OU Women BB: Face a tough Iowa State Team on Sunday at LNC @ 2PM

A new coach, new recruits, and a new attitude,
Post Reply
OUBeliever56A
Posts: 4504
Joined: Wed Oct 27, 2021 6:44 am
2
Location: Norman
Has thanked: 607 times
Been thanked: 2561 times

OU Women BB: Face a tough Iowa State Team on Sunday at LNC @ 2PM

Post by OUBeliever56A »

The Oklahoma Sooners Women's Basketball team moves from a hot fire (Baylor) to a real inferno on Sunday as they play iowa State at 2 PM in LNC. Iowa State holds a NET ranking of #12 and is 2-0 in the Big 12 and 10-2 overall. OU brings a 1-1 record in the Big 12 with a 11-2 overall record and a NET ranking of #48. Here is the staff writers article about the game.

https://soonersports.com/news/2023/1/6/ ... ee-matchup

The game is a nationally televised game on ESPN2 between the #11 ranked Iowa State Cyclones and the #17 ranked Oklahoma Sooners. OU lost their two games against Iowa State by 32 points last year.

The Cyclones start 5 players that are 5'11" or taller. Every player that plays 10 minutes or more is over 5'10". Iowa State is led by Ashley Joens, a 6'1" G/F who scores 19.5 PPG and pulls down 9.2 rebounds a game. Stephanie Soares is a 6'6" F/C that has played equally as well with 15.4 PPG an 10.8 Rebounds a game. Those two play 33.0 and 24.3 minutes a game. I do not have a magic mirror that explains to me how Oklahoma stops that attack or even slow down that attack much. Williams and or Vann will likely matchup against Joens (she is the older sister of Aubrey Joens) in a key matchup. With that said, that will require L Scott, Johnson and Culliton to match up with Soares.

The three guards for Iowa State that start are Ryan (12.3 Points/4.8 boards/7 assists), Donarski (12.1 Points/2.6 Boards) and Fritz (6.6 points/3.9 boards). They play 34.2, 33.1 nd 26.2 minutes per game. It looks like to me that Joens may move to guard some as two forwards and 1 guard fill out the top 8 players for the Cyclones. Iowa State pulls down 46.1 boards per game 13 offensive boards per game. The Cyclones outscores their opponents by a 19.3 margin per game and they only allow 60.4 PPG.

Iowa State is a formidable team. As they say in football, when they walk off the bus, they look impressive. The Cyclones also carry that to the next level and play well also.

How does OU bounce back from the Baylor defeat and get a win at home against a very good team? They can start by playing their best game of the season. Maybe their best game under Coach Baranczyk is needed in her two year tenure. Williams, Vann, Llanusa and Robertson have to shoot well and play 30+ minutes which means they need to stay out of foul trouble. I am not sure that the Sooners can play much woman-to-woman defense and their zone must be very good inside and rebound the ball strongly. Liz Scott needs to have a stong game and not get any needless fouls inside and be in position for rebounds. Tot must help to get the most out of the running game and take care of the ball and break out of her shooting slump. Beyond that, Tucker will play as a defensive stopper outside and important person in the zone defense. Aubrey Joens will want to play well against her sister and her former teammates. Reyna Scott may need to play due to the size of the Cyclones and she must step up and play well. she may have to play a bit of forward also.

The game is going to be tough for Oklahoma to get a win I think. Even if they play very well. It will require 40 minutes of effort and strong play.

One note about Robertson and the 3-point record. She is nine 3-point buckets away from the record. Maybe she can sink 10 buckets from downtown tonight and give the Sooners a huge boost and help defeat Iowa State. That would be a nice result to comment about on Sunday night.

I really hope that Oklahoma pulls off the upset on Sunday, but it will take a very good effort by the Sooners.

Boomer Sooner!
AustinTXSooner
Posts: 471
Joined: Tue Oct 26, 2021 10:02 am
2
Has thanked: 112 times
Been thanked: 243 times

Post by AustinTXSooner »

I have not seen Iowa State play this year, so the following is from numbers alone. However, I have seen Fennelly's teams over the past 20 years and he always seems to have a couple of starters that are maybe not quite as athletic as some would want. Maybe this year is the exception. I don't know.

We are not short. Sherri used to recruit a bunch of players in the 5'-6" to 5'-9" range. Jennie doesn't seem to be doing that. The only players on the roster below 5'-9" are Tot (5'-3") and Washington (5'-7"). Joens and Cooper are 5'-9". Yes, Tot is going to have to guard somebody at least 7" taller than her. And somebody has to guard Soares. Soares averages 15.4 pts, which tells me she is probably aggressive, so Madi or Skylar are probably not the ones to guard her. I see increased playing time for Johnson and Culliton.

Oklahoma
PlayerHeightMinutes
Madi Williams6'-0"25.0
Naveah Tot5'-3"24.5
Ana Llanusa6'-0"24.4
Taylor Robertson6'-0"24.2
Liz Scott6'-2"14.5
---
Skylar Vann6'-0"19.2
Kennady Tucker5'-10"17.2
Aubrey Joens5'-9"15.5
Reyna Scott5'-10"13.2
Kiersten Johnson6'-4"12.2

Iowa State
PlayerHeightMinutes
Emily Ryan5'-11"34.3
Ashley Joens6'-1"33.1
Lexi Donarski6'-0"33.1
Denae Fritz5'-11"26.2
Stephanie Soares6'-6"24.4
---
Nvamer Diew6'-2"16.8
Maggie Espenmiller-McGraw5'-10"11.8
Morgan Kane6'-3"10.0
Looking at these numbers, I see an Iowa State team that is not deep. A high-tempo game favors us. Everything else favors them.

Joens is like Madi in the sense that she's going to get her numbers. We need to limit the impact of Soares, Ryan, and Donarski.
OUBeliever56A
Posts: 4504
Joined: Wed Oct 27, 2021 6:44 am
2
Location: Norman
Has thanked: 607 times
Been thanked: 2561 times

Post by OUBeliever56A »

I agree that Coach Baranczyk is recruiting taller players than what I understand the former coach, Coale, recruited.

Last year (2021 recruits) the only recruit over 6'0" was Svoboda. I do not really know if Svoboda was a holdover recruit from Coach Coale or was recruited to OU by Coach Baranczyk. Early in the season Svoboda had a couple of good moments and was playing somewhat regularly, but as the season played out, she played less and less. She has played 2 minutes this year. The "Center" position was lead by Nydia Lampkin and Liz Scott last year with Vann filling in at times. They played 28 minutes per game.

For this season, Coach Baranczyk recruited two bigs. Culliton and Johnson. I was excited especially about Culliton from reading about her. I was curious about Johnson. This year Liz Scott starts and the two freshman add playing to the "Center" role. Scott plays 14.5 minutes and the two freshman add 20 minutes.

I want to be generous about the new "Centers" that have been recruited but it is hard to be so IMO. With the offensive plan for the Sooners, they do not depend on a lot of offense from the center position. But they do need a great deal of defensive presence inside. Lampkin provided some of that last year. This year Johnson has had a couple of moments with blocks. But the Sooners are still in need of a "Center". I do not see a solution for next year in Svoboda, Culliton and Johnson. I would say that I do not see that Svoboda is any less talented than Culliton and Johnson. I do not understand her not playing in 2022. Why not play her some?

Next year we have the 6'3" Allen coming in from Tuttle. We also will have Verhulst (6'1") coming in as a transfer. Verhulst may be a guard or a forward. I do not think she plays inside from her body makeup standing on the sideline. She could maybe be the 4-spot (Williams) though. I wonder if the #2 prospect in Oklahoma can come in and give the Sooners a presence inside as a freshman. i hope so. Scott can return for her 5th year if she wants to. The Sooners may need her, so I hope she does.

I guess my point is this. Yes, Coach Baranczyk is trying to recruit 'bigger'. But so far we do not have any immediate results from that. The Sooners are still overmatched inside often. I think that will maybe be the case again on Sunday against Iowa State. Being overmatched results in fouls. That takes OU deeper into their bench which currently does not have a lot of solutions.

I am a big Coach Baranczyk fan! But it will be interesting to watch her finish this season. She believes strongly in an offensive philosophy. A philosophy that I actually enjoy when it is hitting on all cylinders. But the team may need an alternate plan when the running game is not available to them or the personnel on the court do not match that game. I am anxious to see the 2nd chapter of the Baranczyk 'book' for that solution.

Boomer Sooner!
OUBeliever56A
Posts: 4504
Joined: Wed Oct 27, 2021 6:44 am
2
Location: Norman
Has thanked: 607 times
Been thanked: 2561 times

Post by OUBeliever56A »

The Oklahoma Sooners Women's Basketball played perhaps their best game of 2022-2023 today against the Iowa State Cyclones and won a BIG home game 82-79. The win raised their record in the Big 12 to 2-1 and overall to 12-2. Iowa State came into the game with the league's best NET ranking at #12 before play started on Saturday. OU's NET ranking was #50. This win was a big win for that reason as it should improve their NET ranking.

Perhaps the biggest play of the game occurred 2 minutes into the game. Early the Cyclones led 5-0 about a minute and half into the game. Ana Llanusa dropped a 3-point shot to cut the lead to 5-3 at the 8:04 mark. Five seconds later, Soares, the 6'6" athletic C/F for Iowa State went through the lane on a shot attempt that missed. On the rebound play, Soares did something to her leg and was unable to stand on her leg. The Iowa State staff spent several minutes with Soares on the court trying to diagnose what was wrong. When she stood up with assistance, they took her straight to the locker room. Soares did not return to the game and spent the second half behind the bench ins street clothes.

Nevaeh Tot made a three point bucket soon after play re-started to give OU a 6-5 and the game was one. BTW, the 5-0 lead by Iowa State early would be there largest lead of the game. That was a big key to the game for Oklahoma as they never let Iowa State get out to a lead over a period of time. In fact OU lead for 26:20 minutes of the game while I-State only lead for 11:19 minutes in the game. OU was also able to control the tempo of the game with Tot and other Sooners pushing the ball up court repeatedly. Another key of the game was that OU limited their turnovers to a season-low, I believe, of 10 turnovers. That is great job by the Sooners with the defense that I-State plays.

OU led 19-18 at the end of the 1Q. Tot and Llanusa played well in the 1Q as they had 6 and 5 points respectively. For I-State, Ashley Joens socred 8 in the quarter. A factor in the game started to occur though as OU had 5 fouls called against them while the Cyclones had but 1.

In the 2Q neither team led by more than 4 points with Iowa State taking a 36-35 lead into halftime. Liz Scott, Tot and Taylor Robertson led the Sooners in the quarter with 4, 3, 3 points respectively. Once again Ashley Joens led I-State with 8 points. (Ashley is the older of Sooner Aubrey Joens). A big advantage in the quarter was that Iowa State scored 8 points from the free throw line on 8 of 8 shooting. OU committed 6 fouls to 3 for I-State. OU did not shoot a free shot in the quarter. In fact, Iowa State was 11 of 12 from the charity stripe while OU was 0 for 0 in the 1st half. OU does use their hands quite a bit on defense to help them defend, bit there is not reason for that disparity as Iowa State plays physical, especially with their bodies.

The 3Q was the Sooners best quarter as they outscored the Cyclones 24-12 in the quarter. Oklahoma reached their biggest lead of the game just before the end of the quarter at 59-48 when Llanusa hit a 3-pointer with 3 seconds left. Oklahoma shot 42% from the field and 43% from the 3-point line in the quarter to help them to their lead. Llanusa scored 11 for the Sooners in the 3rd. The free shots evened up in the 3Q as OU was 5 for 8 from the line and Iowa State was 6 for 7.

Iowa State had shot no better than 33.3% from the field through 3 quarters. But they warmed up in the 4th quarter as they shot 55.6% in the 4th. The strong shooting allowed Iowa State to close to within 3 points of the Sooners with 6:23 left in the game on a 3-point shot by Donarksi. After T-Rob hit three free shots on a foul on a 3-point shot and I-State hit their own 3-pointer, neither team led by more than 3 the rest of the game in a very competitive game down to the final second of the game. I would say the Sooner fans added to the Sooner effort in the final 6 minutes as they were on their feet and encouraging the team.

Down the stretch the Sooners took turns scoring to keep them in the game. Llanusa scored 2, Vann scored 2, Williams scored 2 free throws, Llanusa hit a 3-pointer, Tot hit a jumper for 2 and the score was 78-77 in favor of the Sooners with 36 seconds left in the game. Ashley Joens made a 2-point jumper on after offensive rebound with 7 seconds left to make the score 78-79 in favor of I-State. With 7 seconds left, Skylar Vann made a very nice scoop shot around a defender off the glass to give the Sooners a 1-point lead 80-79.

Iowa State took the ball inside with Ashley Joens with Madi Williams guarding Joens with 4 fouls. Williams came up with a great block on Joens' shot and then Williams come up with the ball after the block. OU called timeout immediately. OU moved the ball up to the half court area to take the ball out after the time out. The Sooners got the ball to T-Rob on the inbound play and she was immediately fouled. T-Rob made both free throws to give the Sooners a 82-79 lead. Iowa State did put up a 3-point shot at the buzzer but the shot fell short as time ran out.

In the 4th quarter, Joens and Donarski each scored 10 for the Cyclones. Vann scored 7 with Robertson and Llanusa scoring 5 each. Both teams shot 7 free throws in the quarter with I-State making 7 and OU making 6.

Big WIN for the Sooners. It was an important win for Oklahoma after dropping the game to Baylor at home earlier this week.

For OU, Llanusa scored 23, Vann and Tot scored 13 each, T-Rob scored 10 with one 3-pointer. L Scott and Williams also scored 6 each with R Scott and Culliton adding 4 and Tucker adding 3. Williams got 8 rebounds with Vann adding 8,

Ashley Joens scored 27 for I-State with Donarski adding 20. Off the bench Diew added 14. Joens had 8 rebounds also.

The free throw difference in the 1st half was key as the Cyclones shot 11 more freebies in the game and made 11 more free shots also. Joens was 12 of 13 from the charity stripe as she was repeatedly given free shots on slight contact going to the bucket.

It is a fact that the injury to Soares was a key to the game. But that is the way the game goes sometimes. No one felt sorry for OU when they lost Llanusa for 2/3rds of the season last year.

After the 1Q in which OU played 11 players, I thought the substitution pattern was reduced by OU. I think they tried to keep no less than 3 of the starters in the game (including Vann) at all times. I think that helped the offensive flow and the defensive effort. Llanusa, Tot and T-Rob all played over 30 minutes. Williams played 23 but missed most of the 3Q with 3 fouls. Vann played 24 minutes with Tucker playing 16 to lead the Sooners.

Big win for the Sooners. BIG WIN.

Oklahoma travels to Texas Tech on Wednesday for a 7 PM tipoff. Tech is 1-2 in the conference after they defeated TCU in Ft. Worth on Saturday 78-70.

Boomer Sooner!
OUBeliever56A
Posts: 4504
Joined: Wed Oct 27, 2021 6:44 am
2
Location: Norman
Has thanked: 607 times
Been thanked: 2561 times

Post by OUBeliever56A »

Here is the staff writers article about the Oklahoma Sooners win over the Iowa State Cyclones on Sunday afternoon 82-79.

https://soonersports.com/news/2023/1/8/ ... iowa-state

- - - - -

The Current Standings for the Big 12 Women is below: (With the NET ranking of 1-9-2023

1st - Baylor 3-0 / 12-3 overall = #16 NET, up 2
2nd - Iowa State 2-1 / 10-3 overall = #12 NET, down 1
2nd - Kansas 2-1 / 12-2 overall = #30 NET, up 1
2nd - Oklahoma 2-1 / 12-2 overall = #51 NET, up 3
2nd - Texas 2-1 / 11-5 overall = #13 NET, no change
6th - Kansas State 1-2 / 12-4 = #64 NET, down 1
6th - Oklahoma State 1-2 / 11-4 = #50 NET, down 3
6th - Texas Tech 1-2 / 13-3 = #79 NET, up 1
6th - West Virginia 1-2 / 10-4 = #64 NET, no change
10th - TCU 0-3 / 6-8 = #131 NET, up 1

In the weekend action, Baylor won at Kansas 75-62, OU won over Iowa State 82-79 in Norman, Oklahoma State won over Texas 86-82 in Stillwater, West Virginia won over K-State in Manhattan 77-70 and Texas Tech won at TCU 78-70.

In the mid-week games this week here is the schedule:

Tuesday Night;
Kansas travels to Austin to face Texas at 7 PM on LHN. Two 2-1 teams will play to see who can improve to 3-1 in conference.
TCU travels to West Virginia to play at 7 PM on ESPN+. West Virginia can get to a 2-2 conference record with a win over TCU.

Wednesday Night:
Baylor hosts Oklahoma State in Waco at 7 PM on ESPN+. Baylor is playing well, especially Andrews who scored 57 points in the two games this week against OU and Kansas.
Kansas State travels to Ames, IA to face Iowa State at 6:30 PM on ESPN+. I think I-State will return to the win column with or without Soares.
Oklahoma travels to Lubbock to play Texas Tech at 7 PM on ESPN+. Oklahoma should be able to make it two in a row and pick up their 2nd road win in the Big 12.

Boomer Sooner!
Post Reply

Create an account or sign in to join the discussion

You need to be a member in order to post a reply

Create an account

Not a member? register to join our community
Members can start their own topics & subscribe to topics
It’s free and only takes a minute

Register

Sign in