We all know when you go to Austin the longhorns will be in your face all game long. It's the way Vic Schaeffer coaches. We also know that the Sisters don't usually handle that very well. UT has been up and down all season and currently is outside the Top 25. So what would we see today? More of the same unfortunately.
The first quarter was a mess of mass proportions. Not only are they messing with the flow of our game with their pressure, but we gave up SIX offensive boards which resulted in points and had FIVE turnovers. That's ridiculous by any standard. Add to that...we missed multiple bunnies. Perhaps feeling the pressure of what was happening and rushing? I don't know...but it wasn't pretty. UT was in control of the entire quarter on both ends.
Joens created a new rebounding record with her first of the game. Passed the great Angie Welle (who of course did it in one less season).
UT was playing aggressive on defense all the way. Our sisters just looked tentative for much of the quarter. By the end UT had a nice 23-15 lead.
The second quarter started with Kane missing a wide open layup. Ryan would hit a rare trey. As an example of just how this game went all day for the sisters, Joens would follow with an air ball trey attempt. The sisters started to get a little feisty and were led by two straight steals by Ryan. Unfortunately at the other end they just couldn't score. But the defense started to pick up and kept things interesting. Joens would score and UT hasn’t scored in over three minutes as the Sisters edged closer at 25-21. Following a free throw, Ryan drove and it’s 26-23.
Unfortunately, another offensive board led to a UT score. At this point it's TEN second chance points for UT. Still, it was a one possession game, but then we turn it over three times and miss shots. It allowed UT to pull away again…32-23. Donarski ends a 2 min drought (this would be a theme on the day) with a trey (one of only two made baskets on the day for her).
We did some good things such as Ryan driving, scoring and getting the harm. The free throw made it a one point game 32-31. But the opposite was true as well as Ashley drew a foul and then we promptly turn it over on the inbounds play. A defensive breakdown followed and UT hit a WIDE open trey. Mistakes kill. This was the story of the night. One step forward, one or two steps backwards.
After another missed bunny by Zingaro, UT had the ball last, but solid defense stops them. At the half it was UT 35-31.
The third quarter would start with sloppy passes on offense. Turnovers ratcheted up up to 11. Joens finally stemmed the bleeding with a trey. UT is eating us up inside as our posts just aren't mobile enough to move with them. On the other end, Zingaro was way to slow going up with ball after a nice feed. She had a wide open shot and it was like watching molasses move. Got blocked.
As we've heard already, ISU is going empty too many possessions between scores. And like the rest of the game, Zingaro makes a STRONG move to tie the game at 42. Good and bad. Ying and Yang. That's the game in a nutshell. The ladies gave up TWO offensive boards on one possession leading to another score. Way too much of this all day. Despite all of our miscues, it was only 46-42 UT with 4 min left.
It's been interesting watching Izzi get her first extended minutes of her ISU career. She's a mixed bag so far. Not strong enough physically. She’s battling though. She made some good baskets with strong moves and missed some bunnies.
Offense keeps missing…four straight possessions with no points. Five possessions after another charge. Three minute plus drought. Six empty possessions.
Zingaro ends the drought with a strong move for two. UT leads 47-42 after three. As messy as this game has been it's a minor miracle it's this close.
The fourth starts with a steal by Zingaro and a dish by Ashley to Zingaro for two. That was pretty! But the wheels start to wobble as UT scores, Ryan fumbles it away for another easy two and the lead is 7. Izzi get's blocked again.
For the next several minutes...heck I'll be blunt...for most of the fourth quarter we are on a scoring drought. Early we had straight empties including turnovers. Our offense AND defense have disappeared. 58-49 UT.
Here's the way it went...
Another three plus min scoring drought
Another Ryan fumble for a turnover. So far 17 turnovers for 19 points.
Game getting away from us. 61-49
Ashley double pumps unnecessarily and gets the ball stolen…
Over four min without a score.
We have a wide open full court break for Lexi and over throw it. Another turnover.
And another turnover by Ryan and she fouls on top of it.
Over SIX minutes without a basket before Joens got a board and scores. UT answers right back and lead by 16.
Another miss.
Get the idea of how the fourth went? No scoring. No defense. Lots of turnovers. A complete melt down. It was a 16-2 UT run. We have one basket in over 7 minutes.
UT wins going away...68-53.
Observations?
What went wrong?
Turnovers - 20
Being dominated in the paint and I mean on both ends
A complete lack of offense of any kind in the fourth
Giving up 10 offensive boards
POG - Joens. 21 points and 6 boards. Not enough of her in the late part of the game.
Ryan - she was a turnover machine. Way to much dribbling and not distributing. EIGHT turnovers. That has to be a record for her.
Donarski - couldn’t make a shot much of the day. 7 points on 2-12 shooting.
Kane/Zingaro - a mixed bag. No defense. Offense had some “oh that was great!" and some "that sucked” moments. 8 points and 4 boards (all by Izzi).
Fritz - like the rest of the guard court had too many turnovers (4) and not enough offense (8j.
Diew - ZERO points and one rebound. She looked lost at times.
The bench.
M&M - not much here. Didn’t take a shot. One board.
Free throws- even this was below average hitting 7-11.
So what did we see? A team that was intimidated out of their game by Texas. After three close quarters the ladies fell completely apart in the fourth. Going 7 plus minutes with only one basket (and in many cases not even getting a shot off) will lose you a lot of games. The defense we saw the last game was MIA much of the second half. The ladies battled to keep it close through three quarters but the extended scoring droughts of 2-3 min at a time throughout the game kept digging holes that the ladies finally couldn’t overcome. Essentially, physical play took them out of their comfort zone. Our posts continue to struggle with Zingaro being the only one with a few bright spots. Time to flush this one down the toilet like so many other visits to Austin. Go home and defend home court.
The first quarter was a mess of mass proportions. Not only are they messing with the flow of our game with their pressure, but we gave up SIX offensive boards which resulted in points and had FIVE turnovers. That's ridiculous by any standard. Add to that...we missed multiple bunnies. Perhaps feeling the pressure of what was happening and rushing? I don't know...but it wasn't pretty. UT was in control of the entire quarter on both ends.
Joens created a new rebounding record with her first of the game. Passed the great Angie Welle (who of course did it in one less season).
UT was playing aggressive on defense all the way. Our sisters just looked tentative for much of the quarter. By the end UT had a nice 23-15 lead.
The second quarter started with Kane missing a wide open layup. Ryan would hit a rare trey. As an example of just how this game went all day for the sisters, Joens would follow with an air ball trey attempt. The sisters started to get a little feisty and were led by two straight steals by Ryan. Unfortunately at the other end they just couldn't score. But the defense started to pick up and kept things interesting. Joens would score and UT hasn’t scored in over three minutes as the Sisters edged closer at 25-21. Following a free throw, Ryan drove and it’s 26-23.
Unfortunately, another offensive board led to a UT score. At this point it's TEN second chance points for UT. Still, it was a one possession game, but then we turn it over three times and miss shots. It allowed UT to pull away again…32-23. Donarski ends a 2 min drought (this would be a theme on the day) with a trey (one of only two made baskets on the day for her).
We did some good things such as Ryan driving, scoring and getting the harm. The free throw made it a one point game 32-31. But the opposite was true as well as Ashley drew a foul and then we promptly turn it over on the inbounds play. A defensive breakdown followed and UT hit a WIDE open trey. Mistakes kill. This was the story of the night. One step forward, one or two steps backwards.
After another missed bunny by Zingaro, UT had the ball last, but solid defense stops them. At the half it was UT 35-31.
The third quarter would start with sloppy passes on offense. Turnovers ratcheted up up to 11. Joens finally stemmed the bleeding with a trey. UT is eating us up inside as our posts just aren't mobile enough to move with them. On the other end, Zingaro was way to slow going up with ball after a nice feed. She had a wide open shot and it was like watching molasses move. Got blocked.
As we've heard already, ISU is going empty too many possessions between scores. And like the rest of the game, Zingaro makes a STRONG move to tie the game at 42. Good and bad. Ying and Yang. That's the game in a nutshell. The ladies gave up TWO offensive boards on one possession leading to another score. Way too much of this all day. Despite all of our miscues, it was only 46-42 UT with 4 min left.
It's been interesting watching Izzi get her first extended minutes of her ISU career. She's a mixed bag so far. Not strong enough physically. She’s battling though. She made some good baskets with strong moves and missed some bunnies.
Offense keeps missing…four straight possessions with no points. Five possessions after another charge. Three minute plus drought. Six empty possessions.
Zingaro ends the drought with a strong move for two. UT leads 47-42 after three. As messy as this game has been it's a minor miracle it's this close.
The fourth starts with a steal by Zingaro and a dish by Ashley to Zingaro for two. That was pretty! But the wheels start to wobble as UT scores, Ryan fumbles it away for another easy two and the lead is 7. Izzi get's blocked again.
For the next several minutes...heck I'll be blunt...for most of the fourth quarter we are on a scoring drought. Early we had straight empties including turnovers. Our offense AND defense have disappeared. 58-49 UT.
Here's the way it went...
Another three plus min scoring drought
Another Ryan fumble for a turnover. So far 17 turnovers for 19 points.
Game getting away from us. 61-49
Ashley double pumps unnecessarily and gets the ball stolen…
Over four min without a score.
We have a wide open full court break for Lexi and over throw it. Another turnover.
And another turnover by Ryan and she fouls on top of it.
Over SIX minutes without a basket before Joens got a board and scores. UT answers right back and lead by 16.
Another miss.
Get the idea of how the fourth went? No scoring. No defense. Lots of turnovers. A complete melt down. It was a 16-2 UT run. We have one basket in over 7 minutes.
UT wins going away...68-53.
Observations?
What went wrong?
Turnovers - 20
Being dominated in the paint and I mean on both ends
A complete lack of offense of any kind in the fourth
Giving up 10 offensive boards
POG - Joens. 21 points and 6 boards. Not enough of her in the late part of the game.
Ryan - she was a turnover machine. Way to much dribbling and not distributing. EIGHT turnovers. That has to be a record for her.
Donarski - couldn’t make a shot much of the day. 7 points on 2-12 shooting.
Kane/Zingaro - a mixed bag. No defense. Offense had some “oh that was great!" and some "that sucked” moments. 8 points and 4 boards (all by Izzi).
Fritz - like the rest of the guard court had too many turnovers (4) and not enough offense (8j.
Diew - ZERO points and one rebound. She looked lost at times.
The bench.
M&M - not much here. Didn’t take a shot. One board.
Free throws- even this was below average hitting 7-11.
So what did we see? A team that was intimidated out of their game by Texas. After three close quarters the ladies fell completely apart in the fourth. Going 7 plus minutes with only one basket (and in many cases not even getting a shot off) will lose you a lot of games. The defense we saw the last game was MIA much of the second half. The ladies battled to keep it close through three quarters but the extended scoring droughts of 2-3 min at a time throughout the game kept digging holes that the ladies finally couldn’t overcome. Essentially, physical play took them out of their comfort zone. Our posts continue to struggle with Zingaro being the only one with a few bright spots. Time to flush this one down the toilet like so many other visits to Austin. Go home and defend home court.
