Ames, Iowa – On Saturday night in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, Green Bay faced an Iowa State team that was playing on its own home floor, looking to slow the tempo and had a major height advantage over the Phoenix.
Green Bay’s 71-57 victory to advance to the second round shows that its first test of the 2012 tournament was aced.
The Iowa State crowd was never a factor as the Phoenix silenced them early by taking a 42-23 halftime lead.
Green Bay forced 31 Cyclone turnovers, 19 in the first half, and came away with a program NCAA Tournament record 20 steals as the Phoenix made Iowa State play much quicker than they wanted.
And while Iowa State did outrebound Green Bay by 12 for the game, only seven of those rebounds were on the offensive end and the Phoenix limited Iowa State to just nine second-chance points. Green Bay also outscored the taller Cyclones in the paint, 20-16.
“I don’t know if I’ve seen a team play better all year than I saw Green Bay play (Saturday) night,” Kentucky Head Coach Matthew Mitchell said. “They played with great intensity last night. It looks like all five players can drive the ball. They’re just a smart, aggressive, extremely physical team that can make you pay for mistakes. There are a lot of things that worry me. I think right now, their versatility on offense and their ability to be physical on defense are big concerns right now.”
The Phoenix made a great first impression on their second round opponents, the second-seeded Wildcats, but as Green Bay Head Coach Matt Bollant said in his press conference following his team’s victory over Iowa State, the Phoenix’s first and second round opponents couldn’t be any more different.
Kentucky prefers to play at a very fast tempo and will likely spend the majority of the game pressing the Phoenix. Bollant said the Wildcats are similar to Georgia Tech, a team Green Bay defeated in November in overtime.
“We have to take care of that basketball, and that will help us shoot a high percentage,” Green Bay Head Coach Matt Bollant said. “We’ll make them have to play half court which is a lot easier to rebound and not give up layups if we play half court. Those are keys, to take care of the basketball and shoot a good percentage.”
There are some advantages to facing a team that plays similar to you, but Bollant stresses that Kentucky’s athleticism is something the Phoenix are not used to seeing.
“Sometimes teams win games just because they’re athletic,” Bollant said. “(Monday), I don’t want to sit here afterwards and think they beat us because they are more athletic. We have to block out. If we rely on our jumping, we’re going to lose that battle nine times out of 10. The advantage is that they do shoot it quickly, they don’t hold the ball, they play a fast style which we really like to play as well, so it should be an up and down game which I think both teams really enjoy.”
Green Bay and Kentucky are scheduled to play their second round contest on Monday night with tipoff scheduled for 9:45 p.m. ET. The game will be shown on ESPN2.
A Quick Look at the Wildcats
Kentucky won the SEC regular season title and come into Monday’s second round tilt with a 26-6 record.
In the first round, Kentucky struggled with 15th-seed McNeese State all game before dispatching the Cowgirls, 68-62, to advance.
The Wildcats are led by SEC Player of the Year, A’Dia Mathies, a 5-foot-9 junior who averages 15.7 points per game and 5.3 rebounds per game.
Part of Kentucky’s trouble on Saturday night was Mathies being limited to just 18 minutes because of foul trouble. Mathies shot just 2-of-10 from the field in the first round and finished with six points, two rebounds and five turnovers.
Bollant is not expecting a player the caliber of Mathies to have a second consecutive poor outing.
“She is a kid that can really penetrate,” Bollant said. “She shoots the three well. She didn’t shoot it great (Saturday), but that’s a game where it’s hard to shoot it well. We try to limit her from getting easy touches and keep her from positions where she can attack well. We have to try to clutter the lane a little bit and just not give her a bunch of space.”
Mathies has plenty of capable scorers surrounding her which makes her all the more dangerous. Nine Kentucky players scored in its first round NCAA Tournament game, which makes defending Mathies more difficult.
“We’re doing to have to give (Mathies) some extra attention,” senior co-captain Hannah Quilling said. “But she’s also surrounded by a team of great players, so too much attention can’t be given to her. Our defensive system is one of the best. We’ll stick to what we’ve done all season and we’re excited to see how it works.”
Quotable
“I’m going to share with the team that Green Bay is clearly, in my mind, the best seven seed. They are a team that possibly slipped by the committee. This is an incredible team that’s 31-1. We put film of them on the screen and just let our players see it and I don’t think it’s going to be too much trouble convincing them how hard we have to play. This will be as big of a challenge as we’ve seen this season. Green Bay is ranked in the top 10 nationally, and I think that’s very deserved. They look like a top 10 team. I don’t know anyone who will have harder game to move on to the Sweet Sixteen than us. It’s going to be very difficult, and I think at this point in time the players understand that they have to play well no matter who they’re playing. No one is handing out trips to the Sweet Sixteen. You have to earn your way there.”
-Kentucky Head Coach Matthew Mitchell on what he’ll say to his team about Green Bay.
“I think it’s probably harder on the coaches than it is the players. We get up early in the morning and think about the game all day. The hardest thing as a coach is game day, sitting and waiting for the game. But, this is an exciting time of the year and it’s a little different situation. We’re excited for a chance to go to the Sweet 16.”
- Green Bay Head Coach Matt Bollant on the difficulties an 8:45 CT start poses.
“I couldn’t feel more confident. Last night was just what I needed.”
- Green Bay’s Lydia Bauer after making four three-pointers and tying for team-high honors with 16 points in Green Bay's 71-57 win over Iowa State in the first round.
Tags: Green Bay - Women's Basketball
