Jared Soares/Journal-World PhotoA layup by Kansas University forward Jamie Boyd with less than a second left saved the Jayhawks from tying a team record for lack of offensive production.
KU instead had the distinction of scoring the second-fewest points in a game in school history as it dropped its third straight Big 12 Conference game, a 70-37 loss to 24th-ranked Iowa State on Wednesday at Allen Fieldhouse.
Even though the Jayhawks (7-7 overall, 0-3 Big 12) shot only 25 percent from the field, forward Taylor McIntosh said the team’s intensity was as much of a problem as the shooting.
“Not only our shot, but I think we didn’t put in as much effort as we do in to our other games,” McIntosh said.
McIntosh and forward Crystal Kemp said the team seemed to lack focus in practices leading up to the game, and coach Bonnie Henrickson agreed.
Jared Soares/Journal-World Photo“You’re going to play like you practice,” Henrickson said. “I don’t know that we practiced that poorly; we actually played more poorly than we practiced, and we didn’t practice very well.”
The 33-point defeat was a difficult setback for KU. It had showed improvement in playing previous Big 12 opponents — Kansas State and Texas — closely for at least the opening half.
But the Jayhawks never really threatened the Cyclones (13-1, 3-0), who went ahead 11-0 to open the game and cruised to their 10th straight victory.
No Jayhawk scored more than eight points, and the Cyclones limited Kemp, the team’s leading scorer, to only seven points by double- and triple-teaming her most of the game.
Iowa State coach Bill Fennelly said Wednesday’s game was the first time this season ISU had tried the double-team and was pleased with how it worked.
Jared Soares/Journal-World Photo“She was the player that we really had to stop, and we were going to gamble on some other people,” Fennelly said. “They shoot the three enough, but not great, so we really felt like, ‘OK, we’ll gamble a little bit.'”
Henrickson said that the double-team was not an excuse for Kemp going 3-for-10 shooting.
“You can’t double-team an offensive rebounder, you can’t double-team someone in transition,” Henrickson said. “Crystal needs to work harder.”
Long scoring droughts in each half were disastrous for KU. Kemp scored a three-point play with 7:25 remaining in the first half to cut the Cyclones’ lead to seven, but KU went scoreless for the rest of the half.
Guard Kaylee Brown hit a three-point shot early in the second half, but the Jayhawks managed only one point in the nearly 10 minutes that followed.
KU will play its first Big 12 road game Saturday against Texas A&M, its first unranked conference opponent.
Henrickson promised the Jayhawks would play better this weekend.
“We won’t let them stay in a funk; we’ll get them out of it somehow. We’ll find a way,” Henrickson said. “They want to get out of it. We have too many competitive kids.”
