Texas at Rice

BabHorn

BabHorn

10,000+ Posts
Texas (2-0) and Rice (0-2) picked up their series last year after it lay dormant since February 02. 1996, a stretch of 18 years. Horns have won 33 of the 34 games, including the last three. Rice’s only win in the series was on March, 04, 1995, 67-47, on their home court.

The Owls have only one player averaging in double digits: Shani Rainey (# 20, 5-10 Soph. G) who averages an even 10 ppg. Next up is Jasmine Goodwine (# 33, 6-1 Jr. F) at 9.0 ppg. The third leading scorer is Wendy Knight (# 10, 5-9 Soph. G) who brings a 7.0 ppg average to the UT game. Rainey (9-20, 45%) and Knight (5-11, 45.5%) have the top shooting percentages of players that have taken at least 8 shots. From BTA, Rice depends on Knight (4-6, 66.7%), Gabrielle Stanton (# 21, 5-7 Fr. G; 3-7, 42.9%) and Maya Hawkins (# 3, 5-6 Jr. G; 2-9, 22.2%) as the primary shooters. Rice is having even more trouble than Texas from the FT line, as they are making only 52.2% from the charity line. Only three players have gotten to the FT line: Goodwine (6-6, 100%), Rainey (2-9, 22.2%) and Lexie Ducat (# 11, 6-1 Fr. F).

Ducat, Rainey and Goodwine all average 4.5 rpg. Lauren Grigsby (# 5, 5-10 Fr. G) adds 3.0 rpg. Hawkins (7 assists) and Grigsby (5 assists) are the distributors for the Owls. Adaeze Obinnah (# 44, 6-1 Jr. F) has the only two blocks the team has. Rice is averaging 6.5 steals a game, including 7 against then 17/18 Kentucky. Rainey with four leads the Owls in steals.

Hawkins, Rainey, Goodwine, Obinnah and Megan Palmer (# 40, 6-1 Sr. F) have started both games for Rice. 12 of the 13 active players on the roster have played with Elena Gumbs (# 24, 5-5 Sr. G) seeing action in only one game. Goodwine (30 mpg) and Rainey (28 mpg) average the most mpg. Seven others average double digit mpg.

This will be a reunion of sorts for some players on both sides. Nicole Iademarco (# 22, 6-1 RS Fr.) a transfer from Arizona State, attended the same school as Kelsey—The Woodlands, TX. Jazz Taylor (#13, 5-8 Fr. G) is from the same high school as Ariel, Tasia and Empress.

Sydney Colson, A&M exe who was a thorn in the side of the Horns during her playing years at A&M, is now an assistant coach for the Owls.

Brooke (18.5 ppg) and Imani (18.0 ppg) provide a strong outside-inside punch for the Horns. Kelsey (10.0 ppg) provides double digit support. Imain leads Texas with a FG% of 71.4% (15-21). Hard to believe that only ranks fourth in the league. Kelsey’s 60% (9-15) ranks second on the team. Brooke is the top 3pt threat for the Horns at 58.3% (7-12) while Celina is second at 44.4% (4-9). A team FT percentage of 62.7%, although it ranks fourth in the league, indicates that there is work to be done in that area. Still, there are some solid shooters from FT line, including Brady (4-4, 100%), Empress (7-8, 87.5%) and Celina (5-6, 83.3%).

Imani (12.0 rpg) is having a great start to the season with two double doubles. Kelsey is second in rebounding with a 7.0 rpg average. Empress leads the team with an average of 5 assists per game. Imani and Kelsey average two blocks a game with Sara pitching with one block per game. LaShann is tied for second in the league in steals with a team leading 3.5 spg. Brooke is just behind with 3.0 spg. Imani contributes 2 steals a game.

Projected starting lineup based on the last game played:

Texas........................... Rice
Imani(6-7)......................Hawkins (5-6)
Kelsey (6-5)....................Grigsby (5-10)
Empress (5-9).................Rainey (5-10)
Brooke (5-4)..................Goodwine (6-1)
Celina (5-8)...................Obinnah (6-1)

For the third game in a row, the Horns will enjoy a significant advantage inside. While Rice has taller players than the two first teams faced by Texas, their height still runs primary to 6-1 players versus the Horns’ inside presence of 6-7, 6-5, 6-4, 6-3, and 6-1. With teams favoring playing the Texas posts with a collapsing defense, the Texas guards need to make their outside shots. So far, they have done so. Rice, however, allows opponents to hit 45.7% from BTA. That should have Brooke, Celina and Tasia, among others, salivating to see if they can hit those potential open 3s. Meanwhile, the Horns will seek to clamp down on Knight and Stanton from BTA.

Team Stats...............................Texas...........Rice
Scoring........................................76.................94
PPG.............................................88.0..............47.0
Scoring Margin............................+45.0.............-19.0
FGs Made-Att..............................64-141...........36-105
FG Ave/Game Made-Att...............32-70.5..........18-52.5
FG%..........................................45.4...............34.3
2pt Made-Att..............................48-96.............26-69
2pt FGs Ave/Game Made-Att.......24-48.............13-34.5
2pt FG%...................................50.0................37.7
3p FGs Made-Att.......................16-45..............10-36
3pt Ave/Game Made-Att............8-22.5.............5-18
3pt FG%..................................35.6................27.8
FTs Made-Att...........................32-51..............12-23
FT Ave/Game Made-Att............16-25.5............6-11.5
FT %......................................62.7.................52.2
Rebounds...............................104..................62
RPG.......................................52.0.................31.0
Reb Margin............................+25.5...............-4.5
Assists...................................26....................23
APG......................................13.0..................11.5
Turnovers.............................20.....................41
TOPG...................................10.0...................20.5
TO Margin............................+12.0................-3.0
A/TO Ratio...........................1.3....................0.6
Steals..................................26.....................13
SPG....................................13.0...................6.5
Blocks.................................11.....................2
BPG....................................5.5....................1.0
Winning Streak...................2........................-0-
Home Win Streak...............2........................-0-
Home Attendance..............10178.................-0-
Attendance Ave/Game ......2-5089................-0-

Score by quarters (ave).....1st........2nd........3rd........4th........Total
Texas (2-0)...........................24.0.......22.5........23.5........18.0........88.0
Rice (0-2).............................5.5.........16.5........10.0........15.0........47.0


The one area where the Horns need to shore up is FT shooting. While some players are doing excellent, for example Brady, Empress and Celina, overall the team is only hitting 62.7%. That will need to come up. However, in Rice, the Horns will be facing a team that is struggling even more from the FT line. Not only are the Owls having trouble getting to the FT line (11.5 attempts per game), they are only hitting 52.2% from there. Horns have dominated on the boards (plus 25.5 reb margin) and should as well in this game. The Horns’ defensive pressure should allow Texas to benefit from fast break points as three Horns (LaShann, Brooke and Imani) are averaging multiple steals a game.

Both the Rice and Texassports pregame stories have a link to the video feed. I am not sure if you have to pay or not. Guess I will find out Saturday.

Rice pregame story: http://www.riceowls.com/sports/w-baskbl/spec-rel/112015aaa.html

Texassports.com pregame story: http://www.texassports.com/news/2015/11/20/WBB_1120151041.aspx

AAS game preview: http://www.hookem.com/2015/11/20/womens-preview-ut-vs-rice/

Daily Texas game preview: http://www.dailytexanonline.com/2015/11/20/texas-hits-the-road-in-hopes-for-3-0-start

Game time is 2PM CST. Live video from Rice is available. 104.9 The Horn will carry the radio broadcast.
 
Looks like we will go into the half with the lead. But we do need to put the clamps on Rainey who has 17 pts. Sounds like they are playing a zone and we are having trouble with it. We are getting outrebounded but are making up with forcing TOs.

Really need to get our posts involved.
 
ND 34 South Dakota State 31 at the half.
Wish I could listen in on the halftime talk at our game and at ND's. Bet there are some interesting things being said.
 
We did do much better defensively in the second quarter, holding Rice to 8 pts after they scored 20 in the first. Meanwhile, we scored 18 in the second, up from 14 in the first. I am looking for the same type of D from the Horns the rest of the game that they played in the second quarter.
 
Finally found the broadcast. Sounded like we were just jacking up shots too quickly in the shot clock. Need to have some patience and run plays.
 
okay, nice D. :bow: Held Rice to two points while scoring 14. Horns now up 16. Need to finish strong. Quite a foul fest as mentioned earlier by justabbfan.
 
70-47 win. Really a tough road win, though. We shut down Rainey in the second half. Bri really came through scoring for the Horns. Really happy that the team did not panic but kept on scraping. Quarters two and three were really great defensively for Texas as they held Rice to single digits in those quarters.
3-0 to start the season. :hookem:
 
I thought "The Horn" 104.9, was supposed to carry the game, but it was carrying a football game when I tuned in. So heard nothing. Was it on somewhere else?
 
It was on 105.3. The station that has the contract now has multiple channels so I guess if there is a conflict on one channel, the event may be on another. I was in my car so I just used the radio scan feature until I heard the game.
 
Glad to get the win. Didn't to listen to the game.

Maybe I'm spoiled, but I have come to expect our inside players to make a difference. 9 points between Imani, Kelsey, and Sara is just embarrassing; I'm assuming Rice doesn't have one player that could match their size and skill. Stats say Aborowa didn't play; she barely got one minute at the end of the last game. So, our traditional post players were basically absent today.
 
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My overall impression is this was an unsatisfactory 23-point win. But I understand at this level you're glad to walk out of the gym with a W and no serious injuries (though Rodrigo was on the floor for a long time before popping back up).

It was also an extremely physical game with bodies flying and diving on the floor. I applaud Rice for competing throughout the game. They came out and competed. If Rice continues to play like that, they should contend for C-USA Conference title.

In the end it comes down to decision making. Texas was and will be bigger, stronger, and more athletic than most of their opponents. But sometimes our players let frustration get to them when things don't go well. All the offensive fouls called against Texas (and Rice) were justified by the officials, who did a good job. Our players, especially our posts, continued to dipped their shoulders or throw their shoulders into their defenders, thus, displacing them and called for the offensive foul and a turnover.

Moreover, I'm seeing many of the same issues from last year re-appear when defenses go zone on Texas. The perimeter players are hesitant to throw it into the low post and high post, partly because Rice would collapse quickly, but also when the passing window is there, the perimeter players were hesitant for fear of turning the ball over. The three point shooting was inconsistent in this game to help open the area for the posts to go to work.

A win's a win. Go back to work on the problems the team struggled with and prepare for Tennessee. Hook'em.
 
Even though the post players didn't play well, it was good to see the young guards and players step up. It's all about perimeter shooting when a smaller team plays a zone. You can't throw the ball in the post against a zone if you cant shoot from the perimeter.
 
We didn't look real sharp today... I'm not sure if there were 20 combined possessions in this game where a whistle wasn't blown. There was a lot of fouling, true enough, but the refs were whistle-happy (both ways) also. While it's very disappointing that we didn't get our post play going against a team that we should've pounded to death inside, I understand that sometimes it just happens that way -- especially on the road. That said, I think there are some very key positive points to take away from this game. This first and biggest one IMO is that Higgs and Hosey are gradually getting more and more comfortable. A lot of our success this year will depend on them being regular and consistent contributors. Of course another bright spot was the play of B. Taylor -- she stepped up for us at times when things were looking really ragged. I was glad to see her have a good game, as I really like her energy and hustle. I know Hattis didn't have stats that jump off the page, but I saw her do a few really good things today. Good to know there's another capable post player in the mix. I'm sure hoping Higgs and Hosey continue to find their way with each game, and hope Ariel gets back in action soon too. BTW... I am loving the season that Brooke McCarty is having so far but I must say, while there have been some nay sayers where she's concerned, I'm not surprised one bit that she has come on in her sophomore season as she has. In fact, I expected it. Keep it up, Brooke!
 
brnkj said:
I am loving the season that Brooke McCarty is having so far but I must say, while there have been some nay sayers where she's concerned, I'm not surprised one bit that she has come on in her sophomore season as she has. In fact, I expected it. Keep it up, Brooke!
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She has all the physical and mental attributes you want in a PG except a couple or three more inches. But she makes up for that with heart and desire. I expect her to be our starting PG the rest of the time she is here.
 
BabHorn said:
She has all the physical and mental attributes you want in a PG except a couple or three more inches. But she makes up for that with heart and desire. I expect her to be our starting PG the rest of the time she is here.
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Brooke is obviously a good player. But when they play bigger and better teams at the guard position it will be a problem. In my opinion if Alecia was allowed to play last year at the college level, just on talent alone she would've been the starting PG at Texas.
 
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