WBB vs PFW Mastodons game notes
Opponent: Purdue Fort Wayne Mastodons
Date: 11/6, Home, W 80-61
Starters: Laila Phelia, Jordan Hobbs, Cameron Williams, Lauren Hansen, Elise Stuck
Injuries/inactives: Chyra Evans, Elissa Brett did not dress
Offense:
- We had trouble breaking down PFW’s defense early on, despite a size advantage. PFW played energetic defense with active hands throughout the game.
- Hobbs had a highlight play with an offensive rebound followed by a scoop shot while falling down that spun in
- The freshmen Brown and Woodson are not afraid to drive, but are a bit out of control, sometimes resulting in nice buckets and sometimes resulting in a foul or losing the ball
- Hansen a couple hard scoring drives, including an and one at the end of the first half
- PFW for some reason decided not to full court press until the 4th quarter, but the team passed out of it well, showing improvement from last year
Defense:
- The 221 press with Taylor Williams at the top returned with these results:
- Tip, hurry, pass out of bounds
- Travel
- Steal by Hobbs
- Steal and score by Phelia
- Press broken 3 times
- Started the game in a 2-3 zone that was "a mess" according to my wife, switched to man, which worked better, but was still not great
- Cam Williams seems to be better this year at staying vertical and not fouling. 0 fouls on the day.
Notable stats:
- Phelia had 25 points on 40% shooting, definitely could have been a lot more if her shot was falling. Took 25 total shots.
- Taylor Williams with 2 deflections, 1 block. Definitely very active defensively.
- Elise Stuck got 2 fouls in the first 5 minutes, subbed for T Williams. Stuck eventually fouled out.
Overall:
- The team missed a lot of shots in the 2nd quarter to keep PFW in the game. They got within 7 in the 3rd quarter, but then Michigan pulled away.
November 7th, 2023 at 7:32 AM ^
Great summary, would add that we gave PFW a LOT of point blank looks at the rim........which they missed.
Would like to see more of both the Williams playing together in the paint.
November 7th, 2023 at 7:33 AM ^
Appreciate this- well organized with good highlights.
Nice to have something other than our daily SignGate stuff. Looks like Phelia's All American good this season? Always thought she had that potential.
November 7th, 2023 at 8:41 AM ^
i love laila, and yes - i think she should be in all-american discussions. i don't know if she will, but she should. she's always been a terrific wing defender, but this season she's being more aggressive on the offensive end, and has added range to her jumper.
AND - she was the pretty much the only one who didn't shy away against LSU last year.
nails.
November 7th, 2023 at 8:13 AM ^
This thread wasn't about signgate so i was confused
November 7th, 2023 at 3:22 PM ^
We can always make this thread about both signgate and the women’s bb team
i was working at a concession stand at the basketball game last night. Santa Ono stopped by to procure some refreshments. He was smiling, friendly, and relaxed. Kinda seemed like he felt he had nothing to worry about.
Read into that what you will
November 7th, 2023 at 8:35 AM ^
thanks jpl!
i was there, too, so at the risk of stepping on your toes, i'll add some of my own notes / comments:
- the rotations are still wonky right now - KBA said as much during her postgame drop on the radio. i think she said they were trying to fit the puzzle pieces together. i think that contributed to the sometimes-disjointed offense. we seemed to spend long stretches standing around until laila or hobbs would just go it alone.
- i noticed that more when she had hansen at point - macy brown brings a totally different energy to that spot. she seems to be pressing the edges of the defenses way more than hansen, who dribbles just way too much.
- the 1-2-2 press was a killer, and (imho) was the tipping point for the whole game. KBA called a time out at about 5:30 left in the 3rd at (i think) 43-34, and we came out in that press and immediately went 11-0. game over.
- i've been banging that 1-2-2 drum for years, since we used it (to huge effect) during naz' frosh season. she'd come off the bench at the first timeout and we'd just kill people for five minutes. taylor williams looks to be similar - long, athletic, big motor...but this team is definitely deep enough to do it more often.
- speaking of, we are long and athletic all over the court. you didn't mention whitney sollom, but she played extremely well, probably the best game of her career. KBA said that the box score had her for four offensive boards, but i think she also tipped three or four more. i'd note that she was also the first one off the bench after we started the second half with the starters, which makes me think she'll get more play as the season goes on.
- the defense was generally active, with (again) some communication breakdowns. it also seemed like PFW had a bunch of smallish, quick players that forced us out of position a bit on the defensive end.
- we again used everyone for long stretches, which makes me wonder what will happen to the minutes when evans and brett return. brett has to play - she's a shooter, and was MAC all-defense at bowling green last year. i frankly have no idea what minutes will look like by january 1. any ideas?
all in all, it was fine. not great, fine. KBA said they put a lot of stuff on film, so we'll see what we get next week.
thanks again, and go blue!
November 7th, 2023 at 8:45 AM ^
Thanks for the additional notes here! I'm not trying to be the only voice on this, just trying to up discussion on the WBB team, so I'm all for it.
November 7th, 2023 at 9:08 AM ^
ditto!
this is shaping up as a very intriguing season - this team deserves all the eyeballs it can get!
November 7th, 2023 at 8:51 AM ^
- I thought Sollom not only rebounded well but looked like she could be a nice piece as a passer out of the post. She had a couple nice finds.
- Any idea what's going on with Chyra Evans? She's going to probably get 20 mpg once she returns as well? I tracked PT between her and Cam Williams last year and throughout the course of the year Williams' minutes shrunk a bit while Evans' minutes increased steadily (when she was healthy). Throwing Sollom and Taylor Williams into the mix makes that even more interesting.
- I agree that I have no idea what the rotation or minutes look like come conference play. I'm surprised Crockett has been the 10th person in, but -- to your point -- I'm not sure who you put her in ahead of yet. Maybe Woodson, but that's probably it. I guess that's good for depth, but bad for PT.
- KBA has tried the three-guard lineup with Brown/Phelia/Kampschroeder in both games so far. I don't know that it has been particularly effective or ineffective, but I've found it interesting.
- The 1-2-2 press has been very successful so far. That's a good tool to have and deploy when you want to disrupt the flow of the game.
- The defense concerns me because it feels like they're getting blown by off the dribble way too early against the likes of meh competition. The B1G has some really solid guard. Hansen in particular has gotten beat off the dribble numerous times.
November 7th, 2023 at 9:05 AM ^
- Thanks for pointing out Sollom. I hadn't noticed what you or matty said and will need to pay more attention to her.
- Also thanks for the correction on the 1-2-2 zone. I did some basic googling that I should have done before and will move to that label now.
- I feel like our best lineup right now is Phelia, Hobbs, Hansen, C. Williams, and T. Williams. But I also agree that Brett and Evans will shake that up, so I'm looking forward to their return. Macy Brown has also seemed more competent off the dribble than Hansen, but has not produced points like Hansen has. Hopefully Macy can grow over the season so she's ready to take over the spot next year.
November 7th, 2023 at 9:31 AM ^
Thanks for posting this, glad to see *some* women's sports coverage on MGoBlog even if it's just on the board!
As an aside, Mastodons is a cool mascot.