Being that this game was much more enjoyable than Wednesday's, I didn't force myself to wait a day to put up the post-game report :smile:
Juice blogs » The Cyclones
Cyclones Turn a 180° in “Must Win” Game Over the Hawkeyes by Jerry Hales
:: December 8th, 2007 :: 5:18 pm
For much of the game it wasn’t pretty offensively, but a win is a win is a win. Coach McDermott made some nice adjustments to the game plan, and ISU was able to execute defensively for most of the night as the Cyclones led most of the way and held on to defeat Iowa 56-47. Although it’s early to call any game a “must win”, after getting destroyed by Drake on Wednesday we really needed this game. Granted Iowa has had their share of struggles lately as well, but they’re coming off a big win over UNI in Cedar Falls and we’ll take them where we can get them just to get some momentum going at this point.
Some good things that we saw tonight were obvious. The Clones played tremendous defense for most of the game, holding the Hawks to 32% from the field and forcing them deep into the shot clock for most of their possessions. They also held Justin Johnson and Jeff Peterson to a combined 13 points on 5-25 from the field. One adjustment that we made from the Drake game is bringing the posts up to ball screen on offense. This helped relieve the pressure instead of just bringing the posts up for reversal. Obviously Iowa doesn’t have the personnel to pressure like Drake did, but it was a nice wrinkle for us and gave us some more movement and good looks inside. Finally, we took care of the basketball! After 20+ turnovers against Drake, we turned it over a whopping 6 times today. Our point guards Bryan Petersen and Diante Garrett, who came under some scrutiny for careless play on Wednesday, combined for 5 assists, 5 steals, and 0 turnovers.
While we played well enough to win and were able to turn in several positives, the game could have been much more lopsided if we would have finished inside. ISU had several opportunities to convert chip shots inside, especially on putbacks, but came away with nothing on many possessions. While the game was physical, we need to take it at them and finish when we get these opportunities. Craig Brackins had an off night, shooting only 3-15 from the field, although he was more active on the boards in collecting 6 rebounds.
All in all, this was a nice win that sets us up to finish our non-conference schedule on a strong note. The Clones have 5 games that we should be heavily favored in at home sandwiched around the Las Vegas tournament over break. If we take care of business and are able to get healthy over our nine day break coming up, we could win out before opening Big 12 play at Baylor. Regardless of where we go from here, it was huge to get this one over another struggling team and feel a little better about ourselves going into the 9 day layoff.
**On a side note**
I had the opportunity to talk basketball a little at halftime of the game on the KURE (ISU student radio station) with one of my former basketball players, Sam Berbano, who does some color and production for many of the Cyclone home games. They do a great job covering these games, so if you’re looking for a change of pace and live in the Ames, Boone, Nevada area, try flipping over to 88.5 and listening in if you can’t get out to the game!
Juice blogs » The Cyclones
Cyclones Turn a 180° in “Must Win” Game Over the Hawkeyes by Jerry Hales
:: December 8th, 2007 :: 5:18 pm
For much of the game it wasn’t pretty offensively, but a win is a win is a win. Coach McDermott made some nice adjustments to the game plan, and ISU was able to execute defensively for most of the night as the Cyclones led most of the way and held on to defeat Iowa 56-47. Although it’s early to call any game a “must win”, after getting destroyed by Drake on Wednesday we really needed this game. Granted Iowa has had their share of struggles lately as well, but they’re coming off a big win over UNI in Cedar Falls and we’ll take them where we can get them just to get some momentum going at this point.
Some good things that we saw tonight were obvious. The Clones played tremendous defense for most of the game, holding the Hawks to 32% from the field and forcing them deep into the shot clock for most of their possessions. They also held Justin Johnson and Jeff Peterson to a combined 13 points on 5-25 from the field. One adjustment that we made from the Drake game is bringing the posts up to ball screen on offense. This helped relieve the pressure instead of just bringing the posts up for reversal. Obviously Iowa doesn’t have the personnel to pressure like Drake did, but it was a nice wrinkle for us and gave us some more movement and good looks inside. Finally, we took care of the basketball! After 20+ turnovers against Drake, we turned it over a whopping 6 times today. Our point guards Bryan Petersen and Diante Garrett, who came under some scrutiny for careless play on Wednesday, combined for 5 assists, 5 steals, and 0 turnovers.
While we played well enough to win and were able to turn in several positives, the game could have been much more lopsided if we would have finished inside. ISU had several opportunities to convert chip shots inside, especially on putbacks, but came away with nothing on many possessions. While the game was physical, we need to take it at them and finish when we get these opportunities. Craig Brackins had an off night, shooting only 3-15 from the field, although he was more active on the boards in collecting 6 rebounds.
All in all, this was a nice win that sets us up to finish our non-conference schedule on a strong note. The Clones have 5 games that we should be heavily favored in at home sandwiched around the Las Vegas tournament over break. If we take care of business and are able to get healthy over our nine day break coming up, we could win out before opening Big 12 play at Baylor. Regardless of where we go from here, it was huge to get this one over another struggling team and feel a little better about ourselves going into the 9 day layoff.
**On a side note**
I had the opportunity to talk basketball a little at halftime of the game on the KURE (ISU student radio station) with one of my former basketball players, Sam Berbano, who does some color and production for many of the Cyclone home games. They do a great job covering these games, so if you’re looking for a change of pace and live in the Ames, Boone, Nevada area, try flipping over to 88.5 and listening in if you can’t get out to the game!
