Iowa State’s Sydney Harris says vibes are the team are good
Iowa State’s Sydney Harris talks about the mood of the Cyclones during their four-game losing streak
AMES – After the Iowa State women’s basketball team suffered its fourth straight loss with a 68-62 setback at Colorado on Jan. 14, the Cyclones retreated to the locker room at CU Events Center in Boulder, Colo., where coach Bill Fennelly had a message for them.
“Coach Fenn made it very clear that if you’re not going to come in and put the work in with a positive attitude, then you shouldn’t be here,” said guard/forward Sydney Harris.
Fennelly is trying to keep the team’s spirits up as they battle the program’s longest losing streak in nearly a decade. That’s the challenge as the 19th-ranked Cyclones play Oklahoma State at Gallagher-Iba Arena in Stillwater, Okla., on Jan. 18 at noon.
“He was pretty straight forward,” Harris said. “If you weren’t going to come in and work hard, then don’t be part of the team.”
The message seems to have resonated with his team, which according to Harris put in a good day of practice on Jan. 16 following an off-day. The true test will come Sunday when the Cyclones play one of the tougher teams in the Big 12 Conference.
Iowa State has gone into a tailspin after tying the program record for the best start in school history by racking up 14 straight wins to kick off the season.
The Cyclones have struggled with injuries and inconsistent play. Forward Addy Brown, who missed the last three games with a lower body injury, is out indefinitely. Guard Arianna Jackson is out for a while with a knee injury.
While Jackson did some running at practice on Friday, there’s still no timetable for her return. The same for Brown, whose status for the remainder of the season remains up in the air. The two have been sorely missed.
Without Jackson and Brown, the Cyclones suffered a close loss to Baylor. They then were upset by Cincinnati, West Virginia and Colorado, dropping Iowa State’s record to 14-4 on the season including 2-4 in Big 12 play.
The injuries have led Fennelly to look for other ways to utilize his players. It’s also created an identity crisis of sorts for the Cyclones, who are still figuring out who can do what to fill the gaps.
“We’ve completely changed our team and obviously not in a very good way,” Fennelly said.
One of the things Fennelly has continually preached is the importance of attitude and effort. While the Cyclones can’t control injuries, those are two things they can have an impact on.
“It sucks to be on a losing streak but you know, coming in with a bad attitude’s not going to do anything positive for us to try and flip this around,” Harris said. So, we’re coming in every day, working hard, (keeping) good vibes.”
The hope is that if the Cyclones keep putting in the work and keep staying positive, that things will eventually turn around for them.
“We’re struggling,” Fennelly said. “Some people enjoy it. That’s fine.”
Slowing down Oklahoma State won’t be easy
Oklahoma boasts the best offense in the Big 12, averaging 87.9 points per game. The Cowgirls rank third in team field goal percentage (48.8%) and team 3-point field goal percentage (36.7%) and first in team free throw percentage (77.3%). Five players average double figures in scoring including Micah Gray, who averages 14.2 points per game. The task gets even more difficult without Brown and Jackson at Iowa State’s disposal. The Cyclones have been especially troubled with their defense in the post. Slowing down Oklahoma State will be the biggest challenge.
“That’s a real problem,” Fennelly said of their scoring. “They’re very, very efficient. Very balanced. Shoot the 3 like crazy. Got a lot of kids that are really good off the bounce. I think they’re one of the harder offensive teams in our league to guard.”
Can Audi Crooks get going again?
With Jackson and Brown out, Crooks has struggled to put up the numbers she had been putting up. Crooks had a run of five straight games where she scored at least 30 points. Two of those games were at least 40 points.
With Brown battling the injury against Baylor, Crooks put up just 26. She had 23 against Cincinnati. The Cyclones had trouble getting her the ball against West Virginia. Crooks scored just 17 points on 7-of-14 shooting against Colorado.
Fennelly anticipates teams continually double-teaming Crooks and trying to put pressure on passes to her in the paint. That’s worked as of late.
“Audi’s got to move a little bit more,” Fennelly said. “We’ve got to get her in actions where we’re ball screening for her rather than just posting up for her. And then we’ve got to find other ball handling options.”
Iowa State needs to stop the struggles
The four-game losing streak is the first for Iowa State since the 2017-18 season. Iowa State lost four in a row twice that season and finished with a 14-17 mark including a 7-11 record in Big 12 play. The last time the Cyclones lost five straight games? That was the 2015-16 season that finished with Iowa State going 13-17 with a 5-13 mark in league play.
