Sadly, Imani is playing the worst game of the year for her. She looks totally scared and intimidated....when it should be the other way around.
Better, but not good enough. Thanks for the updates. Trapped here in the office without other outside world contacts.
Perhaps our coaches will learn that when you're behind to one of the top teams in the country (on your home court) by 16 points....and counting...with 7 minutes left in the first half, you put your starters back in the game. Holding them out due to 2 fouls each, under those circumstances, was not a good coaching decision. Then, in the 2nd half, constantly forcing the ball into the paint....when our posts were completely intimidated and out of control.....was yet another coaching error. The ONLY thing that was working for us was our outside shooting...at that point. Are our posts that non-physical? We've blocked lots of shots this year, but that doesn't require physicality---just positioning and height. They looked completely intimidated by the strength of Baylor in the paint. Bad game plan from the beginning.....and even worse execution throughout the game. Sad that we looked so intimidated from start to finish. I hope this game doesn't demoralize the team. We've got a lot of talent. We just met a team that's so much more physical and so much more in control of the in-game circumstances, we buckled under the pressure. Mulkey's game plan was great. She exposed every weakness of our team, and she did so early in the game. It got into our heads quickly, and we could never adjust. Oh well...here's hoping we can regroup and play the remainder of the Big XII schedule with confidence and purpose.
And just like I said, the conference goes through baylor. And I would believe that they could win when I see it. That is what makes baylor champions, they are used to winning games like this and the Texas program is not. So now it's 12 in a row and counting, there's still a lot of season to play and we'll see what happens when they meet up on baylors home court. But right now it's not just physical, baylor is a better team mentally. They have the mental edge on this program and that won't go away until they actually beat them.
Exactly. Out coached and out played by Baylor. I wanted a split but Baylor should sweep the series. Unless some of these highly recruited player start playing like it. When a 5'11 player just muscles your bigs around that's a problem.
Yup, and our post players being soft isn't a surprise. Kelsey Lang doesn't like physicality. And Imani is more physical than Kelsey Lang but that's not really saying much.
Bummer. But you pick up the pieces and move on to the next game. Never gonna win a game with 21 turnovers. Was shocked to see the even rebounds. Thought for sure it was lopsided. Wish we had gone outside more. 8 from BTA. That was where our game probably needed to be more often than not today. With the turnaround that Karen has made with this team, she owes me absolutely no explanation for her decisions. Sometimes you don't win. Plain and simple.
I know, I was in tears afterward, but I meet Coach Aston, she was very nice, some of the player's, they're very nice, Coach gave me a hug I also met my favorite playe4, Taylor
That was a bummer. I agree with all the critiques. We lost the game in the first half, with all the fouls, pulling so many starters all at once (only one of them had three fouls), and the turnovers. I think we went into the game with confidence, but panicked pretty quickly as the separation got worse and worse. I have wondered on this board before why we can't learn to play without fouling so much. Imani and Brooke had excellent games (what time Brooke got to play). I don't like being highly ranked anyway. There's so much less pressure when you're the underdog, which we will be big time in future games with them. Agree with rattfatt that they have a very big mental edge over us. After so many losses in a row, how do you get to really believing deep inside that you can win, and play accordingly...a real quandary. If Jones always plays like that, it's going to be tough for awhile. Still, I'm looking forward to getting out next shot at them.
The reffing was pretty bad, and we fouled and turned ball over way too much... but I think the outcome would have been different if Brie had been able to play... I understand it was a "Coaches' Decision", but that decision by Karen may have cost us the game.. Brie has been the starter all year, and she is the glue that holds this team together, and without it, it all fell apart. Too bad, the one game we REALLY needed her. Baylor still sucks, Mulkey is still a Whacko...
Put the starters back in? They are the ones who let the game get out of control. Jones had one basket off a switch when that ridiculous line up was in. They were already down 17 , the end of the second half was played no worse than when baylor took over. Jones had 29 points , I don't know who you or your starters think she is , whats the point of starting and just letting Jones do what ever she wanted to and she was doing just that . Score 15 and 16 but give up 24 and 29 . Hope by the next match up lessons are learned. But blame you starters for letting it get 17 down . That line up played and help bring it back some . Point guards have to play defense. She was out there taunting and talking well deserved trash. She was doing what ever she wanted to . The ridiculous line up had her locked down and thats a fact . I can post the last min of the second half
If you watched the game, you would know that the fouls were lopsided in the entire first half and that's how Texas fell behind. Bri didn't play for whatever reason and that hurt us because she is the 50-50 ball player. Our team is out of synch when Celina is on the bench, I think she only played like 4 minutes in the 1st half because of 3 fouls. Brooke had 2 fouls and had to sit as well. Brooke and Celina sat the entire 2nd quarter. The turnovers were ridiculous but what do you expect when you're playing with so many bench player in the 2nd. Ariel and Empress both picked up 2 fouls as well. Texas is a better team but did not show it today. I thought our approach on defending Jones needed to change, she was hitting her shots but we never doubled her nor did our post hedge on the ball screens. Our guards, should have started going under the screen but we kept trying to go over and with no hedge you're play 2 on 1. I was really disappointed in Lang, she needs to go see the wizard! I know why Aston starts Bri at the 4 position. Nina Davis blocked her shot and I'm positive that Lang is 5 inches taller. SMH Imani got exposed a little today. She still has a long way to go to be the best post player in the conference, she plays to straight up. She has no base and gets pushed around by smaller players. We do have a really good team but I would agree with a previous post that we need to limit our rotation in conference play. Today was a tough one because of fouls! Once we got down, our shot selection was bad.... we had players trying to get it all back in one play. What I did see today was that our 5 (Celina, Brooke, Empress, Lang, Imani) was better than their 5. Now their 2 players (Davis and Jones), were better than our players at their respective positions. I was disappointed that we did not see Bri match up against Davis. I was looking forward to that match up. Jones is a tough cover for anyone, so I think we have to game plan for her when she get going like she did today. All, I can say is don't panic! Let's see how the team and coaches respond to the loss before we start bashing them. When you play without 2-3 starters in the first half, you're going to fall behind. We still have a special team, a little adversity isn't bad when you're trying to build a final 4 team. We are still tied for 1st in the conference, I hope that is the case when we meet them in Baylor.
Yes the lineup at the end of the first half was total crap. Don't get that. Like the way we fought back but I wasn't happy with our coaching. And Kim is just ridiculous. Good but ridiculous.
Believe me, I'm SO VERY PROUD OF OUR TEAM......not proud of how we played today, but proud that they've brought UT back into the conversation as a great program with lots of very dangerous potential. It's basketball, for gawd's sake! With the exception of a UConn, teams are going to lose a game here and there. But the last 7 minutes of the first half was hard to take. We played in panic mode, and having had 2 of our pure shooters back in could have stopped the bleeding. Perhaps with two of them in the game, we'd have made our run and gotten the game back within reach....maybe down 6-8 at halftime. Then, we could have had a legitimate chance to win. But we'll have an opportunity again, albeit in Waco. Now, the players and coaches need to put the game behind them, prepare for the next couple of weeks, and start a new winning streak as we prepare for the Bears again. I still believe this team is something very special. Mulkey's a great coach....perhaps the best in all of college basketball. If she had Geno's pool of players, Kim could win 10 national championships in a row......like her or not. We desperately needed Brooke in the game midway into the 2nd quarter. She had 2 fouls, but her sitting virtually the entire 1st half left us with no options to make Baylor play an "honest" defense. And, she didn't pick up another foul the entire remainder of the game! And Ariel is our most pure mid-range shooter. She only had 15 minutes playing time the entire game! My personal opinion is those were 2 players who should have gotten the ball, the minutes, and the shots. Maybe next game with the Bears, they'll have that opportunity. Also, Taylor didn't play at all? What's the deal?
Good for you! Not only will our players learn from this game, so will our coaches. We have a very special team this year, and we'll make "a lot of noise" before the season ends.
dang, well, thought we would win this one and, in the last quarter, thought we had a chance to pull it out. did not help that our starting backcourt got into early foul trouble and sat out about a quarter and a half. Too many TOs and BU capitalized in getting to the FT line. They came in shooting less than 60% from the FT line and hit 24-25. We played our worse game this season and still had a shot late. Got to shake it off and get back to playing the way we were. So far, every goal they want to achieve is still within reach. Time to move on to the next game, coming up Wed in Ft. Worth vs TCU.
The only thing I have to add is that this team, and we, as fans, should not underestimate Celina's importance to this team.
Imani had another double double with 15 points and an amazing 17 rebounds so give her credit for a good game against a good team. I don't believe this team will fall apart. My gut tells me the B12 will come down to that game in Waco at the end of the season. I, for one, am thrilled to know Texas is relevant again. We are not giving that fact enough credit I fear. A loss at this point in the season might not be such a bad thing. Keeps you grounded and takes the target off your back.
Not having Brianna was huge, they would've been able to switch when baylor used the ball screen with Nina Davis. Also, as HookedorNot mentioned, they need to do a better job working together on hedging ball screens. And also blitzing the ball screen at times to get it out of Alexis' hands.
