LADY RAIDER BB MIDDLE TENNESSEE (6-1) vs IOWA ST (5-2) Sat Nov 30, 12:30 pm. Fort Myers, Fl. WSN Streaming Network

[MTFAN61]

After a hard fought defensive victory over Purdue (54-49), Middle Tennessee carries a 4 game winning streak into what could be considered its most challenging game of the year. The Lady Raiders will be taking on #15 Iowa St. Middle Tennessee & Iowa St are both coming off extreme challenges in their 1st game of The Elevance Fort Myers Women's Tournament. MT had to overcome difficult shooting woes against a very aggressive defensive squad in Purdue of the B1G. Iowa St ran into a buzz saw as it had to battle South Carolina after experiencing its 1st loss in 43 straight games. After making its first 3 pointer of the game Iowa St was not able to overcome a 32 consecutive point onslaught by the Gamecocks.
ESPN Predictor has Middle Tennessee as an underdog in Saturday's matchup. They're giving a moderate 55% winning edge to Iowa St. This is a winnable game for the Lady Raiders, but they must find their shooting eye to start the game & continue their elite defensive effort as we have recently seen. Boldyreva has been playing great lately, & will need to continue doing so against one of the nation's premier centers in Iowa State's Audi Crooks.

 

[MTOleBlue]

I think it’ll be interesting to see whether ISU tries to match up Crooks 1-on-1 defensively on Boldyreva because I think that’s a matchup Nas will win. Gonna be key to have our guards actually hit their shots tomorrow.

 

[BlueAlpha]

Have been on a cruise all week, so connectivity has been a challenge. GBR.com claims our game Saturday concludes our involvement. Yet, on ESPN.com they have both a consolation and championship games Saturday evening for the other side of the bracket.
Sunday evening they list both a consolation & championship games Sunday evening for our bracket.
Assuming we lose to Iowa St Saturday, does that mean we would play Purdue again?
Which would mean SC would play Iowa St for the championship?
I can’t imagine any of the coaches would think playing the same team twice in 4 days would be a good idea.🤔😳

 

[MTOleBlue]

Have been on a cruise all week, so connectivity has been a challenge. GBR.com claims our game Saturday concludes our involvement. Yet, on ESPN.com they have both a consolation and championship games Saturday evening for the other side of the bracket.
Sunday evening they list both a consolation & championship games Sunday evening for our bracket.
Assuming we lose to Iowa St Saturday, does that mean we would play Purdue again?
Which would mean SC would play Iowa St for the championship?
I can’t imagine any of the coaches would think playing the same team twice in 4 days would be a good idea.🤔😳

Our side of the bracket is matchups only, no championship games. This is our final game. The other side of the bracket is in the different format. If we were the same, we’d be facing South Carolina tomorrow (we beat Purdue and they beat ISU) so I’m glad we don’t lol

 

[BlueAlpha]

JMO, seems a waste to bring 8 quality programs to one locale and half of them only play 2 games?
Only half joking, but I would lean towards believing what’s on the ESPN site than what our communication department puts out 😎

Our side of the bracket is matchups only, no championship games. This is our final game. The other side of the bracket is in the different format. If we were the same, we’d be facing South Carolina tomorrow (we beat Purdue and they beat ISU) so I’m glad we don’t lol

 

[SpaceRaider]

Blue Raiders close out Elevance Health Women’s Fort Myers Tip-Off with Iowa State - Middle Tennessee State University Athletics

Saturday, Nov. 30 | 12:30 p.m. | Suncoast Credit Union Arena | Fort Myers, Fla. MIDDLE TENNESSEE BLUE RAIDERS 6-1,

goblueraiders.com

WATCH: WSN
STATS: LINK
RADIO: WGNS (LINK)
MT Game Notes
ISU Game Notes

 

[SpaceRaider]

No. 15 Iowa State vs. Middle Tennessee Primer - Iowa State University Athletics

Iowa State looks to bounce back against Middle Tennessee on Saturday following its loss to No. 4 South Carolina on Thanksgiving Day. The Cyclones are seeking their

cyclones.com

 

[MTFAN61]

No. 15 Iowa State vs. Middle Tennessee Primer - Iowa State University Athletics

Iowa State looks to bounce back against Middle Tennessee on Saturday following its loss to No. 4 South Carolina on Thanksgiving Day. The Cyclones are seeking their

cyclones.com

The above Iowa State primer has literally zero scouting information on Middle Tennessee. Don't think I've ever seen that before. I take it the Cyclones are anticipating a walk through the park tomorrow. Hope the Iowa State team has the same apparent feelings as their media department.

 

[SpaceRaider]

Twister Sister Summary - Sisters run into defensive buzz saw

In the pregame chats, many people thought this would be a 30 point loss. Some hoped for better and some hoped for an upset. I mentioned we needed all of our guards to be on today to have a chance. Only one of those groups got what they predicted. Hare started the scoring of Iowa State with a...

cyclonefanatic.com

 

[MTOleBlue]

Twister Sister Summary - Sisters run into defensive buzz saw

In the pregame chats, many people thought this would be a 30 point loss. Some hoped for better and some hoped for an upset. I mentioned we needed all of our guards to be on today to have a chance. Only one of those groups got what they predicted. Hare started the scoring of Iowa State with a...

cyclonefanatic.com

Good and honest observations from their fans - clearly much more respect for the opponent amongst them but who knows about the actual staff given the article they put out about us. I like our chances tomorrow.

 

[MTFAN61]

Funny how this upcoming game for MT vs. Iowa St. could be seen as parallel to Iowa State's game to South Carolina.
The Cyclones faced a very angry SC team because of their loss to UCLA, & pounded Iowa State in return for their 1st loss in over 2 years.
Could MT face an angry Iowa State team bent on taking out their frustrations because of their loss to SC? It's possible, but their are differences between those 2 situations.
1) Iowa St has had 3 very tough games in a row. 2 of their last 3 games have been against fellow G5 schools in which they struggled with the opposition. Their confidence could be somewhat shaken because of that. That being said look for Iowa State to fight back hard tomorrow trying to get their swag back.
2) I don't look for MT to walk into the same wide eyed situation as Iowa State did against Carolina. The good thing for the Lady Raiders is they will come in hopefully a bit angry themselves. The Raiders just came off one of the worst shooting % games they've had in years, & will be looking for a much improved showing Saturday. While they & the coaches are proud for the win over Purdue I'm sure the coaches have addressed their being locked in when shooting the ball, & don't want to see that same type of performance again.

I look for both teams as having something to prove tomorrow. A hard fought competitive loss will not be the end of the world. But on the other hand, if the Lady Raiders play the kind of game we know they're capable of producing they can have a significant statement win. If so we'll continue building more top 25 votes, & likely see ESPN move us up to a 6 or 7 seed in next week's Bracketology forecast.

 

[tyler90wm]

Looking forward to this game tomorrow; I really hope the stream is better this time around. I think it was specifically the feed inside the arena as the commercials played smoothly.

 

[MTFAN61]

Looking forward to this game tomorrow; I really hope the stream is better this time around. I think it was specifically the feed inside the arena as the commercials played smoothly.

Watched some of the stream from Virginia Tech game. Seemed much better

 

[jakeboldenbrp]

I normally would have a deeper scout, but travel is making it difficult for me. Truthfully, I think the game plan is simple — executing it will be more difficult.

This will be the toughest front court we will face this year with Sophomore duo Audi Crooks (#55, 6’3” C) and Addy Brown (#24, 6’2” F). Crooks leads the team averaging over 20 points/game on 55% FG and will have Boldyreva’s hands full on defense. This battle in the low post could be one for the books. Where Nas has an edge is on the defensive end. Crooks is too valuable on the offensive side to play hard defense. I would think we exploit that. Brown is second on the team with nearly 14 points/game and she has a lot of secondary success because of the attention Crooks draws, but she has great vision and is second on the team in assists. Last player to watch is Guard Kenzie Hare (#12, 5’9”). She loves to shoot the 3 ball (averages over 6 attempts/game) and shoots it well at 33%. She gives the spacing they need down low.

South Carolina’s recipe was defense to offense. They capitalized on so many fast breaks on turnovers/missed shots by ISU. Thursday’s defense was telling that they are capable and when we get out and run we can hang with the best of them. Similar to our own style. ISU runs their starting 5 for about 80% of the game. Conditioning may become a factor and considering our legs should be more fresh that could be a bonus.

Keys are to make ISU one-and-done on their possessions. They were out rebounded in their last two games including a 2 point win over MVC favorite Drake. The largest discrepancy in their two losses is the turnover margin (-7 vs. UNI, -8 vs. SC). If Drake doesn’t lose that battle -11, ISU would likely be on a 3 game losing streak. Although the battle in the post is what will sell the tickets, defense is what will win this game. If we can wake up some outside shooting (31% 3FG last 3 games) and give Nas some space, we can pick up another Top 25 win.

 

[MTOleBlue]

South Carolina’s recipe was defense to offense. They capitalized on so many fast breaks on turnovers/missed shots by ISU. Thursday’s defense was telling that they are capable and when we get out and run we can hang with the best of them. Similar to our own style. ISU runs their starting 5 for about 80% of the game. Conditioning may become a factor and considering our legs should be more fresh that could be a bonus.

Keys are to make ISU one-and-done on their possessions. They were out rebounded in their last two games including a 2 point win over MVC favorite Drake. The largest discrepancy in their two losses is the turnover margin (-7 vs. UNI, -8 vs. SC). If Drake doesn’t lose that battle -11, ISU would likely be on a 3 game losing streak. Although the battle in the post is what will sell the tickets, defense is what will win this game. If we can wake up some outside shooting (31% 3FG last 3 games) and give Nas some space, we can pick up another Top 25 win.

Defense to offense as you said I think is part of the reason I believe we will win. Our defense is excellent and we're usually pretty good at converting that to baskets (Thursday's game against Purdue notwithstanding). I think we'll be in a good position to win this given our strong guard play. If we take care of the ball and shoot the ball decently, we should win this.

 

[MTFAN61]

One thing not mentioned is the Purdue vs South Carolina game coming up. Many are expecting a blowout of the Boilers similar to what SC did to the Cyclones. Purdue is far from perfect, but they are a tough physical team. I think they could win more games this year than last. South Carolina may be a bit sluggish after stomping ISU by 40 two days ago. If Purdue can keep this a lower scoring game, & within a 20 point loss or less it actually could make our tight victory over them look a little bit better. Guess we'll find out shortly.

 

[MTFAN61]

Much of our success will depend upon Boldyreva being able to counter Crooks. Boldyreva can not come out too overzealous early, & get in early foul trouble. She must avoid the 2 early fouls in the first 5 minutes situation. If she makes a couple of early dumb mistakes it will really hurt our game plan. If she keeps her head about her, & avoids fouling especially early on we have a much better chance of being there at the end.

 

[MTOleBlue]

Yeah, we really need her to be able to play as close to 40 minutes as possible today. Try to draw some fouls on Crooks while on offense and play straight up defense.

 

[jakeboldenbrp]

Games like this make you wish Grabovskaia was still here. Grannum has done fine off the bench, but is a liability of the offensive end.

 

[MTFAN61]

One thing not mentioned is the Purdue vs South Carolina game coming up. Many are expecting a blowout of the Boilers similar to what SC did to the Cyclones. Purdue is far from perfect, but they are a tough physical team. I think they could win more games this year than last. South Carolina may be a bit sluggish after stomping ISU by 40 two days ago. If Purdue can keep this a lower scoring game, & within a 20 point loss or less it actually could make our tight victory over them look a little bit better. Guess we'll find out shortly.

Oh well, never mind that plan...