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Welcome back to the Big 12 Roundup, Her Hoop Stats’ bi-weekly glance around the Big 12. What new storylines have developed in the past two weeks? Let’s take a look at some recent happenings in the conference, beginning with a glance at the 10-0 Kansas Jayhawks.
All stats and rankings come from Her Hoop Stats and exclude non-Division I games unless otherwise noted.
The Kansas Jayhawks remain undefeated
If you’d asked me before the season which Big 12 program would be the last to be unbeaten, I probably wouldn’t have picked Kansas, but the Jayhawks are now 10-0 on the season after last week’s 81-62 victory over Tulsa. So, how has Kansas done it?
Defense.
The Jayhawks have allowed the 12th-fewest points per game in Division I so far this season, and rank 10th in defensive rating. Their opponents are shooting 32.5% from the floor this season, which is the fifth-lowest mark. They’re eighth in defensive rebounds per game and have done a good job protecting the paint, ranking in the nation’s top 20 in both blocks per game and block rate.
And while strength of schedule is a bit of an issue—their opponent’s average winning percentage of 55.4% ranks 103rd in the country—the defense has still shown up for the tougher games. They held Texas A&M—who, granted, doesn’t look like the Texas A&M of old but is still a power conference opponent—to 42 points, and they held a ranked Arizona team to 50. There’s been a couple of stumbles, like when UT Arlington scored 74 against them back in November, but usually, the Jayhawks are showing up with defensive pressure night after night. Per CBB Analytics, opponents shoot below average from every zone:
Of course, defense alone doesn’t win basketball games—you have to also be able to score. And Kansas has scored well, especially inside the arc. Here’s their offensive shooting by zone, also from CBB Analytics.
There’s room for improvement from deep, but the team has been tough to beat inside. The team shoots 51.5% on 2-point attempts, which has helped the Jayhawks score 1.09 points per scoring attempt, 38th-best in Division I, which ranks better than 90 percent of Division I teams.
Taiyanna Jackson leads the Jayhawks in scoring at 15.6 points per game, and she’s also pulling down 10.6 rebounds per contest. Jackson is one of just 19 players averaging a double-double on the season, and she ranks ninth of those 19 players in points per game. On the defensive end, Jackson is seventh in blocks per game with 2.8, and last year she was fifth with 3.1. She makes a major impact on both ends for the Jayhawks.
Weekly recap
There are a lot of winning streaks right now in the Big 12. Of the 10 teams, six currently have multiple-game win streaks: Kansas (10), Texas Tech (9), Oklahoma (6), Texas (4), Oklahoma State (3) and Iowa State (2). And every team is at .500 or above. Only Baylor and TCU have lost more than twice.
All that is a long way of saying this: the Big 12 is really good right now!
Texas Tech is the surprise of the conference so far, as Krista Gerlich’s team sits at 10-1 on the season, winning nine in a row. But as has been the case in recent years, the Red Raiders haven’t played a very tough non-conference schedule. Their opponents have an average winning percentage of 32.8%, which ranks 349th out of 361 teams. Last year, Tech went 11-19 overall but was 7-4 in non-conference. Back in the 2019-20 season when the team finished 18-11, they were 11-0 in non-conference. Which is to say that we’ve seen Texas Tech look like this in non-con before, so it’s a little early to know if this program can contend in conference play. But what we’ve seen so far has been encouraging from a win/loss perspective, and the Red Raiders are shooting the ball well, making 39.2% of their three-point attempts, the 12th-best mark in Division I.
But there also haven’t really been a lot of times over the last two weeks that Big 12 teams have faced tough competition. Since Dec. 6, there have been just three games that featured a Big 12 team facing a ranked team: Iowa State had a 70-57 loss to Iowa and a 74-62 win over Villanova, and Baylor lost 75-54 to Arizona.
Baylor has gotten some good news, as Aijha Blackwell returned from her leg injury. She’s been brought back along slowly, playing under 10 minutes in each of her two games back, but she looked sharp against Tennessee State. In that game, Blackwell played 9:40, scoring 11 points on 3-for-5 shooting and pulling down seven rebounds. Baylor’s had an uneven start to the year, but Blackwell being back should set the team up well for conference play.
And that’s really about it. These last two weeks haven’t really featured a ton of Big 12 action, but we have seen most of the conference ironing out their wrinkles and getting ready for conference play.
HHS Big 12 Player of the Week(s): DeYona Gaston (Texas): Gaston, who was the Big 12’s POTW last week, has been crucial for the Longhorns recently. The frontcourt has been an issue all year for this team, with Taylor Jones and Aaliyah Moore both injured. Moore tore her ACL and will miss the rest of the season, while it’s unclear what’s kept Jones sidelined—the team’s last update on her was on Dec. 2, and she was described as “day-to-day,” with the nature of her injury not released.
That’s led to an increase in minutes for Gaston, who has scored at least nine points in five consecutive games. That includes a 20-point, 16-rebound effort against Alabama State, where she became just the third Longhorn since 2009-10 with at least 20 points and 10 offensive rebounds. Presumably, Jones will return at some point to help anchor the paint, but Gaston—who wasn’t seeing much action at the beginning of the season—has proved why the Longhorns need her on the floor.
Runner-up: Emily Ryan (Iowa State): Ryan getting the nod here really comes down to her performance against Villanova. The Cyclones took down a ranked Villanova team 74-62, with Ryan coming just short of a triple-double. She finished with 16 points and 10 assists while also grabbing nine rebounds.
Top Big 12 games to watch over the next two weeks:
All times are Eastern
Drake @ Iowa State - Thursday, Dec. 22 - 6:00 p.m. - ESPN+
Iowa State @ Texas Tech - Saturday, Dec. 31 - 3:00 p.m. - ESPN+
Honorable mention Big 12 games:
West Virginia vs Georgia in Fort Lauderdale, FL - Tuesday, Dec. 20 - 2:30 p.m. - FloSports
Kansas @ Nebraska - Wednesday, Dec. 21 - 7:00 p.m. - B1G+
Florida @ Oklahoma - Wednesday, Dec. 21 - 9:30 p.m. - ESPN2
Big 12 standings:
Here are the current Big 12 standings:
Thanks for reading the Her Hoop Stats Newsletter. If you like our work, be sure to check out our stats site, our podcast, and our social media accounts on Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram.