckeyes' fate.
MSU head coach Joanne P. McCallie said she knows her team is up against quite a formidable foe, but adds MSU knows its capacity to achieve.
"We've got some great kids with great desire on this team, and we're starting to demand more of ourselves," McCallie said. "They've done a lot of things that we haven't done, and we have a lot to prove.
"Our team knows we can beat anybody, but we can also lose to anybody - that's a reality that we need to be mature about."
Indiana, the 2002 Big Ten Tournament champions also bring to the court one of the most stifling defenses in the conference, holding opponents to just 34.1 percent shooting from the field and 58 points per contest.
But MSU dominates the boards.
The Spartans hold a 11.2 rebound advantage over opponents, many of the Spartans' tallies come not off the first shot, but the second.
Or the third.
"As a team we know that whenever we outrebound a team, we can win the game," senior forward Syreeta Bromfield said. "If everyone just comes out and does their job like (against Detroit-Mercy), we can beat anyone."
The Spartans' last matchup resulted in a 72-49 drubbing of the Titans, where four different MSU players had double-figured point totals.
McCallie was pleased with her team's performance in the effort, saying the game proved her team is ready to take the little steps necessary to strive for more in the season.
Though MSU has a lot of improvements to make, Indiana couldn't come at a better time for the Spartans.
"We're just trying to get better," McCallie said. "We're just trying to become a better play-making team, we're trying to reduce our turnovers a bit, obviously make our defense better."
In addition to DeMuth, two other players - Lisa Eckhart and Cyndi Valentin - have been doing damage to their opponents, averaging 10.7 and 10.5 points per game, respectively.
More importantly under her direction, the Hoosiers have posted a perfect 4-0 record against MSU.
As a testament to its hard-nosed defense, MSU has not scored more than 55 points in a meeting with the Hoosiers with Bennett at the helm.
"It's another big week for us," she said. "We just want to go on and maintain the intensity we had on Sunday.
