Spartans To Think Pink Monday Night Against Purdue

2/9/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball

Feb. 9, 2008

GAME 25 TIPOFF

MICHIGAN STATE (13-11, 5-7) vs. PURDUE (13-10, 9-3)

Game Information
When: Monday, Feb. 11 • 7 p.m. ET
Where: Breslin Center • East Lansing, Mich.

Media Coverage
TV: Big Ten Network (DirecTV Ch. 220)
Announcers: Mark Neely (Play-by-Play); Mary Murphy (Analysis)
Radio: WVFN 730 AM and msuspartans.com (Rick Berkey: Play-by-Play)
Live Stats: Gametracker at msuspartans.com

Series History
Overall: Purdue leads, 33-19
Last meeting: PUR 64, MSU 61 (3/4/07 - BTT)

Coaches
MSU: Suzy Merchant (Central Michigan, 1991)
Overall: 214-131 (13th year)
At MSU: 13-11 (first year)

PUR: Sharon Versyp (Purdue, 1989)
Overall: 161-81 (eighth year)
At Purdue: 44-16 (second year)

SPARTANS TO "THINK PINK" AS THEY TAKE ON PURDUE MONDAY NIGHT AT BRESLIN CENTER
The Michigan State women's basketball team hosts first-place Purdue Monday night at the Breslin Center beginning at 7 p.m. The game will be a part of the Women's Basketball Coaches Association's (WBCA) "Think Pink" initiative, which is a global, unified effort for the WBCA's nation of coaches to assist in raising breast cancer awareness on the court, across campuses, in communities and beyond. The Spartans will be wearing pink apparel to show their support for the cause, and breast cancer survivors will be honored at halftime.

The WBCA began "Think Pink" in 2007, and more than 120 schools unified for the effort and helped make the inaugural year a success. This year, more than 900 teams are participating during WBCA's "Think Pink" week, scheduled for Feb. 8-17.

Think Pink t-shirts will be on sale at the game for $15, and $5 goes right back to the Greater Lansing Komen Foundation. Fans that have already purchased a t-shirt can get in free to the game by wearing their Think Pink t-shirt. In addition, the first 1,000 fans will get a free Think Pink water bottle.

For the second straight game, Michigan State (13-11, 5-7 Big Ten) will take on one of the leaders in the conference standings. On Thursday, MSU fell at Iowa, 82-64, as the Hawkeyes improved to 9-3 in the Big Ten. The Boilermakers, after struggling in the non-conference season, are also 9-3 in the league after edging No. 19 Ohio State, 68-67, at Mackey Arena on Thursday. Purdue has four in a row and six of its last seven games.

The Purdue game marks the beginning of one of the busiest weeks of the year for the Spartans. After facing the Boilermakers, MSU will travel to Indiana on Thursday, Feb. 14 and Penn State on Sunday, Feb. 17.

SERIES HISTORY
• Monday's matchup will be the 53rd meeting between Michigan State and Purdue.
• The Boilermakers lead the all-time series, 33-19, however, the Spartans own a 15-11 advantage in games played in East Lansing.
• Purdue has won three of the past four meetings, including a 64-61 win over MSU in the Big Ten Tournament semifinals last March.
• The Spartans rallied from a 17-point deficit in the last regular-season meeting to defeat Purdue, 54-52, on Feb. 11, 2007, in West Lafayette, Ind. Mia Johnson hit the game-winning 3-pointer with 1.3 seconds left to propel the Spartans to victory.

WHAT TO WATCH FOR
• Allyssa DeHaan needs just one block to reach 100 for the season. DeHaan, who set a Big Ten record with 145 blocks last season, would become the first player in Big Ten history to record 100 blocks in two different seasons. It would also mark just the sixth time in Big Ten history that a player reached the 100-block plateau in a single-season.

Freshman Taja Wilson had three rebounds at Iowa on Thursday.

GAME 24 NOTES: IOWA 82, MICHIGAN STATE 64
• Iowa won its seventh straight game with a 82-64 victory over Michigan State on Thursday, Feb. 7 in Iowa City.
• The Hawkeyes shot 56 percent from the field and hit nine 3-pointers. They shot 63 percent in the second half.
• The Hawkeye trio of Wendy Ausdemore, Johanna Solverson and Kristi Smith combined for 49 of Iowa's 82 points. Ausdemore led all scorers with 19 points and Solverson connected for 18 points.
• Kalisha Keane led the Spartans with 16 points, marking the 17th time she has scored in double-figures this season. She now has 315 points this season, which is already fifth best in the Spartan freshman record book.
• Brittney Thomas, who scored a career-high 18 points in the first meeting against Iowa, again collected a double-figure scoring effort with 13 points. Thomas was 5-of-6 from the field, grabbed three rebounds and had two steals. In the two games vs. Iowa this season, Thomas averaged 15.5 points, 4.0 steals and shot 69 percent from the field (11-for-16).
• MSU forced 23 Hawkeye turnovers and had 12 steals, but only had a two-point advantage in points off turnovers, 21-19. Cetera Washington and Mandy Piechowski swiped three steals apiece for Michigan State.
• The Hawkeyes, in addition to their excellent shooting, outrebounded the Spartans, 43-30, and had 22 assists for their 30 field goals.
• Allyssa DeHaan was limited to single-figures in scoring for just the sixth time this season. DeHaan had eight points and seven rebounds but shot 3-for-10 from the field.
• Michigan State scored the game's first five points, but Iowa responded by scoring 14 unanswered points over the next four minutes to go up, 14-5. The Hawkeyes would hold the lead the rest of the game.
• MSU battled back to cut the lead to three on an Alisa Wulff jumper that made it 18-15 at the 10:37 mark. Iowa extended its lead to as large as 10 points in the first half, but after two Courtney Davidson free throws with 14 seconds remaining, MSU was looking at a manageable seven-point deficit at the half. However, Solverson nailed a 3 as time expired, putting the Hawkeyes up 39-29 at the break.
• Iowa led in double-digits the entire second half.

A LOOK AT THE BIG TEN STANDINGS
• With six regular-season games remaining, the Spartans are tied for seventh in the Big Ten standings with Illinois with a 5-7 conference mark.
• The top five teams in the standings will receive a first-round bye in the Big Ten Tournament, scheduled March 6-9 in Indianapolis at Conseco Fieldhouse.
• The Spartans have three home games (Purdue, Northwestern, Illinois) and three road games (Indiana, Penn State, Purdue) left on the schedule.