Brown regular season recap – Ivy women’s tournament preview

Prior to the Ivy League Tournament, Ivy Hoops Online will recap the seasons of each of the four women’s seeds. First up is No. 4 seed Brown.

Record: 16-11 Overall, 7-7 Ivy (Tie – 4th Place)

Ivy Tournament Seed: No. 4 (earned spot due to 2-0 season series record against Cornell)

Home 8-6, Away 8-5, Neutral 0-0

Present Streak: 2 Wins; Last 8: 3-5

Record against Ivy Tournament Teams –

Penn (0-2): 60-86 (away, 1/14/17) and 68-71 (home, 2/17/17)

Princeton (1-1): 98-88 (away, 1/13/17) and 75-81 (home, 2/18/17)

Harvard (0-2): 59-69 (away 1/11/17) and 63-66 (home, 2/25/17)

Coach: Sarah Behn (3rd Season at Brown, 41-42 record; 11th Season Overall, 130-165 record)

Probable Starting Five: Shayna Mehta (Soph, G; 33.6 mpg), Taylor Will (Soph, G; 31.2 mpg), Justine Gaziano (1st-Year, G/F; 31.5 mpg), Mary Butler (Soph, F; 23.8 mpg), Erika Steeves (Soph, F; 23.8 mpg)

Key Reserves: Janie White (Junior, F; 18.3 mpg), Abby O’ Keefe (1st-Year; G; 18.1 mpg), Megan Reilly (Junior, G; 18.1 mpg)

Nonconference                                                            Conference

Category           Brown               Opponent                     Brown               Opponent                    

Points               73.6                  65.2                              70.5                  70.9

Pt Differential    + 8.5                                                     – 0.4
FG%                 42.2%               37.5%                           41.4%               39.9%

FGMade           25.8                  23.9                              25.6                  26.5

FG Attempt       61.0                  63.8                              62.0                  66.4

 

3 PT FG%         36.4%               31.1%                           34.1%               33.2%

3 PT Made        7.0                    5.6                                7.4                    6.2

3 PT Attempt     19.2                  18.1                              21.6                  18.7

2 PT FG%         44.9%               40.0%                           45.2%               42.5%

2 PT Made        18.8                  18.3                              18.3                  20.3

2 PT Attempt     41.8                  45.8                              40.4                  47.7
FT%                 72.6%               67.3%                           76.1%               64.6%

FT Made           15.1                  11.7                              11.9                  11.7

FT Attempt        20.8                  17.4                              15.6                  18.1

Fouls                18.4                  19.2                              18.0                  16.6
Rebounds         38.8                  41.1                              36.3                  44.8

Differential        – 2.3                                                      – 8.5

O-Rebounds     10.0                  13.8                              8.0                    14.8

D-Rebounds     26.8                  27.3                              28.3                  30.0

Off Reb %        26.8%               32.4%                           21.1%               34.3%

Def Reb %        67.6%               73.2%                           65.7%               78.9%
Assists             13.8                  12.0                              13.9                  14.1

Turnovers          14.9                  17.0                              13.6                  15.0

TO Diff             +2.1                                                      + 1.4

Steals               8.7                    7.0                                6.6                    7.6

Blocks              2.8                    3.5                                3.1                    4.9

 

Gaziano (nonconf)        16.9 points, 5.0 rebounds, 53.7% FG%, 43.4 % 3PT FG%, 76.9% FT%

(conference)     17.0 points, 3.8 rebounds, 44.7% FG%, 37.7% 3 PT FG%, 82.1% FT%

Mehta (nonconf)           14.9 points, 4.8 rebounds, 38.5% FG%, 41.7% 3PT FG%, 68.9% FT%

(conference)          15.1 points, 5.9 rebounds, 43.5% FG%, 33.8% 3PT FG%, 77.8% FT%

Steeves (nonconf)        12.0 points, 9.6 rebounds, 42.2% FG%, 26.7% 3PT FG%, 73.7% FT%

(conference)         12.5 points, 7.3 rebounds, 44.5% FG%, 43.1% 3PT FG%, 79.3$ FT%

Will (nonconf)               15.7 points, 3.2 rebounds, 43.6% FG%, 33.3% 3PT FG%, 73.6% FT%

(conference)         10.1 points, 3.6 rebounds, 40.8% FG%, 31.0% 3PT FG%, 69.4% FT%

Butler (nonconf)           4.5 points, 4.9 rebounds, 43.3% FG%, 00.0% 3PT FG%, 70.0% FT%

(conference)           4.6 points, 4.4 rebounds, 51.8% FG%, 00.0% 3PT FG%, 75.0% FT%

White (nonconf)            0.0 points, 0.0 rebounds, 00.0% FG%, 00.0% 3PT FG%, 00.0% FT%

(conference)           5.8 points, 3.6 rebounds, 36.5% FG%, 29.2%  3PT FG%, 78.6% FT%

Brown has a young team that likes to run up and down the court, pushing the ball in transition. The Bears have four double-figure scorers who are all comfortable hitting from two, three and the free throw line.  They are the league’s most potent offense, leading the conference in assists and made three-pointers.

The Bears struggle on the defensive side. They gave up the most points in conference play, and are the weakest rebounding team in the conference. They have difficulty with interior defense and are susceptible to teams with strong rebounding and inside play.

For Brown to advance, they are going to need to have a weekend of high scoring games with strong shooting to overcome the disadvantages on the inside. With a prolific offense, an early January win at Princeton (the first since 2003) and three close loses (an average margin of four points) to the other Tournament participants in the last few weeks, the youthful Bears have a chance to pull off an upset or two this weekend.