Texas (18-8; 7-8) leads the overall series with OSU (18-8; 8-7) 26-15. A win by Texas will move the Horns into a tie for third with OSU and possibly with ISU and TCU if they win their home games on Tuesday. Horns lost the earlier meeting this season at Stillwater 66-60 fourteen days ago. A win by Texas would make this the second season that the teams have split the season series with each winning at home. A win streak will come to an end on Wednesday night as Texas has won three in row and OSU five. OSU is one of the few teams whose website does not have separate season and conference stats. All stats used here are from the Big 12 stats page. The Cowgirls have four Texans on their squad, including Diana Omozee (# 5, 5-11 Soph. G) from Pflugerville High right down the road from Austin. Other Texans are Brianne Coffman (# 12, 6-3 Soph. F) from Jarrell, TX; Roddricka Patton (# 23, 5-4 Jr. G) a graduate from Neches HS in Palestine, TX and Sydney Walton (# 10, 5-8 Fr. G) from Perryton, TX. The Cowgirls have three players in double figure scoring: Brittney Martin (# 22, 6-0 Jr. G) who averages 13.8 ppg, LaShawn Jones (# 55, 6-3 Sr. C) who adds 11.8 ppg and Liz Donohoe (# 4, 6-0 Sr. F) at 11.6 ppg. Roshunda Johnson (# 0, 5-7 Soph. G) is just short of giving them four players in double figures with her average of 9.7 ppg. Jones is the FG% leader at 52.1% (76-146). Donohoe is second with a shooting percentage of 44.9% (70-156). Martin comes in third at 39.8% (88-221). Those three have made 65.4% of OSU’s FGs and taken 43.1% of the team’s shot attempts. Martin is the leader in FGs made (88) and attempted (221). No OSU player makes the Big 12 rankings in 3pt shooting or 3pt percentage. As a team, OSU has hit 33.3% from BTA (49-147), a percentage that is fifth in the league. Their average of 3.3 made 3s per game ranks last in the league. They average 10 3pter attempts a game. Same thing for FT%--no OSU player cracked the rankings. OSU ranks 9th in the league in FT% and averages 9 FTs made per game on 14.4 attempts. In addition to leading the Cowgirls in scoring, Martin is their leading rebounder as well at 9.2 rpg. Jones (6.1 rpg) and Donohoe (5.1 rpg) also rank among the top 20 rebounders in the league. They rank 3rd as a team in rebounding, just behind Texas. OSU is second in the league in assists, just ahead of Texas. OSU has three players averaging at least 2.7 apg: Johnson (3.3 apg), Patton (3.1 apg) and Martin (2.7 apg). After averaging just over 1 assist a game in the first 21 games, Patton has exploded in the past five games, dishing out 37 assists, a 7.4 apg average. Martin is an all around player as she also leads the Cowgirls in steals at 2.8 spg. Johnson adds 1.9 spg. Martin ranks 7th in the league with her team leading 1.3 bpg. Jones is 10th in the league with an average of 1.1 bpg. The quintet of Donohoe, Martin, Jones, Johnson and Patton have started the last three conference games. Martin and Donohoe have started all 15 Big 12 games. Johnson has 14 starts, including the last three. Jones has started the last four games and 14 of the 15 conference games. Patton has joined the starting lineup the last four games. Katelyn Loecker (# 45, 6-0 Soph. F), Kaylee Jensen (# 54, 6-4 Fr. C), Mandy Coleman (# 3, 6-3 Fr. F/C), and, with the move of Patton into the starting lineup, Omozee are the main players off the bench. The starters play a lot of minutes, led by Martin’s 38.0 mpg, tied for first in mpg in the league and Johnson’s 34.8 mpg. Donohoe is another player that plays 30+ mpg. Ten players are in the rotation, with five starting and two averaging double figure minutes off the bench. Lakota Beatty (# 11, 5-8 Soph. G), a part of that ten player rotation, has not played in the last two games. An FYI: Brooke was named the Big 12 Frosh of the Week and OSU’s Martin was named the Big 12 Player of the Week. Horn fans will get a chance to see the current FOW and the POW on the court at the same time. Projected starters based on the last game: Texas____________________OSU Brianna (5-9 Soph. G)____Donohoe (6-0 Sr. F) Kelsey (6-5 Soph. C)_____Jones (6-3 Sr. C) Brady (5-11 RS Jr. G)____Martin (6-0 Jr. G) Brooke (5-4 Fr. G)______Patton (5-4 Jr. G) Ariel (5-11 Fr. G)_______Johnson (5-7 Soph. G) Imani and Kelsey were a combined 13-21 from the field but Donohoe and Jones were 16-30 as both teams had trouble closing down the opposing posts. Brooke was 5-9 from BTA as OSU only connected on 2-3 treys. The difference was OSU getting to the FT line 15 times and making 10 while Texas could only counter with Kelsey’s 1-2 FTs. TOs were big as well. Texas had 23 while OSU was forced into ten. Texas should get more balanced scoring from the guards while OSU will certainly pay a lot of attention to Brooke. Texas was using Imani and Kelsey in tandem instead of rotating them as has been the case in the recent games. Brianna or Brady should be able to match up better with Donohoe than either Kelsey or Imani. Key for OSU will Jones staying out of foul trouble. Coleman is the most likely to give Jones some rest while Jensen is also available for duty inside. There is certainly a possibility that we will see twin towers from each team although that is more likely an option that Texas will use. OSU has ten players that could see action but their core rotation is very small, usually no more than 7-8. Texas, meanwhile, will not hesitate to use up to 10-11 players. Stats are Big 12 stats only. TEAM STATISTICS______Texas (7-8)___OSU (8-7) ------------------------------------------------------------------ SCORING_______________947__________900 Points per game_________63.1__________60.0 Scoring margin_________+0.9__________+0.8 FIELD GOALS-ATT______345-884 ______358-874 Field goal pct___________39.0%________41.0% FG made per game_______23.0_________23.9 FG att. per game_________58.9_________58.3 2 POINT FG-ATT________287-684______309-727 2-point FG pct__________42.0%________42.5% 2-pt FG made per game___19.1_________20.6 2-pt FG att. per game_____45.6_________48.5 3 POINT FG-ATT________58-200_______49-147 3-point FG pct__________29.0%________33.3% 3-pt FG made per game___3.9__________3.3 3-pt FG att. per game_____13.3_________9.8 FREE THROWS-ATT_____199-274______135-216 Free throw pct___________72.6%_______62.5% F-Throws made per game__13.3_________9.0 FTs attempted per game___18.3_________14.4 REBOUNDS_____________620_________583 Rebounds per game_______41.3________38.9 Rebounding margin_______+8.9________+5.2 ASSISTS_________________216________224 Assists per game__________14.4________14.9 TURNOVERS_____________252________219 Turnovers per game_______16.8________14.6 Turnover margin__________-3.4________+0.1 Assist/turnover ratio_______0.9_________1.0 STEALS_________________95__________119 Steals per game__________6.3__________7.9 BLOCKS________________69__________62 Blocks per game_________4.6__________4.1 Conf. Winning Streak______3___________5 Conf. Home win streak_____1___________3 Conf. Road win streak_____2____________3 ATTENDANCE__________25082________20721 Home games-Avg/Game__7-3583_______8-2590 Ave. Score by Period:______1st_____2nd____OT___2OT___Total Texas_____________________29.8___32.1___0.6___0.7____63.1 OSU______________________29.5___30.1___0.3___-0-____60.0 “PROMOTIONS / GIVEAWAYS •At halftime, the annual Cheer/Pom Extravaganza takes over the court. Expect high kicks and flips during this wildly entertaining show! •Join the Longhorns for postgame autographs on the court.” The stats are so close that these two are practically mirror images of each other. Neither is reliant on the 3pt shot as OSU only 9.8 3s out of 58.3 FGs a game. Texas is at 13.3 trey attempts a game from 58.9 FG attempts. OSU is a bit better shooting the ball: 41.0% to 39.0% from the field; 42.5% to 42.0% from inside the arc and 33.3% to 29.0% from BTA. Horns are better at the FT line, 72.6% to 62.5%. Nine more made FTs and 23 TOs by Texas helped OSU pull out the win at Stillwater. Horns have since dropped their TOs per game although it is still a bit high at 16.8 TOs a game. Good ballhandling and quick help when the ballhandler is in trouble will help counter OSU’s ability to force TOs by stealing the ball. Imani’s and Kelsey’s ability to rebound will help Texas get second half chance points. This is looking to be a very close game where home court advantage may be the edge that provides the edge for the winner. From texassports.com: “No. rv/24 Women's Basketball preview: Oklahoma State” http://www.texassports.com/news/2015/2/24/_0224150228.aspx Not much detail. Think it’s a rough draft. From okstatesports.com: “Cowgirls Travel To Austin To Face Texas” http://www.okstate.com/sports/w-baskbl/spec-rel/022415aaa.html From the AAS: “Aston wants Horns to turn over a new leaf in handling the ball” http://www.mystatesman.com/news/spo...-leaf-in-handl/nkH8d/#1f2cf919.3503856.735653 No question that Brooke is our top PG. She brings a scoring dimension to the position that adds pressure on the defense to account for. From the OSU student newspaper: “Cowgirls aim for 6-straight conference wins, first time since 1993” http://www.ocolly.com/sports/article_515d47f8-bc73-11e4-9b5b-67940f928093.html Game time is 7 PM with KVET 1300 AM carrying the radio broadcast. Television will be on the Longhorn Network.
I am hoping the girls figure out that scoring is great and desperately needed, but they've GOT to figure out how to stop the other team from scoring! If you hit a 3 that's great, but it means NOTHING if you don't get back and let your girl hit one in return! It does us NO GOOD! DEFENSE! DEFENSE! DEFENSE!!!! Watch the TURNOVERS Too! We can finish this season strong!
Babhorn, I really appreciate that you provide such a good and in depth analysis of the upcoming games. I always make a point of reading it before the games. I know it must take quite a lot of time and research. Thanks again.
Great team win. Glad to see Empress play with such aggressiveness and determination, but stay in control. Happy to know that we may have faced Brittney Martin and Liz Donohoe for the last time.
justabbfan, takes about eight hours per game, usually over two to three days. As you probably noticed, I have a format that helps cut down on the time. That first half was brutal for both teams. Horns were much better offensively that second half to pull away. Solid win with contributions from everyone.
Team seems like we are "re-gelling" after the loss of Nneka.....Thank goodness...we need to win out and try to get that #3 seed in the Big 12 Tournament...
Great to get the win.But we tend to make our game's hard. I would think by now the Coaching Staff, would have each piece broken down. The talent is still there to be a Top 10 team.But the problem I am starting to notice.Will they be Coached like a Top 10 team.That's question.I am just still not happy with the way we are playing.Not to be funny.But do we work on Offense in practice. Defense along in 2015 will not get you a Win.
Nice to be coming together at this point in the season. This year is still salvageable. Great win. Let's get another one!
Assuming Iowa loses to Baylor and OU takes OKS AND we beat both WV and TCU, we would have a clean 3rd place showing. Not what we wanted but I'll take it. Come on Horns... Finish Strong!!!!
Always nice to win...but leaping lizards! Scoring more than 60 points is like climbing Mt. Everest for this team. We've been winning lately because we've been playing the bottom half of the league, except for Oklahoma State tonight, and Oklahoma St. is pretty mediocre. We now have a chance to win the last two games (against two more also-rans) and finish number three in what is a very weak conference this year. But this offense will not take the team very far in post season. There comes a point, when you're playing top teams, when you've got to shoot at their level. You're not going to shut them down and just win with defense.
Good win, I thought the offensive execution was fine but the coach can't make shots for the players. Also Kelsey and Imani need to be more physical in the post they are too finesse when they are trying to get position in the post and when they get the ball in the post. Our decision making still needs to improve especially from the point guard position. They can be a good team but they don't have the talent to be a top 10 team.
I don't agree with Dr. D that we have a very weak conference. UConn is in a very weak conference. I can't keep the conferences straight anymore, they change so much. I guess the SEC is stronger than the Big 12 this year, but any other conference, top to bottom? Yes, we need more offense, but at least we're doing a lot better. We need Nekia back. I'm still looking for that pure shooter, someone like Martin from OSU would be nice. What a great player. I'm looking for Higgs and Hosey to bring a lot next year. All of this year's players should be better. I'm already sad that we only get one more year of Imani's rebounding and defensive presence, even more than her points.
When I said a very weak conference I was comparing the quality of this year's Big 12 to years past. The Big 12 is definitely down this year, regardless of how we stack up comparatively with the rest of the country.
Well, it sure would help to get all our players healthy. If you think about Ariel getting hurt, and then having to find her groove again, I'm sure that is tough for a freshman. I hope this game was a sign that Empress is close to full strength, and finding her offensive flow, as well. Brianna has her ups and downs, but keeping her healthy and out of foul trouble is important going forward. Then, Nekia Jones' continued absence from the court hurts with our depth; she can play inside and outside. The longer she is out, the harder it will be for her to get back in her groove; Nell Fortner said last night that she wasn't sure "when or if Nekia will return this season", so that is worrisome. If you consider all the injuries this team has had to endure and overcome, I'd consider us fortunate to have this mini-winning streak going. This team needs confidence and momentum, and most importantly as Coach A has said, the team needs to have fun and enjoy playing the game.
Agree with Mooooooo that injuries are very concerning. The announcers at last night's game (Nell and Fran) talked about how the loss of Nneka affected the team emotionally and how they had been slow to recover. I also heard them say Nekia may not return this season due to a knee problem.
This is probably the first time I have come away being impressed with adjustments made and things done in the second half of a game in conference play. I thought we did some really good things, one being holding Liz D. to 2 points. That is her all time career low in a conference game. That kind of execution and attention to detail could take this team a long way. I think we're still finding our flow in certain spots but I am much more optimistic than I was 4 weeks ago
Agree with utfannforlife. I felt like they actually made adjustments at the half. I loved Imani and Kelsey's play. They were beasts on the boards -- especially on defense. Even though this game was tied in the second half, I never felt like we'd lose it. OSU's shooting was terrible and they only had one player who was scoring. Side notes: Celina played for all of 30 seconds and immediately turned the ball over. She didn't return until the final minute. She looked downtrodden to me. While Brianna plays a bit reckless, she sure brings speed and energy to the floor. Aston looks more relaxed during and after the game. Maybe they're gaining steam so they can make a decent NCAA run. IMO two victories in the tournament would be required to call the season a real success.
Big 12 is a tough conference.All team's have improve a lot.But that's a good thing.Can't wait to see these's team's in the NCAA Tourn.
It's too late in the season to change the offense; Nneka's injury came relatively late...but going inside out all the time doesn't work as well as when she was roaming the paint. Kelsey and Imani are good in there by themselves, but so far not offensively overwhelming, especially without a big power forward to go high low with. Other teams give us open threes, but we haven't hit the three consistently. I don't pretend to be an expert on basketball offenses, but I hope next season Aston goes to a more flexible system, with more screens and movement, to create more opportunities for midrange jumpers for the guards. If the two star freshmen can produce next season, we'll have the personnel to go that way. Frankly, I wish we had done it this year. It might have added a few points to our scoring average. One reason we beat Oklahoma State was that they let us score some points with our running game. Most Big 12 teams know that if they stop the running game and force Texas into half court basketball, our scoring potential plummets.
Just watched the OSU game. (Had it recorded due to being out of town). It wasn't flawless (first half was a drab), but looked like we weren't too shabby! You can tell the girls (and coach) are more relaxed, and saw quite a bit of 'great" moments. Turnovers still there, but hustle plays out weighed them! Glad to see Empress finding her groove again. Surprised it took her so long to work through a muscle strain, but glad it paid off tonight! Heard announcers say something about Nekia's knee and not knowing "if" she'll be back. I'm not sure that will hurt us too badly, as she did help in offense, but her defense was lacking. Aside from a steal every now and then, her stamina was just not there. I do, however, wish this team could finish the season with everyone healthy and injury free. That is when we were strongest. With everyone having minutes and everyone contributing. Now let's do this in WV and back at home with TCU so we can move on to the tourney!
In my opinion the offensive system is good it's about making shots, we all know that's not a strength. Also they run a ball screen offense to get the guards to the mid range areas for shots. Watch Baylor play, the offense in terms of the ball screen action is very similar.They just have guards that can pull up above defenders and make shots. Imani Wright comes to mind.
