GAME NOTES: The Indiana Hoosiers (11-12, 4-6) host the Northwestern Wildcats (9-14, 2-7) on Sunday at 12 p.m. ET at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. The game will be broadcast on BTN.
Take a good look at that picture. Sure, it’s just a snapshot. Just a moment in time. But it perfectly encapsulates Tyra Buss on the basketball court. If you went to a game uninformed you might watch warm-ups and suspect that #3 was an undersized walk-on that would never see the floor.
Then the game tips-off, and you know immediately who is running the show. It’s the perfect combination of talent, athleticism and heart that comes together to make Buss Indiana’s greatest of all-time. If you are a sports fan and have an appreciation for seeing greatness in action, then we implore you, no, we order you to go see her play before it’s too late.
This author took in his first game on January 6th when the Hoosiers hosted Purdue. I’m not ashamed to admit that it gave me goosebumps in a way that only greatness can do. But it wasn’t her offensive prowess. I saw the star of the team diving on the floor, and colliding with opponents — sometimes head-on. There were several violent moments when it looked like her day was done, only to see her bounce back up and fight on.
You want defense? I saw her turn Purdue’s Miss Indiana freshman point guard into a nervous and awkward rookie. Yep, Tyra Buss does it all — offense, defense and all-out effort. And because of all that she is rewriting the Hoosier record books.
RECORD SETTING GREATNESS
- POINTS: As we wrote a few weeks ago, Buss is the all-time leading scorer in the history of the IU women’s program. She broke Denise Jackson’s record on January 3rd at Penn State. Since then Buss has gone on to pass the 2,000 point mark.
- STEALS: Buss picked up three steals last weekend against Rutgers and became the program’s all-time steals leader with 261, surpassing Kim Roberson’s previous mark of 259.
- FREE THROWS MADE: Buss passed Jenny DeMuth’s mark of 514 to become the all-time leader.
- FREE THROWS ATTEMPTED: Buss also passed DeMuth’s previous all-time record of 688 attempts.
- ASSISTS: Buss has a chance to become the program’s all-time assists leader. She currently sits 26 behind Tisha Hill’s record of 533. The Hoosiers have at least seven games left and she averages 4.7 assists per game, so the record is clearly within reach.
- 3-POINTERS: Buss is also tied for 5th on the all time 3-pointers made list with 172. The all-time mark is held by Kris McGrade with 206.
HOOSIERS RIDING A THREE GAME WINNING STREAK
For all the accolades that Buss justifiably receives, she has made it clear that she is much more focused on winning than any individual recognition. In part due to the Hoosiers having played one of the toughest schedules in the nation (6th most difficult in Division I), the season didn’t start out as well as planned. But IU is riding a 3 game winning streak and it has 2 more winnable home games, beginning with Northwestern on Sunday, before it has to venture back away from the friendly confines of Bloomington.
The Hoosiers are winning in part due to the emergence of freshman Jaelynn Penn, who has received Big Ten freshman of the week honors two weeks in a row. Penn’s versatility complements senior leaders Buss and Amanda Cahill and provides the Hoosiers with an extra option that opposing defenses must account for.
If it wins these next two home games IU will move back over the .500 mark overall and up to .500 in Big Ten play. At that point the Hoosiers will be in a position to control their own destiny as it relates to the potential for post season play. And with post season play, Tyra Buss will be in a position to further her control of the destiny of the Indiana record books.
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(Photo: Indiana Athletics)
