Each week, we will sit down with Creighton women’s basketball coach Jim Flanery to discuss what’s new in his program. We caught up with Coach Flanery while his team prepared for tonight’s match-up with Kansas in Lawrence.
White & Blue Review: What has been the brightest spot you have seen so far during your team’s 2-0 start to the season?
Jim Flanery: Well, this is the first time in my time at Creighton that we have won our first road game of the season, so that is a positive right away. We knew that we would be deep and young this season, and I think that I can say that there is not much of a gap from the top to the bottom of the roster in terms of talent. Because of that, we can press a lot more and really have the girls go 100% while they are on the court. When they get tired, we have subs. That also takes away the pressure of one of two players really rising above the rest.
I thought a bright spot this past weekend was our post play. Sarah [Nelson], although she was matched up against a smaller opponent, player very well in the post and so did Alexis [Akin-Otiko]. A lot of people think that we are a shooting team and rely on the 3-point shot a lot, and we need to focus on being more balanced. With the 3-point line moving back a foot this season, I think you will see it affect a lot of players’ shots. When it comes to a 5-5 or 5-6 player like Ally [Jensen] or Jordan [Garrison], they are used to firing from further back, but some players will need to adjust. If we can continue our work on our post game, I think it will help us become a more balanced team.
But I guess the real bright spot from the weekend was the fact that the bench really got us back into the game. There were some jitters from our starting five, but the bench really stepped in and settled the game down. That was great to see.
WBR: Are you pleased with your starting five or are there still spots up in the air?
JF: Well, when you are playing 11-12 players a game, I don’t think who starts is as big of an issue. We want the five players that fit and play well together on the court. During a given game, the bench may play better than the five that started, but that is because they are clicking, and that is who we want out there. I will say that if Ally Jensen is not the most improved player on our team, I don’t know who is.
WBR: What does the injury front look like? Is Carli Tritz getting back into the groove? Is there anything yet that has to be done with Riley Norman’s knee?
JF: Riley is still out. She will be week to week as opposed to day to day. She doesn’t have a tear, and we are not doing surgery right now because that would put her out for the rest of the year. She has a sort of lesion or spacing in the knee that we want to see if it can heal with rehab and exercise, but we will see. She is not ready to go right now.
Carli has not played as well as we have seen her play in her freshman year, but she shows flashes in practice that make you say “What”! We have to remember that she is only a sophomore and she was out for a month. It is hard to get back after not playing for a month, but harder when you are that young. She says that her knee is fine, but I think it is taking a bit longer than we want it to. She will get better. She needs to be better than 2-10 from the field with five turnovers, but we were still able to win those games, which is a positive.
WBR: What are some things that you are working on as a team in practice?
JF: We need to work on our half-court defense. We press a lot and apply the full-court defense, but part of that is to hide our half-court defense. The press and full court ‘D’ will be effective early in the season as teams have yet to address it much, but we need to work on our half court so we are ready when we face tougher opponents. We also need to work on our fouls. I am OK when a team shoots more free throws than us, but this past weekend we allowed the other team to shoot unguarded at the charity stripe way too often.
WBR: You will be facing Kansas tonight in Lawrence; what can the fans expect from this game?
JF: Well, their star player, Carolyn Davis, who is a great post player who averages around 19 points a game, sat out last Sunday. If she is not in the lineup, it will make a big difference. They also have a very quick and athletic point who, if Davis is out, will be asked to carry a much heavier load. They have a pretty good and experienced starting five, but they are not very deep. They will be better athletes than what we have seen, so it will be a good test for us.