Michigan
Illinois
Maize and Blue to Conclude Regular Season Saturday at Illinois
2/27/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
UPCOMING GAME
Michigan at Illinois
State Farm Center • Champaign, Ill.
Saturday, Feb. 28 • 11 a.m. CST
TV: Big Ten Network | Live Stats | Live Audio | BTN2Go
» Complete Game Notes (PDF)
The University of Michigan women's basketball team (16-12, 8-9 B1G) looks to end the regular season with a 9-9 record in Big Ten action on Saturday (Feb. 28), traveling to Illinois to take on the Illini (14-15, 5-12 B1G). Tip is set for 11 a.m. CST, and the game can be seen live on the Big Ten Network.
• U-M is looking for the season sweep over Illinois. Michigan knocked off the Illini earlier this season at Crisler (Jan. 26), taking a 70-57 win. The Wolverines have won six in a row and 11 of 12 against Illinois.
• With a win in Saturday's game, Michigan will close the conference season with a 9-9 record. U-M has finished .500 or better in Big Ten action 12 times in school history.
• Junior Madison Ristovski had her best game of the season in Michigan's last game, exploding for 15 points on 7-for-10 shooting off the bench. It was her third double-figure scoring game of the season and the most points she has scored since going for 15 on March 21, 2014 against Stony Brook. The 15 points pushed her past the 500-point plateau for her career (509).
• Michigan has averaged 79.0 points in its last three games, going 2-1 in those contests. U-M has crossed the 80-point mark in two games and has shot 48.3 percent from the field and 41.3 percent from three-point range. Freshman Katelynn Flaherty has averaged 22.3 points per game over the stretch, with seniors Cyesha Goree (15.7 ppg, 14.3 rpg) and Nicole Elmblad (12.7 ppg, 8.0 rpg) all increasing their production over the stretch.
• Head coach Kim Barnes Arico has mixed up the starting lineup in the last week, inserting freshman Katelynn Flaherty in for sophomore Danielle Williams prior to Michigan's contest against Indiana (Feb. 18). In the last three games as a starter, Flaherty has averaged 22.3 points on 52.9 percent shooting from the floor and a 54.5 percent clip from three-point range. On the season, Flaherty has seven 20-point games after reaching the 20-point plateau in two of the last three games. She has started six total games this season. In Big Ten games, Flaherty is the second-highest scoring freshman at 15.6 points per contest.
• The month of February has been full of near-misses for the Wolverines, including a double-overtime loss at Minnesota on Feb. 21. U-M has gone 3-5 since the calendar flipped to February, with four of those five losses coming to the four teams in third through sixth place in the Big Ten by a combined 15 points.
• With two more rebounds, senior Cyesha Goree will become the first player in school history to record back-to-back 300-rebound seasons. She will also be the first Wolverine to ever have two seasons with 300-plus boards, as Trish Andrew (1990-93) was the only other player in school history to have at least 300 rebounds in a season. Goree is within striking distance of her own school record for rebounds, 317.
• Senior Shannon Smith is nearing 1,000 career points over her career at two different NCAA Division I institutions. She has 828 points during her two years at U-M and coupled with the 95 points she scored at North Carolina, Smith has a career total of 923 points. With 77 more, she will eclipse the 1,000-point total for her career.
• All four of Michigan's double-figure scorers are scoring above their season average in conference action, led by Katelynn Flaherty's 15.6 ppg average. She ranks 10th in the conference in scoring during Big Ten games, with senior Cyesha Goree ranking 13th in scoring in conference games at 15.3 ppg. Senior Shannon Smith is 15th at 15.2 ppg and Siera Thompson rounds out the scorers in 29th at 11.8 ppg. Michigan is one of three schools to feature four players in the top 30 of scoring in Big Ten games, joined by Maryland and Iowa.
• Michigan has locked itself into the No. 8 seed for the upcoming Big Ten Tournament and will face the No. 9 seed on Thursday (March 5) at 11:30 a.m. CST.
