What a fun game for our side. Looked like there was a good crowd and they were treated to a thriller. Mina continues to impress. She still makes freshman mistakes but has upped her game as the season has gone along. Gaston is becoming a beast. Taylor had less playing time in this game and hopefully it was to allow her to rest and that she didn’t hurt herself. Great effort by all.
Long way from over. In fact there will probably instances that will cause the ledge jumpers on here to leap. Protecting home court is going to go a long way in winning the conference.
I won't say we played great over all, but we had some stretches where we did. If we could get the team that showed up in the first and fourth quarters to show up for an entire game we would be really good. We have to cut out those lapses in intensity and focus. Great team win and I give this one a A- or B+. I still think we can be better and I'm hoping these flashes that we're seeing are progressive steps toward our full potential.
Amina is exactly who I had guarding Jones on my bingo card. She's going to develop very nicely during her time under Vic.
I Watch the box scores. Harmon has good point stats but not very good shooting stats. I remember she had a nice shot just inside the top of the key.
I know we need Rori all 40 minutes, but some lost balls on dribbles inside and some not so smart passes that resulted in turnovers! Still 7 assists for Rori whereas the entire ISU team a total of 9 assists. Before the game started when the team came out of the locker room, Vic stopped the ISU basket and spoke to Soares for a bit. I'm sure he was saying complementary things. Showed great class. And then at the end of the game, Vic spoke to the crowd and his voice cracked a bit as he seemed to be overcome with a bit of emotion. I think the crowd of 6400+ touched him that the program's popularity is finally growing. The MC came out and encouraged students to come out and set a student attendance record for the next home OU game. Hopefully we can start growing the crowds. Vic has recounted in the past how started small at MSU and then slowly grew the crowds. Just from a very rough scan of the MSU attendances under Vic: 2012: 1,300 2013: 2,200 2014: 3,500 2015: 4,500 2016: 5,500 2017: 8,500 2018: 9,000 2019: 7,000 Currently: 4,500
Even without Soares, ISU is a good team. A blow out from beginning to end was probably never a possibility. But we did what we needed to do: we started strong and finished strong. The part in between was less about us and more about the team we were playing. I’m just tickled pink that we pulled it out.
I try to remind myself, that as a point guard, it’s really about the assists and the steals for Rori. When she is shooting, it is often because she is trying to salvage a broken play with the shot clock running out. If she’s getting assists, it means she’s getting the ball to the player with the best chance of making the shot. I will say, it’s extra special when she has a good shooting day as well.
Are we SURE they are not providing microphones for press questions or are they just not bothering to use them? This is absolutely maddening! According to Vic, practices this week were pretty light physically so maybe those worried about Rori’s minutes can feel a little better (at least this week). Don’t get me wrong I don’t want her overworked but I trust her and the coaches are keeping a close eye on how she’s feeling.
Listened to the radio post-game show. Blair told Craig Way that Muhammad was simply "disruptive" today. That's a great word to describe her play. I can't think of a former 6'4 Texas player who was quicker than Amina. She is just scratching the surface of how good she can be. As her confidence grows, she will continue to get increased minutes. Her versatility allows her to contribute in different ways. I think she will help us create a lot of mismatches in conference play. Vic definitely wants his players to show maximum effort on the court; I think that's something Amina is doing consistently.
I've been highly impressed with Amina from day one. First, some of the players singled her out before the season during the local media day as a player they thought would surprise people. Now she's the leading rebounder on the team despite only averaging 21 minutes a game [FYI: Amina has 105 RBs on the season, Hadi is 2nd right now with 104, but with only 16 mins/game. Together, that is a formidable combo]. She does lead the team in fouls and really needs to work on her free-throws, but that's common for freshman. I think she was very underrated as a recruit (at least by ESPN), most likely because of all the the P5 talent that was on the roster at DeSoto. She will only get better and I think she will be a real force for us during her time at Texas.
Iowa State twitter-verse is a riot. They (like all other B12 programs) are obsessed with Texas. First, the pre-game. Apparently no one warned this silly woman about what happens when you show your a** and go full horns-down: Then, the inevitable post-game. Take a look at the comments by Iowa State fans when you click on the official announcement of the final score: This is my favorite:
I think I saw this same woman, before the game, doing the horns down in the friends-and-family section of ISU. I was thinking, "That usually doesn't end up well"
Thanks for answering my Hadi Faye question. I must be going blind (need a 65" TV) because I don't remember seeing her much at all until the fourth quarter. I was glad to see her come in, though, as Amina's fouling in 3rd quarter was making the game too close for my comfort. Glad everything worked out and that Amina is making such wonderful progress (except for fouling, of course).
Muhammad just gets more impressive every game. Joens is a tough match-up and ISU can win if she goes off. Length and quickness jumps off the screen. Those attributes make her the “disruptive”. Off season mid-range shot is next progression for her.
Has anyone seen Maul on bench? She’s on the web roster. Realize she won’t play but wanting to see her part of team. Wonder how her rehab is going.
WCCBNUT……assists and steals for Harmon are crucial pieces of her attributes to the team. I watch her a lot. Sometimes I get critical off her lazy inside passes or other turnovers. To me her most important attribute is game management. Getting the offense setup, managing the clock, no pressure from other team, etc. Remembering the run of games where she was out, makes me shudder. We’re simply an entirely different team when she’s in charge. I’ll take beautiful assist pass to post from penetration into the middle all day long too!
Pretty sure Maul was at the game. I remember seeing her come off the bench and surround the team during a time out or two.
As I watch the replay on LHN, it's so entertaining to focus on the reactions of the ISU coaches on the bench after Texas made baskets in the first quarter.
Maul had one of my favorite bench moments yesterday. In the 4th quarter, when Shaylee was double teamed and fouled by ISU it looked like the refs weren't going to call anything. Vic half sprinted/half lept from his normal spot all the way down to the baseline and you could tell he was ready to crawl into the refs just as they blew their whistle. The look on Maul's face as she watched this unfold was priceless.
I know the exact play you are discussing. From what I saw, Vic was running down from the coach's box towards the baseline where Shaylee was double teamed to call a timeout in order to preserve possession. But once Vic saw a foul was called on Iowa State, he was relieved. All the players were laughing at how quick Vic could scoot and hop down the sideline.
In this game, ISU got called twice for the 5-second inbound rule, which is pretty rare but something Texas does cause. Now, is it me or my imagination or does Texas take almost as long or even longer to inbound than 5-seconds. Obviously the number is NO because we don't get whistled for it, but it seems that Rori sometimes a looooong time to pick who to throw to and sometimes that decision is a dicey one at that! I don't know why our players don't back up more to give her a better target.
I saw the officials call 2 violations against ISU for running the baseline (which you are not allowed to do under your own basket after the opponent scores). Not sure if those are the ones you are posting about, or if there were other inbound violations due to taking more than 5 seconds.
I only knew the call because the ESPN TV analysts actually pointed it out. So kudos to them for knowing the rule (or overhearing the officials explaining the call).
You can move along the baseline after a made basket by your opponent. Same way you see opposing teams switch out and give the ball to the other when we are pressuring the inbound. When one team scores a basket it’s a reset. You cannot move when it is any other kind of inbounds which was the case in the ISU game. Donarski I believe it was, began to move along the baseline after we had turned it over, resulting in an ISU turnover.
