Week 11 - Jan 12 to 18

[TheFarmFan]

Stanford traveled to frigid upstate NY and lost to Syracuse 69-58.

Only 2 more trips to the east coast for the Cardinal: @Pitt and @GaTech and then @Miami and @FSU. At least there won't be snow in Florida.

Gotta find a way to win winnable games like that if we want to return to being considered a contender. Unsurprising, but still a bad loss.

 

[Bjbod]

Michigan St. has been fairly hot, but Iowa took care of them tonight. 75-68, Stuelke and Heiden went for 22 and 20.

Was at the game tonight. Iowa was up 17 half way through the 3rd quarter but Sparty battled back to get it within 5 in the 4th.
Iowa stumbled to the finish but have to give them credit for holding Michigan State to 20 points under their average.
Spartans are a good team; lots of players that can get the ball in the basket and didn't give up.

 

[cancontent]

Was at the game tonight. Iowa was up 17 half way through the 3rd quarter but Sparty battled back to get it within 5 in the 4th.
Iowa stumbled to the finish but have to give them credit for holding Michigan State to 20 points under their average.
Spartans are a good team; lots of players that can get the ball in the basket and didn't give up.

Foul trouble for VanSlooten and Jones didn't help matters for Mich State. That seemed to throw them out of whack during the first half as well. Agree that the Spartans don't quit, but getting into holes like this against, teams like Iowa will continue to hurt them.

 

[bballnut90]

Never heard of her before, but Destiny Howell scored 39 and Wisconsin wins 94-92 in 2 OT. Badgers are 4-4 in conference. I think coaches generally don't like doing it, but I gotta question Oregon getting burned twice by not fouling when up 3 late in the game. The only thing you can't do is give up a 3, and they did it at the end of regulation and the end of the first OT.

I saw the score was 69-63 Oregon with about 30 seconds left and walked away from my TV. Wish I stayed and watched. But major props to Wisconsin and Pingeton for the start they’ve had. They’ve already matched the B1G win total from a year ago and have 10 games left.

 

[FanInNC]

What happened to Florida St.? Dropped to 1-6 in ACC, got clobbered by North Carolina today 82-55. Heels have been having troubles of their own prior to this.

Latson and Timpson both left. They were everything on that team last year.

 

[FanInNC]

In the last 10 secs, NCAT shot a three, got the rebound, and instead of reseting the offense for a better shot and using time, the player went back in and missed a shot. I'm no hoops expert and even I was screaming reset!

So a couple things...for the original comment about never seeing a team give away game like that ...State has done that multiple times this year. Against USC they led and controlled the entire game and blew it in the final minutes. Against Oklahoma they led and controlled the entire game and folded at the end, very similar actually because it went to OT and State had chances to put it away in regulation. This is a team that hasn't figured out how to close against good teams yet. It's been a theme.

However, to me this one wasn't as egregious on State's part...sure there were definitely things! But I thought Coach Walz and UL deserve a lot of credit.

As an overview of the game, it was a fantastic environment and State controlled the game for 90% at least. State really lost for 3 main reasons IMO - 1) UL dominated the offensive boards, they were scrappy and really took away one of State's strengths. They got several second chance points, every rebound was a battle. 2) Turnovers. State is traditionally very good with taking care of the ball, they turned it over 19 times yesterday - credit to UL for switching defenses and being physical with their press, it caused State issues and changed the game. 3) Lack of depth. State fully ran out of gas in OT and even before then, anytime they had to dip into the bench, it was obvious. State only played 2 players off the bench and they had the worst +/- on the team. Lunan was -15 in 26 minutes and Cox was -8 in 7 minutes.

You felt it slip in the 2nd quarter, Zoe picked up her 2nd foul early and they had to ride much of the 2nd quarter with Lunan out there and Cox was giving both KP and Tilda breathers. State went over 5 minutes without points in that stretch. Still led by 5 at half though. Then again in the 3rd Zam went to the bench with State up 13 and UL went to a full court trap and the freshman Lunan struggled. That was a major major stretch there. Final minute of the 3rd and the start of the 4th with a couple of State turnovers and UL hit back to back 3s to cut it from a 9 point game to a 3 point game in an instant. Zam had to leave the game after taking a shot to the face at one point and was out a few minutes before returning with a mask. State simply doesn't have the depth to overcome that. Those top 4 players can play with anyone in the nation, I firmly believe that. But it's a drop off without one of those girls out there. Significant.

As for the end of the game. State was closing strong, Zoe had a great acrobatic lay up in the final couple minutes followed by a bogus off the ball foul on KP that sent UL to the line. Later Zoe had a fantastic drive and dish to KP for an and 1 that put State up 5 with maybe 45 seconds. UL calls a time out and draws up a beautiful play, long lob to the far corner and had Barry coming off a screen to catch the next pass for a catch and shoot 3 and she drilled it. That wasn't a fold by State, that was a great design and flawless execution from UL. Now its a 2 point game with 41 seconds and it's anyones game. After State's next time out I thought Walz was great again coming out in an extend zone look they hadn't given all game and it through State some. Lots of passes back and forth outside the perimeter and ends with Lunan taking a corner 3. That's State's 5th option on the floor at that time, it was a good clean look, but exactly who UL wanted shooting.

Zoe gets the rebound and should have pulled it back out with no shot clock and let UL foul. To her defense, the shot clock operator did not reset the clock and the clock above the goal was counting down 6...5... and she put it up. Now, she should know that ball hit the rim. She's a junior and should have the basketball IQ there to recognize the situation, but it happened. It's a shot she makes 70% of the time, she missed it and to UL's credit it wasn't a clean rebound but they outhustled State to the ball, gets fouled on the rebounding action and sinks both FTs.

State's final play with 10 seconds wasn't terrible. You got Zam who had been red hot, going to the basket and she just didn't finish. Then in OT it just fell apart, you could tell they were gassed.

UL deserves a lot of credit for surviving in that environment. For State it was a massive gut punch. That was a big game for them, could have put them right back on the map and in the mix for the ACC title, now it feels like that is a pipe dream. This is the 3rd time this year State has really controlled the entire game against a top team and not been able to finish them off. It feels like State is right there on the edge of being a legit top 15/20 team but can't get over. Probably a good thing they have no games mid week, they need to regroup. That one was demoralizing.

 

[JellyBean]

Shout out to Duke and Coach Lawson!! 10 Dubs in a row. 8-0 in ACC play. Huge fan of Toby Fournier. Love her game. Riley Nelson had the hot hand yesterday. Well done.

 

[TerpWomenFan]

So a couple things...for the original comment about never seeing a team give away game like that ...State has done that multiple times this year. Against USC they led and controlled the entire game and blew it in the final minutes. Against Oklahoma they led and controlled the entire game and folded at the end, very similar actually because it went to OT and State had chances to put it away in regulation. This is a team that hasn't figured out how to close against good teams yet. It's been a theme.

However, to me this one wasn't as egregious on State's part...sure there were definitely things! But I thought Coach Walz and UL deserve a lot of credit.

As an overview of the game, it was a fantastic environment and State controlled the game for 90% at least. State really lost for 3 main reasons IMO - 1) UL dominated the offensive boards, they were scrappy and really took away one of State's strengths. They got several second chance points, every rebound was a battle. 2) Turnovers. State is traditionally very good with taking care of the ball, they turned it over 19 times yesterday - credit to UL for switching defenses and being physical with their press, it caused State issues and changed the game. 3) Lack of depth. State fully ran out of gas in OT and even before then, anytime they had to dip into the bench, it was obvious. State only played 2 players off the bench and they had the worst +/- on the team. Lunan was -15 in 26 minutes and Cox was -8 in 7 minutes.

You felt it slip in the 2nd quarter, Zoe picked up her 2nd foul early and they had to ride much of the 2nd quarter with Lunan out there and Cox was giving both KP and Tilda breathers. State went over 5 minutes without points in that stretch. Still led by 5 at half though. Then again in the 3rd Zam went to the bench with State up 13 and UL went to a full court trap and the freshman Lunan struggled. That was a major major stretch there. Final minute of the 3rd and the start of the 4th with a couple of State turnovers and UL hit back to back 3s to cut it from a 9 point game to a 3 point game in an instant. Zam had to leave the game after taking a shot to the face at one point and was out a few minutes before returning with a mask. State simply doesn't have the depth to overcome that. Those top 4 players can play with anyone in the nation, I firmly believe that. But it's a drop off without one of those girls out there. Significant.

As for the end of the game. State was closing strong, Zoe had a great acrobatic lay up in the final couple minutes followed by a bogus off the ball foul on KP that sent UL to the line. Later Zoe had a fantastic drive and dish to KP for an and 1 that put State up 5 with maybe 45 seconds. UL calls a time out and draws up a beautiful play, long lob to the far corner and had Barry coming off a screen to catch the next pass for a catch and shoot 3 and she drilled it. That wasn't a fold by State, that was a great design and flawless execution from UL. Now its a 2 point game with 41 seconds and it's anyones game. After State's next time out I thought Walz was great again coming out in an extend zone look they hadn't given all game and it through State some. Lots of passes back and forth outside the perimeter and ends with Lunan taking a corner 3. That's State's 5th option on the floor at that time, it was a good clean look, but exactly who UL wanted shooting.

Zoe gets the rebound and should have pulled it back out with no shot clock and let UL foul. To her defense, the shot clock operator did not reset the clock and the clock above the goal was counting down 6...5... and she put it up. Now, she should know that ball hit the rim. She's a junior and should have the basketball IQ there to recognize the situation, but it happened. It's a shot she makes 70% of the time, she missed it and to UL's credit it wasn't a clean rebound but they outhustled State to the ball, gets fouled on the rebounding action and sinks both FTs.

State's final play with 10 seconds wasn't terrible. You got Zam who had been red hot, going to the basket and she just didn't finish. Then in OT it just fell apart, you could tell they were gassed.

UL deserves a lot of credit for surviving in that environment. For State it was a massive gut punch. That was a big game for them, could have put them right back on the map and in the mix for the ACC title, now it feels like that is a pipe dream. This is the 3rd time this year State has really controlled the entire game against a top team and not been able to finish them off. It feels like State is right there on the edge of being a legit top 15/20 team but can't get over. Probably a good thing they have no games mid week, they need to regroup. That one was demoralizing.

That was a stupid play after the first shot attempt in regulation. All State needed to do was passed the ball out and forced Louisville to foul.

 

[triaddukefan]

Shout out to Duke and Coach Lawson!! 10 Dubs in a row. 8-0 in ACC play. Huge fan of Toby Fournier. Love her game. Riley Nelson had the hot hand yesterday. Well done.

You're always such a positive poster. Nelson is the key to Duke's season going forward in my opinion.