Texas at Ames Saturday

BabHorn

BabHorn

10,000+ Posts
Texas (17-9, 8-6) travels to Ames seeking an elusive Big 12 road win. Iowa State (17-8, 6-8) is seeking to even this season’s series after a 71-64 loss in Austin 12 days ago. Iowa State currently leads the series 14-11 after losing the first game in the series this season after winning three in a row. Both teams are coming off road loses. Texas losing at OU 64-63 while ISU got blasted in Waco by Baylor 89-51. Texas has lost two in a row while ISU is looking to stop their losing streak at one. Texas is 2-5 in road Big 12 games while ISU is 3-4 at home.

Horns have three players above or just below double figure scoring averages in league play: Nneka (11.9 ppg), Imani (10.3 ppg) and Chassidy (9.5 ppg). Brady adds 8.3 ppg while Empress is averaging 6.7 ppg coming off the bench. Nneka (59-120 ; 49.2%), Imani (60-114; 52.6%), Brady (37-100; 37.0%), Empress (35-95; 36.8%) and Chassidy (34-93; 36.6%) have combined to take 522 of Texas’ 799 FGs attempted (65.3%). Two freshman, Kelsey (34-62l 54.8%) and Nekia (29-53; 54.7%) lead the Horns in FG %. Brady (17-48; 35.4%), Chassidy (13-39; 33.3%), Empress (5-26; 19.2%), Nekia (8-16; 50.0%), Celina (7-23; 30.4%), Krystal (7-20; 35.0%) and Gigi (8-19; 42.1%) all average more than one 3pt attempt per game. Brady (25-28; 89.3%), Kelsey (9-11; 81.8%) and Brianna (8-10; 80.0%) have made at least 80% of their FTs. Nneka (49-72; 68.1%) leads the team in FTs made and attempted with Brady second in those categories.

Nneka continues to lead Texas and the league in rebounding with an average of 9.6 rpg in league play. Imani ranks second with an average of 6.0 rpg. Kelsey and Empress add 4.5 and 4.0 rpg, respectively. Texas has six players that have reached double digit assists in league play. Celina leads with 55 while Brady (38) and Empress (32) have exceeded 30 assists. Imani leads with 33 blocks while Kelsey has 14 and Nneka 12. That trio make Texas the only school with three players ranked in the top 13 in blocks. Texas has 84 steals in league play with players accounting for 41 of those steals: Celina (16), Brady (14) and Nneka (11).

Brady and Celina have started 14 of 14 league games while Nneka has started 13 of 14. Six other Horns have started at least one game with Chassidy joining Brady, Celina and Nneka in the starting lineup the last eight games. Imani and Kelsey have taken turns starting in the fifth spot with Imani earning the start in the last game. Coach Aston has used a rotation of 11 players in most games. All 14 players have seen action in at least two league games. Brady leads with an average of 30.0 mpg while Nneka, Chassidy, Empress and Celina all average between 27 and 23 mpg. Four others average over 10 mpg while two others are just under 10 mpg.

ISU has four players averages double figures in scoring. Hallie Christofferson (# 5,. 6-3 Sr. F) has an average of 16.4 ppg. Nikki Moody (# 4, 5-8 Jr. G) adds 13.3 ppg. Jadda Buckley (# 11, 5.8 Fr. G) scores at a 10.3 ppg clip while Seanna Johnson (# 12, 5-10 Fr. G) averages 10.1 ppg. Buckley is the top shooter for ISU by percentage, making 45.3% of her FG attempts. Christofferson (72-79, 91.1%) and Buckley (44-49, 89.8%) top ISU in FT shooting percentage. As a team, the Cyclones top the league with a team average of 81.1% on FTs. ISU with 371 3pters and KSU with 313 are the only two league teams to have attempted more than 257 treys. Buckley has made 14 of 42 (33.3%) from BTA for ISU. Nicole “Kidd” Blaskowsky (# 15, 5-7 Soph. G) has hit 31.3% (25-80) from BTA. Those two along with Brynn Williamson (# 22, 5-11 Jr. G/F) and Moody are the main 3pt threats for ISU. Christofferson also has the range to hit the 3.

Johnson is ISU’s top rebounder at 8.2 rpg. Christofferson adds 6.9 rpg. Moody contributes 5.1 rpg. Moody is ISU top assist person with 65 assists while Buckley has 43 assists. Christofferson leads the team with 21 blocks while Williamson has 10.

Christofferson and Moody average 33.7 and 33.6 mpg, respectively. Christofferson, Williamson and Johnson have started all 14 league games. Moody and Buckley have started 13 of 14 games with Blaskowsky starting the one game that each of those two did not. Fallon Ellis (# 32, 5-11 Jr. G/F) has played in all 14 league games. Those seven form the main rotation with two others having seen action in at least 7 league games.Projected starting lineups:
Texas
#2, Celina Rodrigo, 5-8 Soph. G
#3, Nneka Enemkpali, 6-1 Jr. F
#24, Chassidy Fussell, 5-10 Sr. G
#32, Brady Sanders, 5-11 Soph. G
#34, Imani McGee-Stafford, 6-7 Soph. C

ISU
#4, Nikki Moody, 5-8 Jr. G
#5, Hallie Christofferson, 6-3 Sr. F
#11, Jadda Buckley, 5-8 Fr. G
#12, Seanna Johnson, 5-10 Fr. G
#22, Brynn Williamson, 5-11 Jr. G/F

Texas will once again look to protect the 3pt line against ISU, who has taken more 3s than any other Big 12 team. They average 26 3s a game. They took 37 in the first game. The Cyclones average 29.9% from BTA and only connected on 29.7% in game one. But quantity made up for the lack of quality shooting. Every player except for little used reserve Tanisha Matlock (# 21, 6-2 Sr. F) took at least 2 threes. Horns pulled out the game by countering ISU’s 3pt bombing with a 20 pt advantage in scoring in the paint. Texas should once again look to establish their presence in the paint in scoring and rebounding while playing defense on the 3pt line. ISU will get off 3s, but getting a hand in their face will help in making it tough for the Cyclones to get a clear look. Texas will need that big advantage in rebounding if they continue to have trouble shooting the ball on the road.

Both teams need a win to solidify their NCAA invitations but ISU may be in a more desperate situation than Texas. Add a big crowd plus playing at home and ISU may have the recipe to pin a loss on Texas. Texas will need to defend without pulling the league’s best FT shooting team on the FT line and will need to get ball movement to get open shots. Texas is capable of pulling out the win in Ames but getting that third Big 12 road win will not be easy.

The game will be Saturday evening at 7 p.m. at the Hilton Coliseum in Ames. It will be on Cyclones.tv. See the cyclones.com game preview link for instructions on signing up for the online video. KVET 1300 AM will carry the radio broadcast.

Cantu looks at Texas’ chances to get back into the NCAA playoffs

texassports.com game preview

cyclones.com game preview
 
Game Time! Let's go Horns!
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I didn't see the game. When I saw the final score, I figured Texas must have been blown out and played awful. Then I looked at the box score. We out shot and out rebounded Iowa St. and hit five more shots than they did. Then I looked at free throws. Iowa St. 30-35 from the free throw line. Texas 4-9. I don't believe I've ever seen a box score like that. What the heck happened? Was it horrific officiating? Did we attack the Iowa St. players with knives? I mean, I've never seen anything like this before---a team leads in most of the significant statistical categories...and gets blown out at the free throw line. Did we fall behind and deliberately foul 20 times in a row in the last few minutes? Iowa St. scored 58 points in the second half. What happened???
 
Ugh worst time to be on a losing streak towards the end of the season. Get back up ladies and keep fighting forward.

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BS. At this stage of the season we should know how to win without fouling. I would like to blame it on the Officials but we've had enough games now to know the common denominator is us and not them. Pathetic. I agree. The experiment is NOT working.
 
No, I'm not blaming it on the refs at all, I'm just saying I've never seen a stat line of 35 free throws for one team and 9 for the other. We foul too much, for sure, and that needs to change.
 
It's not an experiment. It's a rebuilding process with all the ups and downs that go with that. This was a painful unnecessary loss, but it doesn't define the whole season.

We need to foul less and turnover less and make more free throws. That's been the same all year. We need to develop a killer instinct and learn to win on the road; the Big 12 and NCAA games are road games after all.

That said, we've turned it around more this year than expected. We have a good chance of winning out which would get us to a 20 win season...something I doubt many on this board would have expected. It takes years for a coach to have all the players be her recruits, and that matters. I expect to see improvement every year while Karen builds her program and brings in her recruits, and I expect some frustrating losses along the way.
 
in reply to: At this stage of the season we should know how to win without fouling. I would like to blame it on the Officials but we've had enough games now to know the common denominator is us and not them. Pathetic. I agree. The experiment is NOT working.

According to season stats, on average Texas opponents only take 1.5 more free throws a game than we do. That's not significant. 35-9 is significant. This game really was a weird outlier. Maybe it was all our fault, but If we fouled a tremendous amount against Iowa St., then there was a reason for it unique to this game. It wasn't the continuation of any kind of a pattern. Actual thinking about these things is more interesting than ritualistic bad mouthing.
 
I turned on the radio broadcast, and I believe the score was ISU 53-51 with about 5 minutes left to play. ISU then went on a 10-0 run. I turned it off after that.

Need to re-group and get some positive momentum to end the regular season.
 
The experiment is Texas, the richest athletic program in the country, saving money by hiring a coach with minimal college success and just hoping it works out. Could it? Maybe. Could there have been a quicker way to get back to being an elite program? Absolutely. Another game with never-ending fouls, just like the Baylor game. Still think it's the officiating?
 
I didn't see the game or listen to it, but reading about this foul situation -- this is ridiculous. I would expect Texas to always foul more than Iowa State. They don't try to play pressure defense the way we do. Don't they play a lot of zone? And I believe they drive to the basket a lot and are skilled at drawing fouls. But, in my opinion, Texas coaches (JC, too) have always taught pressure man-to-man without enough regard for being smart about fouls. Sort of a go-for-it philosophy and just hope the fouls don't get too bad. But they do-- too much reaching, grabbing, slapping, too much body on block attempts. Sometimes it's better to just accept that someone is going to get a shot off than to make a desperate attempt to stop it. A good many of their shots won't go in anyway, so play the odds. We've lost a lot of games at the foul line over the years. I remember one of our regional games against Louisiana Tech in the 1980's in which we were great, but were called for about 25 fouls and they had something like 8. They won, of course.
 
Experiment, huh? Um, nice try, but I think the word you're looking for is 'turnaround.' At this point last season the Horns were 11-17, and 4-12 (9th) in conference. We're currently 18-10, and 9-7 (4th) in the league standings. And if we handle TT, we'll face OSU in our final regular season contest for a share of 3rd in the Big 12 race (and the #3 seed in the conference tourney).
 
It is a ridiculously stupid argument to call Aston an experiment because she didn't have the years to command a 7 figure salary. We tried throwing money at the problem and that was a disaster. You need a coach that can recruit players to Texas and so far saying Aston is not getting the job done there means you aren't paying attention.
 
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