*** WBB: Gamethread - Iowa State vs. Kansas 6:30 pm ESPN+ ****

[BoxsterCy]

Who: Iowa State (8-4, 0-0 Big 12) vs. Kansas (7-5, 0-0 Big 12)

Where: Hilton Coliseum – Ames, Iowa

When: Wednesday, January 3, 2024 – 6:30 p.m. CT

WATCH: Big 12 Now on ESPN+
PxP: Larry Morgan Analyst: Molly Parrott

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

LIVE STATS

 

[BoxsterCy]

Preview stuff from Kuatheletics.com.

"Kansas and Iowa State have met 96 times in women’s basketball dating back to 1978, and the all-time series is tied at 48-48. Last season, the two teams split the season series, with each team winning on its home court."

"Kansas is led by four returning starters, including two fifth-year seniors who continue to climb up the record boards. Holly Kersgieter scored a team-high 19 points in the Big 12 opener against West Virginia, moving past Tamecka Dixon (1993-97) for ninth place on KU’s all-time scoring list with 1,692 career points. Kersgieter is now closing in on the three-point shooting record at Kansas. She has hit 233 threes during her career as a Jayhawk, which is four away from the record of 237 set by Angie Halbleib from 1994-97."

Jayhawks Head to Iowa State for First Game of 2024 - University of Kansas

Up Next Kansas plays its second road game of the week with a trip to Lubbock, Texas to face Texas Tech on Saturday, Jan. 6. Tipoff from United Supermarkets Arena

kuathletics.com

 

[NWICY]

Well don't have any clue how this'll end up but I'll be there tonight cheering this young team on.

 

[ICCYFAN]

When I talked to Ashley and Kelsey Joens last week at the family restaurant, there was a funny little story involving KU. Ashley opined KU should be good with all their returning experience, yet they always underperform, as evidenced by the fact she'd never lost to them. At which point Kelsey deadpanned, "Really, you lost to them last season when they nearly scored a hundred." I'm not doing it justice - it was pretty funny!

I have a healthy respect for KU because you never know which team will show up. Will it be the team who lost at home to WVU by 25 last week or the team who hung 98 points on us last year?

The highly anticipated matchup for me is freshman Audi Crooks vs the 6'5 KU Shot-blocker, Taiyanna Jackson. I actually like Audi's chances in this one, as she's excellent at getting position and drawing fouls, to which Jackson is prone. Go State!!!

 

[BoxsterCy]

I don't know what to think about Kansas. Have not seen them play. They have played a tough schedule loaded with P6 teams including ranked teams in NC. Lost on neutral court to ranked UConn and Virginia Tech. Lost to Penn State and Texas A&M on the road. Beat a decent Nebraska at road. Got smoked by WVU at Allen.

They are in the bottom third of nearly every single team category in the Big 12 stats. Guessing their schedule of non-cupcakes contributes some to that at this point in the season. You don't stat pad playing UConn, Virginia Tech, Nebraska, Texas A&M and Penn State with only one of those at Allen.

Half tempted to take a quick look at the Kansas/WVU replay but probably won't. Game was loaded with turnovers and steals by both teams with KU going down in the 2nd and WVU winning going away in the 4th.

They start four seniors but are led in scoring by their freshman S’Mya Nichols at 13.3 pts. 6'-6" senior Taiyanna Jackson will be the best true post we have played. Jackson is scoring 13.1 pts and 9.8 reb. She is at the top of the league in blocks with Prince and Lee in blocks and was unanimous All-Big 12 Defensive Team last year. This will be first time Crooks goes against one these top three. The more I think about the post matchup the more intriguing it seems.

 

[BoxsterCy]

When I talked to Ashley and Kelsey Joens last week at the family restaurant, there was a funny little story involving KU. Ashley opined KU should be good with all their returning experience, yet they always underperform, as evidenced by the fact she'd never lost to them. At which point Kelsey deadpanned, "Really, you lost to them last season when they nearly scored a hundred." I'm not doing it justice - it was pretty funny!

I have a healthy respect for KU because you never know which team will show up. Will it be the team who lost at home to WVU by 25 last week or the team who hung 98 points on us last year?

The highly anticipated matchup for me is freshman Audi Crooks vs the 6'5 KU Shot-blocker, Taiyanna Jackson. I actually like Audi's chances in this one, as she's excellent at getting position and drawing fouls, to which Jackson is prone. Go State!!!

Funny story.

And good observation on Jackson and fouls. It's a rare game where she isn't a foul away from fouling out.

 

[ZorkClone]

Looking into KU's last game it appears they shot about right on their usual percentages in field goals and 3-pointers. They shot abysmally from the line at only 47%. It looks like WVU had a bit of a hot night shooting 50% from the 3. KU turned it over 7 more times than usual. All in all, I think KU had an off night.

Our scoring defense is much worse than WVU's. ISU is allowing 10 more points a game than WVU. Our offense is middle of the pack and WVU's is 3rd. Luckily for us, KU appears to be worse on offense and only slightly better on defense.

I think we will have a very tight game on our hands.

 

[Three4Cy]

Looking into KU's last game it appears they shot about right on their usual percentages in field goals and 3-pointers. They shot abysmally from the line at only 47%. It looks like WVU had a bit of a hot night shooting 50% from the 3. KU turned it over 7 more times than usual. All in all, I think KU had an off night.

Our scoring defense is much worse than WVU's. ISU is allowing 10 more points a game than WVU. Our offense is middle of the pack and WVU's is 3rd. Luckily for us, KU appears to be worse on offense and only slightly better on defense.

I think we will have a very tight game on our hands.

WVU had a non-conference SOS of 190. Other than Penn State (Net 33), the best team they played had a NET of 110 during the non-conference season.

For comparison, our non-conference SOS was 96. Our best Net was Iowa (7).

 

[CycloneRulzzz]

See cyclones.com with a minor screw up. ISU is 1-0 conference not 0-0 and KU is 0-1 not 0-0.

 

[ZorkClone]

WVU had a non-conference SOS of 190. Other than Penn State (Net 33), the best team they played had a NET of 110 during the non-conference season.

For comparison, our non-conference SOS was 96. Our best Net was Iowa (7).

Not sure what source you are using for SOS, what was KU's? As BoxterCy said above, KU seems to have played a difficult schedule so far.

 

[CycloneRulzzz]

Our loss at KU snapped ISU longest winning streak against them which had been at 16. It was Schneider's first win against us in 17 tries. Our last loss at home to KU was Jan 28th of 2015.

 

[WartburgClone]

At the very least I respect Kansas for the non-con schedule they played.

 

[kcdc4isu]

With what KU had coming back as a coach I would want a tough schedule. The downside is if you falter do you destroy the confidence of your players?

 

[NWICY]

I don't know what to think about Kansas. Have not seen them play. They have played a tough schedule loaded with P6 teams including ranked teams in NC. Lost on neutral court to ranked UConn and Virginia Tech. Lost to Penn State and Texas A&M on the road. Beat a decent Nebraska at road. Got smoked by WVU at Allen.

They are in the bottom third of nearly every single team category in the Big 12 stats. Guessing their schedule of non-cupcakes contributes some to that at this point in the season. You don't stat pad playing UConn, Virginia Tech, Nebraska, Texas A&M and Penn State with only one of those at Allen.

Half tempted to take a quick look at the Kansas/WVU replay but probably won't. Game was loaded with turnovers and steals by both teams with KU going down in the 2nd and WVU winning going away in the 4th.

They start four seniors but are led in scoring by their freshman S’Mya Nichols at 13.3 pts. 6'-6" senior Taiyanna Jackson will be the best true post we have played. Jackson is scoring 13.1 pts and 9.8 reb. She is at the top of the league in blocks with Prince and Lee in blocks and was unanimous All-Big 12 Defensive Team last year. This will be first time Crooks goes against one these top three. The more I think about the post matchup the more intriguing it seems.

Weather forecast is good, point Das Audi south

 

[ICCYFAN]

Does anybody know what happened to Ioanna Chatzileonti, KU's 6'3 forward from a few years ago? She was on the Big XII all-freshman team, played pretty well her sophomore year then only played a handful of games her Jr. season. Now I see she's on the Pitt roster, but hasn't appeared in a game. Did she incur a devastating injury of some sort she's been unable to return from?

 

[Three4Cy]

Does anybody know what happened to Ioanna Chatzileonti, KU's 6'3 forward from a few years ago? She was on the Big XII all-freshman team, played pretty well her sophomore year then only played a handful of games her Jr. season. Now I see she's on the Pitt roster, but hasn't appeared in a game. Did she incur a devastating injury of some sort she's been unable to return from?

Transferred to Pitt.

Ioanna Chatzileonti - Women's Basketball - Pitt Panthers #H2P

Ioanna Chatzileonti (18) Forward - 2023-24: Redshirt due to injury. 2022-23 (at Kansas): Appeared in 11 games for the Jayhawks, making five starts…Scored in ...

pittsburghpanthers.com

 

[Three4Cy]

Not sure what source you are using for SOS, what was KU's? As BoxterCy said above, KU seems to have played a difficult schedule so far.

KU's non-conference SOS was 89.

Several weak teams bring it down - NW State, UMKC, SE Louisiana, Houston Christian, Wichita State, and Central Arkansas. All of these teams have a NET rating of 141 or lower, and RPIs lower than 175.

 

[Buster28]

See cyclones.com with a minor screw up. ISU is 1-0 conference not 0-0 and KU is 0-1 not 0-0.

Whoever is running the Cyclones.com wbb page is either AWOL, never hired, or simply doesn't give a ****. They have YET to update the records page, or anything else, with anything from last season. I emailed the person listed at the top of the primer page, but got zero response. That stuff always used to update by September. So attention to detail on the web pages doesn't seem to be their strong point this year over at Jacobsen.

 

[Three4Cy]

Whoever is running the Cyclones.com wbb page is either AWOL, never hired, or simply doesn't give a ****. They have YET to update the records page, or anything else, with anything from last season. I emailed the person listed at the top of the primer page, but got zero response. That stuff always used to update by September. So attention to detail on the web pages doesn't seem to be their strong point this year over at Jacobsen.

This new "primer" is a joke, just looks like rinse and repeat for each game with just changing the team and the records.

 

[CycloneRulzzz]

My 2nd in person game. Hopefully goes better than first or I may have to ban myself from rest of the home slate.