I wasn't sure what to expect out of this game. As I previewed KU's schedule I saw very close losses to VTech and UConn. That was concerning. I also knew that they had some ladies that could shoot. But then there was the shellacking at home to WVU on Sunday. Who would show up tonight? We found out early.
The first quarter was about as bad offensively and defensively as we've seen this season from this group. KU came out very high energy and came after us on defense. Add to the mess was their sharpshooting from outside. Our ladies either drew blanks on offense or just plain turned the ball over against the pressure. What KU forced ISU to do was play frenetically. They were forcing things and were completely taken out of their offensive flow. Turnovers put them on their heels and before you knew it the quarter ended with KU up 17-8. Honestly I felt blessed it was only a ten point deficit.
As bad as the first quarter was it was just as bad for KU in the second. While our offense still didn't get rolling, it at least got moving. How? Defense. Our ladies came out on the perimeter shooters of KU and we started to switch much more effectively. All of a sudden it was KU who was choked off on offense as the ladies scratched and clawed their way back into the ball game. But the end of the half this determination had tied the ball game up at 24 each. What were the lynch pins of this change? I'll start with POG #1 - Emily Ryan. The senior came in and immediately provided a calming effect to the team. They slowed down. They stopped turning the ball over. They refound their mojo. The second thing as mentioned was the stifling defense. And last, but far from least, was ball movement. The ladies started to move the ball better on offense and began to find each other for points. The last factor that would weigh throughout the rest of the game was seeing KU's bigs begin to get in foul trouble.
The third quarter was a vision of this team firing on all cylinders. The first few minutes saw some changes/adjustments on defense and offense both. As a part of this there was very snappy ball movement that caused the quick reacting KU players to get caught in over shifts leaving our sharpshooters - mainly Belanger - wide open. And boy, did the sisters make KU pay. Before you could shake a stick at a dog, the ladies had moved out to a double digit lead and appeared to have KU on its heels. I turned to my wife at one point with the lead at 15 and said, "it doesn't feel like we have a 15 point lead." Sadly this was true. No matter what lead ISU had...every time it seemed we were delivering a knock out blow...KU answered back. That is a testament to their fortitude. The third was a 24-13 quarter for the sisters, but it should have been much worse. KU just kept making little pushes. But the ladies led 48-37. They scored as many points in the quarter as they had in the entire first half.
The fourth was a quarter of ups and downs. There were glorious moments and moments of "pull your hair out" frustration. Throughout it all, the crowd was active and behind the sisters. It seemed that the ladies would get on a roll and stretch the lead to 15 or 16 points and then a wheel would fall off the bus. In some cases it was a bad turnover resulting in a KU basket and usually a foul to ice the cake. In another case it was a lazy inbounds pass that resulted in the same thing. ISU would move to a double digit lead and KU would counter with a run of their own. Several times they would whittle the lead down to two possessions - 5 or 6 points and make things VERY interesting. To make matters worse, the ladies misses a ton of free throws that could have made the game a little more comfortable. ISU had its biggest lead of 16 in this quarter, but KU also had its biggest scoring run (10-0) here as well. KU won the quarter 24-21, but finally, the clock ran out on them and the sisters would come away with a hard fought 69-61 victory.
Observations
POG - have to go with age here. Our upperclassmen made this win possible. Belanger was on fire from deep and ended up with 19 points hitting 6 of 10 from deep. Ryan was the calming mentor who helped settle things down every time KU tried to unravel the sisters ball of yarn. Diew stepped in and helped undo the KU pressure, played some solid defense and made some great passes. Having great upperclassmen leadership and experience paid dividends today.
Rebounding - this team is on the cusp of breaking (yes...lots of games to go) the average rebound record for a season. They average nearly 44 per game and had 40 tonight. KU only had 27. Just imagine what a difference that makes when KU typically was one and done. KU put up 13 more shots than ISU and yet the sisters won.
Free Throws - ugh. This is so hard to watch after being spoiled by teams of the past. The days of pulling our players off the sides during free throws are definitely over. The plus side is seeing Audi Crooks making more of hers. But wow, the sisters just struggle at the line. This could very well catch up with them against tougher competition down the road. Hitting only 13 of 22 attempts is ghastly. And it wasn't just one player...outside of Crooks no one shot better than 50%.
Brown - can you ever say it gets boring or expected when a player, day in and day out, has a double-double? That's our Addy Brown. How about 14 points and 13 boards along with something like 4 assists on the day. Wasn't hot from deep, but the one she made was huge. I joked to a neighbor that she was slacking because she didn't have 8 or 9 assists.
AJ - after he stellar outing Sunday she came back to earth a bit tonight. It wasn't a great night shooting, but she didn't find many open looks either. Six points, three assists and three turnovers. One of those turnovers resulted in a KU basket and AJ compounded the mistake by fouling and making it a three point miscue. She's still growing and will learn from these things.
The posts - this was probably the roughest experience that Crooks has had all season. KU's 6'6" post's long reach caused her problems throughout the game. It resulted in turnovers and missed baskets. Game film and coaching will result in growth here. Eleven points, 6 boards and three turnovers. Natabou provided relief and did a pretty good job with her time. Five points and five boards and very good defense. The added bonus was seeing both of the KU posts foul out.
Joens - was limited to ten minutes tonight. Not quite sure why, but we didn't see her impact the game as she usually does. No points or rebounds which is very unusual. She'll be back.
Bristow - had a very pretty offensive board and put back for her only basket, but she continues to do one thing exceptionally well - rebound. She uses her size and quickness to silently pull down boards (8 tonight) and that is so critical to our success.
Assists - I like seeing numbers like this. Seventeen assists on 23 made baskets. That's good court vision. That's good passing. That's team ball.
Turnovers and defensive pressure - The first quarter and half was a mess. I believe at halftime we had 9 turnovers. Most of those were in the 1st quarter alone. Only 3 in the third quarter. But woof...7 in the fourth quarter. In EVERY single case, those directly contributed to KU runs. KU netted 16 points off turnovers in this one. As we've seen in other games, defensive pressure rattles this team. The only steadying factor for us is Emily Ryan. Right now she can't play 36-37 minutes as she has in the past. This is an area where the youngsters have to get better. The coaching staff has to help them with that.
I really feel like this will be another major learning experience for the growing team. As Coach Fennelly said in the post game, this team has shown that every game there is someone that can step up, and does, and take over the game. Last game it was AJ. Tonight it was Belanger. This is a group that goes nine deep of players with significant playing time. How long has it been since we've seen that? Most of all, what we are seeing is every player contributing in some form or fashion to help garner victories. That is a team. There are some lumps still ahead. It appears that Baylor, Texas (even without their star guard) and KState will probably dominate the league. But after that it's going to be a dog fight. There is no reason why the sisters can't be at the top of that heap when the dust settles.
Coming up on Saturday is another road trip to the altitudes of BYU. BYU is 10-5, but stepping into Big 12 play is a bit tougher than their non-con. They've started out 0-2 with double digit losses to TCU (who lost tonight) and OU. Should be an interesting matchup to say the least, but a good opportunity to start league play 3-0. Right now, the sisters are one of five teams that sit at 2-0.
Fun tidbit - looking at the scores from tonights games, there were FOUR games in which teams scored 8 or fewer points in the first quarter (TCU, BYU, Cincy, and ISU). The sisters are the only team to survive and win.
The first quarter was about as bad offensively and defensively as we've seen this season from this group. KU came out very high energy and came after us on defense. Add to the mess was their sharpshooting from outside. Our ladies either drew blanks on offense or just plain turned the ball over against the pressure. What KU forced ISU to do was play frenetically. They were forcing things and were completely taken out of their offensive flow. Turnovers put them on their heels and before you knew it the quarter ended with KU up 17-8. Honestly I felt blessed it was only a ten point deficit.
As bad as the first quarter was it was just as bad for KU in the second. While our offense still didn't get rolling, it at least got moving. How? Defense. Our ladies came out on the perimeter shooters of KU and we started to switch much more effectively. All of a sudden it was KU who was choked off on offense as the ladies scratched and clawed their way back into the ball game. But the end of the half this determination had tied the ball game up at 24 each. What were the lynch pins of this change? I'll start with POG #1 - Emily Ryan. The senior came in and immediately provided a calming effect to the team. They slowed down. They stopped turning the ball over. They refound their mojo. The second thing as mentioned was the stifling defense. And last, but far from least, was ball movement. The ladies started to move the ball better on offense and began to find each other for points. The last factor that would weigh throughout the rest of the game was seeing KU's bigs begin to get in foul trouble.
The third quarter was a vision of this team firing on all cylinders. The first few minutes saw some changes/adjustments on defense and offense both. As a part of this there was very snappy ball movement that caused the quick reacting KU players to get caught in over shifts leaving our sharpshooters - mainly Belanger - wide open. And boy, did the sisters make KU pay. Before you could shake a stick at a dog, the ladies had moved out to a double digit lead and appeared to have KU on its heels. I turned to my wife at one point with the lead at 15 and said, "it doesn't feel like we have a 15 point lead." Sadly this was true. No matter what lead ISU had...every time it seemed we were delivering a knock out blow...KU answered back. That is a testament to their fortitude. The third was a 24-13 quarter for the sisters, but it should have been much worse. KU just kept making little pushes. But the ladies led 48-37. They scored as many points in the quarter as they had in the entire first half.
The fourth was a quarter of ups and downs. There were glorious moments and moments of "pull your hair out" frustration. Throughout it all, the crowd was active and behind the sisters. It seemed that the ladies would get on a roll and stretch the lead to 15 or 16 points and then a wheel would fall off the bus. In some cases it was a bad turnover resulting in a KU basket and usually a foul to ice the cake. In another case it was a lazy inbounds pass that resulted in the same thing. ISU would move to a double digit lead and KU would counter with a run of their own. Several times they would whittle the lead down to two possessions - 5 or 6 points and make things VERY interesting. To make matters worse, the ladies misses a ton of free throws that could have made the game a little more comfortable. ISU had its biggest lead of 16 in this quarter, but KU also had its biggest scoring run (10-0) here as well. KU won the quarter 24-21, but finally, the clock ran out on them and the sisters would come away with a hard fought 69-61 victory.
Observations
POG - have to go with age here. Our upperclassmen made this win possible. Belanger was on fire from deep and ended up with 19 points hitting 6 of 10 from deep. Ryan was the calming mentor who helped settle things down every time KU tried to unravel the sisters ball of yarn. Diew stepped in and helped undo the KU pressure, played some solid defense and made some great passes. Having great upperclassmen leadership and experience paid dividends today.
Rebounding - this team is on the cusp of breaking (yes...lots of games to go) the average rebound record for a season. They average nearly 44 per game and had 40 tonight. KU only had 27. Just imagine what a difference that makes when KU typically was one and done. KU put up 13 more shots than ISU and yet the sisters won.
Free Throws - ugh. This is so hard to watch after being spoiled by teams of the past. The days of pulling our players off the sides during free throws are definitely over. The plus side is seeing Audi Crooks making more of hers. But wow, the sisters just struggle at the line. This could very well catch up with them against tougher competition down the road. Hitting only 13 of 22 attempts is ghastly. And it wasn't just one player...outside of Crooks no one shot better than 50%.
Brown - can you ever say it gets boring or expected when a player, day in and day out, has a double-double? That's our Addy Brown. How about 14 points and 13 boards along with something like 4 assists on the day. Wasn't hot from deep, but the one she made was huge. I joked to a neighbor that she was slacking because she didn't have 8 or 9 assists.
AJ - after he stellar outing Sunday she came back to earth a bit tonight. It wasn't a great night shooting, but she didn't find many open looks either. Six points, three assists and three turnovers. One of those turnovers resulted in a KU basket and AJ compounded the mistake by fouling and making it a three point miscue. She's still growing and will learn from these things.
The posts - this was probably the roughest experience that Crooks has had all season. KU's 6'6" post's long reach caused her problems throughout the game. It resulted in turnovers and missed baskets. Game film and coaching will result in growth here. Eleven points, 6 boards and three turnovers. Natabou provided relief and did a pretty good job with her time. Five points and five boards and very good defense. The added bonus was seeing both of the KU posts foul out.
Joens - was limited to ten minutes tonight. Not quite sure why, but we didn't see her impact the game as she usually does. No points or rebounds which is very unusual. She'll be back.
Bristow - had a very pretty offensive board and put back for her only basket, but she continues to do one thing exceptionally well - rebound. She uses her size and quickness to silently pull down boards (8 tonight) and that is so critical to our success.
Assists - I like seeing numbers like this. Seventeen assists on 23 made baskets. That's good court vision. That's good passing. That's team ball.
Turnovers and defensive pressure - The first quarter and half was a mess. I believe at halftime we had 9 turnovers. Most of those were in the 1st quarter alone. Only 3 in the third quarter. But woof...7 in the fourth quarter. In EVERY single case, those directly contributed to KU runs. KU netted 16 points off turnovers in this one. As we've seen in other games, defensive pressure rattles this team. The only steadying factor for us is Emily Ryan. Right now she can't play 36-37 minutes as she has in the past. This is an area where the youngsters have to get better. The coaching staff has to help them with that.
I really feel like this will be another major learning experience for the growing team. As Coach Fennelly said in the post game, this team has shown that every game there is someone that can step up, and does, and take over the game. Last game it was AJ. Tonight it was Belanger. This is a group that goes nine deep of players with significant playing time. How long has it been since we've seen that? Most of all, what we are seeing is every player contributing in some form or fashion to help garner victories. That is a team. There are some lumps still ahead. It appears that Baylor, Texas (even without their star guard) and KState will probably dominate the league. But after that it's going to be a dog fight. There is no reason why the sisters can't be at the top of that heap when the dust settles.
Coming up on Saturday is another road trip to the altitudes of BYU. BYU is 10-5, but stepping into Big 12 play is a bit tougher than their non-con. They've started out 0-2 with double digit losses to TCU (who lost tonight) and OU. Should be an interesting matchup to say the least, but a good opportunity to start league play 3-0. Right now, the sisters are one of five teams that sit at 2-0.
Fun tidbit - looking at the scores from tonights games, there were FOUR games in which teams scored 8 or fewer points in the first quarter (TCU, BYU, Cincy, and ISU). The sisters are the only team to survive and win.
