AMES – Iowa State takes on Princeton in a battle of the 11 seeds in South Bend, Indiana, at 6 p.m. Wednesday. Playing in one of the first four games, the Cyclones are battling to solidify a spot in the March Madness bracket.
The Cyclones enter the NCAA Tournament with a 22-11 record, while Princeton holds a 21-7 record. Iowa State lost to Baylor in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Tournament, but it did enough near the end of the regular season to get one of the final spots in March Madness.
“You can look at things you did or didn’t do, but I think overall, we’ve played really well in February leading into March,” head coach Bill Fennelly said. “I thought we played well in the Big 12 Tournament. Our only two losses [in the last month] are to Baylor twice, and I think they’re very, very good.”
The Tigers finished the season second in the Ivy League standings but lost to Harvard in Ivy Madness. Outside of just four games, Princeton played without the 2023 Ivy Rookie of the Year in Madison St. Rose, who averaged 17 points per game before tearing her ACL.
To fill St. Rose’s shoes, Princeton has relied on a distributed offensive attack, with three players averaging double figures. The Tigers tend to slow things down and play a complete and balanced style of play.
“A lot of people can score. They can defend in a lot of different ways,” Fennelly said. “Very impressed with what they do, how they do it, and they certainly present a great challenge for our team.”
However, Iowa State will not try to play at Princeton’s pace because it knows it can control the game from the jump, especially with its talent.
“I think that our team plays a lot faster and we play a different, I think, kind of form of the game,” sophomore center Audi Crooks said. “Even though you could say we have three scorers and they have three scorers, that does probably resemble in a way, but we’re, I think, unique in our way.”
Crooks and sophomore forward Addy Brown are two of the three main scorers for Iowa State, and you do not need to look far in the past to see that. In the first Big 12 Tournament game against Arizona State, Brown scored a career-high 41 points, and against Baylor, Crooks netted 32 of her own.
Last year in the NCAA Tournament, Crooks broke onto the national scene after exploding for 40 points against Maryland, helping the Cyclones come back from down 20 and advance in the tournament. Doing something like that as an 11-seed is possible for the top Cyclone players.
“It’s definitely possible. I think for me it just amplified me personally and also us as a team,” Crooks said. “Any success that I have is the team’s success, not necessarily about individual things.”
Crooks is near the top of the country in a lot of offensive categories and field goal percentage is no different. She shoots 60% from the field which is good for 12th best in the nation. Princeton, though, is 14th in the country as a team in field goal percentage. Shooting will definitely play a big role in the outcome of the game.
“I mean, we’re just gonna stick to us and play our brand of basketball,” Brown said. “I think we’re gonna do that by playing fast and getting up and down the court fast. They’re going to have to adjust and we’re going to have to adjust to their pace.”
Another one of the keys to slowing down the good shooting Tigers team is playing hard defensively. The Cyclones have had a tough time defending top players and teams that can score at all three levels, so playing hard on that end will be important.
“The biggest challenge for us is to stay locked in defensively because they’re going to run the clock,” Fennelly said. “If you break down, you’re going to give up an open 3. You’re going to give up the thing they do really well, they don’t get credit for it but they offensive rebound really well.”
Despite the irony, the slow pace of play that the Tigers have worn down the other teams with is because they have to play a full shot clock worth of defense. Iowa State cannot get lazy if it does not want to give up open shots.
Although Iowa State is a slight favorite over the Tigers and hopes to have the chance to take on sixth-seeded Michigan, it is not overlooking the task at hand which is Princeton.
“It’s just take it one game at a time. A lot of teams get here and overlook what’s in front of them,” Brown said. “I think for us, our focus is all in on Princeton right now. Once we get through that game, we can think about what’s ahead, but right now, that’s just where our mind and energy is.”
The Cyclones tip-off in the first four of the NCAA Tournament at 6 p.m. Wednesday in South Bend, Indiana, with a spot in the real bracket on the line. The game will be broadcast live on ESPNU.
