WBB: 2023-24 Non-Conference Games

[1972Shocker]

KANSAS (4-4) vs. WICHITA STATE (4-5)
Sunday, Dec. 10, 2023 | 1 p.m. CT
Wichita, Kan. | Charles Koch Arena
TV: ESPN+
Radio: GoShockers.com/Listen with Steve Strain

SCOUTING KANSAS
> Led by 9th-year head coach Brandon Schneider (26^th year overall), Kansas (4-4) is coming off a 79-57 win over Houston Christian.
> The Jayhawks' only four losses have come against teams which are currently ranked in the top 25 or are receiving votes (No. 15 Virginia Tech, No. 17 UConn, No. 25 Penn State and RV Texas A&M). 2 of those were road games and 2 were in the Cayman Islands.
> Four Jayhawks are averaging double-digit scoring with Taiyanna Jackson leading the team with 13.7 points per game and S'Mya Nichols averaging 13.5, Holly Kersgieter averaging 12 and Zakiyah Franklin averaging 10.5.
> Jackson is the team's leading rebounder, averaging 9.6 rebounds per game.
> The Jayhawks were picked third of 14 teams in the Big 12 preseason poll after winning the WNIT last season.

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This one has the potential, perhaps even the probability of getting pretty ugly for the Shocks.

KU's leading scoring and rebounder is 6-6 Super-Senior Taiyanna Jackson and she is backup up by a 6-4 Junior. The Jayhawks start 3 Super-Seniors, a 4th year senior and a freshman. Their top reserves is also a Super-Senior.

Hopefully, Brandon Schneider will try not to lay it on his form assistant too thick if KU gets a big lead.

[1972Shocker]

Pretty solid first quarter for the Lady Shocks. The game was tied at 14-all with about 40 seconds to play but a bad pass by DJ McCarty was followed by an And-One 3 point play and KU leads 17-14 at the end of the quarter. The Jayhawks jumped out to a 13-6 lead so the Shocks did a nice job reeling them back in.

On the positive note for the Shockers is that Jayla Murray is back playing with mask top protect her broken nose and in somewhat of a surprise Sierra Morrow's waiver must have been approved by the NCAA as she has played her first minutes for the Shockers.

After Sierra Morrow made her first Shocker basket to open the 2nd quarter narrowed the KU lead to 16-17 the Jayhawks and answered with a 7-0 run to push the lead to 8 at 24-16 and the teams traded points from their to close out the first half with KU leading 35-27.

I think KU's length has been more of problem for the Shocker offense to deal with than it has for the Shocker defense The Shocks actually outrebounded the Jayhawks 16-13 in the first half.

In the 3rd quarter KU imposed their will and superior athletes to extend their lead to 18 at 56-38. Shocks are battling as well as they can I think.

In the 4th quarter the Shocks chipped away and closed the lead to single digit at 56-65 with 4 minutes to play. But the Shocks went scoreless the rest of the way (ran out of gas a little bit I think) and KU pulled away to win by 76-56.

KU has a really, really good looking freshman out of Shawnee Mission West with 6-0 guard S'mya Nichols. Nichols scored 23 points on 10-12 (1-1) from the floor. As a team KU shot 58.8% from the floor including 9-19 (47.4%) including 4-6 from a player who was 5-25 on the year coming into this game. Coach Schneider never did empty his bench.

I was pretty discouraged with the Shocks after the SE Louisiana game and the Houston Christian game. Not so much after this game. They were simply overmatched in this game and at times played pretty well and gave it what they had I think.

Getting Jayla Murray back in the lineup was a help. Getting Sierra Morrow eligible to play was a positive as was Aniya Bell's work off the bench including making 3 of 4 on 3 pointers which keyed the Shocks rally in the 4th quarter. Aniya appears to have the best look perimeter shot of all the Shockers, and sense that is a weakness of this team she may have earned herself some more playing time. Sierra looks like she could be a pretty solid player in the AAC although she does have a bit of a quick trigger. Plus the fact that the Shocks are her 5th team in 5 years is a bit of a red flag.

I doubt the Shocks will see athletes like KU brings to the court moving forward. So getting Jayla back and Sierra eligible should be beneficial against the remainder of the schedule. Just need to avoid the implosions like the had against SE Louisiana and Houston Christian. The final 2 non-con games against Missouri State and Oral Roberts will tell us if the Ladies can bet back on the right track.

[1972Shocker]

31-11 in the 2nd half in which the Shocks shot 32% from the field and 60% from the line. Actually, the Shocks were fortunate to have only lost by 11.

My early on assessment and outlook for the Lady Shocks at the mid-point of the non-con season:

So far the Shocks are performing pretty much in line with my expectations coming in to the year. Replacing Trajata, Jane, Curtessia, and Shamaryah in the starting lineup was going to be problematic at best plus the one returning starter, DJ, has been operating at about 75% at most while nursing a knee injury.

The only size you have are Ella and Sophia, both listed at 6-4, but neither or whom are significant contributors. Ella is a legit 6-4 and is a terrific young lady and a great teammate to have as one of your deep reserves. But IMO she has average D-II talent. Sophia might be closer to 6-3 but has not shown me anything to change my opinion from the time she signed with the Shocks which was that she looked like a project. I think both Ella and Sophia lack the athleticism to be significant contributors at the D-I level.

That leaves Daniella (6-0), Jayla Murray (6-1) and Ornella Niankin (6-1) to cover the front court and Ornellla looks closer to 5-11 to me than 6-1. Jayla only played 8 games last year before a season ending knee injury after a pretty solid freshman year at Florida Southwestern State (Juco). Upddate: Sierra Morrow (6-1) was apparently cleared to play this year and played her first game against Kansas. Sierra looks to be a stretch 4 type of player.

Outside of the hobbled DJ, their is very little D-I playing experience on this team with a first year head coach and a relatively inexperienced group of assistant coaches.

So not surprising to expect some growing pains from this team and at times they will simply be overmatched. Happened today against Kansas.

Somewhat disappointing to me is the play of Tre'zure although part of that may be due to her being over-hyped by the program. HCTN told her she needed to be more selffish and to hunt her shots and focus less on facilitating teammates. She appears to have taken that to heart. While she leads the Shocks in scoring with 82 points in 6 games (13.7 ppg/0.43 ppmp) she has taken 99 shots and 18 free throws to get there while shooting 32.3%/18.4%/61.1%.

DJ, who admittedly has been playing on 1.5 legs so far this year, has 56 points (9.3 ppg/0.33 ppmp) on 55 shots adn 22 free throws while shooting 32.7%/28.6%/63.6%. DJ is now playing without a knee brace. Hopefully, she will be close to full speed by the time AAC play starts.

Coming in to the season I thought the the key to any success for the Shocks would be the play ot Tre'zure and DJ. But so far neither of the 5th year seniros have been very efficient with DJ not being close to 100% healthy. Hopefully, that will turn around to some degree moving forward.

OTOH I am pretty pleased with the performance of sophomore Daniella Abies and true freshman Salese Blow.

Daniella at 6-0 is undersized in the post but is pretty strong and pretty athletic. She is close behind Tre'zure in total scoring with 76 points (12.7 ppg/046 ppm) on 50 shots and 25 free throw while shooting 63%/64%. Dani is also far and away the Shocks best rebouneder. If she was 6-2 or 6-3 she would be a problem for opposing teams to deal with.

Salese is an upsized scoring guard/wing at 5-11. I describe her as a scoring guard and not a shooting guard because she really doesn't have a great looking stroke, but she does have an ability to score the ball. The proverbial maker vs a shooter. Salese has scored 70 points (11.7 ppg/.50 ppmp) on 55 shots and 26 free throws while shooting 41.8%/27.8%/73.1%. A pretty decent start for the true freshman who should continue to improve. It would be nice to see Salese grab more than 1 rebound per game at her size. Salese only played 9 minutes against KU today. Jeniah Thompson seems to have supplanted Salese in the starting lineup for now.

Overall, the Shocks are shooting 41.1%/24.3%/62.1%. The Shocks are being outrebounded 42.5 to 33.8 which is not too surprising considering their size challenges. They are offsetting that disadvantage somewhat by turning it over 15 times per game to 19.3 times per game by their opponents so far. The Shocks need to pick up the pace of their shooting on 3-pointers and free throws. They need to get those up to 28% and 70%. Whether they have that in them remains to be seen..The only player shooting more than 28.6% from 3-point range is jeniah Thompson but that is on a low volume making 4-9 over 5 games. Jeniah Thompson and Aniya Bell seem to have the best looking strokes from behind the 3-points line.

I still have the Shocks going 6-6 in the non-con based on their schedule. How they might fare in AAC play is hard to say at this point. I don't think the AAC will be all that strong conference-wise this season. However, the Shocks most likely will finish in the bottom 5. So what I am looking for this season is signs that HCTN and staff can game plan and develop players, especially those players who can return and contribute next year, although that is not a big group: Raissa Nsabua, Ornella Niankan, Jayla Murray, Daniella Abies,and Salese Blow. The Shocks will need to beat both Missouri State on the road and Oral Roberts at home to finish 6-6 in the non-con. Doable but they could just as easily finish 4-8.

6-1 Senior Sierra Morrow, the transfer from North Iowa CC, Cowley County CC, Bradley and Miami (OH) will join that group next year. I'm thinking it is a positive she had to sit out this year. This is mute point because she somehow received a waiver to play this year with her first action being against Kansas.

So far HCTN has inked 3 guards for next season:
True Freshman Kiyleyahh (K.P.) Parr - 5-5 point guard out of the Waco, Texas area.
2-Yr Juco Transfer Kyleigh Ortiz - 5-6 shooting guard via Cowley CC.
2-Yr Juco Transfer Princess Anderson - 5-7 shooting guard via Pratt CC.

So these 3 guards look to be the replacements for the 5-7 Jobe, the 5-8 McCarrty and the 5-9 Thompson. So the Shocks will actually be getting a little smaller at the guard position. OTOH, Ortiz shot 37.7% from 3 last year and is at 35.2% through 8 games this year while averaging about 7.5 three-point attempts per game and Anderson 33.8% from 3 last year and is at 46.2% through 7 games this year while averaging about 7 three point attempts per game. So hopefully these 2 will give the Shocks' perimeter scoring a boost next year if, at 5-6 and 5-7, they can find open looks.

So counting the 5 key potential returning players (no Sierra Morrow next year) and the 3 recruits plus 4 other little used deep reserves eligible to return next year then HCTN has 12 scholarships committed if everyone returns and 3 scholarships remaining for next year plus any scholarships that might open up due to players who decide to transfer. My wish list for the transfer portal hunting season would be for an experienced point guard, a dead-eye 5-10ish 3-point sniper, and a relatively athletic forward in the 6-2 to 6-3 neighborhood.

Updated comments to previous observations.

[1972Shocker]

I am wondering if Salese was not feeling well today or was injured. Watch the bench during this highlight and you will see that Salese was the only player who did not come up off the bench when Sierra scored and was fouled. She did not look too comfortable. Young women have periodic issues that the guys don't even have to think about. Hopefully, that is all it was.

I guess we will find out next Saturday. Hopefully, all the players will be in good spirits after finish finals this week.

[1972Shocker]

WICHITA STATE (4-6) at MISSOURI STATE (3-3)
Saturday, Dec. 16, 2023 | 1 p.m. CT
Springfield, Mo. | Great Southern Bank Arena
TV: ESPN+
Radio: Audacy.com/KFH with Steve Strain

SCOUTING MISSOURI STATE
> The Bears are 2-0 at home this season with wins over Southeast Missouri State and AAC opponent Tulane (70-60) and also have a road win over Little Rock (52-47)/
> Missouri State's losses are @ Saint Louis (67-79), @ Oklahoma State (51-82), and @ Missouri (63-81). The Shockers defeated the St. Louis at home 78-59 in one of their better performances so far this year.
> Two Bears are averaging double-digit scoring with Indya Green leading the team with 11.8 points per game and Lacy Stokes averaging 10 points per game. Green is also the team's leading rebounder, averaging 6.7 per game.
> Stokes, a Missouri Southern State transfer who had 13 points and 8 rebounds in the exhibition game against Wichita State last year, leads the team in steals (1.8) and assists (4) per game.
> The Bears were picked sixth of 12 teams in the Missouri Valley Conference preseason poll.
> Missouri State's net ranking is currently 228 (8th best in the 12-team MVC) and the Shockers' net ranking is currently 249 (14th of 14 teams in the AAC)

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Looks like Missouri state starts two 6-3 players and they have a 6-4 player and a 6-1 player who each play about 7 minutes off the bench. The Shocks will counter that with a couple 6-1 players (Murray and Morrow) and a couple of 6-0 players (Abies & Niankan). So MSU appears to have a bit of a size advantage. Between that and being at home MSU is probably a slight favorite. That said I think this is a game the Shocks can win if they play well.

Having Jayla Murray back and adding Sierra Morrow to the mix should be a big help to the Shocks.

The Shocks need to win this game and their game at home next Wednesday vs ORU to close out the non-con at 6-6.

[1972Shocker]

Shocks lead 17-15 after the 1st quarter highlighted by 16 turnovers. 9 by Missouri State and 7 by the Shocks. Jayla Murray had 3 turnovers and 2 fouls in 6 minutes of play. Shocks trying to play a little too fact in my opinion. Really both teams are probably trying to play too fast and up just looking hurried.

4 more turnovers, 2 by each team in the 1st minute of the 2nd quarter.

The Shocks lead 39-33 at half on the strength of a very strong shooting performance 17-25 (68%) from the field including 3-6 on 3 pointers and 2-2 from the line. However, Missouri State despite 15 turnovers is hanging in there primarily due to a 16-7 advantage on the boards including 9-1 on the offensive boards a MSU definitely has an advantage inside.

Dani Abies has 12 points on 6-8 from the floor and and Salese Blow has 10 points off the bench including an and-one 3 point play and a 3-point shot.

The Shocks had 12 turnovers. So a total of 27 turnovers in the half.

Not sure this portends all that well for the Shocks . Leading by only 6 points while shooting the lights out, which is out-of-character for this team, and with Missouri State turning in over 15 times.

[WstateU]

We’re a turnover machine… it’s getting hard to watch.

[1972Shocker]

As I feared the the first half proved to be fool's gold for the Shocks. MSU leads 55-48 at the end of the 3rd quarters. The Shockers did manage to catch MSU in turnovers with 8 more in the 3rd quarter. Both teams now with 20 turnovers in the game.

[WstateU]

We tie it up and commit a couple of silly turnovers and back to 4 point deficit…

[WuDrWu]

Turned it on to see the score, down 4 we take it to the basket, get bumped off the drive, our girl falls, loose ball, scramble, we're called for traveling.

I'm a supporter of women's athletics.

Get people that understand the game to officiate and stop with the equality thing. Just ****ing stop. That woman has zero business officiating if that's how she understands the game. Ridiculous. Not saying it cost us the game. 17 million turnovers did.

[WstateU]

Turned it on to see the score, down 4 we take it to the basket, get bumped off the drive, our girl falls, loose ball, scramble, we're called for traveling.

I'm a supporter of women's athletics.

Get people that understand the game to officiate and stop with the equality thing. Just ****ing stop. That woman has zero business officiating if that's how she understands the game. Ridiculous. Not saying it cost us the game. 17 million turnovers did.

I don’t disagree, that was a horrible call. 25 turnovers and counting.

[1972Shocker]

Shocks lose the 2nd half 39-26.

Final: MSU 72 - WSU 65. Shockers fall to 4-7.

Dani Abies and Salese Blow each had 18 points to lead the Shocks. Dani led the Shocks with 6 rebounds but also tied for the team lead with 5 turnovers. Salese though only had 1 rebound in 31 minutes of play. An up-sized guard at 5-11 Salese should be a better rebounder than she is.

Sierra Morrow and Jayla Murray did not give the Shocks the hoped for boost. Morrow had 5 points on 2-8 shooting and only 2 rebounds in 25 minutes and Murray had no points, 2 rebounds, 5 turnovers and 4 fouls in 12 minutes of play.

Jeniah Thompson had 4 points and 4 rebound in 9 minutes of play. She probably deserves more playing time although she does get a little loose with the ball at times although that doesn't particularly standout as unusual on this team.

Shocks have now lost 5 of their last 6 games.

[1972Shocker]

ORAL ROBERTS (6-4) at WICHITA STATE (4-7)
Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2023 | 6 p.m. CT
Wichita, Kan. | Charles Koch Arena
TV: ESPN+ with Shane Dennis and Denning Gerig
Radio: GoShockers.com/Listen with Steve Strain

SCOUTING ORAL ROBERTS
> Led by second-year head coach Kelsi Musick (15^th year overall), Oral Roberts (6-4) is coming off a 102-59 loss at No. 12 Kansas State.
> The Golden Eagles' four losses have all come on the road, having won just one road contest against UTRGV on Nov. 22.
> Three of their four losses came from teams which are now ranked in the top 25 (No. 5 5 Texas, No. 12 Kansas State, No. 25 TCU).
> Both the Shockers and the Golden Eagles suffered losses to Oklahoma (RV), with Wichita State dropping its season opener, 92-68, and Oral Roberts falling 103-74 to the Sooners six days later.
> Five Golden Eagles are averaging double-digit scoring with Taleyah Jones leading the team with 16.1 points per game, followed by Jalei Oglesby with 14.2 points per game, Ruthie Udoumoh with 12.4, and Emily Robinson with 10.8. Udouhmoh is also the team's leading rebounder, averaging 8.9 per game.
> Oral Roberts was picked fifth of nine teams in the Summit League preseason poll and currently sit in second at 6-4.

https://goshockers.com/news/2023/12/...ts-dec-20.aspx

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Oral Roberts (#158 in the NET) is 6-4 but that record and it's players stats might be deceptive as the schedule is a mix of very good teams and very weak teams with not much in the middle. Their 6 wins include 4 games against NAIA schools. 3 of their 4 losses were to ranked teams as mention above plus a loss to Oklahoma (RV) by and average margin of 33 points. Their 2 middle of the pack wins were 93-87 win over fellow AAC Member Tulsa (#120 in the NET) and a 72-63 win over UT Rio Grande Valley (#292 in the NET). Tulsa was picked to finish 7th in the AAC, 4 spots ahead of the Shocks. Tulsa had a nice win in Maui yesterday handing Texas Tech it's first loss of the season 66-58.

Perhaps a winnable game for the Shocks (#259 in the NET) but ORU will be favored I would think. IIRC from last year, ORU likes to play an up tempo game.

This is the final non-conference game for the Shocks. They will be off for 10 days before opening conference play on December 30th at home against Tulane.

[1972Shocker]

I was unable to watch the game but the Shockers close out their non-con season with a late game collapse.

The Shocks trailed by 1 at the half at 34-35 but came out strong in the 3rd quarter outscoring ORU 22-10 to take a 56-45 lead into the 4th quarter. The Shocks extended the lead to 14 at 61-47 with 8:19 to play on a basket by Salese Blow. Didn't see the game but I wonder if the Shocks thought they had it the bag at that point. ORU then outscored the Shocks 25-7 over the next 7:30 to take a 72-68 lead with 43 seconds to play. Sierra Morrow tried to pull it out for the Shockers late with two 3-pointers, the 2nd of which tied it up at 74-all with 17 seconds to play but ORU scored on a driving layup with 5 seconds to play and DJ McCarty missed a jumper as time expired. ORU 76 - WSU 74.

The Shocks wasted an outstanding offensive performance from Sierra Morrow who scored 29 points on 9-15 from the field incuding 5-5 on 3 pointers plus 6-8 from the line. Sierra also led the Shocks with 9 rebounds and had 3 assists and 2 blocks.

Dani Abies was also very good scoring 19 points in 8-11 from the field and 3-3 from the line and grabbed 6 rebounds.

I will have to watch a replay to see how the Shocks gave up 29 points over the final 8 minutes of the game.

The Shocks close out the non-con at 4-8 despite the efforts of Sierra and Dani. The Shocks have now lost 6 of their last 7 heading into AAC p This one is simply not acceptable. Not sure where the blame lies but the Shocks haven't provided any evidence that the will finish any higher than the 11th they were picked for in the preseason. Might finish lower than that. At this point the Shocks easily have the worst NET ranking among AAC teams.

I think the 10-day Christmas break may be coming at a good time for this team.

[flyingMoose]

They can’t guard anybody long enough. The ORU coach did not bother to call a TO with the score tied. She knew one of her guards could drive the court and get a layup and they did. Too many turnovers too.