University of Minnesota Athletics
Minnesota Heads to Ann Arbor, Looks to End Streak
2/22/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
The game will be streamed live at www.bigtennetwork.com, and will also be broadcast on KBEM (88.5 FM) and other selected affiliates on the Gopher Radio Network, with Corbu Stathes calling the play-by-play and Lynnette Sjoquist adding color analysis.
The Gophers are 11-16 overall and 3-11 in the Big Ten after dropping a 62-55 decision at Northwestern on Sunday afternoon, while Michigan is 16-10 overall and 9-5 in the conference after winning at Wisconsin, 68-66. Minnesota defeated the Wolverines, 60-50, on Jan. 30 at Williams Arena during the Gophers' recent three-game winning streak.
Kiara Buford became the 20th Minnesota player to reach 1,000 career points by scoring 15 points in the loss at Northwestern. Buford made 7-of-20 field goals to increase her career total to 1,007 points, but she and Kionna Kellogg (12 points, eight rebounds) were the lone Minnesota players to reach double-digits.
Brianna Mastey made 6-of-8 field goals and 5-of-6 free throws for a career-best 17 points in last Thursday's loss versus Purdue, but she was the only Minnesota player to reach double-figures. Katie Loberg had nine points and five rebounds, while Jackie Voigt grabbed a team-high 11 boards to go with eight points and Buford also had eight points.
Individually, Minnesota has two of the top scorers in the Big Ten, as Buford ranks eighth at 15.2 ppg and Leah Cotton is 21st at 11.4 ppg. Buford has scored in double-figures in all but four games she's played in this season, while Cotton has led the Gophers in scoring nine times.
China Antoine is fourth in the Big Ten for steals per game (2.3), fourth for assists per game (4.3), and fifth for assist-to-turnover ratio (1.6). Voigt is ninth in rebounding (6.6 rpg), while Buford is 11th for three-point field goal percentage (.366), and Loberg is 12th for field goal percentage (.477).
Scouting Minnesota
After snapping its season-long seven-game losing streak with a win versus Northwestern on Jan. 27, and then having its season-long three-game winning streak snapped with its loss at Iowa on Feb. 10, Minnesota has now lost four-straight.
On Sunday afternoon, junior guard Kiara Buford reached a career milestone, as she scored her 1,000th career point, but it came during the Gophers' fourth loss in-a-row. Buford led the Gophers by tallying 15 points against the Wildcats, which gives her 1,007 during her three-year career, but it wasn't enough to stop NU. Freshman guard Kionna Kellogg was the only other Minnesota player in double-figures, as she recorded a career-high 12 points to go with a team-high eight rebounds.
Last Thursday night, junior guard Brianna Mastey came off the bench to make 6-of-8 field goals and finish with a career-high 17 points for the Gophers. But it wasn't enough to fend off Brittany Rayburn and Purdue, as Rayburn finished with 27 points during the Boilermakers' 60-50 win at Williams Arena. Junior guard Jackie Voigt added eight points and a team-high 11 rebounds, while sophomore forward Katie Loberg had nine points and five boards. Buford made just 2-of-16 field goal attempts and was held to eight points.
Against Ohio State, Buford got off to a rough start by missing her first four free throw attempts, but she made her final 10 attempts at the line and was 6-of-12 from the field for a game-high 23 points. Loberg made 6-of-10 field goals and was a perfect 6-of-6 at the free throw line to finish with 18 points, while Voigt was 7-of-11 from the field (including 3-of-3 from three-point range) to tie her career-high with 17 points. Voigt just missed a double-double, pulling down nine boards in the game, while Kellogg added seven points and six rebounds.
Senior guard China Antoine made 5-of-8 treys to lead Minnesota with 19 points at Iowa. She scored the Gophers' first six points and their last seven, as Minnesota came up two points short of the win. Buford scored 13 first-half points and finished with 15 in the game, while senior forward Kristen Dockery had her second-straight double-digit game with 12 points, and Kellogg added eight points and eight boards.
Buford leads the team with an average of 15.2 ppg, with sophomore guard Leah Cotton second at 11.4 ppg. Buford is averaging 15.9 ppg over her past 11 games. Loberg ranks third on the team for points (9.0 ppg) and is tied with Dockery for second in rebounds (4.2 rpg), while leading the Gophers with 20 blocked shots (0.9 bpg).
Mastey averages 5.2 points and 3.2 rebounds per outing, while Dockery is averaging 5.2 points and 4.2 rebounds. Voigt leads the Gophers with an average of 6.6 rpg and has grabbed at least eight boards in 11 games this season, while also adding 7.0 ppg. She scored 10 points versus Northwestern and 11 against Michigan, marking the first time in her career that she had reached double figures in back-to-back Big Ten games.
Antoine ranks fifth on the team with an average of 6.6 ppg, while leading the Gophers with 117 assists (4.3 apg), 61 steals (2.3 spg), and ranking second with a .352 (37-of-105) three-point percentage.
Buford Reaches 1,000
Junior guard Kiara Buford became the 20th University of Minnesota women's basketball player to reach 1,000 career points, as she finished with 15 points in the loss at Northwestern to give her 1,007 career points in 88 games, an average of 11.4 ppg.
Prior to Buford reaching the milestone, the most recent Minnesota player to reach 1,000 points was Ashley Ellis-Milan, who accomplished the feat with 11 points in the Gophers' season-opening win versus Lamar on Nov. 15, 2009. Ellis-Milan needed just two points that day to reach the milestone, and she currently ranks 12th all-time with 1,281 points.
Voigt Closes in on 500th Rebound
Junior forward Jackie Voigt moved past 500 career points earlier this season, and she's now closing in on her 500th career rebound.
Voigt, who leads Minnesota with an average of 6.6 rebounds per game this season, enters the Michigan game with 495 career boards. For the season, she has 172 rebounds, which equals her total from her freshman season. Voigt is still in need of 208 rebounds to crack Minnesota's all-time top 10 in the category, as Marty Dahlem (1979-82) ranks 10th with 703 career caroms.
Scouting Michigan
The Wolverines are in their fourth season under the direction of head coach Kevin Borseth.
Michigan has been among the surprise teams in the Big Ten standings this season, as it opened the conference season with a convincing home victory over six-time defending champion Ohio State and then made it a sweep of the Buckeyes with a 69-66 win in Columbus. The Wolverines enter tonight's game with a record of 16-10 overall and are tied for third in the Big Ten at 9-5.
The Wolverines' wins have come against Alcorn State (88-43), Indiana State (63-58), Buffalo (69-49), Wake Forest (91-58), Kansas (75-67), New Mexico State (68-54), Boston College (68-55), Ohio State (64-51 and 69-66), Iowa (60-53), Wisconsin (75-59 and 68-66), Northwestern (76-67), Purdue (57-45), Illinois (69-59), and Indiana (88-76), with losses to #5 Xavier (85-76), Marquette (63-49), #8 Texas A&M (67-49), #19 Iowa State (60-47), Detroit (67-48), Purdue (65-64), #11 Michigan State (63-56), Minnesota (60-50), Penn State (81-63), .
Veronica Hicks leads Michigan in scoring (11.6 ppg) and rebounding (5.5 rpg), and is second in assists (3.0 apg) and steals (1.6 spg). Rachel Sheffer ranks second on the team in scoring (10.3 ppg), while making 68-of-79 (.861) free throw attempts. Carmen Reynolds is third in scoring at 10.0 ppg, and Michigan's bench is deep, with five other players averaging at least 6.3 ppg.
The Coaches
The University of Minnesota is led by ninth-year head coach Pam Borton (Defiance, 1987), who has a record of 176-106 (.624) at the U of M, and owns a career mark of 245-152 (.617) in her 13th season as a head coach.
Michigan's Kevin Borseth (Lake Superior State, 1976) is in his fourth year as head coach of the Wolverines, with a record of 66-58 (.532) at Michigan and 572-248 (.698) in his 29th season overall.
Gopher Players vs. Michigan
Taking a look at Minnesota players' career numbers versus Michigan, junior guard Kiara Buford averages 7.6 ppg. Buford has scored 11 points in each of her past two games versus the Wolverines. Junior forward Jackie Voigt averages 5.0 ppg and 4.2 rpg, and had 11 points and five boards in the 60-50 win versus Michigan on Jan. 30. Senior point guard China Antoine averages 6.7 ppg, and recorded 10 points and three assists in that win, while freshman guard Kionna Kellogg had eight points and 13 rebounds in her first career game versus the Wolverines. Buford and Voigt are the only players on the team who have played in more than three games against Michigan (each with five).
Road Trip
Junior guard Kiara Buford has played really well in the Gophers' Big Ten road games so far this season, combining to make 46-of-103 (.447) field goals and average 16.9 ppg away from Williams Arena.
But she struggled to shoot the ball in four of the Gophers' seven Big Ten games at Williams Arena. In losses to Indiana, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Purdue, Buford combined to make just 8-of-54 (.148) field goals and average just 7.5 ppg.
But she also made 5-of-11 field goals to finish with 18 points in the 63-58 win versus Northwestern, and followed by making 4-of-9 field goals and scoring 11 points in the 60-50 win versus Michigan.
Last Sunday versus Ohio State, it appeared as if it might be another difficult day for shooting at The Barn, as she missed her first four free throw attemps. But Buford, who has made 91-of-121 (.752) free throws this season, finished by making her final 10 attempts and also connected on 6-of-12 field goals for 23 points.
Last year, Buford made 46-of-121 (.380) field goals in Big Ten home games, and 34-of-88 (.386) on the road. This season, Buford has made 139-of-335 (.415) field goal attempts and averages 15.2 ppg.
A Win Would...
Make Minnesota 12-16 overall and 4-11 in the Big Ten ... Make the Gophers 2-8 on the road this season ... Make the Minnesota-Michigan series 31-24 in favor of the Gophers, and improve Pam Borton's record against Michigan to 13-3 ... Make Minnesota 188-305 in regular season Big Ten games since the start of the 1982-83 season ... Improve Pam Borton's record to 177-106 while at Minnesota and 246-152 all-time ... Make Minnesota's record 542-564 since the 1971-72 season.
A Loss Would...
Make Minnesota 11-17 overall and extend its losing streak to five games ... Make the Gophers 1-9 on the road this season ... Make the Minnesota-Michigan series 30-25 in favor of the Gophers, and drop Pam Borton's record against Michigan to 12-4 ... Make Minnesota 187-306 in regular season Big Ten games since the start of the 1982-83 season ... Drop Pam Borton's record to 176-107 while at Minnesota and 245-153 all-time ... Make Minnesota's record 541-565 since the 1971-72 season.
On the Horizon
Following Thursday's game in Ann Arbor, Minnesota returns home to close its regular season schedule against #8/10 Michigan State on Sunday afternoon at 2:00 p.m. (CST). It will mark Senior Day for the Gophers, as China Antoine and Kristen Dockery play their final home game in Maroon and Gold, and The Amazing Christopher will perform at halftime.
