Is anyone watching the game from home? Bummed I could not be there tonight. Kelsey Lang looks like an All-American tonight unfortunately so does A'Ja Wilson. If we could stop fouling we would be winning this game. The officiating has been pretty terrible. This Texas team tonight is the one I have been waiting to see all season. Joyner looks awesome!
Holmes a BEAST!!! Lang finally decided to join the party! Let's go Kelsey!! Where the heck has this team been this preseason. I'm glad it's working itself out!!
Me too, even if we don't end up winning this game it is encouraging to see our team finally playing better. Hopefully we can cary this over to the UConn game and rest of the season.
I don't think Lang could be labeled as soft tonight that's for sure. Almost a triple-double. Brooke was shut down Missed free throws hurt Questionable calls from the refs Disappointing crowd. Good effort. Keep up the progression
Game story: We made six more baskets than they did and out rebounded them! ...but they had a 30 to 7 point advantage in free throws. Astounding. One other point. I guess it will get better, but we still cannot score 70 points against a really good team.
Love the the energy tonight.I am proud of Texas.We really shutdown their Inside game.Except A.Wilson.And contain their Guards. Texas will be really special this year.
Kelsey Lang played very well and Joyner did some good things. The offense still needs more improvement. I would like to see Kelsey and Joyner post up more. The team played better but still needs to improve on defense and especially on offense.
I was proud of the team. The free throw differential was the story, of course. I don't usually complain about refs, but we got overcalled for fouls and they got seriously undercalled. Still, we do foul too much. You can play great pressure defense and learn how not to make unnecessary fouls. UConn does that well, so do the Spurs. I hope Kelsey plays like that the rest of the year. I hope Joyner can get more accurate and confident with her outside shot. I like Caron-Goudreau's energy and effort. We're getting better all the time.
Holmes is a beast and will be the Big 12 Freshmen of the year! I was very impressed with the energy and toughness the team played with tonight. Kelsey stepped up big time, which reminded me of her sophomore season. In my opinion, I think with Coats being in foul trouble, helped us stay in the game. I think the size of the South Carolina guards gave Brooke some problems tonight. I agree that our offense needs to greatly improve if we want to be able to compete with the elite teams like UConn, South Carolina, ND, Baylor and Maryland. On a side note, I really do not understand why the commentators keep saying we are young. Brooke and Ariel have been 3 year starters and both Bri and Kelsey have seen significant playing time in their 4 year careers (with a lo of starts). The biggest disappointment for me is Higgs, I was hoping that she would be further along than where she is currently. Especially with her father being a coach and a member of the staff. Higgs has the tools but doesn't appear to have a good feel for defense or the overall game. The ideal starting line up would have been Brooke, Ariel, Higgs, Holmes and Lang. With that lineup, you really have 4 scorers on the floor that can give you 20 points any given night. Plus you can play 4 or 3 out.
Got to disagree with you about Higgs. I think she has a great feel for the game. I agree with Nell Fortner that she is a tough match-up for most opponents. Her defense is not as lock down as Taylor's, partly because she is going for steals about half the time (and often getting them.) To my eyes, she is the quickest player on the team. Taylor is having a great year, but is not the natural offensive threat that Higgs is. We really haven't seen a whole lot of Higgs this year, or certainly last year. She was on the all-tourney team in our Sweet Sixteen, Elite Eight weekend last year, and was huge in some other games that she got decent minutes in, e.g. Tennessee. I know I'm a broken record when it comes to Higgs, but I think she is really special.
Despite the loss I was very pleased with the performance. Just after I said Kelsey was regressing she has probably the best game of her career. Well, they're all regressing. There were a few bad calls, but I think most were legit. As mentioned above, we don't know how to stop a good player from scoring w/o fouling. W/O the fouls it would have just been easy buckets. They were just to big and athletic inside. Wilson was a monster. I thought Higgs played pretty good too. She commands special attention due to her unique talents which means she either scores or enables someone else to score and she's like Dylan Haines on defense. She gives up a few but makes up for it with steals. I think we woulda won with Imani, but like I've said before big athletic teams are going to give us problems. Still like what I'm seeing and I think we can make the S16, possible even E8 with some luck.
Fouls were definitely our undoing tonight. We just kept giving them free chances to score and we paid the price tonight. Really hoping we might be able to pull an upset on Connecticut.
First and foremost, credit to SC. Wilson came in and showed us first hand why she will be a first team AA and potentially POY. She is one of the 3 best players, and best post player we will see all year. As for our performance, I was honestly more nervous about this game than any of the others on the schedule (including UConn) especially after their OSU game. Because they are a complete team stacked at every position. But we held our own and had a real opportunity to win this game and I wouldn't be hesitant about seeing them again in the post season. Lashann is progressing, and I am excited to see where her and Joyner are come seasons end. Also hoping that we can get this kind of performance out of Kelsey for the rest of the season. She wont see this kind of talent in an opposing front court for the rest of the season. BU is talented at the 4 & 5 position, but not like this. I am looking forward to Sunday and how our ladies respond. I hope that the coaches are harping on the fact that they're not the uconn of old and we CAN beat them if we can get beyond the name on the front of their Jersey.
I was at the game, but had to leave at halftime due to a prior commitment. We led most of the first half, and were down only three at the break. I think this was a great game for the Horns, the final result notwithstanding. I won't comment too much on the fouls, and it was actually the Gamecocks who were getting called more often early on. As far as the references to the Horns being young, I think that was used as more of a catch phrase to cover the overall dynamic of the team (losing three starters, and a fourth who started for half her career, and was the vocal leader of the team, and having four current starters in new roles). And we do have just two seniors on the squad, and a frosh in the starting lineup. i thought the team played with confidence, which had been my biggest concern going in, and clearly held their own against a program that has looked dominant thus far. I think many of us were worried after seeing the beat down SC put on a very strong Louisville squad, but I thought we were prepared, and for the most part executed our game plan effectively. We clearly wanted to disrupt their inside game, and they were looking to stop Brooke. Kelsey looked great against the best front court in the country, and other players that came into the game (Hosey, Higgs, Sutton) also looked strong, and anything but intimidated. And, as others have said, Holmes is going to be something special. The biggest takeaway for me...if we can play this strong against one of the clear NC favorites this early on, and given where we're at now vs. where we'll be by the end of the season, I am feeling very good about where this team is headed.
I think part of Higgs problem is attitude as expressed by body language and facial/eye expression. At one time, Aston got on her for some mistake...... and she must have done that ........so Aston immediately substituted for her.
Higgs has a ton of potential but the team can't realize the potential because she doesn't know what she is doing on the floor most of the time. That's why we only run high ball screens for her when she is in the game. We can't put her on the shooter because she loses her man all the time.
Higgs' defense is a work in progress, and yes, she misses her assignment at times. But she is also the quickest player on the team, and that's saying something with this group, and likely the fastest in the country. I haven't seen anyone faster. There is no doubt she will continue to improve, and be a key component of our success. Every player has something they're working on, and Lashann is no different. But it's so much fun to watch when she accelerates, and blows past people....she did it in front of the SC bench, and you could tell by the looks on the coaches faces they knew there was no stopping her.
Back on Higgs, the comment about attitude -- you may be right, but what attitude is it you think she is expressing? She looks frustrated sometimes or maybe down on herself. One more point about LaShann --- she sees the floor well, and is an excellent passer. I believe she has a lot of assists for the amount of time she has been in. Back to Nell Fortner, Nell has commented on how Higgs can fill up a stat sheet very quickly.
Agreed - her body language seems more about getting down on herself than giving attitude to Coach A. That can be very debilitating - my younger brother was like that in baseball. Best player on the team but if he committed an error in the field or struck out, it would affect his entire game. Gotta learn from mistakes rather than letting them drag you down like an anchor.
