Everything Bill Fennelly, Ashley Joens and Emily Ryan had to say on their team's 84-56 win over TCU Saturday:

Ok, we all know TCU isn’t a good team. They reside at the bottom of the big 12 for a reason. Everyone counted this as an easy win. But…what team would show up for ISU? Would they struggle for a win or dominate?

The first quarter showed the sisters fighting hard for second chance opportunities. Joens, D and Fritz all picked up offensive rebounds and converted for two.

TCU was a strange rumbling mess of balls going everywhere and somehow managing to get the ball in the basket. With 4:37 left it was all tied up at 10.

The teams traded baskets back and forth with the sisters defense seeming to break at inopportune moments and allowing TCU to stay in the game.

The offense had chances to pull ahead and just seemed to find ways to misfire. But, after a fine Fritz recovery of a bad pass and score Joens had a great “break the seam” play for a traditional three. Donarski followed with a long distance three and the ladies lead 25-18 after one. The last minute was just a flurry of scoring. Prior to that flurry the score was 17-17. Use that as a reference going forward.

In the second the offense was firing on all cylinders right out of the gate. Kane would hit a jumper and Joens would score inside and out to spread the lead to 32-20 to force a TCU timeout. Defense also stepped up forcing TCU into turnovers and missed shots.

Joens was feeling it from deep hitting another trey.

The game devolved into a bit of a scrum for a bit. Lots of physical bouncing around with no relief from the stripes.

One of the very real positives was the scoring was being spread around with Joens going for 20 but everyone being involved. It was impressive to see Ashley actively looking for teammates when she was doubled.

After a 20-7 run the half ended with the sisters ahead 47-24.

the third started ok and the defense was being stingy. The offense was missing on some good looks, but all aspects of the game looked positive.

In a play typical of her entire game, Kane powered in for two. She was very active rebounding as well.

A couple of minutes of offensive mess and the ladies still edged the lead to 55-31 at the media timeout.

The ladies continued to frustrate an overmatched TCU team on the defensive end and pretty much dictated what happened on the offensive end. Each time I glanced at the clock TCU wasn’t getting anything and our ladies were increasing the gap. It was 62-33 at the 2:41 mark.

Twice in a row Joens went into a double team and found the open trey with Diew and Ryan. I love this awareness!

Some great passing at the end of the third to find an open Donarski and an…air ball. That was pretty much the only bad thing that happened that quarter.

End of three 70-34. It was all over except for the fat lady singing.

The fourth quarter started with Kane, Donarski and Joens on the bench. We wouldn’t see Donarski or Joens again.

Scoring for both teams was hard to come by as TCU was just TCU and the sisters had new groups playing together. It just wasn’t pretty either way.

Five min in and ISU had only outscored TCU 6-2. Yep…that ugly.

Kane returned and would hit what I think was her second trey of her career to loud applause from the Hilton faithful. 3 min left and the bench was cleared.

The rest of the game was watching TCU go to the line and make free throws and foul after foul was called. On our end there wasn’t much offense to speak of from the reserves. Final 84-56.

Observations:
POG - Joens all the way. This was the kind of game we need from her all the time. She scored inside and out and found open teammates from double teams. 30 min, 22 points and 11 boards. THREE assists.

Ryan - a little of everything tonight. 12 points, 5 boards and 4 assists. I know she wishes she had a couple of the three turnovers back.

Donarski - another solid game on both ends. We found out you don’t piss her off as well.

Fritz- an off night from deep but 9 points and 5 boards. Tough on D.

Diew - not her best game. Still gets beat on defense. Coach made some adjustments there to help with a double down low that raised havoc with TCU’s inside play.

Kane - she was a BEAST. 17 points and 8 boards. She was authoritative.

M&M - Got lots of minutes. Watched her closely and you can tell something just isn’t right. Did a nice job with her minutes though.

Izzi - thought she might set a record for fouls in the shortest amount of time. She was like a bill in a china closet a couple of times.

Free throws. The starters were excellent. Overall the team made 11-15, but the misses were mostly reserves.

Treys - 9 -27. Not great and not bad.

Assists - had an assist on 50% of the baskets scored.

So, this went as hoped. Starters got a breather with a the next game in Lawrence Wednesday. Another game the ladies should win. Let’s hope the good things we saw today carry over.

Side note…weather forecast for the tournament in KC is looking cool again. Not snow like last year, but mid 40’s for a high. See you all there!

Looking for 2 great tickets for the ladies game against TCU.

I'm sure I'm not the only one that does this, but sometimes I find myself betting on Iowa or against ISU, with the thought that even if I don't get the outcome I want (ISU winning or Iowa losing) that at least I'll make some money off of it. Today when Iowa came back and won, which lead to me winning my bet, I said to my buddies that I would gladly lose the money to watch Iowa lose. This lead to the discussion...

If you could pay a certain amount to guarantee Iowa State wins a game (football or basketball), how much would you pay?
If you could pay a certain amount to guarantee Iowa loses a game (football or basketball), how much would you pay?

A couple rules:
- Not paying does not guarantee the opposite result. (ie If I pay 10 bucks to win the Kansas game and that's it, it doesn't mean we go 1-25)
- End of season tournaments or playoffs are not buyable.

1. Never bank schollies

2. Never bank on anyone being here who hasn't committed

Those 2 things are why the season turned out how they are. We're massively overachieving but could be actually good if we had better breaks in the offseason. Hopefully TJ and the staff learn from this

Looking to go to the game last minute today.

Looking for one tix for OU.

Everything T.J. Otzelberger, Gabe Kalscheur and Tamin Lipsey had to say following today's 61-50 loss against Oklahoma:

Right now I think it's fair to start to question the staff's ability to recognize (repetitive) fundamental flaws and make adjustments, both at the individual and team level. The number of things this team does, game in and game out, that costs it games are mind-boggling.

1. No offensive game plan. I think most of us have a realistic view point when it comes to having explosive athleticism and the problems that creates. It also doesn't help when, in some cases, guys are missing wide open looks. With that said, we often come down the court and waste 15 seconds cycling and the ball 6 feet beyond the arc. This causes a repetitive issue of having to jack up crap shots late in the shot clock. There should be a greater focus on getting the ball up the court quicker and looking to initiative meaningful ball movement, as in things that will lead to baskets or open looks. Early in the season guys were cutting to the basket, we looked run the offense through Osun (was better today but was compromised by fouls/being dinged up), and or driving in and kicking out. We are basically maximizing our natural deficiencies by making us (as a team) extremely easy to guard.

2. Over-helping on defense. This has been a constant issue and one I do not understand. Time and time again we are either play good defense and giving help when it's not needed, or having 3 guys collapse to a ball handlers in the lane. It's leading to defensive meltdowns and wide open shooters. It's a team-wide issue but the biggest offender is Holmes. He has absolutely no idea what he is doing defensively and over-helps on nearly every possession. I think at least half of our defensive breakdowns could be directly attributed to him. It's been so pervasive and has gone on so long that it appears the staff isn't addressing it. If they are guys like Holmes need to be benched for it. It's hard to win when guys have wide open corner 3s on every possession.

3. Staff's inability to influence outcomes within games. At some point it's hard to shrug off being constantly outplayed and out coached in every 2nd half. From questionable substitutions, not anticipating opponent adjustments, to not utilizing timeouts to manage game flow, this team is a constant second half trainwreck. From the outside coaches make little in the way of noticeable adjustments. The only 'adjustment' I noticeably see is the occasional switch to zone, a defense we are futile at running.


Basically this team looks like a ship without a rudder, one floating aimlessly at sea. At some point the staff needs to make some philosophical adjustments to get this team on track. What we are seeing is will beyond individuals struggling. Today epitomized most of what we've been seeing over the last 5 to 6 games.

As I lament the OU home loss and question the lack of coaching against such a poor team, I turn over to iowas game to see Fran mccaffrey spending a timeout uncomfortably staring down a referee. Just an absurd display by a top representative of that university. This is of course after he already received a technical for word choice.

Man it could be so much worse, and what Iowa has is flat embarrassing. Fran Mccaffrey is the university of Iowa. Gross.

Need 2 more to the the family to TCU game tonight

I had no idea a building like this existed in Des Moines with this sort of interior. I definitely need to visit when I get back to Iowa next time.

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Who: No. 20 Iowa State (17-8, 9-6 Big 12) vs. TCU (7-19, 1-14 Big 12)
Where: Hilton Coliseum – Ames, Iowa
When: Saturday, Feb. 25, 2023 – 5 p.m.
***PLAY4KAY PINK GAME***

BUY TICKETS

The Links
WATCH: Big 12 Now
PxP: Larry Morgan
Analyst: Molly Parrott

LISTEN: Cyclone Radio Network – Varsity App or Radio Affiliates
PxP: Noah Wolf
Analyst: Jamie Steyer Johnson

STATS: LIVE STATS

IOWA STATE GAME NOTES (PDF) | TCU GAME NOTES (PDF)


PROJECTED STARTERS



BIG 12 STANDINGS/REMAINING SCHEDULE

Now have tics.

Has anyone had trouble transferring tickets to someone else? I keep getting an error! Just trying to give my WBB tickets to someone for tomorrow.

vs



Oklahoma (13-15, 3-12 BIG 12)
#23 IOWA STATE (17-10, 8-7 BIG 12)
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 25TH 11:00 A.M. CST
HILTON COLISEUM / AMES, IA


TV: ESPNU
Talent: Pete Sousa, pxp Lance Blanks, analyst

Radio: Cyclone Radio Network (Varsity Network)
CRN Talent: John Walters (pxp); Eric Heft (analyst)

Anyone plan on watching this new show? It looks like reviews are mixed, but Christoph Waltz is simply a treasure I cannot pass up.

Sorry if already posted. Gophers are bad and really hoping Evans would help get them on track. Not happening.

Five star, seven-foot center. Chose MN over TCU.

Angie gave permission to host this topic after I suggested it in the most recent On That Note thread last night.

What are some of the memorable (good or bad) stories you have from riding the school bus back in your youth? (Of course, the confessional ones are the best!)

And for you town kids who walked to school (in the snow and uphill both ways), let's hear about your (mis)adventures en route.

I'll post mine a bit later.

Okay, so I get it.

I know full well that the storyline about being unable to compete as a “cold weather” school was complete hoo haw. All you had to do even back then was look at all the successful schools at similar—or even more northerly—parallels to see that. Schools like Creighton, Nebraska, Notre Dame…even Minnesota has cranked out some good players over the years.

At the time, it was all about the money. And balancing scholarships due to Title IX.

Well, we have more money now. A lot more money than when that decision was made. And with CyTown becoming a reality, perhaps it’s time to look into the relatively near future.

Speaking as a guy who spent his fair share of time sitting in the rickety old Cap Timm bleachers watching a buddy play…just how much money does it take to bring baseball back?

And…what women’s sport do we add to balance?

My first guess would be rowing or lacrosse…but I’m certainly no expert. Not sure if fencing would offer enough scholarship opportunities.

After all, many of the women’s sports are being successful, some wildly so. Why not one more?

Just saw this images that show the original design of what became Hilton Coliseum (and Fisher Threater, too).

Quite a bit different. Construction drawings were completed. Bids were taken but were too high. So the structure was resigned to what we have today. In my opinion, that was a blessing!

A rooster that comes in the house and murders you:
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Looks like we're doing the stripe thing on Monday night but doesn't say on the ticket what color our section is. Will they send out an email or something?

How have you been treated?