Iowa State and Audi Crooks got off to a great start to the season. They won all of their first fourteen games, and Crooks averaged almost 30 points in just 27 minutes per game. Suffering a 72-70 loss to Baylor was quite a change of pace for the Cyclones.
But, for head coach Bill Fennelly, suffering tough losses is part of college basketball and will help his players grow for the future.
“This is what college sports is supposed to teach you,” Fennelly told reporters after the game. “It didn’t go right, you wake up tomorrow, you go back to work, you do the things that adults do, and I have no doubt that we’ll do that.”
One thing Iowa State will have to address is the lack of production from players other than Audi Crooks and Jada Williams, especially if other teams take note of how Baylor defended Crooks later in the game. If opponents dare someone other than Crooks to beat them, other players have to step up. They didn’t do that against Baylor.
Iowa State lacked contributions from players other than Crooks and Williams
The game against Baylor was the closest game Iowa State played all season. Neither team even established a double-digit lead. Baylor’s biggest lead was eight, and Iowa State’s was six. In the end, the game was decided by a tough jumper from Taliah Scott with just a handful of seconds left.
Scott came through for her team after a tough shooting night. She went 6-24 from the field and 1-10 from three. Baylor had other players who stepped up, though. Darianna Littlepage-Buggs got 13 points and 20 rebounds, Jana Van Gytenbeek finished the game with 11 points and seven assists, and Yuting Deng added 12 points off the bench.
Iowa State, meanwhile, was completely reliant on two players: Audi Crooks and Jada Williams. They combined for 54 of Iowa State’s 70 points. Everyone else combined for 16 points on 5-24 shooting.
As good as Crooks and Williams are, Iowa State will need contributions from the rest of the team to beat some of the better teams in the country, especially if they learn from how Baylor guarded Iowa State. Baylor managed to greatly limit Addy Brown, one of Iowa State’s top scorers and floor spacers, made the post entry passes to Crooks incredibly difficult, and dared Williams to shoot. They outright left Williams open to make sure two players could always defend Crooks, limiting her to just four points in the second half. Baylor never managed to create much separation, but they made everything difficult for Iowa State and threw the Cyclones off their game.
On the bright side, it will be a while until the Cyclones have to face another ranked opponent. They are set to meet Texas Tech, which is currently ranked 21st, on January 28. Next up is TCU in late February. While losing is never great, Iowa State can learn a ton from this game and improve for when games matter the most.