I could cover this game blow by blow after sitting in Hilton tonight. I quite honestly thought Iowa would come in and blow the socks off our sisters. I was wrong. Very wrong.
So what was good about this game? Defense. Gritty defense. How about a defense that held Iowa THIRTY points below average? How about a defense that kept this team in the game when it had no right to be? Even with a few glaring breakdowns (too many open treys in the 1st half, too few defensive rebounds in the 2nd half) the defense kept Iowa State not only within striking range, but actually tied the game up a couple of times in the end.
What was bad about this game? Offense. Shooting 29% from the field (a recurring theme this year) will give you the same result every time. A loss. This game was pure ugliness on offense. It was a mystery that saw Camber hit three beautiful treys and miss four layups. It would see Carlton miss every type of shot possible except free throws. It would see the post players combine for 14 points...10 from Kennedy-Hopoate. Scott and Burkhall were non-factors. Durr was a non-factor other than one big three towards the end of the game. Carlton earned 17 points but shot a whopping 3-16 from the floor. Ugh. Ugly. Break mirrors ugly.
The upside is that this team showed grit. I was impressed with the effort and it takes effort to play defense with the tenacity they showed tonight. Unfortunately, effort has yielded four straight losses the last three by a combined 12 points. The spread tonight wasn't as big as 6 points would show.
Here's what I saw and this is my opinion only. Carlton (as I've said before) is a quantity shooter. Unfortunately her percentage isn't good right now. She's also one of the few who isn't afraid to take a shot. The dependency on her means that other ladies aren't being aggressive when they need to be. Perfect case in point was quarter two tonight. The team made ONE basket. They only took EIGHT shots. No one wanted to shoot the ball. Quarter four saw the team hit THREE baskets on 12 attempts. And a bunch of those were chucking up threes at the end to try and tie it. In half of the game the team hit 4 out of 20 shots. And yet, they were still in the game. Amazing. Someone besides Carlton has to step up and Carlton has to demand others shoot besides her. Balance is the key to winning. Camber isn't afraid and was one of the few who would drive and "finish" (in this case get a good shot off). Too many people dribbled, got themselves into trouble and then panicked. I was impressed with what Kennedy-Hopoate did on the court. She will start making shots and she sure is trying. I hope to see more of her in the post with Scott backing her up. Back to the lack of shooting. Too many times I saw three of the ladies standing around the perimeter while two were dribbling the clock away. Usually this resulted in nothing good. When this team got aggressive is when they scored. We need more of that from everyone.
Bottom line is this. This team has to find an offense. Until it does, the losses will continue to mount. If they find offense from the likely suspects - Durr, Carlton, Wise, and Kennedy-Hopoate - then we will see wins as long as the defense continues to shine. When that offense shows up, look out. Right now, if things go reasonably well we are seeing a team entering tough conference play with a 6-5 record at best. That means they have serious work to do to even remotely have a shot at the NCAA or NIT tournaments. No more margin of error. But I believe. I believe this can be fixed and we will see what this team is truly capable of.
Until Sunday...
So what was good about this game? Defense. Gritty defense. How about a defense that held Iowa THIRTY points below average? How about a defense that kept this team in the game when it had no right to be? Even with a few glaring breakdowns (too many open treys in the 1st half, too few defensive rebounds in the 2nd half) the defense kept Iowa State not only within striking range, but actually tied the game up a couple of times in the end.
What was bad about this game? Offense. Shooting 29% from the field (a recurring theme this year) will give you the same result every time. A loss. This game was pure ugliness on offense. It was a mystery that saw Camber hit three beautiful treys and miss four layups. It would see Carlton miss every type of shot possible except free throws. It would see the post players combine for 14 points...10 from Kennedy-Hopoate. Scott and Burkhall were non-factors. Durr was a non-factor other than one big three towards the end of the game. Carlton earned 17 points but shot a whopping 3-16 from the floor. Ugh. Ugly. Break mirrors ugly.
The upside is that this team showed grit. I was impressed with the effort and it takes effort to play defense with the tenacity they showed tonight. Unfortunately, effort has yielded four straight losses the last three by a combined 12 points. The spread tonight wasn't as big as 6 points would show.
Here's what I saw and this is my opinion only. Carlton (as I've said before) is a quantity shooter. Unfortunately her percentage isn't good right now. She's also one of the few who isn't afraid to take a shot. The dependency on her means that other ladies aren't being aggressive when they need to be. Perfect case in point was quarter two tonight. The team made ONE basket. They only took EIGHT shots. No one wanted to shoot the ball. Quarter four saw the team hit THREE baskets on 12 attempts. And a bunch of those were chucking up threes at the end to try and tie it. In half of the game the team hit 4 out of 20 shots. And yet, they were still in the game. Amazing. Someone besides Carlton has to step up and Carlton has to demand others shoot besides her. Balance is the key to winning. Camber isn't afraid and was one of the few who would drive and "finish" (in this case get a good shot off). Too many people dribbled, got themselves into trouble and then panicked. I was impressed with what Kennedy-Hopoate did on the court. She will start making shots and she sure is trying. I hope to see more of her in the post with Scott backing her up. Back to the lack of shooting. Too many times I saw three of the ladies standing around the perimeter while two were dribbling the clock away. Usually this resulted in nothing good. When this team got aggressive is when they scored. We need more of that from everyone.
Bottom line is this. This team has to find an offense. Until it does, the losses will continue to mount. If they find offense from the likely suspects - Durr, Carlton, Wise, and Kennedy-Hopoate - then we will see wins as long as the defense continues to shine. When that offense shows up, look out. Right now, if things go reasonably well we are seeing a team entering tough conference play with a 6-5 record at best. That means they have serious work to do to even remotely have a shot at the NCAA or NIT tournaments. No more margin of error. But I believe. I believe this can be fixed and we will see what this team is truly capable of.
Until Sunday...
