A second half fury netted one goal for Texas Tech from Ashleigh Williams but despite out shooting Kansas 17-11 they fall 2-1 to end their Big 12 tournament run in the semifinals. Kansas has now won seven games in a row and will move on to face TCU in the Championship game Saturday while Texas Tech turns to NCAA Selection Monday to find out where, when and who they will play next.
Texas Tech looked primed to bust it open early in attack but with about 15 minutes to go in the first half a string of substitutions spurred Kansas into creating chaos, as they love to do, and despite a number of great blocks by Cassie Taylor, Faith Nguyen and others on the backend....Kansas eventually got one across with less than five minutes remaining in the half to go up 1-0. While Texas Tech seemed to have their mojo back to start the second, all it took was one mistake to give Kansas a corner and less than five minutes into the half the Jayhawks went up 2-0 on a spectacularly placed header.
Overall the Kansas defensive game plan seemed pretty clear and, since it worked, very sound. It was different, or at least more effective than I remember, from other teams this season in how they essentially chose to box out Macy Blackburn from getting up the right side and said "cool anyone else but her" early. This was something Texas Tech countered in the second half when they pushed Skurcenski forward more to play off Blackburn as they do so well, but even early it opened up huge space in the middle. Something Tech's attacking mids typically will make teams pay for and Peyton Parsons nearly did on this chance 15 minutes in after a nice bit of combo play with Taylor Zdrojewski.
Outisde of a couple of chances like the one above, Kansas had bodies all around Zdrojewski in the box both on set pieces and in run of play. Would love to hear from the Kansas staff on this but it seemed outside looking in that their game plan revolved around: Blackburn to Zdrojewski will not beat us. Kansas in general though did a good job playing the percentages defensively as for the most part the best looks Tech got late were from players who aren't heavy shot takers for this team. Very capable scorers taking those shots, but in a pick your poison approach Kansas ran three at Z on one crosser for instance and left a Red Raider defender who had snuck up into the play free instead for a shot that went high. Texas Tech will say they will make that shot more times than not but it didn't work out that way and the Kansas game plan worked in the end. One of the few times KU did allow a top threat to get loose came when Elise Anderson found Ashleigh Williams who made them pay to give Texas Tech life.
I'm not sure exactly how many chances Texas Tech had in that final 40 minutes of play but it was a lot and Kansas somehow survived them all. Right down to the wire when Blackburn true to her nature, went right at a KU defender to force a corner with about 50 seconds remaining. She put a great ball into the box that Zdrojewski got her head on but once again a Jayhawk defender was right with her and didn't allow Z to get her normal heat on it so it was saved off the line. It was a relentless attack for much of the second from Texas Tech though, everything but the finish, they didn't quit. Something the Kansas head coach spoke to after the game.
"We found a way to get the result to make it to the finish line. That is an excellent, excellent Texas Tech team. I think for who we've played this year, it's the best team we have played. I think they can make a lot of noise in the NCAA Tournament." - Kansas head coach Nate Lie.
Texas Tech will turn the page to doing just that as they have about 8-10 days to prepare for the opening round of the NCAA tournament that will take place Nov 15-17. The selection show will determine who, when and where the Red Raiders play on Monday at 3pm CT, fans can watch this online at ncaa.com. We fight!