AMES – Iowa State women’s basketball coach Bill Fennelly had his team embark on a grueling non-conference schedule featuring some of the top teams in the nation.
The hope was that it would properly prepare the Cyclones for Big 12 Conference season.
“The biggest thing is you want to feel like the challenges that come when you play in the conference, it’s not the first time you’ve seen it,” Fennelly said.
His squad will find out Saturday if the tactic worked. The 23rd-ranked Cyclones will open their heavily anticipated league schedule when they play Oklahoma State at Gallagher-Iba Arena at 4 p.m.
“I think we’re ready,” said guard Aili Tanke. “We’ve obviously had a tough schedule to start but I think that just prepared us. Now that Big 12 starts, we’re 0-0.”
The non-conference schedule was certainly a grind for the Cyclones. They took on two top-10 teams —South Carolina, the reigning national champions, and UConn, one of the premier women’s basketball programs in the nation.
That’s on top of Iowa State’s yearly in-state matchups with Drake, UNI and Iowa. Drake was picked to finish first in the Missouri Valley Conference. UNI was selected to finish second. Then there’s the Hawkeyes, who are coming off back-to-back trips in the national title game.
While some coaches use the non-conference schedule to rack up wins, Fennelly went a different direction. Why?
“I think the simple answer is if you play a bunch of bad teams, do you really know what you’re good at,” Fennelly asked. “Do you put yourself in stressful, uncomfortable situations? Not just (against) good teams but in road environments, all that kind of stuff that you’re going to see in conference play.”
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The Cyclones experienced all of that, but it came with mixed results. Iowa State was blown out by South Carolina, beaten comfortably by UConn and knocked off by UNI and Iowa on the road. Iowa State barely escaped Drake at home.
The losses sent Iowa State, a preseason top-10 team in both major polls, spiraling down the rankings. The Cyclones and their 9-4 record are now completely out of the AP poll and barely hanging in the coaches poll.
It has left fans wondering just how good Iowa State is. The team brought back most of its roster from last season which earned the program a Big 12 Tournament title game appearance and a trip to the NCAA Tournament. Fan feedback to his players is one thing Fennelly does worry about with the tough schedule.
“They’re on social media and they hear what people say about them and what they’re not,” Fennelly said. “To me, it’s more of that. The game itself, they move on and we’ve played some great teams and we’re not the first team that South Carolina pounded and won’t be the last. UConn, the same way. But we’ve responded and we had some good wins.”
Iowa State did successfully bounce back from all the losses. And Fennelly believes he’s learned a lot about his team as they prepare for Big 12 play. He said the Cyclones need to find another scorer to support Audi Crooks and Addy Brown. He’d also like to see a better sense of urgency from possession to possession on the defensive end. Fennelly added he’d like his team to play better situational basketball.
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If they do that, Fennelly will know his team has certainly made the most of the non-conference schedule and learned from its mistakes.
“I’m glad we did it,” Fennelly said. “I’d do it again. It’s just a matter of how you handle that moving forward.”
Expectations are certainly high for the Cyclones, who were picked to finish second in the league’s preseason poll. While the non-conference schedule didn’t go as planned, Iowa State can rectify it all starting Saturday.
“We’ve played some tough teams in some tough environments and every Big 12 game is high stakes,” Tanke said. “So, I think we’ve kind of experienced that a little bit. We’ll be ready.”
Tommy Birch, the Register’s sports enterprise and features reporter, has been working at the newspaper since 2008. He’s the 2018, 2020 and 2023 Iowa Sportswriter of the Year. Reach him at tbirch@dmreg.com or 515-284-8468.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa State women’s basketball ready for Big 12 play after tough slate
