Sooner Women BB loses to Iowa State 81-71

[OUBeliever56A]

Wednesday night was not a good night for the Sooners Women in LNC. The surprising Iowa State Cyclone Women took the lead with 5:18 left in the 2Q at 27-25 on a jumper in the paint and never looked back to win 81-71. I say 'surprising' Iowa State Women because of this. If you watch them warmup, you see a team that looks good but they do not seem impressive physically as you watch them. Like many midwestern teams, the proof of how good they are is in the way in which they play. The Iowa State women play the game on the court very well. They know what they are going to do and they are very good at doing just that. As a team of 5 players on the court, they have the ability to get a good shot almost every trip own the court and they hustle. They require the defensive team to go get the rebound most every possession on offense. The play defense well. They did a good job pushing the Sooner offense out from the bucket last night yet they did not give up many back cuts or offensive rebounds while doing so. The Cyclones minimized their turnovers to 13 against the Sooners as the Sooners only tallied 6 steals. The Cyclones matched the 6 steals by OU but the Sooners had 17 turnovers of their own. The Cyclones outrebounded the Sooners 46-37 with 16 offensive rebounds and 14 second chance points. Iowa State will defeat many teams with more talent during the remaining season. They do many things very well.

The Sooners jumped out to 8-0 lead in the first 1:35 of the game on two 3-pointers by Madi Williams and Kelbie Washington and a back-door bucket by Taylor Robertson. The Cyclones worked their way back to tie the game at 10-10 at the 5:37 mark of the 1Q. Oklahoma surged again to lead 17-10 on buckets by Washington and Williams and a 3-pointer by Nevaeh Tot. Iowa State rallied back to make it a 17-16 game on three buckets in the paint against OU. The Sooners scored the next four (Williams and Tot) before Iowa State added four of their own to make it a 21-20 game with OU leading at the end of the first.

The Cyclones opened the 2Q with 5 more points (9 point run) to take a 25-21 lead before OU got buckets from Tucker and Vann to tie the score at 25-all. the next 11 points were scored by Iowa State as they led 36-25 at the 2:56 mark of the 2Q. During that 11-point run, OU missed on four possessions and had one turnover. Down by 10, OU closed the game to a 6 point lead for the Cyclones as they outscored them 5-2 in the last 1:30 of the half to make the score 41-34.

To me, 3 things were factors in the Iowa State 7 point lead.

1. OU had significant trouble getting into their offense on several possessions. Iowa State was running an effective W-to-W defense and pushing the ball out from the basket. The Sooners did get by Iowa State for layups or shots in the paint, but it required good play to do so by the Sooners. In a trend of late, the Cyclones were pressuring Robertson all night with alternating defenders. They were never more than a couple of inchers from her on defense. I think I am right, that Robertson had 2 points at the half and maybe 3 shots in the half. Kelbie Washington played a good first half along with Madi Williams. But the Sooners did not find a 3rd scorer without it being Robertson.
2. On defense the Sooners were playing mostly a matchup zone. Iowa State runs a heavy set offense on the right side of the floor. OU knew that and expected that. They certainly looked like they knew what the Cyclones were going to do. The matchup set on defense left the Iowa State post player (#31 or #25) on the left elbow of the free shot line open with no pressure from any Sooner. The Sooners looked like they decided to let these players shoot if they wanted to. The two players, Cane and Jordao, made that shot or moved to post up and score. In playing the zone, OU did not pressure the ball at the point of the attack like I have been accustomed to seeing this season. OU was more passive on defense out front.
3. Iowa State put up 40 shots to 33 for OU in the first half. The Cyclones had 4 3-pointers in the half compared to 3 for the Sooners (0 in the 2Q). Iowa State shot 5 free throws and made all five. OU shot 3 freebies and made only 1. In many ways, Iowa State was playing OU's game better in the first half.

In the 3Q, the Cyclone lead bounced from 7 to 10 to 5 to 13 points during the quarter until the 2:02 mark when Madi Williams made a 3-pointer to make the score 61-51. Iowa State closed with 5 points to OU's single free throw to lead by 14 at 66-52 after 3Q.

The 4Q opened with Williams blocking two shots on Iowa State's first possession. Tot followed that with a nice reverse layup for an OU bucket. The Cyclones missed a 3-pointer on their next possession that was followed by a nice transition post-up move for a Williams bucket in the paint to cut the lead to 10 points. Iowa State was called for a moving screen on the next possession that lead to Williams making 1 of 2 free throws and the score 66-57. After an offensive rebound, the Cyclones committed a turnover that lead to another 3-pointer by Williams to cut the lead to 6 points at 66-60 at the 7:52 mark. The Sooners had worked themselves back into the game and had to finish strong to complete the task.

In the critical next 5 possessions, Iowa State scored 5 points on a 3-pointer and an offensive rebound bucket. OU had four straight misses on offense during that time. Robertson broke through with her deep 3-pointer from the top left area of the floor to cut the lead back to 8 with the score 71-63 at the 5:20 mark of the final quarter. The Sooners never got closer than that the rest of the game.

Last night Iowa State won an important game on the road by defeating the Sooners. They held the high scoring Sooners to their lowest point total of the season. For the first time all season, the Sooners did not have 2 and usually 3 players score at least 15 points. The Sooners were led by Williams with 25 points, Washington with 11,, Tot with 9 and Robertson and Scott with 8 points.

In summation, on defense I thought the Sooners did not play defense like they had been playing. Especially outside with Washington, Tot, Tucker and others pressuring the ball and working over screens and disrupting the opposing team's offense. When they did up the pressure in the second half, Iowa State did not crack and handled the pressure well. On one possession, a Cyclone guard (#11 I think) backed down the smaller Tot from the top of the key to the right block to score on a jumper from 3 or 4 feet. OU defenders on both sides of the play did not drop and help Tot. They seemed to be watching the play instead of being part of the play. That is uncharacteristic for the Sooners. On offense, the Sooners are not in a good place right now. Replacing Llanusa has proved to be difficult as it should be. At times, Tucker, Washington and Tot have stepped up and filled the void left by Llanusa. Robertson has managed to continue to score despite fewer shots due to the the smothering defenses deployed against her. That was true until last night. Robertson has to get more than 7 shots in a game. OU needs to figure out how to help her get the ball in scoring position more often. Williams can score almost at will at times. But the offense cannot be Williams by herself getting her shot by one-on-one talent. Williams can receive the ball in scoring position more often if designed to do so. The post play 'inside' needs to become more of a threat. Vann, Scott and Lampkin need to catch the ball on the block more often than on the 3-point line, IMO.

Last night was a combination of a very good hard-working opponent, a passive defensive plan by the Sooners and a good effort by Iowa State on defense.

The Sooners are still 12-2 however. They are a very good team that had an off-game last night against a very good Iowa State team. The Sooners will rebound and play well, but the blue print for defending the Sooners may have been provided for the teams that follow on the Sooner schedule.

OU is scheduled to play at Kansas next Saturday (Jan 8) at 4 PM in Lawrence, KS. Kansas has not played their last two games to open their Big 12 play. They have not played since December 21st when they defeated Wichita State by 13 points. I think the game against Kansas will be played due to the fact that the postponed Kansas at TCU game from opening day has been rescheduled for Monday Jan. 12th.

Last night, two Big 12 games were postponed. West Virginia at Kansas and TCU at Baylor. In a surprise, Texas Tech defeated Texas in Austin. It looked to me like Texas played at full strength also. so Tech just beat Texas. In the other game Kansas State defeated OSU. An additional game has been postponed that involves Texas traveling to Baylor on January 9th, Sunday.

I am still very proud and solidly behind the Sooners Women Basketball Team.

Boomer Sooner!