Next Up - Middle Tennessee State

[ZagDad84]

This game needs its own thread and not be buried in the Dayton Thread.

From GoZags.com

Bulldogs Face Middle Tennessee In Semifinals of Gulf Coast Showcase
Gonzaga meets the Raiders for the second time in program history
Women's Basketball 11/29/2019 4:10:00 PM

THE TIP-OFF
- Gonzaga will look to improve to 5-1 Friday against Middle Tennessee in the semifinals of the Gulf Coast Showcase inside Hertz Arena in Estero, Fla. This will be Gonzaga's first trip to the tournament since its inception in 2013.
- Gonzaga broke into the Associated Press Top 25 poll at No. 23 following a 76-70 overtime loss at Stanford on Nov. 17. This week, GU moved up to No. 22 in the AP Poll, and the Bulldogs held steady at 21st in the Coaches Poll.
- Gonzaga is 1-1 all-time against teams out of Conference USA, including a 1-0 mark under Head Coach Lisa Fortier. The last time the Zags faced a team out of Conference USA was last season when they defeated Western Kentucky 76-55 in the final round of the Vancouver Showcase in Vancouver, Canada.
- This will mark the 16th time in program history that the Bulldogs have played on Nov. 30. GU carries an 8-7 overall mark on the date, but it has won five of the last six games on the date, including four straight. This will be the second time in Fortier's tenure that the Zags have played on Nov. 30. The last time was during the 2017-18 season--Gonzaga defeated Eastern Washington in its home opener, 69-45.
- Gonzaga currently ranks first in the nation in percent attendance capacity. The Zags average 92.24 percent capacity; that's an average of 5,535 fans that fill McCarthey Athletic Center every game.
- Gonzaga returns two starters and seven letter-winners from last season's squad that claimed the Zags' third consecutive and 15th overall West Coast Conference regular season title.
- In 2018-19, the Bulldogs advanced to their third-straight NCAA Tournament, advancing to the Second Round.

SERIES REVIEW
- Saturday marks the second time in program history Gonzaga and Middle Tennessee have played.
- Middle Tennessee holds a 1-0 edge in the series. The last time the two programs met was in the first-ever NCAA game for the Bulldogs. The Raiders defeated Gonzaga 85-46 on March 17, 2007.
- Gonzaga carries a 1-1 record against current Conference USA programs, including a 1-0 mark under Head Coach Lisa Fortier.

SCOUTING THE RAIDERS
- Middle Tennessee returns two starters and five letter-winners from last season's squad that finished 23-11 overall on the year with an 11-5 record in C-USA. The Raiders advanced to the WNIT Second Round.
- Nine newcomers join the roster for the 2019-20 season, including four freshmen. Currently, Middle Tennessee has four transfers on its roster, including former Tennessee guard Anastasia Hayes.
- Sophomore guard Anastasia Hayes was named to the C-USA Women's Basketball Preseason Team, the only representative of the Raiders on the eight-person squad.
- This season, Middle Tennessee was picked to finish second in C-USA behind defending champion Rice.
- Through six games, Middle Tennessee averages 66.5 points per game shooting 41.1 percent from the floor and 32.9 percent from long range.
- Four players average double-figures for the Raiders, led by Anastasia Hayes with 16.0 points per game shooting 39.4 percent from the floor. Taylor Sutton adds 15.7 points per game while Aislynn Hayes and Charity Savage add 13.7 and 10.0 points per game, respectively.
- As a squad, Middle Tennessee averages 37.7 rebounds per game with a +2.2 rebounding margin. Savage leads the Raiders on the glass with 11.5 rebounds per game while both Courtney Whitson and Anastasia Hayes add over six boards per game at 6.8 and 6.7 per game.
- Anastasia Hayes also leads the Raiders in assists per game, dishing out 4.8 per game.
- In their first game of the Gulf Coast Showcase against Auburn, the Raiders claimed a 73-50 victory. Sutton led the way with 27 points while Aislynn Hayes finished with 20. Anastasia Hayes rounded out the double-figure scoring with 11.

Link: https://gozags.com/news/2019/11/29/w...-showcase.aspx

ZagDad

[ZagDad84]

Middle Tennessee State is 5-1 with their only loss, a home loss to Kentucky 67-52.

There is no pre-game write-up yet but here are some interesting links to Middle Tennessee State:

Pre-Game Notes: https://goblueraiders.com/documents/...Game_Notes.pdf

Schedule & Results Link: https://goblueraiders.com/sports/wom...tball/schedule

Roster Link: https://goblueraiders.com/sports/wom...ketball/roster

Write-Up on MTSU vs Auburn Game Link: https://goblueraiders.com/news/2019/...-showcase.aspx

ZagDad

[ZAGS ATTACK BASKET]

Scouting Middle Tennessee. They have 2 good 3 point shooters (#2 Sutton 6-12 3s last game and 22-56 3s on season), (#11 Hayes 4-10 3s last game and 15-33 3s on season 45%).

They have 3 good rebounders. #35 Savage (6'0') who is a rebounding machine had 13 rebounds last game and averaging 11.5 rebounds on season. #35 Savage is built strong and will be a handful inside.
#33 Whitson (6'0" had 7 rebounds last game and averages 6.8 rebounds on season. #1 Hayes (5'7") averages 6.7 rebounds per game. So they have 3 girls that really hit the boards.

Middle Tennessee has 3 fast guards #2 Sutton (5'4"), #11 Hayes (5'6"), and #1 Hayes (5'7"). These three are their leading scorers also.

All five of their staters play over 30 minutes per game.

Keys to the game: Contest every 3 point shot from #2 Sutton and #1 Hayes. Get their top rebounder #35 Savage and a couple of their top scorers #2 Sutton, #1 Hayes, or #11 Hayes in foul trouble. If Middle Tennessee avoids making fouls like the plague then take advantage of it on offense. Zags block out and get those rebounds. Set up for offensive charges.

[ZagDad84]

If the Lady Zags can beat MTSU tomorrow they will get a P5 team in the final. We could have JL playing her sister in the final.

Another interesting fact is that there are only 13 sets of twins on the same team in D1 Wbb. In the GU vs MTSU game, four of these 13 will be on the court.

ASU takes down Maine - 57-31
Purdue demolishes Drake - 67 - 47

Drake shoots 29% overall and 5.3% (yes that's right 1-19) from 3 pt range combined with 19 T/Os (11 of them steals by Purdue) did in Drake.

ZagDad

[seacatfan]

Another interesting fact is that there are only 13 sets of twins on the same team in D1 Wbb. In the GU vs MTSU game, four of these 13 will be on the court.

ZagDad

I thought it was fairly crazy having 3 sets of twins involved in the GU-Stanford game. Interesting they will now top that.

[TerpZag]

At the half, Gonzaga leads Middle Tennessee 28 - 27...

http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=286818

[zagswbbfan]

Annie Hayes and Aislynn Hayes are not twins, just sisters. Annie was a top-10 recruit and McDonald's All-American in 2016. She was dismissed from Tennessee just prior to her sophomore season. The third sister recently signed with ND.

As a side note, they're without two really good players who are out with ACL injuries (one was #3 overall in 2017), and another top JUCO transfer recently left the team. Lots going on there!

[TerpZag]

Gonzaga defeats Middle Tennessee 62 - 50...Zags will play for the championship...

Zags go 7:34 without a field goal in the 4th quarter...Ugh...

Jenn Wirth leads Gonzaga with 18 points...

http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=286818

[ZAGS ATTACK BASKET]

Listened to the last 2 games on radio as will do tomorrow. As Skip said basing some observations what I hear on radio and stats only. Our bench seem to need some serious free throw practice. Troung's both of them are really playing like freshman the last 2 games not very impressive, but good news they are getting serious minutes. Maybe CLF was saving starters today and limiting their minutes, and sure thats a good 3 game strategy, when you play 3 games in a row. What I did not like is when we got them in foul trouble and in the bonus both halfs she pulled one of our clutch free throw players Jill. It you want to limit Jill's minutes understand but please put her in when we are in the bonus for free throws. The last 2 games we really played conservative at the end equivalent of a football prevent defense it never works.

Well hopefully tomorrow being the 3rd game CLF will properly use Jill i.e. (free throw bonus time). Two players coming off the bench looked good when playing with the starters Louise and Melody. Louise is killing me though with that little hop traveling getting very old really quick, however liked Louise clutch 3s coming off the bench the last 2 games. Hey it was a win today we got their bigs in serious foul trouble mission accomplished early, yet failed to capitalize first half. We were playing a really short team, and then 2 of their tallest 6'0" players in foul trouble in the first half and did not capitalize. Finally in the 3rd quarter the Wirth's figured it out and had 3 straight high low passes for buckets.

Hey this was a win which is what matters most. Just not a fan of not having a killer extinct and having a 22 point league, and then just sitting on it in 4th quarter is going to bite you in one of your future games if you continue to do it. Having 3 seconds in the lane called on you 3 times on offense within a couple of minutes is not cool. We really played sloppy again in the 1st half seemed like Middle Tennessee which shot horrible were with us because, they had like twice as many shots in the 1st half (NOT looking at stats but thats the way it seemed). Yes our 1st half was not horrendous like the 1st game. But we had only one good quarter today that was the 3rd quarter. Blame the poor 4th quarter today on CLF as stated earlier.

Hope we save our best game for last, thanks to CLF our starters will be well rested so no excuses their. Hope it all comes together tomorrow. Go Lady Zags!

[TerpZag]

22/21 Women’s Basketball Advances to Gulf Coast Showcase Championships

Zags defeat Middle Tennessee 62-50 in semifinals


ESTERO, Fla. – The #22/21 Gonzaga women's basketball team defeated Middle Tennessee 62-50 Saturday evening in the semifinals of the Gulf Coast Showcase inside Hertz Arena in Estero, Fla. The Zags once again overcame a lackluster first half en route to their third-straight win.

Gonzaga (5-1) was led in scoring for the second-straight contest by Jenn Wirth with 18 points off 9-of-13 from the floor to go along with seven rebounds and two assists. Katie Campbell and Melody Kempton each added 10 points apiece.

As a team, the Bulldogs shot 52.1 percent from the floor and 55.6 percent from long range; Gonzaga finished with a 32-20 advantage in the paint and an 11-2 edge on second-change points. GU once again won the rebounding battle with a 37-30 advantage on the glass.

Despite shooting 52.1 percent in the first half while limiting Middle Tennessee (5-2) to 31.7 percent shooting and forcing three first-half fouls on Charity Savage, the Bulldogs led by only a point (28-27) heading into the break. The Blue Raiders forced nine turnovers on Gonzaga and limited the Zags to 14 points in the paint.

"Offensively, we again hadn't played very well [in the first half]," head women's basketball coach Lisa Fortier said. "We were taking questionable shots. We really wanted to go inside to the post players, and we really hadn't been able to do that very well in the first half. In the second half, we really focused on hammering it in to those guys."

Gonzaga made the adjustment early and often, finding Jenn Wirth on four of the first five possessions in the second half. Wirth exploded in the second half, scoring 14 of her 18 points in the last 20 minutes including eight points in the first three minutes of the third quarter. A trey from Louise Forsyth with 4:37 remaining in the third gave GU a 13-point lead (45-32), and by the end of the quarter the Zags had extended their lead to 16 (53-37).

The Zags led by as many as 22 points in the final quarter, as a layup from LeeAnne Wirth with 7:43 to go put GU ahead 59-37. But Middle Tennessee finished the quarter on a 13-3 run to cut the lead to 12 points, giving Gonzaga the 62-50 win.

"I just think we did a much better job of making their shooters drive and their drivers shoot," Fortier said. "We contained [Taylor Sutton] and [Aislynn Hayes] a lot better in the second half…A much better job of playing to their weaknesses and playing team defense."

Middle Tennessee was led by Anastasia Hayes with 20 points while Taylor Sutton added 11. Savage finished with a game-high nine rebounds.

Gonzaga is set to play in the championship game of the Gulf Coast Showcase Sunday, Dec. 1 at 4:30 p.m. PT inside Hertz Arena. The Bulldogs will play the winner of the Arizona State/Purdue game. For up to date game information, visit GoZags.com.

Gonzaga Article Link

[ZagDad84]

From the Middle Tennessee Wbb page:

Lady Raiders fall to No. 21 Gonzaga
MT plays in third-place game Sunday
Game Recap: Women's Basketball | 11/30/2019 7:38:00 PM | @MTAthletics

ESTERO, Fla. – Limiting opponents to 62 or fewer points has generally been a recipe for success but that wasn't the case against No. 21 Gonzaga in the semifinals of the Gulf Coast Showcase here Saturday night.

Middle Tennessee ran into a third-quarter buzz saw against Gonzaga and dropped a 62-50 decision. The Lady Raiders (5-2) will face the loser of Arizona State and Purdue in the third-place game Sunday at 4 p.m.

Middle Tennessee was in a dogfight and trailed 28-27 at intermission after Taylor Sutton beat the halftime buzzer with one of her three 3-pointers in the first half; however, third-quarter shooting by Gonzaga (5-1) turned the game.

The Bulldogs came out strong in the third quarter and used an 8-0 run to create separation but they were far from finished. Gonzaga connected on 10-of-14 field goals in the third quarter to take a commanding 53-37 lead into the final stanza. They finished the game shooting 52 percent after hitting just 4-of-10 fourth-quarter attempts.

Middle Tennessee held Gonzaga to almost 20 points below its scoring average of 80 points per outing but the Lady Raiders were not able to get anything going consistently on the offensive end.

"We played pretty good defense in the first half and that kept us in the game, but Gonzaga was very efficient in the third quarter," Lady Raider Head Coach Rick Insell said. "We gave ourselves a chance in the first half but we were not up to the task in the second half. We will build off of this and work to improve.

"We still have another great opportunity in front of us against either Arizona State or Purdue Sunday. We came here to play great competition because that is what is going to help us once we get into conference play."

Anastasia Hayes led Middle Tennessee with 20 points as she continued to tally double figures scoring in every game as a Lady Raider. Sutton tallied double figures with 11 and was 3-of-6 from beyond the arc. She is 9-of-18 from 3-point range in the Showcase. Alexis Whittington had her best game of the season, finishing with eight points and playing a career-high 32 minutes.

Middle Tennessee was saddled with foul trouble early as Charity Savage and Courtney Whitson each had three fouls in the second quarter. Savage pulled a game-high nine rebounds, including seven on the offensive end, but fouled out at the end of the third quarter as her streak of consecutive games with 10-plus rebounds was snapped at six.

Article Link: https://goblueraiders.com/news/2019/...1-gonzaga.aspx

ZagDad

[sylean]

ZAG...for all practical purposes the zags were in control for the 2nd half.....MTS used a lot of press in the 4th and frankly disrupted our girls plus we did not take a ton of shots, at least not very good ones....plus, MTS drove to the basket alot and got FT's to make the score closer then it should have been....good news though, it was several bench players who got lots of game time experience trying to break the press......this will pay off because clearly we need the Truongs, Lou, and Mel and Ava to get that experience.....

sure wish we could get Eliza eligible....Ana is coming along but still needs time.....

so its purdue tomorrow....from what I saw they are a physical team, tallest gal IIRC is 6'3 and they are scrappy....


proud of our team....

Go Zags!

[ZagDad84]

Once again, looking at the stats, particularly the offensive stats, there really is nothing to complain about except the abysmal free throw shooting (46.7%) and the number of turnovers (19).

First, the interesting thing with the free throws is that JW, JL, KC, MK and LF did not take a single free throw. Obviously these players did not push the ball and drive the lane. The good was that we had nobody in foul trouble while the bad was that we did not get lots of free points and put their players in foul trouble. Interesting, especially after yesterday's game. When your best foul shooters do not shoot free throws your free throw percentage will go down. LW and the Truongs need to pick up their free throw shooting as this can and will cost us down the road.

After a somewhat lethargic first half (although better than yesterday, but not by much), the team looked really good in the 3rd quarter and the first 4.5 minutes of the 4th quarter. After getting a 22 point lead, CLF started running clock with most the subs and the memories of Tennessee returned. They entirely quit running the offense that gave them the 22 point lead in the first place, intent on running out the clock many times leading to turnovers or a last second heave. As Chris Berman would say on ESPN, they were bumblin, stumbling the rest of the game. The lady zags under CLF seem to have no clue how to run clock. Yes the subs were in for most of the game during the running of the clock and the MTSU guards frequently exposed the Truongs for the freshman they are. Yes the youngsters got experience and the starters (most of them) got the rest they needed, but that last 7:46 or so was very hard to watch.

Despite everything, the ladies have put together, generally speaking, at least 3 good quarters over each of the past two games against a couple of quality opponents. If they can put together 4 quarters tomorrow, I think the championship will be theirs.

GoZags,

ZagDad