BabHorn
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Texas (11-0) will be seeking to match their second longest win streak over Kansas (9-4) when the team kick off Big 12 conference play Sunday. Texas will look for the fourth straight win in the series while also staying perfect at home this season. Horns will seeking their 12th win of the season while Kansas looks for their second win in a row. Unfortunately for the Jayhawks, they will be facing a Texas team that is 8-0 at home while Kansas has yet to win a road game. Texas has an 17-10 edge in the series which started in January 09/1982.
Four of the Jayhawks’ top five scorers are starters with the other coming off the bench. Chelsea Gardner (# 15, 6-3 Sr. F) tops the five with a 16.5 ppg average. Natalie Knight (# 42, 5-7 Sr. G) adds 12.5 ppg while Asia Boyd (# 0, 6-1 Sr. G) provides 10.0 ppg off the bench. Lauren Aldridge (# 3, 5-7 Fr. G) and Chayla Cheadle (# 22, 6-0 Fr. G) are the fourth and fifth leading scorers for the Jayhawks at 7.6 and 7.2 ppg, respectively. Gardner (86-159, 54.1%), Knight (58-116, 50.0%) and Boyd (47-104, 45.2%) have combined to make 62% of made FGs and 55% of FGs attempted for Kansas. 31% of Kansas’ FGs are treys. Knight is the primary 3pt threat, making 27 of 61 for 44.3%. She and Boyd (20-46, 43.5%) rank 3rd and 4th in the league in 3pt %. Terriell Bradley (# 23, 5-10 Fr. G; 11-26, 42.3%) and Cheadle (12-30, 40.0%) would also rank among the top ten in 3pt shooters if they were taking more 3pters. Aldridge (13-38, 34.2%) is the other main threat from BTA. Kansas is among the better FT shooting teams in the league at 70.6%. Their top two players at getting to the FT line are Gardner (42-55, 76.4%) and Aldridge (38-43, 88.4%). Knight (19-23, 82.6%) is the only other player over 70% from the FT line.
Gardner tops the Jayhawks with 7.7 rpg. Knight is second with 5.2 rpg. Aldridge (4.2 apg) and Knight (3.8 apg) top the assist chart for the Jayhawks. Knight is their best at taking the ball away with 16 steals while Gardner is right behind with 15.Gardner is also the Jayhawks’ top shot blocker with 29 through 13 games.
Joining Gardner, Knight, and Aldridge in the starting lineup for all 13 games is Jada Brown (# 4, 6-0 Soph. F). Cheadle has started the last ten games with Boyd starting the first three. Those six are the only ones to start a game this season. Bradley is the only other player to play in all 13 games. Bunny Williams (# 5, 6-1 Sr. F) has gotten into 12 games. Those eight make up the base rotation for Kansas. Two other players that provide double digit minutes although they have only played in about half the games are Keyla Morgan (# 32, 5-8 Soph. G) and Caelynn Manning-Allen (# 25, 6-4 Soph. F). With Gardner the only other player over 6-1 at 6-3, Manning-Allen may see action in relief of her.
Nneka is the only Big 12 player averaging a double double in both scoring and rebounding coming into league play. She leads the team in rebounding at 10.0 rpg and is tied with Kelsey in scoring at 13.5 ppg. Kelsey leads the team in FG% (62.4%), FGs made (63) and FGs attempted (101). Nneka is running a close second in all three: 58-97 for 59.8%.Brianna is also hitting 50% of her shots (39-78) while Nekia is at 47.4% (18-38). Horns have two primary 3pt shooters in Brooke (14-33, 42.4%) and Brady (8-28, 28.6%). Empress and Celina have each attempted 16 treys while Krystle has 12 attempts. With Ariel out (87.1%), Brady is the only Horn hitting over 80% from the FT line at 81.8% (18-22). Nneka is the one most frequently at the FT line, having 56 attempts and making 33 (58.9%). Only Tasia (13-17, 76.5%) and Empress (24-34, 70.6%) join Ariel and Brady in making at least 70% of their FTs. With six players making less than 60% of FTs, Texas is hitting only 65.2% from the FT line as a team.
Kelsey is second in rebounding at 6.5 rpg behind Nneka’s 10.0 rpg. Brianna adds 5.1 rpg. Brady tops the team in assists with an average of 3.3 apg which ranks 12th in the league. Celina (2.7 apg) and Empress (2.3 apg) also help to get easy shots for their teammates. Texas has four players with double digit steals: Ariel and Brooke top the team with 15 while Nneka and Brianna have 13 apiece. Texas has 45 blocks as a team with Nneka (20) and Kelsey (11) leading the way.Nneka has a chance to be the fifth UT player to reach 1000+ each in pts and rebs, joining Retha Swindell, Stacy Stephens, Tiffany Jackson and Andrea Lloyd-Curry in that elite group. She currently has 833 rebounds and would need to average 9.3 rebs in 18 league games to reach 1000 rebs.
Nneka and Empress have started all 11 games for Texas this season. The basic rotation, with Ariel out, is 11 players. Ten players are averaging double digit minutes with six averaging 20 or more mpg. Kelsey’s 27.8 mpg is the most on the team. Nneka is second at 25.7 mpg. Nine players have at least one start with Nneka, Empress and Kelsey all having double digit starts. Other than the game against Rice when Kelsey sat out with a minor injury, Nneka, Empress, Brady, Celina and Kelsey have been the starting five for five of the last six games.
With Sara Hattis (#33) back on the roster, the Horns now have 15 players on the roster. It will be interesting to see what she brings to the team. For sure, rebounding is one thing she will add. She had three rebounds in four minutes in her first game action vs Rice this past Wednesday. Missing for now is Ariel, still recovering from an ankle injury suffered in mid-December. Given the time frame mentioned earlier by others of six to eight weeks, I would project her back by mid-January or the start of February.
Projected starters based on the last game:
Kelsey missed the Rice game due to a coaching decision as she was recovering from a minor injury but was available to play if necessary. I am going to presume that she will start against Kansas.
[pre]
Texas Kansas
Nneka (6-1 Sr. F) Gardner (6-3 Sr. F)
Kelsey (6-5 Soph. C) Brown (6-0 Soph.F)
Brady (5-11 RS Jr. G) Cheadle (6-0 Fr. G)
Empress (5-7 Jr. G) Knight (5-7 Sr. G)
Celina (5-8 Jr. G) Aldridge (5-7 Fr. G) [/pre]
Kansas’ forte has been 3pt shooting with five players sharing those shots. The Jayhawks are first in the Big 12 in 3pt % and fourth in 3s made per game. Texas’ perimeter defense will be tested early and often. Gardner provides the Jayhawks with an excellent interior presence but she gets little help inside. Manning-Allen at 6-4 is their only other player taller than 6-1 and she does not all of the games. Due to Texas’ height, I would expect her to get at least her normal 13 mpg. If Kelsey is recovered from her minor knee problem, Texas will present a lot of problems inside for Kansas. Texas has seven total players to rotate inside although most likely only five will see a lot of action with Brianna also a possibility. Penetration and ball movement by the Texas guards will be needed to set up the inside scoring. While the Horns are not exactly lighting it up from BTA, they have been able to hit timely shots when needed. Knight for Kansas will be the primary focus for Texas on the perimeter although they cannot afford to ignore Boyd, Aldridge, Cheadle, and Bradley who are also outstanding 3pt shooters.
TEAM STATISTICS Texas (11-0) Kansas (9-4)
--------------------------------------------------------------
SCORING.................. 834 872
Points per game........ 75.8 67.1
Scoring margin......... +22.3 +9.6
FIELD GOALS-ATT.......... 323-704 307-695
Field goal pct.......... .459 .442
FG made per game. 29.4 23.6
FG att. per game… 64.0 53.5
3 POINT FG-ATT........... 38-131 85-214
3-point FG pct.......... .290 .397
3-pt FG made per game.. 3.5 6.5
3-pt FG att. per game….. 11.9 16.5FREE THROWS-ATT.......... 150-230 173-245 Free throw pct.......... .652 .706
F-Throws made per game. 13.6 13.3
FTs attempted per game... 20.9 18.8
REBOUNDS................. 494 508
Rebounds per game...... 44.9 39.1
Rebounding margin...... +13.4 +3.5
ASSISTS.................. 180 191
Assists per game....... 16.4 14.7
TURNOVERS................ 167 230
Turnovers per game..... 15.2 17.7
Turnover margin........ +3.3 -3.1
Assist/turnover ratio.. 1.1 0.8
STEALS................... 98 80
Steals per game........ 8.9 6.2
BLOCKS................... 45 56
Blocks per game........ 4.1 4.3
WINNING STREAK........... 11 1
Home win streak........ 8 7
ATTENDANCE............... 26385 19064
Home games-Avg/Game.... 8-3298 10-1906
[pre]
Ave. Score by Period: 1st 2nd OT Total
-------------------- ---- ---- ---- -----
Texas................. 39.3 35.5 1.1 75.8
Kansas....... 33.5 32.8 0.8 67.1 [/pre]
Horns should dominate rebounding although Gardner will give Kansas a strong presence on the boards. One advantage that Texas should have is Kansas’ tendency to turn the ball over. Pressure should result in some easy points for the Horns. Conversely, Texas has done a very good job in reducing their TOs from last season, currently ranking fourth in TO margin at plus 3.3. Last season, they ended up last with a TO margin of minus 3.94. Entering conference play, Kansas holds down the last spot in TO margin at a minus 3.1.
From the Jayhawk website: Kansas Begins Big 12 Play at No. 3 Texas
Game time will be this Saturday, January 03, 2015 at 7 PM at the FEC. The game will be televised on the LHN. Welcome, DirectTV customers! Hope DirectTV has the LHN turned on in time to show this game. KVET 1300 AM will carry the radio broadcast.
Four of the Jayhawks’ top five scorers are starters with the other coming off the bench. Chelsea Gardner (# 15, 6-3 Sr. F) tops the five with a 16.5 ppg average. Natalie Knight (# 42, 5-7 Sr. G) adds 12.5 ppg while Asia Boyd (# 0, 6-1 Sr. G) provides 10.0 ppg off the bench. Lauren Aldridge (# 3, 5-7 Fr. G) and Chayla Cheadle (# 22, 6-0 Fr. G) are the fourth and fifth leading scorers for the Jayhawks at 7.6 and 7.2 ppg, respectively. Gardner (86-159, 54.1%), Knight (58-116, 50.0%) and Boyd (47-104, 45.2%) have combined to make 62% of made FGs and 55% of FGs attempted for Kansas. 31% of Kansas’ FGs are treys. Knight is the primary 3pt threat, making 27 of 61 for 44.3%. She and Boyd (20-46, 43.5%) rank 3rd and 4th in the league in 3pt %. Terriell Bradley (# 23, 5-10 Fr. G; 11-26, 42.3%) and Cheadle (12-30, 40.0%) would also rank among the top ten in 3pt shooters if they were taking more 3pters. Aldridge (13-38, 34.2%) is the other main threat from BTA. Kansas is among the better FT shooting teams in the league at 70.6%. Their top two players at getting to the FT line are Gardner (42-55, 76.4%) and Aldridge (38-43, 88.4%). Knight (19-23, 82.6%) is the only other player over 70% from the FT line.
Gardner tops the Jayhawks with 7.7 rpg. Knight is second with 5.2 rpg. Aldridge (4.2 apg) and Knight (3.8 apg) top the assist chart for the Jayhawks. Knight is their best at taking the ball away with 16 steals while Gardner is right behind with 15.Gardner is also the Jayhawks’ top shot blocker with 29 through 13 games.
Joining Gardner, Knight, and Aldridge in the starting lineup for all 13 games is Jada Brown (# 4, 6-0 Soph. F). Cheadle has started the last ten games with Boyd starting the first three. Those six are the only ones to start a game this season. Bradley is the only other player to play in all 13 games. Bunny Williams (# 5, 6-1 Sr. F) has gotten into 12 games. Those eight make up the base rotation for Kansas. Two other players that provide double digit minutes although they have only played in about half the games are Keyla Morgan (# 32, 5-8 Soph. G) and Caelynn Manning-Allen (# 25, 6-4 Soph. F). With Gardner the only other player over 6-1 at 6-3, Manning-Allen may see action in relief of her.
Nneka is the only Big 12 player averaging a double double in both scoring and rebounding coming into league play. She leads the team in rebounding at 10.0 rpg and is tied with Kelsey in scoring at 13.5 ppg. Kelsey leads the team in FG% (62.4%), FGs made (63) and FGs attempted (101). Nneka is running a close second in all three: 58-97 for 59.8%.Brianna is also hitting 50% of her shots (39-78) while Nekia is at 47.4% (18-38). Horns have two primary 3pt shooters in Brooke (14-33, 42.4%) and Brady (8-28, 28.6%). Empress and Celina have each attempted 16 treys while Krystle has 12 attempts. With Ariel out (87.1%), Brady is the only Horn hitting over 80% from the FT line at 81.8% (18-22). Nneka is the one most frequently at the FT line, having 56 attempts and making 33 (58.9%). Only Tasia (13-17, 76.5%) and Empress (24-34, 70.6%) join Ariel and Brady in making at least 70% of their FTs. With six players making less than 60% of FTs, Texas is hitting only 65.2% from the FT line as a team.
Kelsey is second in rebounding at 6.5 rpg behind Nneka’s 10.0 rpg. Brianna adds 5.1 rpg. Brady tops the team in assists with an average of 3.3 apg which ranks 12th in the league. Celina (2.7 apg) and Empress (2.3 apg) also help to get easy shots for their teammates. Texas has four players with double digit steals: Ariel and Brooke top the team with 15 while Nneka and Brianna have 13 apiece. Texas has 45 blocks as a team with Nneka (20) and Kelsey (11) leading the way.Nneka has a chance to be the fifth UT player to reach 1000+ each in pts and rebs, joining Retha Swindell, Stacy Stephens, Tiffany Jackson and Andrea Lloyd-Curry in that elite group. She currently has 833 rebounds and would need to average 9.3 rebs in 18 league games to reach 1000 rebs.
Nneka and Empress have started all 11 games for Texas this season. The basic rotation, with Ariel out, is 11 players. Ten players are averaging double digit minutes with six averaging 20 or more mpg. Kelsey’s 27.8 mpg is the most on the team. Nneka is second at 25.7 mpg. Nine players have at least one start with Nneka, Empress and Kelsey all having double digit starts. Other than the game against Rice when Kelsey sat out with a minor injury, Nneka, Empress, Brady, Celina and Kelsey have been the starting five for five of the last six games.
With Sara Hattis (#33) back on the roster, the Horns now have 15 players on the roster. It will be interesting to see what she brings to the team. For sure, rebounding is one thing she will add. She had three rebounds in four minutes in her first game action vs Rice this past Wednesday. Missing for now is Ariel, still recovering from an ankle injury suffered in mid-December. Given the time frame mentioned earlier by others of six to eight weeks, I would project her back by mid-January or the start of February.
Projected starters based on the last game:
Kelsey missed the Rice game due to a coaching decision as she was recovering from a minor injury but was available to play if necessary. I am going to presume that she will start against Kansas.
[pre]
Texas Kansas
Nneka (6-1 Sr. F) Gardner (6-3 Sr. F)
Kelsey (6-5 Soph. C) Brown (6-0 Soph.F)
Brady (5-11 RS Jr. G) Cheadle (6-0 Fr. G)
Empress (5-7 Jr. G) Knight (5-7 Sr. G)
Celina (5-8 Jr. G) Aldridge (5-7 Fr. G) [/pre]
Kansas’ forte has been 3pt shooting with five players sharing those shots. The Jayhawks are first in the Big 12 in 3pt % and fourth in 3s made per game. Texas’ perimeter defense will be tested early and often. Gardner provides the Jayhawks with an excellent interior presence but she gets little help inside. Manning-Allen at 6-4 is their only other player taller than 6-1 and she does not all of the games. Due to Texas’ height, I would expect her to get at least her normal 13 mpg. If Kelsey is recovered from her minor knee problem, Texas will present a lot of problems inside for Kansas. Texas has seven total players to rotate inside although most likely only five will see a lot of action with Brianna also a possibility. Penetration and ball movement by the Texas guards will be needed to set up the inside scoring. While the Horns are not exactly lighting it up from BTA, they have been able to hit timely shots when needed. Knight for Kansas will be the primary focus for Texas on the perimeter although they cannot afford to ignore Boyd, Aldridge, Cheadle, and Bradley who are also outstanding 3pt shooters.
TEAM STATISTICS Texas (11-0) Kansas (9-4)
--------------------------------------------------------------
SCORING.................. 834 872
Points per game........ 75.8 67.1
Scoring margin......... +22.3 +9.6
FIELD GOALS-ATT.......... 323-704 307-695
Field goal pct.......... .459 .442
FG made per game. 29.4 23.6
FG att. per game… 64.0 53.5
3 POINT FG-ATT........... 38-131 85-214
3-point FG pct.......... .290 .397
3-pt FG made per game.. 3.5 6.5
3-pt FG att. per game….. 11.9 16.5FREE THROWS-ATT.......... 150-230 173-245 Free throw pct.......... .652 .706
F-Throws made per game. 13.6 13.3
FTs attempted per game... 20.9 18.8
REBOUNDS................. 494 508
Rebounds per game...... 44.9 39.1
Rebounding margin...... +13.4 +3.5
ASSISTS.................. 180 191
Assists per game....... 16.4 14.7
TURNOVERS................ 167 230
Turnovers per game..... 15.2 17.7
Turnover margin........ +3.3 -3.1
Assist/turnover ratio.. 1.1 0.8
STEALS................... 98 80
Steals per game........ 8.9 6.2
BLOCKS................... 45 56
Blocks per game........ 4.1 4.3
WINNING STREAK........... 11 1
Home win streak........ 8 7
ATTENDANCE............... 26385 19064
Home games-Avg/Game.... 8-3298 10-1906
[pre]
Ave. Score by Period: 1st 2nd OT Total
-------------------- ---- ---- ---- -----
Texas................. 39.3 35.5 1.1 75.8
Kansas....... 33.5 32.8 0.8 67.1 [/pre]
Horns should dominate rebounding although Gardner will give Kansas a strong presence on the boards. One advantage that Texas should have is Kansas’ tendency to turn the ball over. Pressure should result in some easy points for the Horns. Conversely, Texas has done a very good job in reducing their TOs from last season, currently ranking fourth in TO margin at plus 3.3. Last season, they ended up last with a TO margin of minus 3.94. Entering conference play, Kansas holds down the last spot in TO margin at a minus 3.1.
From the Jayhawk website: Kansas Begins Big 12 Play at No. 3 Texas
Game time will be this Saturday, January 03, 2015 at 7 PM at the FEC. The game will be televised on the LHN. Welcome, DirectTV customers! Hope DirectTV has the LHN turned on in time to show this game. KVET 1300 AM will carry the radio broadcast.
