AMES – Iowa State took down Kansas in dominant fashion 78-64 Wednesday afternoon at Hilton Coliseum, backed by 33 points from sophomore center Audi Crooks.
The win improved the Cyclones to 10-5 and brings their conference record to 1-1. Kansas falls to 10-3 and stays winless in Big 12 play.
In the first quarter alone, Crooks scored 16 of her 33 points on 8-of-10 shooting. The Cyclones led 19-13 at the end of the first, but the Jayhawks outscored the Cyclones 20-17 in the second. At the break, Iowa State led 36-33 behind 16 Crooks points and seven points and eight rebounds from sophomore forward Addy Brown.
The second half showcased some strong play on both the offensive and defensive ends. Fifth-year senior guard Emily Ryan stepped up on the offensive end in the second half, scoring 13 of her 19 points in the second half. Iowa State shot 55% from the field, which helped maintain a large lead the entire second half.
Crooks stays on track
After a tough loss in their first conference matchup against Oklahoma State, in which Crooks scored an efficient 28 points, the Cyclones stayed true to who they were against the Jayhawks, continuously feeding Crooks, especially when they tried to guard her solo.
“They started off one-on-one and I just kind of went on a run from there,” Crooks said.
Despite not scoring in the second quarter, Crooks scored 33 points on 13-for-18 shooting and went 7-for-13 from the free throw line.
“Coach [Bill Fennelly] kind of let me know during practice that it was gonna be a game where the ball was going to go inside quite a bit because he thought that’s where our advantage would be,” Crooks said. “When he says things like that, I take that with a lot of pride, I just try to finish.”
Crooks has now scored 30 or more points in three of her last five games. Additionally, Crooks is 14th in the nation, shooting slightly above 61% on 211 attempts, the highest of anyone in front of her.
“Her consistency is something that’s just so impressive every single night,” Ryan said. “Tonight, 33, it seemed effortless.”
Fennelly added that Crooks could have had 40 points if she had made some of her free throws due to how Kansas guards opposing players.
Ryan provides a third scoring option
Throughout non-conference play, the Cyclones have struggled to find consistent scoring outside of Crooks and Brown, but Ryan added some juice to spread out the Jayhawk defense.
Ryan scored 19 points, her most of the season, while adding six assists. Her scoring helped open up the inside for Crooks and made it easier for her to distribute the ball to others.
Ryan is also sixth in the country in assists per game, with 6.9, proving to be one of the top distributors in the country. If she can consistently score the ball at a slightly higher rate while still distributing the ball, the Cyclone offense could be deadly.
“We’ve been telling her, you don’t have to shoot 15 times but you’ve got to be someone that at least might have a chance to score,” Fennelly said. “If they’re going to take away the 3 point line and double Audi [Crooks], she went 7-of-8 and most of them were layups.”
A morale boosting win
After starting the season ranked No. 8 and falling out of the top 25 after a gauntlet of a non-conference schedule, it’s been hard to build confidence for the Cyclones. A game like this against a tough team helps in that category.
“I do think the break really helped. I really do,” Fennelly said. “It was a really hard December. Obviously, schedule-wise, travel-wise, there are teams in our league that have not played a road game and we’ve been all over the place.”
Before the win against Kansas, the Cyclones had lost three of four games, including a big loss against No. 4 UConn and a loss to in-state rival Iowa in front of a hostile crowd.
“It’s one of those things that you can either have that happen and kind of pout and feel sorry for yourself or it can make you hungrier and want to get back on the court and adjust and come back the way we wanted to,” Ryan said. “That’s the way this team approached it, we were hungry for a win.”
The Cyclones have a short break before they are back in action at 5:30 p.m. Sunday against Utah at home. The Utes have an 11-2 record and are 2-0 in Big 12 play.
