‘Bobby Knight would be happy.’ Defensive-minded underdogs await UK in NCAA Tournament.
Though University of Kentucky women’s basketball fans are probably unfamiliar with the team’s first-round opponent in the NCAA Tournament, rest assured the selection committee did the Wildcats no favors.
Fourth-seeded Kentucky (17-8 overall) faces No. 13 Idaho State (22-3) on Sunday in the Alamodome in San Antonio.
Regular-season and tournament champions of the Big Sky Conference, the Bengals enter the Big Dance on a six-game winning streak. Nebraska is the only team on its schedule Idaho State failed to beat, having split regular-season series against Montana State and Idaho, then routing Idaho by 35 points in the Big Sky title game.
In her NCAA Tournament preview detailing six potential first-round upsets, New York Times writer Marisa Ingemi mentioned Idaho State over Kentucky as a possibility.
“Rhyne Howard makes up much of the Kentucky offense. Shutting her down is easier said than done, but Idaho State has more of an ensemble cast to work with,” Ingemi wrote.
One analyst with a unique perspective on the matchup agrees the underdog Bengals have a shot to spring the upset. Mark Liptak is the radio play-by-play announcer for the Idaho State women’s hoops team, along with several other Bengals programs. He’s also a University of Kentucky graduate who roamed campus during the same time as legendary UK men’s coach Joe B. Hall, and he still follows both Wildcats basketball teams.
“If Howard goes off for 30, (UK) is probably going to win and they might win fairly easily,” Liptak told the Herald-leader in a phone interview. “But in a one-and-done game, when the underdog can hang around, the pressure starts shifting even more to the team that’s favored. I think ISU is going to play like, ‘Hey, we’ve got nothing to lose.’
“I think they’ll be competitive. I think Kentucky will know, if they do win, that they’ve been in a game … I’d be really surprised if you’re talking about a 15-, 20-point blowout.”
Liptak said the Bengals have developed an identity as a hard-nosed defensive team during the 13-year tenure of head coach Seton Sobolewski. This will be Idaho State’s fourth NCAA Tournament appearance since the 2000-01 season and second under Sobolewski. In 2012, the Bengals won the Big Sky Tournament and fell to Miami in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Liptak agreed with Ingemi’s take that Idaho State’s ensemble cast is among its greatest strengths.
“They have really good depth, they have multiple offensive threats. But the signature under Seton has been, since day one, defense,” Liptak said. “They will play in-your-face, aggressive defense … always looking to jump passing lanes, always looking to overplay. They’ll get a lot of steals, they’ll run in transition.
“Solid, man-to-man, in-your-face defense. Bobby Knight would be happy with it.”
Idaho State has four players averaging double-digit scoring, led by fifth-year senior Dora Goles, a 5-foot-7 guard from Croatia who was voted first-team All-Big Sky Conference. Goles averages 12.4 points and 2.8 assists per game and is shooting 38 percent from three-point range.
“Goles is a good three-point shooter, but she’s more of a Euro-style player,” Liptak said. “She’ll hit the mid-range, which is a lost art today in basketball. She’ll do the floaters, off-balance tosses up to the basket. She’s got a nice touch.”
Liptak singled out unselfish guard Estefania Ors as perhaps the Bengals’ most dangerous threat. The 5-foot-10 fifth-year senior from Spain averages 10.2 points and is shooting a remarkable 43 percent from beyond the arc. Ors hit four consecutive threes in the Big Sky championship and is the eighth-leading scorer in program history.
“She’s the leading three-point shooter in history at ISU. She’s played more of a supplementary role this year because they have Dora Goles … and the post players have developed for ISU,” Liptak said. “But she’s very solid, very smooth. She knows how to play the game and she’s a terrific shooter.”
The underdog role is nothing new to the Bengals, who typically play a brutal non-conference schedule under Sobolewski.
“Under normal circumstances (Sobolewski) has played a tough non-conference schedule because, as he’s told me, if they can play at Texas, if they can play at Washington … they’re probably going to be able to play at Montana,” Liptak said. “He’s always played a tough schedule.”
Because of COVID-19, the Bengals weren’t able to schedule their typical non-conference gauntlet this year, but still made trips to Nebraska — where they led at halftime — and Kansas State. The Bengals beat Kansas State by 15. UK beat Kansas State by 11.
The Bengals have had plenty of success against bigger programs. In the last 10 years they’ve beaten Wisconsin, Boise State, Utah, Houston and Hawaii, among others. In 2017, Idaho State beat No. 25 Washington by 20 on the road. Goles had seven points and seven rebounds in that game as a sophomore.
Last season, the Bengals took Arizona State to overtime on the road. Goles scored 26 and hit five of seven three-pointers in that near-upset.
With 6-foot-2 forward Ellie Smith the team’s tallest player, one thing working against the Bengals is their lack of size. A significant factor, since Kentucky has struggled against talented post players this season. But madder things have happened in March than an Idaho State upset of UK.
“How the game starts will be important. The longer the underdog stays in the game, the more their confidence grows. And this is an older team,” Liptak said. “If ISU can stay in the game early, I think you’ll get a game. I’m not going to say they’re going to win, I’m not going to go that far … But I think they can win, absolutely.”
Super Bowl connection
The Idaho State women’s basketball program can rightfully claim it builds Super Bowl champions.
During the program’s inaugural season in 1974, the Bengals were coached by Kevin Gilbride, a graduate assistant with the football program who eventually engineered a highly successful NFL coaching career. But first, he cut his teeth on the hardwood.
“I really didn’t have a choice. It was kind of mandated that I do it,” Gilbride told the Idaho State Journal in 2018. “But it wound up being as much fun as I ever had coaching. I had a ball. The girls were tremendous.”
Gilbride was offered the full-time head coaching job following the 1974 season, but his path led elsewhere. Gilbride won two Super Bowls as offensive coordinator of the New York Giants, including in 2007 when the team upset the undefeated New England Patriots. Gilbride spent 1 1/2 seasons as head coach of the San Diego Chargers. He was head coach of the XFL’s New York Guardians during the shortened 2020 season.
Sunday
No. 4 seed Kentucky vs. No. 13 seed Idaho State
What: NCAA Tournament River Walk Regional first-round game
Where: Alamodome in San Antonio
When: 2 p.m.
TV: ESPN
Radio: WLAP-AM 630
Records: UK 17-8; Idaho State 22-3
Series: First meeting
