No. 6 Cyclones eye redemption against No. 14 Texas
After a push towards the rim, Ashley Joens is helped up off the ground by her teammates as they play South Dakota State on Nov. 15 in Hilton Coliseum.
February 15, 2022
On Jan. 19, Iowa State dropped a home game against Texas, dampening the mood of a Cyclone team that had been rolling at the time.
Come Wednesday night in Austin, Texas, Iowa State is hungry to earn redemption on the road.
The Cyclones are not shying away from stating that they feel they were outplayed by Texas in the last meeting, and the motivation to win this time around is high.
“When you play everyone twice the goal is always: who can you sweep, and you don’t want to get swept,” Iowa State head coach Bill Fennelly said. “Texas has beaten us four times in a row, so yeah there is extra motivation to not just win the game, we’ve got to play better.”
Texas picked up a win over Oklahoma on Saturday, which granted sole possession of the top spot in the Big 12 to Iowa State but also gave Texas confidence that it can compete with the top teams in the conference.
The Longhorns specialize in balance, with 11 players averaging at least 10 minutes per game. The last time that they went up against the Cyclones, nine players recorded a field goal.
Ashley Joens provides one of the biggest storylines surrounding the game, as she needs just 12 points to surpass Angie Welle’s record for career points with the Cyclones, which sits at 2,149.
Joens missed the previous game against Texas, spending time quarantined due to Big 12 Health and Safety protocols. She said that that game was one of the most difficult points of the season for her.
“I might have been yelling at the TV a little bit,” Joens said.
After being held to just 48 points as a team in the first matchup, Fennelly believes that he put too much offensive pressure on Emily Ryan.
With the absence of Joens, Fennelly felt that Ryan would need to take the majority of the missing touches but mentioned he should have divided the workload more evenly.
“I put way too much on Emily Ryan’s plate,” Fennelly said. “I think I made a big mistake in that game to say, ‘Well, we didn’t have [Joens] to help handle the ball, so we’ll let Emily do it.’ That was the wrong thing to do.”
The game is set to tip-off at 7 p.m. Wednesday and will be broadcast on Longhorn Network.
