Jan. 30, 2006
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Purdue Passes Halfway Point Undefeated
With a pair of wins this past week, Purdue remained undefeated atop the conference standings at 9-0. The Boilermakers, 17-2 overall, became the 14th team in Big Ten history to begin a league season with a perfect 8-0 mark at the halfway point of the 16-game schedule. The success could be a good omen for the Boilermakers, as every previous team that started out 8-0 either won outright (nine) or shared (four) the conference regular-season title. The Boilermakers are off to a 9-0 start in Big Ten play for the third time school history. They started 9-0 in 1990-91, went a perfect 16-0 in 1998-99 and began 11-0 in 2000-01.
The Boilermakers will put their 13-game win streak on the line Thursday, when they take on Iowa in Iowa City. Purdue's current win streak is tied for the third-longest in school history. The second-longest streak of victories was 15, set in 2003-04.
Four Big Ten Teams Ranked in Nation's Top 20
Four conference squads were ranked in both the Associated Press and ESPN/USA Today Coaches Polls this past week. Ohio State was 7th in both polls and Purdue was 8th. Minnesota was ranked 14th and 12th, respectively, while Michigan State was 16th in both polls.
NCAA National Notables
Several Big Ten student-athletes and teams were nationally ranked in many categories as of Jan. 23, which are listed on page five. Among the standouts, Penn State's Adrienne Squire ranks first (.981) in free-throw percentage, followed by Indiana's Cyndi Valentin in fifth at .944. Ohio State's Kim Wilburn is 10th in steals at 3.6. OSU is also second in scoring defense (51.2) and third in fouls per game (12.2) and assists (19.1).
Spartans and Illini Highlight Televised Games
Four Big Ten games will be televised either regionally or locally this week, highlighted by Comcast SportsNet Chicago's broadcast of Michigan State and Illinois on Sunday in Champaign, Ill. Comcast Local Detroit will also carry the game for the viewers back in Michigan. On Thursday, Wisconsin hosts Indiana on FSN North, while WPSU will locally air Michigan at Penn State. WPSU is slated to televise the Purdue at Penn State rivalry on Sunday as well.
Big Ten Boasts Big Attendance on Sunday
This past Sunday, four of the five Big Ten games boasted attendance totals over 8,000, including two contests that hosted over 11,000 fans. Ohio State's home attendance of 11,622 against Illinois on Sunday was the second largest total at Value City Arena for women's basketball game. Ohio State's top attendance of 17,525, was set last season versus Penn State on Feb. 27, 2005, which marked both a school and Big Ten single-game record. The Buckeyes just edged out Minnesota by less than 100, as the Golden Gophers played Penn State in front of 11,529 at Williams Arena. Sunday's total marked the 12th largest in school history and the highest total this season. In addition, Michigan State defeated Indiana in front of 8,600 people at the Breslin Center, while Purdue hosted 8,031 patrons for the win over Northwestern.
Northwestern Takes Purdue Past 60
For the first time in conference play this season and just the third time overall, an opponent was able to score 60 or more points on league-leader Purdue this past Sunday. Northwestern scored 63 against the Boilermakers, joining Western Michigan and DePaul as the only squads able to crack 60 points against the 17-2 team.
Wildcats Not So Wild at Free Throw Line
In fact, they have been rather calm and accurate for the past four games. Last Thursday at Michigan, Northwestern hit an impressive 94.7 percent (18-of-19) from the charity stripe, the best team performance in Wildcat history. Ifeoma Okonkwo led NU with a 13-of-14 mark from the stripe. The Wildcats backed that performance up with a 14-of-17 effort at Purdue. In the last four games, the Wildcats are shooting 89 percent on 65-of-73 shooting from the charity stripe.
Sunday Success at the Free Throw Line
This past Sunday, three Big Ten student-athletes posted perfect free-throw percentages on a minimum eight attempts, which ties 10 other marks for the best in the conference this season. In the Northwestern at Purdue matchup Sunday, the Wildcats' A.J. Glasauer and the Boilermakers' Aya Trarore each finished with a flawless 8-for-8 stint from the line. Big Ten Player of the Week Jamie Broback also finished 8-for-8 from the charity stripe and helped her Minnesota squad top Penn State.
Illinois' Grentz Looking For No. 650 This Week
Illinois head coach Theresa Grentz is now just two victories short of becoming the eighth Division I coach to reach 650 wins for her career. Grentz, in her 32nd season overall and 11th at Illinois, has coached in 940 games and has won 69 percent of her games. Penn State's Rene Portland is already a member of the 650-win club, having won 673 career victories.
So it Only Took About 25 Years...
Minnesota is off to a 7-1 start in conference play, which is the second-best open in Gopher history. With a win at Illinois on Thursday, Minnesota can match its best-ever league start, as the Gophers began 8-1 in 1982-83, the first official year of Big Ten women's basketball.
Big Ten Player of the Year Acting Like One
Ohio State's Jessica Davenport earned Big Ten Player of the Year honors as a sophomore last year and was the consensus selection between the coaches and the media in the preseason. It's tough to dispute that she is not putting up another dominant year, as she currently leads the league in overall scoring (18.9 ppg), rebounding (9.4 rpg), blocks (2.68 bpg) and field goal percentage (.634). She leads the conference with 7.00 defensive rebounds per game as well.
Banks Back in Business
On Jan. 26, Wisconsin's Janese Banks returned to action at Ohio State after missing five games because of injury. The talented Badger sophomore, who is currently averaging 12.8 points, 5.5 rebounds, 4.4 assists and 2.3 steals per game, scored just two points against OSU in her return but, had a solid effort with 10 points and nine boards at Michigan Sunday.
Sweet 16-Hundred
Michigan State's Lindsay Bowen surpassed the 1,600-career point mark with 15 points in the Indiana game on Sunday and became the 49th player in Big Ten history to score at least 1,600 points in her career. The Spartan senior now has 1,613 career points, just 55 shy of Kisha Kelly's school-record of 1,668. Teammate Liz Shimek is likely to become the 50th Big Ten player to join the club as she enters the week just eight points shy of the mark at 1,592 career points. Ohio State's Debbie Merrill follows closely at 1,590. Speaking of point clubs, Indiana's Cyndi Valentin became one of six IU players to reach the 1,500 point mark after netting 24 points against Michigan State on Sunday. She moved into sixth place with 1,507 career points. Ohio State's Jessica Davenport is 75 points shy of 1,500, while the Hoosiers' Jenny DeMuth is 27 shy of 1,400. Northwestern's Ifeoma Okonkwo (954) is now just 46 points away from 1,000 in this her senior year.
Indiana Improving
With its win over Illinois on Thursday, Indiana claimed its 11th win of the season, which already surpasses last years's win total (10-18). The Hoosiers are also 5-4 in conference play this season, which betters their 3-13 league mark from a year ago. Their four losses have been to all four ranked conference teams by a combined deficit of 6.5 points, which includes one overtime contest.
Wilburn Sets OSU Steals Mark; Big Ten's Next?
Kim Wilburn, Ohio State's school record holder in steals, tallied a pair of swipes last week to bring her career total to 332. Wilburn currently ranks fourth all-time in Big Ten history and is just one of 11 Big Ten players to eclipse 300. Michigan's Stacey Thomas (`96-00) holds the record of 372, followed by Wisconsin's Tamara Moore (`99-02) at 353 and Michigan State's Kristin Haynie (`01-05) at 346.
Speaking of Steals
Indiana's all-around performer, senior Jenny DeMuth, is rapidly approaching another school record. DeMuth, who already holds the Hoosiers' top mark for career free throws at 463, is just six steals away from breaking the all-time career record of 210 as well.
