Minnesota Game thread
- Thread starter brianhos
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Just got home from the game. Quite a trip - we sat on I-80 for almost four hours yesterday - enjoyed the game. I think Stuckey's defense fueled both ends of the floor for the first half. Bolte keeps impressing with her quick release and accuracy from mid range. I'm troubled by our post play - two points each from Wieben and Anderson. We need a visit from Wilkins - she improved her game with a sense of urgency and desire - can that be taught?
Random unorganized thoughts:
I think the guards could have done a better job of getting the ball in the post, but Anderson has never been a big offensive threat and Wieben was fighting the flu (as posted above). Both posts played good defense (as did the rest of the team). According to the game story, Minnesota was averaging over 75 ppg and ISU held them to 42, and the 26 turnovers was the most forced by ISU in eight years.
This game did look a bit like ISU-Iowa with ISU being the good team this time. ISU often used a box-and-one on Ohm, and it looked like Minnesota didn't know how to handle it. They responded by forcing things, and the ISU defenders did a great job of cutting them off and forcing a LOT of travelling calls.
Lacey really had an off day, but it didn't matter all that much. It looked like she actually played the point for a while.
Stuckey really keyed the defense. I think there was a time when she was the "one" in the box and one, and she was hardly ever more than 6 inches away from her except when she had to fight through screens. She got a good ovation every time she left the game, and she deserved it.
I've seen the team in person three times, and all three times Lacey has missed a significant portion of the first half with two fouls. She needs to stop doing that.
Minnesota never really had much going for them at any point in the game. They went on a "run" at the beginning of the second half, but it was ISU's offense slumping, not Minnesota scoring any better. The fact that ISU went nearly 9 minutes without scoring and still didn't let the Gophers mount a serious threat is a big testament to the defense.
Nisleit quietly picked up another 14 points. You look at her and she doesn't look like a Div I player, but she just keeps doing everything right. We'll miss her next year just as much as the other seniors. She's a great shooter, more athletic than you'd think (which sounds like a backhanded compliment but I really don't mean it that way), and plays very smart.
Minnesota put a lot of pressure on the ISU guards, and they responded very well. Minnesota may not have a defense quite as good as some of the Big 12 teams we'll face, but at least their defensive style was very Big 12 and we got good experience going up against that.
I think it took the Stanford and Iowa games (as well as the beginning of the Drake game) to figure out what this team needs to do to win. As it turns out, the key is aggressive, confusing defense. That's what led to the big run in the Drake game, and that's what led to the win yesterday.
I think the guards could have done a better job of getting the ball in the post, but Anderson has never been a big offensive threat and Wieben was fighting the flu (as posted above). Both posts played good defense (as did the rest of the team). According to the game story, Minnesota was averaging over 75 ppg and ISU held them to 42, and the 26 turnovers was the most forced by ISU in eight years.
This game did look a bit like ISU-Iowa with ISU being the good team this time. ISU often used a box-and-one on Ohm, and it looked like Minnesota didn't know how to handle it. They responded by forcing things, and the ISU defenders did a great job of cutting them off and forcing a LOT of travelling calls.
Lacey really had an off day, but it didn't matter all that much. It looked like she actually played the point for a while.
Stuckey really keyed the defense. I think there was a time when she was the "one" in the box and one, and she was hardly ever more than 6 inches away from her except when she had to fight through screens. She got a good ovation every time she left the game, and she deserved it.
I've seen the team in person three times, and all three times Lacey has missed a significant portion of the first half with two fouls. She needs to stop doing that.
Minnesota never really had much going for them at any point in the game. They went on a "run" at the beginning of the second half, but it was ISU's offense slumping, not Minnesota scoring any better. The fact that ISU went nearly 9 minutes without scoring and still didn't let the Gophers mount a serious threat is a big testament to the defense.
Nisleit quietly picked up another 14 points. You look at her and she doesn't look like a Div I player, but she just keeps doing everything right. We'll miss her next year just as much as the other seniors. She's a great shooter, more athletic than you'd think (which sounds like a backhanded compliment but I really don't mean it that way), and plays very smart.
Minnesota put a lot of pressure on the ISU guards, and they responded very well. Minnesota may not have a defense quite as good as some of the Big 12 teams we'll face, but at least their defensive style was very Big 12 and we got good experience going up against that.
I think it took the Stanford and Iowa games (as well as the beginning of the Drake game) to figure out what this team needs to do to win. As it turns out, the key is aggressive, confusing defense. That's what led to the big run in the Drake game, and that's what led to the win yesterday.
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It is like the light switched on in the middle of the Drake game. I still want to see more scoring out of our posts, but I was very happy to see some dribble-drive mid-range scoring out of Bolte. I think the mid-range and post scoring are the key to opening up our offense. Although we didn't get much scoring out of our posts.
And maybe its because I am biased, but Emily Fox should have at least been warned by the refs for her behavior and mouthing off. Ezell really showed class to run to the bench after that tie-up.
Denae also really impressed me. She played very well and didn't ever get "out of control" on the offensive end. Way to go!
One thing ISU needs to work on in practice is passing over the top of a press. They lost valuable time in the 2nd half to run their offensive sets and I think that is what slowed our offense for those 9 minutes.
- Mar 23, 2006
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I was WAY impressed with how well she's moving without the ball. For those who've seen stephen curry play, it's the same type of thing. In constant motion, making her defender work. And even if it's not getting her the ball, it's creating motion and switches that are opening up parts of the court.
Defensively she got matched up with a girl who was probably 5 inches taller and 60 lbs heavier than her, and she held her own when she had to. And she stuffed that one girl for a jump ball, and it was sweet.
Apparently you missed the play where Denae ran the break and tried to throw a cross-court pass to Bolte on the left wing. You should have seen Bill's reaction to that pass.
BTW...Denae came out of the game after that.
I read about that illness since my post and I apologize. :sad:We didn't need offense from the posts this game - and, notwithstanding the illness, their defense frustrated the inside game of the gophers.