Iowa
Tigers Sweep Iowa State, Day One of Tiger Challenge
BATON ROUGE, La. – LSU Volleyball (3-2) swept Iowa State (1-4) 25-18, 25-18, 25-13 Friday evening on the Pete Maravich Meeting Heart (PMAC).
With the win, LSU sweeps day one of many Tiger Problem.
LSU posted a .170 hitting share with 35 kills, 34 assists, and a season-high 10 aces. On protection, LSU recorded seven blocks whereas holding the Cyclones to a .046 hitting share, a season-low for an LSU opponent.
“I believed we got here out and performed effectively,” mentioned head coach Tonya Johnson. “We caught to the sport plan from starting to finish. One factor I talked about immediately was not working away from the strain however working to the strain and I feel they responded to that. Iowa State is a good group who’s persistently within the NCAA Match. They’re very bodily, however we stayed true to us and battled. The largest key on this match was our 10 aces. We served powerful and acquired them out of system, and that’s what must occur if you play large bodily groups like that.”
Outdoors hitter Sanaa Dotson led the way in which offensively for the Tigers with 10 kills and three aces. Center blocker Anita Anwusi completed with seven kills and a math-high 4 blocks. Outdoors hitter Hannah Jacons additionally matched Anwusi’s seven kills and had two blocks. Center blocker Alia Williams posted 5 kills on seven makes an attempt (.571 hitting share) and outdoors hitter Paige Flickinger discovered the ground 5 occasions and dug 10 balls to associate with two aces. Setter Josie Vondran led LSU with 20 assists and chipped in three blocks and setter Maddie Waak 11 assists whereas matching Dotson’s three aces. Libero Ella Larking turned in a match-high 19 digs within the win.
Set 1
- LSU grabbed an early 11-5 lead behind a 5-1 run that pressured Iowa State to name its first timeout of the match.
- ISU scored three unanswered factors out of the timeout, however LSU responded with its personal 3-0 run to deliver the lead again to 6, 15-8 and the Cyclones burned their remaining timeout.
- The Tigers elevated their result in seven, 17-10, however the Cyclones reduce into the deficit, making the rating 18-14 earlier than LSU known as for time. The house group’s lead continued to dwindle as ISU’s momentum elevated and the Tigers used their final timeout as they clung to a 19-17 edge.
- Out of the timeout, LSU scored the subsequent 4 factors and closed with a 5-1 run to win the opening set, 25-18.
- Anwusi led the Tigers with 5 kills, whereas Dotson and Flickinger every registered three kills within the set.
Set 2
- LSU trailed early, however an unlimited 20-7 run lifted the house group to a 25-18 victory and 2-0 match lead.
- Iowa State jumped out to an 8-4 result in open the second stanza, however LSU flipped the script and took a 10-9 lead behind six unanswered factors.
- The Tigers expanded their run and had a 19-13 benefit when Iowa State known as a timeout. LSU didn’t relent and rolled to a different 25-18 set win.
- Regardless of hitting .103, LSU outhit Iowa State who recorded a .059 hitting share. Dotson led the group with 5 kills within the body.
Set 3
- The Tigers’ protection turned in two blocks and Dotson logged a pair of aces to assist in giving LSU an 11-4 lead, forcing an Iowa State timeout.
- LSU continued to run away with the set and led 20-9 when Iowa State used its remaining timeout. The Cyclones tried a remaining late push, however the Tigers took the set 25-13.
- The Tigers have been led by Jacobs and Williams with three kills every within the set. LSU held Iowa State to a .000 hitting share in set three to safe the win.
Up Subsequent
LSU will finish the weekend with a 3 p.m. match towards No. 21 Penn State Saturday. The match might be streamed on SECN+.
Season tickets for the 2022 LSU volleyball season at the moment are out there. Followers taken with changing into a season ticket holder can obtain extra data by clicking right here. All tickets might be distributed by way of cellular units for quicker supply of tickets to followers, contactless transactions at gates and extra flexibility for ticket holders. For extra data on cellular tickets click on right here.
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Iowa
Titans Linked to Sleeper Iowa State WR
Heading into the NFL offseason, the top question surrounding the Tennessee Titans will be about what they’re going to do at the quarterback position.
Will Levis and Mason Rudolph are clearly not clear-cut options long-term.
Outside of that question, the Titans will also need to figure out how to add more weapons for whoever their starting quarterback ends up being. Pursuing another quality wide reciever should be something that they try to do.
In the 2025 NFL Draft, there are ways for Tennessee to address both of those issues. Taking a look at wide receivers in the third or fourth round would make a lot of sense.
With that in mind, Justin Melo of Titan Sized has suggested a sleeper wide receiver out of Iowa State. In his recent five-round mock draft, Melo had the Titans taking Jayden Higgins in the fourth round.
“Are the Titans going to reunite Tee Higgins with Brian Callahan? Callahan’s offense will need an offseason addition to play “X” receiver next season. If Higgins proves to be too expensive, drafting a big-bodied weapon like Jayden Higgins offers an alternative route. Higgins does an outstanding job high-pointing the football at the catch point,” Melo wrote.
Higgins has put together an impressive 2024 season with the Cyclones. He has caught 87 passes for 1,183 yards and nine touchdowns.
Standing in at 6-foot-4 and 215 pounds, Higgins would bring great size to the Tennessee wide receiver room. His size would make him a lethal threat, especially in red zone situations.
Throughout his entire college career, Higgins has racked up 227 receptions for 3,317 yards and 28 touchdowns. He has proven himself to be a more than capable playmaker.
Taking a flier on him in the fourth round would be a very wise investment. He may not pan out, but if he reaches his full potential he could end up developing into a starter.
He may be a sleeper and wouldn’t be a “flashy” addition, but Higgins has all of the makings of being a draft steal for a team like the Titans who could use a little more help at the position.
Make sure you bookmark Tennessee Titans on SI for the latest news, exclusive interviews, film breakdowns and so much more!
Iowa
Runnin’ Utes give up 2nd half lead as Iowa pulls away for 95-88 win
SOUIX FALLS, S.D. — Iowa’s defense was smothering, and Utah did little to help itself on offense by starting the game shooting just 12.5% from the floor.
It was another first-half slow start against a Quad 1 opponent this season.
But unlike in previous Quad 1 games, where Utah allowed the opposing team run away with an early double-digit lead, the Runnin’ Utes fought back. And it was Mason Madsen, who earned his first start of the season, who provided the game-changing spark.
Madsen got a defensive rebound, and then hit a 3-pointer on the other end to open up three straight 3-pointers on consecutive possessions to give Utah its first lead of the game.
From there, Utah found its offense to control a 4-point lead at the halftime break before building up the lead to 10 in the second half.
Iowa didn’t back down, though, and slowly chipped away at the lead before eventually pulling away for a 95-88 win at the Sanford Pentagon in the Utah’s final nonconference game of the season.
Madsen finished with 24 points, including going 6-of-11 from 3-point range, six rebounds and four assists, but it wasn’t enough to contend with Iowa’s offensive attack late. Lawson Lovering added 25 points, four rebounds and two assists in the loss.
Iowa forward Payton Sandfort led the charge in the second half and contributed a team-high 24 points and seven rebounds, while four other Iowa players finished in double-digit scoring.
Utah opened up the game shooting just 1-of-8 from the field as Iowa took an early 9-2 lead that was also helped by a defense that forced the Utes into late-shot situations and poor looks. Little by little, Utah found a way to get back into the game, largely by Madsen’s hot shooting and Lovering’s strong post play.
Less than two minutes into the second half, Ezra Ausar hit two free throws to give the Utes a team-high 11-point lead. Over the next five minutes, Iowa slowly chipped away at Utah’s lead and made it a 4-point game with 14:13 left to play.
Utah made only 2 points over the next three minutes as Iowa cut the lead to a single possession before Drew Thelwell hit a 3-pointer with 10:47 left for the go-ahead score. Once Iowa reclaimed the lead, there was little Utah could do over the final 10 minutes of game time to stop the Hawkeyes’ lead from growing.
Owen Freeman, the team’s leading scorer who averages 17.2 points per game, got into foul trouble and was forced to sit for much of the game — including picking up a fourth foul with just under 11 minutes to play — but finished with 16 points, six rebounds and two assists, while adding three blocks in just 19 minutes of play.
Thelwell and Josh Nix added 15 points apiece, and Brock Harding contributed 12 points to round out Iowa’s top scoring.
Utah closes out nonconference play with an 8-3 record, with all three losses coming against Quad 1 opponents. The Utes resume action on Dec. 31 in Waco, Texas, to start Big 12 play against Baylor.
The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.
Iowa
Extra Point: What Awaits Miami in the Pop-Tart Bowl vs. Iowa State?
When the Miami Hurricanes and Cam Ward take the field against the Iowa State Cyclones on Dec. 28, the Hurricanes will see an offense much like some they faced this season in ACC play.
The Cyclones are no pushover, and have the numbers to back that up. Iowa State quarterback Rocco Becht tossed for over 3,200 yards this season and 22 touchdowns, most of which came at the hands of leading receiver Jayden Higgins, who caught for almost 1,200 yards on his own. Higgins has also pulled down a team-leading nine touchdowns thus far in the season, and will be looking to add to that total in the bowl game against the Hurricanes.
Those are just the surface level stats, though. Iowa State has some other weapons that could give the Miami defense some issues as well. For instance, their two headed backfield of Carson Hansen and Abu Sama III, which combined for over 1,200 yards on the ground this year. Samha is touted as one of the most talented underclassmen in the country, and is predicted by many to secure the starting role in the backfield next season.
Senior wideout Jaylin Noel serves as the team’s second leading receiver, and accounted for another 1,077 yards through the air this year for the cyclones. To put it bluntly, Iowa State has four to five guys on the field that can hurt a defense at all times, and that’s before discussing the defense.
The Cyclone defensive backfield has picked off 14 passes this year, good enough for a top-30 ranking in that category per game. The pass rush may not be what it was for ISU in 2023, but with Cam Ward under center anyway, this game looks to be one decided through the air.
Unless Miami running back Damien Martinez gets going, it looks to be a pair of high-flying offenses duking it out in the Pop Tarts Bowl this year.
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