Women...

[mikewebb68]

Showed a lot of heart today. Down two starters (lost Jordan Hamilton to injury in practice) and four players overall, they were forced to start little used reserve Byrdy Galernik, and it showed, training the last-place Illini in Champaign by 11 as the third quarter was coming to a close. But thanks to a 60-ft. buzzer beater by Veronica Burton to close out the 3rd, the Cats got a little bit of a boost. They then amazing ran off the first 15 pts of the 4th quarter to cap a 18-0 run, and all of a sudden what would have been a bad loss turned into a comfortable win, 64-56. After only scoring 25 pts in the first half, we scored 21 in the final quarter, with the Illini managing just 5, 3 of them coming on a meaningless 3 pt play with under 30 seconds to go. Just a nice, nice comeback.

Lindsey Pulliam had a night to forget (5-21 shooting) but was still our leading scorer (14 pts) because well, she's good. Pallas had her zillionth double-double, with 12 points and 11 board, mostly in the second half,. when Joe employed so different offensive schemes and personnel to counter the Illini double- and triple- teaming PKA, which led to a lot of success in the first half as Pulliam coiuld not make them pay. Bryann Hopkins, who has been the ongoing sub for Abu Scheid, also had a nice game, playing the most minutes of anyone (37) and adding a double-double of her own, scoring 11 pts (on 5-10 shooting) with 10 boards. Rounding our our 4 scorers in double figures was Veronic Burton, with 10 pts. 3 assists, and two steals Abbie Wolf nearly made it five double figure scorers, with 8 pts on 4-5 shooting sometimes playing at the same time as PKA in a "twin towers" lineup to counter some of what Illinois was doing defensively. Our defense was once again stifling,. limiting the Illini to 33% shooting and 20% from 3% including an amazing 10% (0% from 3) in the decisive 4th quarter.

With the win, we now move into a tie for 4th in the BIG with Purdue at 6-3, and improve to 13-7 overall. With home games this week against two teams (OSU and MInny) with 5 BIG wins combines, 8-3 is certainly within reach, though it would be nice to get healthier. We are also an impressive 5-3 in road games as well.

 

[NUCat320]

“Showed a lot of heart” is usually a “moral victory” thread.

GREAT WIN CATS!

 

[cat inkansas]

Showed a lot of heart today. Down two starters (lost Jordan Hamilton to injury in practice) and four players overall, they were forced to start little used reserve Byrdy Galernik, and it showed, training the last-place Illini in Champaign by 11 as the third quarter was coming to a close. But thanks to a 60-ft. buzzer beater by Veronica Burton to close out the 3rd, the Cats got a little bit of a boost. They then amazing ran off the first 15 pts of the 4th quarter to cap a 18-0 run, and all of a sudden what would have been a bad loss turned into a comfortable win, 64-56. After only scoring 25 pts in the first half, we scored 21 in the final quarter, with the Illini managing just 5, 3 of them coming on a meaningless 3 pt play with under 30 seconds to go. Just a nice, nice comeback.

Lindsey Pulliam had a night to forget (5-21 shooting) but was still our leading scorer (14 pts) because well, she's good. Pallas had her zillionth double-double, with 12 points and 11 board, mostly in the second half,. when Joe employed so different offensive schemes and personnel to counter the Illini double- and triple- teaming PKA, which led to a lot of success in the first half as Pulliam coiuld not make them pay. Bryann Hopkins, who has been the ongoing sub for Abu Scheid, also had a nice game, playing the most minutes of anyone (37) and adding a double-double of her own, scoring 11 pts (on 5-10 shooting) with 10 boards. Rounding our our 4 scorers in double figures was Veronic Burton, with 10 pts. 3 assists, and two steals Abbie Wolf nearly made it five double figure scorers, with 8 pts on 4-5 shooting sometimes playing at the same time as PKA in a "twin towers" lineup to counter some of what Illinois was doing defensively. Our defense was once again stifling,. limiting the Illini to 33% shooting and 20% from 3% including an amazing 10% (0% from 3) in the decisive 4th quarter.

With the win, we now move into a tie for 4th in the BIG with Purdue at 6-3, and improve to 13-7 overall. With home games this week against two teams (OSU and MInny) with 5 BIG wins combines, 8-3 is certainly within reach, though it would be nice to get healthier. We are also an impressive 5-3 in road games as well.

Thanks---great report!

 

[hdhntr1]

Showed a lot of heart today. Down two starters (lost Jordan Hamilton to injury in practice) and four players overall, they were forced to start little used reserve Byrdy Galernik, and it showed, training the last-place Illini in Champaign by 11 as the third quarter was coming to a close. But thanks to a 60-ft. buzzer beater by Veronica Burton to close out the 3rd, the Cats got a little bit of a boost. They then amazing ran off the first 15 pts of the 4th quarter to cap a 18-0 run, and all of a sudden what would have been a bad loss turned into a comfortable win, 64-56. After only scoring 25 pts in the first half, we scored 21 in the final quarter, with the Illini managing just 5, 3 of them coming on a meaningless 3 pt play with under 30 seconds to go. Just a nice, nice comeback.

Lindsey Pulliam had a night to forget (5-21 shooting) but was still our leading scorer (14 pts) because well, she's good. Pallas had her zillionth double-double, with 12 points and 11 board, mostly in the second half,. when Joe employed so different offensive schemes and personnel to counter the Illini double- and triple- teaming PKA, which led to a lot of success in the first half as Pulliam coiuld not make them pay. Bryann Hopkins, who has been the ongoing sub for Abu Scheid, also had a nice game, playing the most minutes of anyone (37) and adding a double-double of her own, scoring 11 pts (on 5-10 shooting) with 10 boards. Rounding our our 4 scorers in double figures was Veronic Burton, with 10 pts. 3 assists, and two steals Abbie Wolf nearly made it five double figure scorers, with 8 pts on 4-5 shooting sometimes playing at the same time as PKA in a "twin towers" lineup to counter some of what Illinois was doing defensively. Our defense was once again stifling,. limiting the Illini to 33% shooting and 20% from 3% including an amazing 10% (0% from 3) in the decisive 4th quarter.

With the win, we now move into a tie for 4th in the BIG with Purdue at 6-3, and improve to 13-7 overall. With home games this week against two teams (OSU and MInny) with 5 BIG wins combines, 8-3 is certainly within reach, though it would be nice to get healthier. We are also an impressive 5-3 in road games as well.

Why do we always seem to have so many injuries? Is it normal in WBB or are we snake bit?

 

[Pukecat]

Showed a lot of heart today. Down two starters (lost Jordan Hamilton to injury in practice) and four players overall, they were forced to start little used reserve Byrdy Galernik, and it showed, training the last-place Illini in Champaign by 11 as the third quarter was coming to a close. But thanks to a 60-ft. buzzer beater by Veronica Burton to close out the 3rd, the Cats got a little bit of a boost. They then amazing ran off the first 15 pts of the 4th quarter to cap a 18-0 run, and all of a sudden what would have been a bad loss turned into a comfortable win, 64-56. After only scoring 25 pts in the first half, we scored 21 in the final quarter, with the Illini managing just 5, 3 of them coming on a meaningless 3 pt play with under 30 seconds to go. Just a nice, nice comeback.

Lindsey Pulliam had a night to forget (5-21 shooting) but was still our leading scorer (14 pts) because well, she's good. Pallas had her zillionth double-double, with 12 points and 11 board, mostly in the second half,. when Joe employed so different offensive schemes and personnel to counter the Illini double- and triple- teaming PKA, which led to a lot of success in the first half as Pulliam coiuld not make them pay. Bryann Hopkins, who has been the ongoing sub for Abu Scheid, also had a nice game, playing the most minutes of anyone (37) and adding a double-double of her own, scoring 11 pts (on 5-10 shooting) with 10 boards. Rounding our our 4 scorers in double figures was Veronic Burton, with 10 pts. 3 assists, and two steals Abbie Wolf nearly made it five double figure scorers, with 8 pts on 4-5 shooting sometimes playing at the same time as PKA in a "twin towers" lineup to counter some of what Illinois was doing defensively. Our defense was once again stifling,. limiting the Illini to 33% shooting and 20% from 3% including an amazing 10% (0% from 3) in the decisive 4th quarter.

With the win, we now move into a tie for 4th in the BIG with Purdue at 6-3, and improve to 13-7 overall. With home games this week against two teams (OSU and MInny) with 5 BIG wins combines, 8-3 is certainly within reach, though it would be nice to get healthier. We are also an impressive 5-3 in road games as well.

Would relish eating my words about Coach if we make it deep into the NCAAs. Ladies, prove me wrong. I'd love it.

 

[mikewebb68]

Why do we always seem to have so many injuries? Is it normal in WBB or are we snake bit?

We appear to have a LOT more injuries than the average team, particularly in practice. Don't know if Joe just runs harder practices than most, or it is something else...

 

[mikewebb68]

Would relish eating my words about Coach if we make it deep into the NCAAs. Ladies, prove me wrong. I'd love it.

Well, our RPI (there are no NET rankings for women's hoops) is 68 at this point, so we probably still have work to do to make the Dance. Here is our Quad records, through yesterday's play (not yet updated for today)

Quad 1: 2-5 (would be 3-5 but Green Bay barely dropped to quad 2 this week; could move back)
Quad 2: 3-1
Quad 3 3-1 (I included the Illinois road win here since the update for today's action will not cause this win to fall below Quad 3)
Quad 4:5-0

So we are an impressive 5-6 in Quad 1/2 play, but the 1 quad 3 loss (home against Pitt when we were missing three starters) is keeping our resume from being in at this point. But opportunity awaits on the remainder of the schedule, just as is the case with the men:

Remaining games:

Quad 1:4
Quad 2:1
Quad 3:4
Quad 4:0

With no Quad 4 games remaining, if we can win all of the Quad 3 games (and we will be significant favorites in all 4) and go 2-3 in our remaining quad 1/2 games, which is consistent with our performance thus far, we wlll be 19-10 in a conference that is nearly as strong as on the men's side (6 teams in the RPI top 30, 2 of whom we have already beaten). 1 BTT win should get us in at that point, though that might be a bit of a challenge since at 12-6 in the BIG we might get a double-bye..

But, just as on the men's side, a long ways to go, and a lot could happen...

 

[IdahoAlum]

Why do we always seem to have so many injuries? Is it normal in WBB or are we snake bit?

Women’s programs are much more susceptible to injury than men.Last year Notre Dame made it to the Final Four with 7 healthy scholarship players. They lost four players to blown ACLs and various studies show women are 2 to 10 times more likely to blow an ACL than men. I broadcast the Idaho State women’s games and they are currently playing without their top two PGs and two backup forwards because of injury. If you’re going to be successful in women’s basketball you have to be prepared to play through injuries — or be incredibly lucky.

 

[JoeWildcat]

Showed a lot of heart today. Down two starters (lost Jordan Hamilton to injury in practice) and four players overall, they were forced to start little used reserve Byrdy Galernik, and it showed, training the last-place Illini in Champaign by 11 as the third quarter was coming to a close. But thanks to a 60-ft. buzzer beater by Veronica Burton to close out the 3rd, the Cats got a little bit of a boost. They then amazing ran off the first 15 pts of the 4th quarter to cap a 18-0 run, and all of a sudden what would have been a bad loss turned into a comfortable win, 64-56. After only scoring 25 pts in the first half, we scored 21 in the final quarter, with the Illini managing just 5, 3 of them coming on a meaningless 3 pt play with under 30 seconds to go. Just a nice, nice comeback.

Lindsey Pulliam had a night to forget (5-21 shooting) but was still our leading scorer (14 pts) because well, she's good. Pallas had her zillionth double-double, with 12 points and 11 board, mostly in the second half,. when Joe employed so different offensive schemes and personnel to counter the Illini double- and triple- teaming PKA, which led to a lot of success in the first half as Pulliam coiuld not make them pay. Bryann Hopkins, who has been the ongoing sub for Abu Scheid, also had a nice game, playing the most minutes of anyone (37) and adding a double-double of her own, scoring 11 pts (on 5-10 shooting) with 10 boards. Rounding our our 4 scorers in double figures was Veronic Burton, with 10 pts. 3 assists, and two steals Abbie Wolf nearly made it five double figure scorers, with 8 pts on 4-5 shooting sometimes playing at the same time as PKA in a "twin towers" lineup to counter some of what Illinois was doing defensively. Our defense was once again stifling,. limiting the Illini to 33% shooting and 20% from 3% including an amazing 10% (0% from 3) in the decisive 4th quarter.

With the win, we now move into a tie for 4th in the BIG with Purdue at 6-3, and improve to 13-7 overall. With home games this week against two teams (OSU and MInny) with 5 BIG wins combines, 8-3 is certainly within reach, though it would be nice to get healthier. We are also an impressive 5-3 in road games as well.

Any idea on when Scheid might return?

 

[mikewebb68]

Any idea on when Schneider might return?

Abi Scheid was not in a boot for the last two games prior to tonight (could not see tonight since the Illinois' camera work was horrible), so hopefully that it is a sign that she will be back soon.

 

[mikewebb68]

Women’s programs are much more susceptible to injury than men.Last year Notre Dame made it to the Final Four with 7 healthy scholarship players. They lost four players to blown ACLs and various studies show women are 2 to 10 times more likely to blow an ACL than men. I broadcast the Idaho State women’s games and they are currently playing without their top two PGs and two backup forwards because of injury. If you’re going to be successful in women’s basketball you have to be prepared to play through injuries — or be incredibly lucky.

Good to know, had no idea, since I only follow the BIG and injuries there have not been all that noticeable.

What has helped us is that we go extremely deep this year. Of our 14 roster players, really only Brooke Pikiell (daughter of Rutgers' coach Steve Pikiell) does not contribute much at this point.

 

[pschatz25]

Thanks for the recap, Mike. I watched the first 2.5 quarters and decided it wasn't going to be our day. I did a double-take later when I saw the score. You forgot to mention this was our eighth consecutive victory over Illinois.

The path to the NCAA Tournament seems manageable. It would really help to get Scheid and JH back though. It's too bad KenPom doesn't do women's basketball ratings and RPI is all we have.

 

[hdhntr1]

Women’s programs are much more susceptible to injury than men.Last year Notre Dame made it to the Final Four with 7 healthy scholarship players. They lost four players to blown ACLs and various studies show women are 2 to 10 times more likely to blow an ACL than men. I broadcast the Idaho State women’s games and they are currently playing without their top two PGs and two backup forwards because of injury. If you’re going to be successful in women’s basketball you have to be prepared to play through injuries — or be incredibly lucky.

Thanks. I was aware that women are for some reason more suseptible to ACLs but still it seems we are always down 3-4 players. Do they have more scholarships? If so it is more likely for title 9 but it would also make sense because of more injuries

 

[mikewebb68]

Thanks for the recap, Mike. I watched the first 2.5 quarters and decided it wasn't going to be our day. I did a double-take later when I saw the score. You forgot to mention this was our eighth consecutive victory over Illinois.

The path to the NCAA Tournament seems manageable. It would really help to get Scheid and JH back though. It's too bad KenPom doesn't do women's basketball ratings and RPI is all we have.

Indeed I did forget to mention that; and also failed to mention that it is our 4th BIG victory in a row...

As an aside, Joe stated in the postgame interview that "we really need to get healthy now..." indirectly implying that both Abi and JH's injuries are not season-ending...

 

[IdahoAlum]

Thanks. I was aware that women are for some reason more suseptible to ACLs but still it seems we are always down 3-4 players. Do they have more scholarships? If so it is more likely for title 9 but it would also make sense because of more injuries

Yes women get 15 scholarships to men’s 13, and yes it is largely because of Title IX but it’s a good thing they do given the injury rate for women.

 

[hdhntr1]

Yes women get 15 scholarships to men’s 13, and yes it is largely because of Title IX but it’s a good thing they do given the injury rate for women.

Thanks