**** WBB: Cyclones host Texas Tech - Gamethread - 6:30 pm ESPN+ ****

[BoxsterCy]

Who: Iowa State (12-6, 3-2 Big 12) vs. Texas Tech (12-6, 3-2 Big 12)
Where: Hilton Coliseum – Ames, Iowa
When: Tuesday, January 14, 2025 – 6:30 p.m. CT

The Links
WATCH: ESPN+
PxP: Alex Cohen Analyst: Molly Parrott
LISTEN: Cyclone Radio Network – Varsity App or Radio Affiliates
PxP: Noah Wolf Analyst: Jamie Steyer Johnson
LIVE STATS

 

[BoxsterCy]

Cyclones are heavily favored, obviously, at Hilton and TT sort of really sucks.

 

[mred]

Not only has Tech lost four conference games in a row after beating Houston at home, the losses have been by 18, 20, 36, and 26 points. Granted, the last three have been against possibly the top three teams in the conference right now.

After us, they have winnable games vs BYU and @ Houston, but then they have another tough stretch of six games where they could easily lose all six -- 3 home games vs teams better than them, 2 road games vs teams around their level, and one road game vs TCU.

 

[loyalsons4evertrue]

Tech is BAD.....and I mean really BAD. This should be a comfortable win but we'll still need to play a clean game. Hopefully the shooting from the road trip to Arizona continues tonight.

 

[mred]

Notes from Tech stats:

Maupin and Shavers (both junior guards) are by far the biggest scoring options, combining for 28.6 of the team's 66.0 ppg. They also combine for around 39% FG and 29% 3FG so they aren't very efficient, but that's par for the course for Tech -- those are both around the team averages.

The best 3FG% of anyone with over 10 attempts is only 33%. ISU has six players over that mark.

The TTU team a/to ratio is 0.65. I triple-checked that I wasn't misreading that. ISU is 1.38. Tech's best a/to is a backup guard with 17 assists and 15 to -- ISU has six players better than that (although one is Hare).

Fritz averaged 8.8 points and 4.6 rebounds in 31.0 minutes as a freshman at ISU. After a disastrous season at Baylor, she's averaging 3.4 points and 2.2 rebounds in 23.3 minutes this season.

Bristow averaged 5.1 points and 3.7 rebounds in 15.1 minutes as a freshman at ISU. She's averaging 4.4 points and 2.6 rebounds in 13.0 minutes this season.

 

[ZorkClone]

I wonder what Tech's game plan will be? They aren't good at shooting at the perimeter but probably need to as their centers are not great. They could try getting transition buckets, but I don't know how fast they are.

 

[mred]

I wonder what Tech's game plan will be? They aren't good at shooting at the perimeter but probably need to as their centers are not great. They could try getting transition buckets, but I don't know how fast they are.

Also, we don't tend to give up a lot of transition baskets unless the opponent is really good. It comes at the expense of offensive rebounding, but we do usually get back on defense well.

 

[mred]

The TTU team a/to ratio is 0.65. I triple-checked that I wasn't misreading that. ISU is 1.38.

ISU is #10 in the nation in a/to. Tech is #282.

 

[acoustimac]

For Tech this is a pick your poison night. Their posts are big, but not that good. If they double on Crooks and our guards continue their magic this one gets ugly fast. If they single Crooks she should foul out their posts and get a ton of points. Then the game gets ugly a bit slower, but the result is the same. I'm hoping we see considerable bench play tonight.

 

[NWICY]

After seeing some of these statistics I feel better about tonight's game, Let's go get the W!

 

[BoxsterCy]

ISU is #10 in the nation in a/to. Tech is #282.

Made me look! Here's the top 20. KSU and TCU in the top five with my surprising local Gophers so three Big 12 teams in top 10. Pretty decent stat as most of the better teams are obviously good at this.

 

[BoxsterCy]

For Tech this is a pick your poison night. Their posts are big, but not that good. If they double on Crooks and our guards continue their magic this one gets ugly fast. If they single Crooks she should foul out their posts and get a ton of points. Then the game gets ugly a bit slower, but the result is the same. I'm hoping we see considerable bench play tonight.

I'd REALLY rather not other than metering Ryan's minutes if they need to keep doing that. I'd like to see Harris and Joens out on the court as much as possible to keep building some core rotation cohesion. I don't care if Tanke or Hansford get more than token minutes at this point. We don't play till Sunday, no need to rest anyone till the 4th quarter.

 

[WartburgClone]

 

[CY9008]

Fritz really struggled in those last 3 games.
3 points in 89 total minutes on 1-13 shooting.

Sad to see her career trajectory.

 

[mred]

Merritt is a solid player for them who has started 11 games this year. This almost certainly means more minutes for Bristow, who had her first start of the year vs TCU and played 33 minutes in Merritt's absence.

 

[Three4Cy]

Krista Gerlich's contract expires in March and has not been renewed. Over the past five seasons at TTU, she is 70-71 overall and 21-56 in Big 12 play. Also, no NCAA bids in the past four seasons.

Using ESPN's analytics, they predict 4-9 over TTU's final 13 games, meaning a 16-15 / 5-13 finish for the season and 74-80 / 25-65 in her five years at TTU.

My thought is this may be the last time we see Krista Gerlich in Ames as the head coach of TTU.

 

[ZorkClone]

Krista Gerlich's contract expires in March and has not been renewed. Over the past five seasons at TTU, she is 70-71 overall and 21-56 in Big 12 play. Also, no NCAA bids in the past four seasons.

Using ESPN's analytics, they predict 4-9 over TTU's final 13 games, meaning a 16-15 / 5-13 finish for the season and 74-80 / 25-65 in her five years at TTU.

My thought is this may be the last time we see Krista Gerlich in Ames as the head coach of TTU.

That's a shame to potentially lose an easy game or two every year. (Don't look at last years game)

 

[geewago]

The only reason TT will not finish last in the conference is because UH & UCF are sorrier than the Canisius Golden Griffiths and will refuse to let them have such honors. So.........lose this game in your own house? Better not........Posters will come out of the woodwork screaming, "FIRE EERBODY".

 

[NWICY]

The only reason TT will not finish last in the conference is because UH & UCF are sorrier than the Canisius Golden Griffiths and will refuse to let them have such honors. So.........lose this game in your own house? Better not........Posters will come out of the woodwork screaming, "FIRE EERBODY".

Hmmm, seems like you've been around this board for awhile.

 

[swclone11]

I’m thinking Audi is due for a big game and this one seems like one she could destroy in. Always interesting to have former players coming back, but neither were all that disharmonious - and most of Fritz’s return to Hilton magic was probably used up last year with a far better Baylor team. Not as much emotion to use against former teammates besides just wanting to prove a point (compared to someone like Hunter for the men as was mentioned in another thread).