Twister Sister Summary - ladies collapse in fourth lose to Hawks again

acoustimac

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The game started off with solid defense. The ladies were taking good shots overall. Weirdly had a couple of early shots blocked. Iowa was taking threes and missing starting the game 0-9. Crooks was hot and ISU was hitting inside and out. The ladies worked out to a 12-2 early lead. For Iowa, Olsen was the only one doing anything. ISU led 14-6 after Williams hit two free throws. Olsen was keeping Iowa around. No one else had scored in the game. Brown hot from three and sadly this would be something we would miss later. The negative is that Crooks is missing all of her free throws. After missing a pair, it’s 19-13 ISU. Iowa State continued to miss free throws, 2/7 so far, and it allowed Iowa to creep back into the game. It's called missed opportunities. It was 20 to 17 after Harris got burnt on a drive. AJ missed a layup on a fast break opportunity. Chances were there and ISU wasn’t making the most of them. Iowa State ended the quarter really struggling at the line and missing several opportunities. They led 20-17.

2nd
Iowa kept missing from deep while getting some open looks, but Iowa kept getting too many offensive boards and second chances. Brown picked up her THIRD foul on a questionable call and she was done for the half. A theme that would rear its ugly head again and again, the offense was a bit dysfunctional against a tough Iowa D. Part of this is a lack of foul calls and part the lineup on the court. Hansford fouled on a trey and Iowa pulled closer. After another turnover Iowa tied it at 22 on another Olsen shot. She's the CC for Iowa this year. Meanwhile, the sisters just keep missing at the line. Not sure it would have mattered, but Iowa was beating us up and getting away with it. Harris hits a trey after Iowa gets their first lead and Iowa answers with one of their own. On the other end, Crooks took an ill advised trey attempt. ISU still led 30-28 at the timeout. Too many empty possessions on offense. Iowa's D has something to do with it. But I really think some of the lineups don’t flow well. Add to that, our defense was breaking down. After another turnover Iowa hit yet another trey to take the lead 36-34. Joens hit a trey and it’s 39-36 at the half.

3rd
Beginning of the third was a back and forth affair. Very physical. Crooks was very active…almost unstoppable. The old theme of too many Iowa offensive boards kept haunting us. Crooks was tough on offense and terrible defensive rebounding. Sometimes she was completely immobile when a rebound was in the area. ISU led 46-42 early. Our second worst defender Harris is getting beat to the hole. Like Tanke she is susceptible to driving guards. For a while it seemed we just had a bad lineup on the floor. At this point it was 15 to 5 turnovers, but ISU was up 2 at the timeout 46-44. After the break the name of the game was keep feeding Crooks. Add to that, a rare second half trey from Hansford. Tanke would follow with a trey and the lead was suddenly 54-46. This was the end of the good times for the sisters. Interestingly, Brown had yet to play and the gamble was working. Crooks scored again and was answered by back to back treys by Iowa. Hansford was back to missing wide open shots. AJ fouled and a free throw pulled Iowa within three. Brown re-entered the game with :20 left, likely to have an offensive player out there for the last shot. She missed it. At the end of three ISU leads 56-53.

4th
Starts with a Harris brick from deep and the next possession is a slowed down turnover. Crooks would get hit in the face and no call. Iowa hit a trey to tie the game. The missed foul was upgraded to an intentional foul, but Iowa was on a 10-2 run. The offense seemed lost way too much. The theme of the quarter was too many empty possessions. Audi's free throw shooting was killing us and Iowa was on a 16-5 run. The team was trying to force the ball to Crooks and this resulted in turnovers when she was closely guarded. We appeared to forget the three point line. Ryan missed a layup and on the other end we foul and Iowa scored. They led 65-61. It was now a 20-5 run for the Hawks. How did ISU respond? Another turnover and yes, on the other end Crooks fouled. At this point with about 4 minutes left it felt like the game was slipping away. Same theme - we miss again and foul again. Brown scored to pull within four 67-63, but the clock was running out. We fouled on the other end and Iowa’s lead was back to five. For ISU? Another turnover. Crooks traveled.

Iowa wins 75-69 after ISU absolutely collapses in the fourth. There was no better description for what we saw. ISU scored a whopping 11 points in the fourth quarter (four of them in the last minute).

Observations

This team needs to learn how to shoot free throws. It has now become a major liability.

Way too many offensive rebounds given up for second chances.

What happened to the offense in the fourth? There was no semblance of any plan at all other than force the ball to Audi. It was as if anyone else wasn’t worthy of putting up a shot.

POG - I’d give it to Crooks, but her free throw performance keeps me from doing so.

Ryan - wow…sloppy play from the floor general. Nine turnovers to 7 assists. Only 9 points.

Crooks - went off for 31 points and 10 boards, but woof…her free throw shooting really hurt the team tonight. 3-10. That is 100% unacceptable.

Brown - she did the team no favors picking up three quick fouls and essentially sitting out two quarters. 13 points and 5 boards.

AJ - not much here at all. I wonder why she is starting except for her defense. No points and four boards.

Tanke - only took two shots. She is SLOW out there. Anyone can drive past her. And the lack of quickness doesn’t allow her to get open.

Harris - still disappointing. Only 3 points and 1 board.

Joens - got the start tonight and not much happened. Five points, 2 assists and 3 boards.

Williams - no help here either. Couldn’t deal with Iowa’s bigs.

Hansford - made a three, but went back to missing again. 1-5 on the night. I was hoping after her make she would be the hero. Not so.

Three pointers - after a horrendous 0-9 start, Iowa went 8/16 after. ISU forgot the three point shot later in the game and had 7/15. ISU forgot they could shoot from outside and kept trying to force the ball inside to Crooks at all costs.

Rebounding - Hard to believe ISU out rebounded Iowa 37-33. But Iowa had 12 big offensive boards.

The big stat - turnovers. 21-9. That was a crapload of empty possessions. Too many in a row at times.

The big push - After ISU seemingly had the game under control with an 8 point lead, Iowa completely dominated the game going on a 20-5 run late in the game. Why? Empty possessions.

The bench was a big factor tonight. Just no production from it at all. Eleven points and 8 rebounds out of five players.

We all knew that Carver has a way of turning a better team into another victim. We’ve seen good teams go in there and come out wondering what happened. Remember Ashley Joens’ first season? I truly believe our team is better than Iowa. But lordy, the mistakes we made are not survivable on the road. We committed 21 turnovers and missed 10 free throws and still could have won. What it does tell me though is we have some very big holes that need corrected quickly. There were many on here that predicted a 15 point blowout. Well, sorry to disappoint, but that didn’t happen. But this game was in our grasp. Reminded me of a raccoon given a sugar cube and they wash it and wonder what happened. Just disappointing to let this one slip away.
 
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ZorkClone

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I will say I thought we would lose, but the lead we had made the loss more disappointing. It is pathetic that we are 2-8 in our last 10 vs the hawks, we are basically the same as UNIn or Drake against them. Lends some credit that the game has passed Bill by.

I feel like I haven’t seen this team play well against anyone will a pulse. Presumably MTSU was pretty good, but I couldn’t watch it.

The fact we lost our 1 good transfer doesn’t look good for the rest of the season.
 

acoustimac

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I will say I thought we would lose, but the lead we had made the loss more disappointing. It is pathetic that we are 2-8 in our last 10 vs the hawks, we are basically the same as UNIn or Drake against them. Lends some credit that the game has passed Bill by.

I feel like I haven’t seen this team play well against anyone will a pulse. Presumably MTSU was pretty good, but I couldn’t watch it.

The fact we lost our 1 good transfer doesn’t look good for the rest of the season.
Maybe a wee bit over-reacting. Carver is a Hell hole for ISU. Always has been. Until Clark came on the scene this series was always a home court win.
 

BoxsterCy

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Maybe a wee bit over-reacting. Carver is a Hell hole for ISU. Always has been. Until Clark came on the scene this series was always a home court win.

Started with the Gustafson teams not Clark and we are a good decade into it.

1-3 vs Gustafson teams
0-1 vs the Doyle team
1-3 versus Clark's teams
0-1 the versus the Olsen team

I mean this isn't as bad as football since it's just one game out of 30 but they have pretty much owned us the last 10 years. :(
 
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jspeels

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We did alot to lose this game…refs assisted in that happening. Not solely to blame, but took Brown out of it on 2 cheaper calls in first half, she had her swagger going! May or may not have made the difference. Go State!
 
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peatyscotch

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Thanks again Acoustimac for your usual excellent recap of the game. You've made some excellent observations. But let's peel the onion a bit and look at what seems to be going on with this team.

First, if we are going to fall into the same old same old offense of feed one player over and over again, Audi will be totally fatigued by the end of the season. She takes so much abuse under the basket - how could the ref standing less than 10 feet away not see the elbow to her eye - that after 30 games of this abuse, she will be worn out physically and mentally. She's a heck of an athlete and a heck of a person, but how much pressure can we put on her to score 20, 30, 4o points per game?

What is with starting a player against the Hawkeyes at Carver-Hawkeye, no less, who has hardly played any real minutes all season. What did Bill expect of her? The easy games at the start of the season are there to help players work out the kinks and get their rhythm set. Kelsey did not have that opportunity due to very limited playing time.

And what is with sitting Brown with 3 fouls all of the third quarter and then putting her on the floor with less than a minute to play in the third? She had her mojo going tonight right from the start and yes the refs called some weird ones, but sitting her for so long to me really pulled her out of the game mentally as well as physically. Our #2 scorer in the first quarter was sitting on the bench! I may be - probably am - wrong, but her sitting for so long gave the Hawkeyes plenty of time to get their offense and defense going, and by the time Brown was back on the floor, the game was already out of hand. Crooks was tired, Ryan was struggling and rest of the team was getting blitzed.

I sure hope that Bill tries something new to improve free throw shooting, to get more production from this bench, get some flow in the offense and strengthen the defense. TJ has shown that any team can go cold for awhile but defense will always keep you in the game. That's what I expect of a coach at this level. Yes, it's up to the players to perform, but it's up the coaching staff to put them in a position to perform and excel.

Let's go Cyclones; we love you to death and know tonight was not an easy game to play. Even the refs struggle at CHA. And when the fans were booing Audi whenever she touched the ball after she dropped to the floor from the hit to the eye, I realize that what people say about Hawk fans is true. That was so bush!

See you Sunday, Ladies. Looking forward to it!!
 

qwerty

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We did alot to lose this game…refs assisted in that happening. Not solely to blame, but took Brown out of it on 2 cheaper calls in first half, she had her swagger going! May or may not have made the difference. Go State!
That third foul on Addy was total BS. Stuelke was sliding, moving and slid under Addy on the drive. That ultimately might have been the call that won Iowa the game.
 

Clonefan32

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I thought it was odd how unaware ISU's players seemed for surrounding defenders when dribbling or even holding the ball.
There was one play in the third where Audi was just casually dribbling and O Grady reached in and swiped it away that was comically nonchalant. It looked like she forgot she was in the middle of a basketball game or something.
 
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bozclone

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Bill sat Addy most of the 3 quarter because we had a lead. He brought here in for the last possession of the 3rd quarter and ran a set play for her off the bench. He then ran two set plays for her to start the 4th quarter. These three possessions produced zero points and looked extremely forced. I understand sitting Addy with a lead and I view her as our most complete player, but I don't understand why you try to force the ball through her when she had sat so long. I thought this sequence really hurt us.

I thought our zone defense was affective in the first half. I think a zone fits the players we have on this team and offers a different look for the opposition.
 

ZorkClone

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Maybe a wee bit over-reacting. Carver is a Hell hole for ISU. Always has been. Until Clark came on the scene this series was always a home court win.
I disagree, As @BoxsterCy posted, it has not been even in the last 10 years. At a minimum, Iowa knows how to play Bill's tendencies and Bill seemingly didn't know how to play Bluders.

As it stands it looks like we won't have any significant Non-Con wins to hang our hat on so we will need to produce in the conference, which to be fair is where we usually make our hay.
 

2forISU

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Pretty poor coaching job.


First time I have seen the women play this year and they look slow, struggle on the offensive side to create shots, and far too many TO's.
 
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Malty Flannel

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This is the first women's game I've fully and intently watched this year, and compared to the past few years I was extremely unimpressed. This is not a top 25 team. Offense is a mess. It seems 1-dimensional, built around getting it to Audi in the post; if that's not there, its a turnover or bad shot. 3 stand around the perimeter while one dribbles around; very little ball action or side to side. No real attempt to get shooters open. When Addy is out the offense is atrocious, as she's the only one that can create from the perimeter or hit a shot anywhere on the floor. Passes were lazy, ball handling sloppy, free throws atrocious.
 

ISU_Guy

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I wish people would simmer down on the refs. did we get hosed on a couple calls? yeah, probably, but that is life on the road.

When you can't make freethrows, blow a bunch of short bunny shots, and turn the ball over (a lot of them unforced by the way) over 20 times, its probably time to just look in the mirror instead of the refs.

also, a lot of our players look like they move about as fast as a 50 and over mens league.
and yes we are young, I get it.

Team just needs to reset, adjust their goals and expectations, which should be not getting absolutely embarrassed again on National TV against Uconn and the to try and finish in the top half of the B12 and sneak into the tournament.
 

cyfan964

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This is the first women's game I've fully and intently watched this year, and compared to the past few years I was extremely unimpressed. This is not a top 25 team. Offense is a mess. It seems 1-dimensional, built around getting it to Audi in the post; if that's not there, its a turnover or bad shot. 3 stand around the perimeter while one dribbles around; very little ball action or side to side. No real attempt to get shooters open. When Addy is out the offense is atrocious, as she's the only one that can create from the perimeter or hit a shot anywhere on the floor. Passes were lazy, ball handling sloppy, free throws atrocious.
Outside of "getting the ball to Audi", you've literally described our basketball team for the past 15 seasons.
 
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