Big 12 Women’s Basketball Tournament Iowa State vs. Oklahoma Preview
Here is everything you need to know about Iowa State and Oklahoma in our Cyclones vs. Sooners Big 12 Tournament women’s basketball semifinal preview.
Game 10: No. 4 Iowa State (19-10) vs. No. 1 Oklahoma (22-8)
Time, TV: 1:30 p.m. CT Monday, ESPN2
Location: T-Mobile Center, Kansas City, MO
Season series (Oklahoma 1-0): Oklahoma def. Iowa State, 86-72
Tournament Results: Iowa State: def. Baylor, 67-62 (quarterfinals); Oklahoma: def. TCU, 69-53 (quarterfinals).
Winner: Advances to the Big 12 Championship Game on Tuesday at 8 p.m.
Here is the full Big 12 women’s tournament schedule and results.
Projected starting lineups
Iowa State: G Emily Ryan, G Hannah Belanger, G Arianna Jackson, C Audi Crooks, F Addy Brown.
Oklahoma: F Sahara Williams, F Skylar Vann, G Lexy Keys, G Nevaeh Tot, G Payton Verhulst.
Players to watch
Iowa State
C Audi Crooks: The All-Big 12 First Team and Freshman selection had another exceptional game against Baylor in the quarterfinals, as she finished with 23 points and six rebounds. The key to defending the 6-foot-3 center is to get her out of her comfort zone. That’s not easy to do, as Crooks has some of the best footwork and gets some of the best position on the block of anyone in the conference. She’s averaging 18.4 points and 7.6 rebounds this season. OU limited her to 14 points and six rebounds in their only meeting, but she also had six assists.
Oklahoma
F Sahara Williams: Another freshman with All-Big 12 ability, Williams was supposed to get a slow transition to the game before the injury to senior forward Liz Scott shuffled around the team’s rotation. Williams had 17 points and eight rebounds against TCU, and her season averages of 9.9 points and 5.4 rebounds aren’t gaudy. But, when Williams is on, she’s capable of scoring up to 20 points and grabbing 10 rebounds.
Key storylines
Iowa State
The Cyclones’ youth movement will make this program better for the long term, but you can’t call the freshmen “freshmen” anymore. Crooks, Addy Brown and Arianna Jackson all played like experienced college players in their quarterfinal win over Baylor, with Brown completing a double-double. Yet, it was Emily Ryan who guided the Cyclones to that win — and made her coach, Bill Fennelly — emotional after the game when someone asked about Ryan’s meaning to the program. The Cyclones are locked in and peaking at the right time with an NCAA Tournament bid in the offing. They will be a team no one wants to play in the Tournament.
Oklahoma
Coach Jennie Baranczyk has built a consistent winner in Norman, one that would make the program’s G.O.A.T., Sherri Coale, proud. But this is the first year that she’s faced true transition from the old roster and she’s handled it by trusting her remaining veterans, Skylar Vann and Nevaeh Tot, and getting her new players — from Williams to Payton Verhulst to Lexy Keys — to play together as one. OU is a better defensive team that they’ve been in any of their previous three seasons under Baranczyk and holding an offensive-minded team like TCU to 53 points on Saturday is the proof.
Prediction
Iowa State 76, Oklahoma 75. Iowa State is one of the few teams in this conference that can score with a team like Oklahoma. Hannah Belanger wasn’t much of a factor for ISU from the arc against Baylor. Look for that to change on Monday.
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.
