Preview:
Missouri State is the Cinderella team in our bracket, being an 11 seed that defeated 6 seed DePaul 89-78 and then 3 seed Iowa State 69-60. MS defeated Iowa State on the IS home court in front of 5809 rabid opposing fans. The Iowa State press conference showed stunned and tearful seniors whose season ended much sooner than they expected. Iowa State, which is normally a high percentage three point shooting team, simply went cold for one night. They were 2 of 17 from beyond the arc. We know we are also capable of going cold form beyond the arc.
Massey has Missouri State as 28. To put that in perspective, Utah is 34 and USC is 35. Missouri State has relatively balanced scoring distributed between four players. They are led by 5'10" senior point guard Danielle Gitzen with 13 ppg, and who shoots 40% of her three point shots. 6'2" junior guard Alexa Willard has almost identical points, and the two forwards are 6'1" and 6'2", including freshman Jasmine Franklin. She seems highly skilled for a relatively short forward, shooting 56%, scoring 9 points and 8 rebounds per game and leading her team in both blocks and steals.
MS is 25-9, but have only lost twice since Gonzaga got them on December 16. Basically, they lost a lot early and then got a whole lot better. Before the NCAAs, the only currently ranked team they played was Drake, who they beat 2/3 times. They are 41st nationally in offense, and 136th nationally in defense, 52nd nationally in fg%, 79th in 3pt fg%. This does not look scary on paper--except they are beating highly ranked teams lately.
They do have the first two rounds available on ESPN replay so it is easy for fans to scout them. The played mostly man against Iowa State. Hard for me to tell how effective their defense really was, and how much of it was Iowa State just shooting open shots poorly.
Overview:
Williams was 0/11 from three point range, and the team shot a season worst 25%, but somehow our defense found a way to bludgeon our way to an ugly victory. Anna Wilson is the heroine of the day with a season best 11 points, which is the equivalent of a 20 point game on a normal day.
Flow of the Game:
What flow? The game was very simple. We had 4 bad offensive quarters in a row, but Missouri State had 4 worse quarters. Alanna Smith got into foul trouble and sat for much of the 2nd half. As the three point misses mounted and mounted, MS sat in a zone and dared us to shoot from outside, clogging the interior. Through it all we kept a lead which varied from a high of 13 to as few as 4 late in the fourth quarter. In the second half of the fourth quarter we couldn't buy a basket, but we did make 6 free throws.
When interviewed before the 4th quarter, Tara was quite pleased with our defense but obviously displeased with our offense. I see no reason to disagree with Tara.
Performances:
Anna Wilson had one of her best games today, and that deserves to be singled out. She has been repeatedly brought in for her defense, and it was very good as usual. With her brother looking on, Wilson scored 11 on 4/7 shooting, playing 21 minutes.
Alanna Smith scored 13 in 25 minutes on 3/7 shooting, but 7/10 free throws. She only took (and missed) one outside shot, and they were clearly hammering her inside.
Williams and Carrington were a combined 5/28. Dodson was 0/4. Lacie Hull was 0/2. Lexie Hull was 2/10.
Coffee was 3/7 including a much needed trey.
As a team, we kept our turnovers down to 12, got 20 offensive rebounds, and matched Missouri State's 25% shooting with 25% of our own.
Conclusion:
Never have I seen such uninspiring win. But it is a win.
Now we take on Notre Dame, and I pray they don't beat us by more than Oregon did mid season. For us to be competitive we will need to hit nearly all our shots while continuing to play inspired defense. 3/29 three point shooting in front of what amounts to a Notre Dame home crowd would lead to a wipe out of historic proportions. Let's hope that our players have amnesia and tonight's misses are forgotten rapidly and don't carry over.
Missouri State is the Cinderella team in our bracket, being an 11 seed that defeated 6 seed DePaul 89-78 and then 3 seed Iowa State 69-60. MS defeated Iowa State on the IS home court in front of 5809 rabid opposing fans. The Iowa State press conference showed stunned and tearful seniors whose season ended much sooner than they expected. Iowa State, which is normally a high percentage three point shooting team, simply went cold for one night. They were 2 of 17 from beyond the arc. We know we are also capable of going cold form beyond the arc.
Massey has Missouri State as 28. To put that in perspective, Utah is 34 and USC is 35. Missouri State has relatively balanced scoring distributed between four players. They are led by 5'10" senior point guard Danielle Gitzen with 13 ppg, and who shoots 40% of her three point shots. 6'2" junior guard Alexa Willard has almost identical points, and the two forwards are 6'1" and 6'2", including freshman Jasmine Franklin. She seems highly skilled for a relatively short forward, shooting 56%, scoring 9 points and 8 rebounds per game and leading her team in both blocks and steals.
MS is 25-9, but have only lost twice since Gonzaga got them on December 16. Basically, they lost a lot early and then got a whole lot better. Before the NCAAs, the only currently ranked team they played was Drake, who they beat 2/3 times. They are 41st nationally in offense, and 136th nationally in defense, 52nd nationally in fg%, 79th in 3pt fg%. This does not look scary on paper--except they are beating highly ranked teams lately.
They do have the first two rounds available on ESPN replay so it is easy for fans to scout them. The played mostly man against Iowa State. Hard for me to tell how effective their defense really was, and how much of it was Iowa State just shooting open shots poorly.
Overview:
Williams was 0/11 from three point range, and the team shot a season worst 25%, but somehow our defense found a way to bludgeon our way to an ugly victory. Anna Wilson is the heroine of the day with a season best 11 points, which is the equivalent of a 20 point game on a normal day.
Flow of the Game:
What flow? The game was very simple. We had 4 bad offensive quarters in a row, but Missouri State had 4 worse quarters. Alanna Smith got into foul trouble and sat for much of the 2nd half. As the three point misses mounted and mounted, MS sat in a zone and dared us to shoot from outside, clogging the interior. Through it all we kept a lead which varied from a high of 13 to as few as 4 late in the fourth quarter. In the second half of the fourth quarter we couldn't buy a basket, but we did make 6 free throws.
When interviewed before the 4th quarter, Tara was quite pleased with our defense but obviously displeased with our offense. I see no reason to disagree with Tara.
Performances:
Anna Wilson had one of her best games today, and that deserves to be singled out. She has been repeatedly brought in for her defense, and it was very good as usual. With her brother looking on, Wilson scored 11 on 4/7 shooting, playing 21 minutes.
Alanna Smith scored 13 in 25 minutes on 3/7 shooting, but 7/10 free throws. She only took (and missed) one outside shot, and they were clearly hammering her inside.
Williams and Carrington were a combined 5/28. Dodson was 0/4. Lacie Hull was 0/2. Lexie Hull was 2/10.
Coffee was 3/7 including a much needed trey.
As a team, we kept our turnovers down to 12, got 20 offensive rebounds, and matched Missouri State's 25% shooting with 25% of our own.
Conclusion:
Never have I seen such uninspiring win. But it is a win.
Now we take on Notre Dame, and I pray they don't beat us by more than Oregon did mid season. For us to be competitive we will need to hit nearly all our shots while continuing to play inspired defense. 3/29 three point shooting in front of what amounts to a Notre Dame home crowd would lead to a wipe out of historic proportions. Let's hope that our players have amnesia and tonight's misses are forgotten rapidly and don't carry over.