Horns travel to OSU for Big 12 opener

[BabHorn]

Nneka ended up with 18 pts & 9 rebs. Kelsey had 12 rebs. Imani had 12 pts & 7 rebs. Brady had 10 pts, including both 3pts that Texas made, I think.

 

[Dr. D]

Sigh. Same old same old. Guards that can't shoot the three when they face a good team. An offense that sputters without Enemkpali on the floor. Turnovers at crucial times. A close battle in the first half, then gradual unraveling in the second. We're better this year, but not better enough. You won't win many games when it's a struggle to score sixty points. We don't have any dependable clutch scoring in the back court. Real scoring talent may arrive in 2014; but its not here yet. Aston is going to have to order Nneka to just stand around on defense in order to stay out of foul trouble. She had a terrific night in only 23 minutes. If she'd played 36, we would have had a chance. Imani showed some signs of life, thank goodness. It's the guard play......very frustrating.

 

[DINO22]

I agree.The inside game, worked well together to score.But the Outside scoring did not show up tonight.

 

[WCBBNUT]

It was about this time last year the "too soon to panic" posts began. Let's hope history repeating doesn't apply.

 

[Seattle4UT]

OSU is #11 and to play them at their home and win is a tall order. Disappointing yes, esp with conference play at hand. Horns will need to learn from this game and press on.

No quotes from Texassports.com which is a farce. Here's a snippet taken from OSU's site:

Texas Head Coach Karen Aston

Opening Statement
"First of all, I thought it was a competitive game, a little bit ugly. It looked like the first game of the Big 12, where both teams were sort of feeling each other out. It was a little bit slower pace than both teams play, and I think that was just trying to figure out possessions and the nerves probably of the first Big 12 game. I thought the significant difference in the game was our quick shooting in the second half. It led to what I would just consider a turnover. Even though our turnovers were down and we did a good job basically taking care of the ball, what I tried to explain to them was that the quick shots might as well have been turnovers. And I thought Tiffany Bias was probably the difference in the game."

On Tiffany Bias
"She knows the answers that point guards are supposed to know. Who to get the ball to at the right time, when to take shots at the right time. She's a playmaker. I think the significant thing with her is she knows how to read defenses and when to take a particular shot. That puts a lot of heat on your defense all the time. She puts pressure on your defense every single possession."

On being outrebounded
"It was significant when Nneka (Enemkpali) got her fourth foul. That was very significant for us because she's such a terrific offensive rebounder, and I really thought we lost all of our offensive rebounding when during that stretch when she was out of the game. Also, we just had to try some combinations that were, to say the least, very inexperienced."

Struggles from beyond the arc
"I think it was an off night. I think we're better than that. We rushed some shots, shot them too quick. I think we're a better shooting team than that. Neither team shot the ball very well. They're a good shooting team. I thought both defenses were good. The biggest differences in the game were the plays Bias made and their timely offensive rebounds. The two there at the end that Donohoe got--when we'd cut it to four or five--she got a loose ball rebound, and then she got the over-the-back call with inside position. Those two possessions were pretty critical."

 

[BabHorn]

Horns made 13-16 FTs. Posts made 10-10. Guards were 3-6. Either they weren't getting fouled on drives or they were not penetrating sufficiently to force a call. Imo, the guards combined need to be getting to the FT line at least 10-15 times a game. We will see how that continues to play out the rest of the season.

 

[WCBBNUT]

Well it was a very close, competitive game so I'll cling to that until Sunday when we meet K State.

 

[hoopsalot]

Well, if we lose to KSU at home, I WILL be discouraged - don't think that is going to happen this year.