Texas (20-1; 9-1) travels to Ames to face Iowa State (12-9; 4-6) for the second time in conference play. Before losing the two games last season to the Cyclones, Texas and ISU had split wins at home since the 2011-12 season with each winning three times. Texas will be seeking their first win in Ames since 2009 and to snap a two game losing streak to ISU. Texas has a four game winning streak going. Horns are 5-0 on the road in league play. ISU, with the win over Kansas, broke a five game losing streak, including two OT losses. The ISU Cyclones will bring three players averaging double figures in league play to the game against the Horns. Seanna Johnson (# 12, 5-10 Jr. G) is the leading scorer at 17.3 ppg. Bridget Carleton (# 21, 6-1 Fr. G) is second with an average of 13.5 ppg. In third with an average of 11.0 ppg, is Jadda Buckley (# 11, 5-8 RS Soph.). It may be a good thing her jersey number is not in the 20s or 30s. Johnson (60-133; 45.1%), Carleton (44-120; 36.7%), Buckley (32-90; 35.6%) and Meredith Burkhall (# 32, 6-3 Fr. F; 38-91; 41.8%) are the primary shooters for the Cyclones. ISU has taken the most 3s in league games with 212. Only WVU with 201 has cracked the 200+ line on 3s taken. With 63 made tresy, ISU is tied for the second most 3s made in league play. However, ISU is only sixth in 3pt FG% at 29.7%. Johnson (43-60; 71.7%), Buckley (33-40; 52.5%), Carleton (27-32; 84.4%) and Burkhall (11-21; 52.4%) combine for 114 of 153 FTs of the team’s 138-191 (72.3%). Nicole “Kidd” Blaskowsky (# 15, 5-7 Sr. G) and Emily Durr (# 3, 6-0 Soph. G) have the highest FT%s on the team at 100 % (4-4) and 91.7% (11-12), respectively. Johnson is the leading rebounder at 8.8 rpg. Carleton adds 6.8 rpg. Burkhall contributes 5.6 rpg. Those three grab 21.2 rpg of ISU’s average of 37.5 rpg, or 56.5% of the total. Johnson with 11 steals and Buckley with 10 are the leading ball hawks for the Cyclones. With Bryanna Fernstrom leaving the team just before the start of the spring semester, no Cyclone has reached double digits in blocks. Carleton tops the group with 7 while Johnson has 6. Fernstrom had 10 blocks in four league games. ISU had shorten their rotation in league play. The loss of Fernstrom makes it an even shorter rotation. Six players have played in all ten Big 12 games with a seventh seeing action in nine games. Johnson, Carleton, Buckley and Blaskowsky have started all ten league games. Burkhall has joined the starting lineup with Fernstrom gone. She has seven starts. Durr is the only other player to see action in all ten league games and averages 16.1 mpg. Claire Ricketts (# 30, 6-3 RS Fr. F) averages 8.7 mpg in the nine games she has played in. Madison Baier (# 34, 6-4 Sr. F/C) gotten into the last few games (five total) and averages 6.2 mpg. Both Ricketts and Baier are coming off injuries, in Baier’s case, several injuries over her career. Buckley averages 38.2 mpg. Johnson is at 37.8 mpg. Carleton is playing 36.3 mpg. All three are in the top five among players’ mpg. Blaskowsky averages 31.9 mpg and Burkhall 25.3 mpg. The Horns’ top four leading scorers are: Imani (15.3 ppg), Brooke (10.5 ppg), Ariel (9.4 ppg) and Empress (8.8 ppg). Four players top 50% in FG %: Imani (58-98; 59.2%), Kelsey (31-54; 57.4%), Ariel (31-55; 56.4%) and Tasia (9-16; 56.3%). The top three shooters for Texas are Imani, Empress (29-85; 34.1%) and Brooke (36-81; 44.4%). LaShann is fourth in number of FGs attempted at 57 (33.3%). Texas is making a very respectable 37.1% from BTA. Brooke (24-53; 45.3%), Ariel (8-20; 40.0%) and Tasia (2-4; 50.0%) are the top shooters from BTA. Empress (9-25; 36.0%), Celina (8-26; 30.8%) and Brady (4-11; 36.4%) are other players that have to be accounted for by opponents around the 3pt line. Horns are hitting 72.2% from the FT line. It helps that the player taking the most shots has been clutch from the FT line. Imani leads the team in FTs made and attempted at 36-43 (83.7%). Her FT% is the highest on the team with Ariel’s 80.0% second. Empress (21-27) and Jordan (7-9) both average 77.8% from the FT line. Celina is hitting 78.6% (11-14). Kelsey is at 10-13 for 76.9%. Those six players have taken 66% of the FTs attempted by Texas. Our best FT shooters are the ones getting to the FT line. Imani tops the Horns in rebounding with 11.7 rpg. Add that to her scoring average and she is one of two Big 12 players averaging a double double in league play. Brittney Martin of OSU is the other at 18.2 ppg & 11.7 rpg. Five others provide strong support for Imani on the boards: Celina (4.8 rpg), Brianna (4.7 rpg), Kelsey (4.3 rpg) and, at 3.0 rpg, Ariel and Empress. Celina continues to be among the league’s best in distributing the ball. She is averaging 5.0 apg—tops on the team and fourth in the league. Empress adds 2.4 apg and Brooke tallies up 2.2 apg. Two players have broken double figures in steals for the Horns: Brianna with 23 and Celina with 13. Ariel is at 9 steals and both Imani and LaShann have 8 steals apiece. Imani tops both the league and Texas in blocks by a large margin. Imani started the season 7th all time in blocks for Texas. The seventy she has gotten so far this season have moved her to 217 blocks, good for fifth on the all time list, just four blocks from tying Angela Jackson for fourth (221 career blocks). Kelsey is second on the team with 10 blocks and Ariel is third with three. Imani, Brooke, Empress and Celina have started all ten league games. Kelsey (2 starts in 10 games) and Brianna (8 eight starts in 9 games) have split the starts at the other spot. Those five average between 20 and 29 mpg. Ariel is the only other player to see action in all ten games, averaging 18.3 mpg. LaShana (9 games played in) and Brady (7 games played in) also average in the teens in mpg. Jordan has played in 9 games, averaging just under 10 mpg at 9.8 mpg. Pretty solid rotation of between 8-10 players a game with up to 13 players that have seen action in a game. Texas______________ISU Imani (6-7)________ Burkall (6-3) Brianna (5-9)______ Carleton (6-1) Empress (5-9)_____ Johnson (5-10) Celina (5-8)_______ Blaskowsky (5-7) Brooke (5-4)______ Buckley (5-8) In the first game between the two, ISU had four players that played 30 or more minutes and one that played 29 minutes. Brooke (32 minutes) was the only Texas player to play that many minutes although both Imani and Celina got in for 27 minutes. ISU was unable to stop Brooke from BTA where she hit 5-7. Imani dominated on the boards with 17 rebs and had 7 blocks. Every player on the Texas roster played and only one failed to score. I expect ISU to struggle to contain Imani and Kelsey and have trouble keeping them off the boards. Johnson and Buckley will try to carry the scoring load for ISU. ISU’s freshmen posts will have a lot of trouble with Imani and Kelsey. The Horns will need to cover the 3pt line as Johnson, Buckley, Durr and Blaskowsky are capable of lighting it up from BTA if they get going. Conference Team Stats_________Texas (9-1)__________ISU (4-6) Scoring__________________________730_________________651 PPG_____________________________73.0_________________65.1 Scoring Margin_________________+16.3 ________________-2.1 FGs Made-Att___________________263-594_____________225-586 FG Ave/Game Made-Att_________26.3-59.4____________22.5-58.6 FG%____________________________44.3%________________38.4% 2pt Made-Att___________________207-444______________162-374 2pt FGs Ave/Game Made-Att___20.7-44.4_____________16.2-37.4 2pt FG%________________________46.6%________________43.3% 3p FGs Made-Att_______________56-150_______________63-212 3pt Ave/Game Made-Att_______5.6-15.0______________6.3-21.2 3pt FG%_______________________37.3%________________29.7% FTs Made-Att__________________148-205______________138-191 FT Ave/Game Made-Att________14.8-20.5____________13.8-19.1 FT %___________________________72.2%_______________72.3% Rebounds_____________________421__________________375 RPG___________________________42.1_________________37.5 Reb Margin___________________+9.9__________________-1.9 Assists________________________149___________________129 APG___________________________14.90________________12.90 Turnovers_____________________175__________________138 TOPG_________________________17.5__________________13.8 TO Margin____________________+0.70________________-0.60 A/TO Ratio____________________0.85_________________0.93 Steals_________________________82___________________53 SPG___________________________8.20_________________5.30 Blocks_________________________68__________________39 BPG___________________________6.80________________3.90 Winning Streak_______________4____________________1 Home Win Streak_____________2___________________-0- Home Attendance____________22722______________48719 Attendance Ave/Game________5-4544_____________5-9744 Score by quarters (ave)_____1st_____2nd_____3rd _____4th_____OT_____Total Texas (9-1)___________________19.0___16.5_____17.8____19.7____-0-_____73.0 ISU (4-6)_____________________15.6___12.2_____16.1____19.7____1.5______65.1 Believe it: Horns lead the league in 3pt % at 37.3%. ISU and Texas rank 2nd and 3rd in FT% with the difference a slender 0.001 percentage point. Texas is fifth in 3pt defense while ISU is tenth. Look for the Horns to take advantage of open shots from BTA. The Horns hit 50% from BTA in the first game. Horns should dominate the rebounding while creating problems for ISU getting inside shots. We all know about the Hilton Magic but Texas should be able to overcome that Saturday. Both teams put almost 60 shots a game. The difference is the ISU is having trouble finishing. ISU takes a bit over a third of their shots from BTA. Texas takes 25% of shots from BTA. Texas tops the league in 3pt % while ISU is seventh. Expect about one of every three shots to be a trey. Game time is 1:30 PM. The game will be televised on FS2 (TWC 402 in the Austin area). Radio is 105.3 FM. Texassports.com game preview: http://www.texassports.com/news/2016/2/3/WBB_0203162059.aspx cyclones.com game preview: http://www.cyclones.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=10700&ATCLID=210688190
The good news is they'll be no "Hilton Magic" tomorrow. They just don't have the players to pull off the upset like the teams they've had in the past. And with no post presence, it could be a long day for all of their fans at the arena. I've been to many games there. Their fans are intelligent and fun.....win or lose.....I've always appreciated and enjoyed their respect for opponents and their opponent's fans. Of all of the Big XII fan bases, I consider them the most courteous and fun! But our Horns will hook'em tomorrow!
Ames Tribute story on Sienna Johnson: http://amestrib.com/sports/women-s-basketball-inspired-her-brother-isu-s-johnson-turning-career-season Ames Tribute pregame story: http://amestrib.com/sports/women-s-basketball-isu-needs-be-its-best-against-no-6-texas AAS story on Celina: http://www.hookem.com/story/texas-celina-rodrigo-is-a-cool-guard-after-early-struggles/ AAS game preview: http://www.hookem.com/2016/02/05/womens-preview-texas-vs-iowa-state/ Daily Texas pregame story: http://www.dailytexanonline.com/2016/02/05/no-6-texas-looks-to-stay-perfect-on-the-road
They are not exactly toothless inside. Carleton and Burkhall each scored 11 pts and combined for 15 rebounds in the first matchup. They simply don't have the depth the Horns do as each had to play over 30 minutes.
They have to make their perimeter jump shots and limit the turnovers. A team that shoots the three as much as Iowa st does always has a chance if they're making them.
Carleton is a 6'1" freshman whose, actually, a guard. Berkhall, another freshman, is a 6'3" forward forced into the post position when Fernstrom quit the team. (Fernstrom started the first 12 games as center.) Carleton and Burkhall combined for 22 points in our first game with them, but only 12 points were scored in the paint by the entire team. 2 freshman playing out of position at those heights......not much presence in the paint.
I was really pleased with our defensive game plan when we played them in Austin. Our perimeter defense on the 3 point line was really good. Stick to that plan. The only way ISU wins this thing is if we leave them with too many wide open shots from beyond the arc. Don't help on dribble penetration. If they are limited to 2 point baskets there is no way they can keep up with Lang/Boyette scoring in the paint.
This team has been exorcising road demons this year picking up the program's first win ever at WVU and winning at OSU for the first since 2009. Hope they can keep the trend going today.
shoot, Imani can't help it that she is that much taller that her opponents only come up to her shoulders.
really? that was a foul on Brady? Dang, that's being really picky. They have let more physical stuff go.
geez, we are shooting 31%, ISU 21%. They got a couple of 3s and four more FTs. We got 10 TOs but have forced 8. Really, ISU is doing a great job on the boards, just down 3 rebs. We are not finishing when we run which is not often. Kelsey, Imani and Brianna with two fouls each. Baier for ISU has two. Imani and Brooke have zero points and have only taken three shots between the two. None of our starters have gotten to the FT line. ISU only has six FT attempts but has made all of them. Horns are also at 100% with Kelsey making 2-2.
Why would we take our starting PG out of the line up and we are 20-1? This is the stuff we did last year. IMO Celina and Imani are the bookends of the team. Wow!!! I can't believe Coach A would do something like that. I hope there is a reason for it.
I can't believe Imani has only shot 2 shots in the game!!! We have lost our identity...Brooke isn't comfortable at the PG. She is more effective on the wing!
okay, looks like we lost Brianna and Imani is sitting with three fouls. Gonna find out just how much composure we got.
can't help off their 3pt shooters. and Celina responds with a three. gonna be a close one either way.
with Imani sitting with three fouls and Brianna out with an injury, who exactly are we supposed to play if not our bench players?