Foul trouble has been a topic preached to Iowa State coach Bill Fennelly’s squad since day one. 

Statistically, there hasn’t been a game where foul trouble has dropped the Cyclones to a loss. However, coming off of two games where early aggressiveness has been called against them, fouling has arisen as an issue.

Fennelly has taken the idea of foul discrepancies head-on and made it part of his game plan. 

“You can’t put someone on the free-throw line 27 times,” Fennelly said. “And luckily we outscored Kansas State. But if that’s going to happen down the road, that’s a recipe for disaster for our team.”

Fennelly said basic fundamentals of approaching a shot as a defender will help limit fouls overall.

Freshman Nicole “Kidd” Blaskowsky said almost verbatim what her coach said when it comes to defending a high-percentage free-throw-shooting team. 

“Don’t over-approach, and then let them shot fake and slide [for a] 3,” Blaskowsky said. “Get them to dribble the ball and force right or force left.”

The tough two

A construct drawn up by Fennelly was to not be overtly aggressive when playing defense, but not giving up an easy shot either. The construct: A tough two.

“The concept for us for us has always been, when we face a free throw shooting team, tough twos,” Fennelly said. “Not open threes and not easy ones.”

When the Cyclones have established the “tough twos” mind set, Fennelly said they have had a lot of success. But when they have not, a challenge is presented to them that they “might not be able to overcome.”

Blaskowsky said when forcing an opponent to get uncomfortable, it plays right into the team’s hands.

“With that, if you force them the way they don’t want to go, they’re either going to give the ball up or take a tough two [pointer],” Blaskowsky said. 

The best success comes from sound defense, one Blaskowsky said resembles the play of sophomore Brynn Williamson the most. 

“Brynn’s just got that mentality; she’ll do whatever it takes,” Blaskowsky said. “She follows the scouting report very well and she knows what to do and what not to do.”