The Oklahoma women’s team got blown out by Iowa State 85-68. Let’s talk about it.
It was a repeat of last year with OU and Iowa State meeting in the Big 12 tournament, and the Cyclones sent the Sooners home again.
The Iowa State Cyclones came out on fire, and that didn’t change at all throughout the game. It didn’t matter where the shot was coming from they were all dropping for Iowa State. It was the complete opposite for OU. The Sooners could not get one to go down and string together stops to attempt to ever cut into the Iowa State lead.
OU faced its biggest halftime deficit of the season, and things would only get worse in the second half. The Sooners shot 36.1% from the field, and the Cyclones shot 57.9%. Iowa State shot 52.2% from three-point land compared to OU shooting just 30.3%
The Sooners had absolutely no answer whatsoever for Audi Crooks down low. She continuously picked apart the OU defense and was dominant in the painted area. She would complete the seal of the defender and just back them down until they were practically out of bounds by the end of the play. It was interesting to see Jennie Baranczyk not decide to double-team her once she continued to score at will. It was a perfect game for Crooks. She finished with 25 points and nine rebounds for the Cyclones.
Addy Brown also gave the Sooner’s problems on the offensive side of the ball. She went 4-5 from beyond the arc and finished with 16 points, six rebounds, and seven assists.
Emily Ryan had a double-double against OU. She had 12 points and 10 assists. She also grabbed six rebounds. She and Crooks were playing the pick and roll to perfection. That was the main operating procedure for the Cyclones, which was running the offense through Ryan and Crooks.
Iowa State also got a lot of bench production. The Cyclones had 20 points scored from the second unit compared to OU’s four points.
Payton Verhulst led the way for the Sooners with 23 points. She shot 8-16 from the field and 5-11 from deep. She was forced to throw up more three-pointers because of how big OU trailed. She also had seven rebounds and three assists.
Sahara Williams filled up the stat sheet against the Cyclones. She scored 16, hauled in five rebounds, three of which were on the offensive glass, three assists, and one steal. She can be challenging to cover when she can get position down low.
Skylar Vann did not have a great game against Iowa State, but still scored in double digits. She had 12 points, four rebounds, four assists, and two steals on the day. She shot 5-15 from the field.
Next up for OU will be awaiting their March Madness seeding, and where they will be playing in the tournament. The latest projection had OU at a No. 4 seed.
Images Courtesy of Audrey Quan/OU Daily
