Wednesday, February 16, 2005
Cyclones get revenge over KSU
Iowa State rolled to a 15 point win against the Cats last night in Ames. The defense was really outstanding and held K-State to 19 first half points. The second half was pretty much a walk-through for both teams. It's nice to see that Carr is still hot from beyond the arc shooting 3 for 5 and John Neal even hit two.
One amazing thing about the game is that it was such a dominating performance with only 6 total points from Blalock and Homan. They only combined for 7 shots as well. You'd get laughed out of the gym if you told somebody a few weeks ago that ISU would get those numbers from them and still win going away. Both played within their game and got their assists or rebounds while playing some solid defense. Stinson played another great game with 16 points, 9 rebounds, and 6 assists. The team shot over 57% in the first half for the second best half of the year. Another interesting number to note, 42 points is the fewest scored against Iowa State since the '99-00 team held UNI to 41.
The team is well on its way to finishing the year with more assists than turnovers which hasn't happened in a while. They're also doing a fantastic job of forcing turnovers and scoring points off them. KSU had 19 last night and the Cyclones scored 17 points off them, most in the first half. Earlier in the year I said that ISU has to be the worst layup shooting team in the nation but they've even figured that out lately. They can finish around the glass thanks to better spacing and more confidence. It's nice to see guys take it up strong instead of trying to avoid any contact.
I've really been impressed with Damion Staple's progression on offense. At times this year he's looked like I did back in my 5th grade YMCA games. His confidence is soaring and he'll actually hit a few jump shots which is pretty rare for him. One thing I really like about what he is doing is drawing contact on his shots. He's a horrible free throw shooter so it isn't always a good thing but he's had several three point play opportunities. I didn't expect to ever say this but we might actually miss him some next year.
The Kansas game is coming up on Saturday and I'll be back later this week with my referee's guide. There have been some problems in the past in Lawrence so I thought I'd do my part to get things straightened out.
One amazing thing about the game is that it was such a dominating performance with only 6 total points from Blalock and Homan. They only combined for 7 shots as well. You'd get laughed out of the gym if you told somebody a few weeks ago that ISU would get those numbers from them and still win going away. Both played within their game and got their assists or rebounds while playing some solid defense. Stinson played another great game with 16 points, 9 rebounds, and 6 assists. The team shot over 57% in the first half for the second best half of the year. Another interesting number to note, 42 points is the fewest scored against Iowa State since the '99-00 team held UNI to 41.
The team is well on its way to finishing the year with more assists than turnovers which hasn't happened in a while. They're also doing a fantastic job of forcing turnovers and scoring points off them. KSU had 19 last night and the Cyclones scored 17 points off them, most in the first half. Earlier in the year I said that ISU has to be the worst layup shooting team in the nation but they've even figured that out lately. They can finish around the glass thanks to better spacing and more confidence. It's nice to see guys take it up strong instead of trying to avoid any contact.
I've really been impressed with Damion Staple's progression on offense. At times this year he's looked like I did back in my 5th grade YMCA games. His confidence is soaring and he'll actually hit a few jump shots which is pretty rare for him. One thing I really like about what he is doing is drawing contact on his shots. He's a horrible free throw shooter so it isn't always a good thing but he's had several three point play opportunities. I didn't expect to ever say this but we might actually miss him some next year.
The Kansas game is coming up on Saturday and I'll be back later this week with my referee's guide. There have been some problems in the past in Lawrence so I thought I'd do my part to get things straightened out.
# posted by Ben @ 5:10 PM 
