Audi Crooks powers Iowa State’s push: efficiency, adjustments, and today’s road test

Audi Crooks has turned January into an emphatic reminder that a dominant post can still tilt the women’s college game. The Iowa State center enters today’s trip to Stillwater carrying one of the nation’s most efficient scoring profiles, and her presence is shaping both the Big 12 race and the national awards conversation. After a midweek stumble on the road, the Cyclones look to recalibrate around their paint-first identity with Crooks as the fulcrum.

Audi Crooks is redefining efficiency in the paint

The headline number is simple and devastating: Crooks is averaging elite production on a field-goal percentage that sits near 70%. That combination—high volume, high accuracy—forces defenses to pick a poison. Single coverage invites deep seals and quick hooks; early doubles open rhythm threes and slot cuts for teammates. Iowa State’s best stretches this month have featured early-clock entries to Crooks, followed by inside-out pacing that avoids static possessions late in the shot clock.

Equally important: turnover control. When Crooks catches on balance and pivots without bringing the ball low, opponents are stripped of their easiest counters. Limit the live-ball giveaways and the Cyclones can set their half-court defense, magnifying every efficient two that Crooks produces.

How opponents are adjusting to Audi Crooks

Recent game plans have trended toward variety rather than a single look. Teams are mixing fronts—three-quarter top on one possession, hard baseline double on the next—and sending late digs from shooters after the first dribble. Another wrinkle that surfaced in recent weeks: denying Crooks her preferred launch points by bumping routes before she posts, then forcing catches a step farther out. When that happens, timing between the passer and post becomes the battleground.

The cost of these schemes is foul trouble and rebounding vulnerability. Reach-in help risks free throws; help-up rotations expose the weak-side glass. The Cyclones can punish both if wings crash from the 45 and if Crooks continues to pivot quickly into kick-outs. Expect more elbow touches and high-low looks to loosen fronts, along with designed slips when the double arrives on the catch.

Iowa State at Oklahoma State: what to watch (Sunday)

• Tip time: 1:00 p.m. ET / 6:00 p.m. GMT (local: 12:00 p.m. CT).

• Paint control: First five minutes will reveal the officiating tenor. A tighter whistle favors Crooks’ physical sealing; a looser one encourages fronts and scrums.

• Tempo toggles: If Iowa State wins the defensive glass and keeps live-ball turnovers down, it can play selectively in transition while still hunting deep posts in the half court.

• Counterpunches: Look for Iowa State to start with early cross-screens for Crooks, then pivot to elbow isolations to punish top-side denial. If the double comes baseline, the Cyclones’ corner shooter becomes the release valve.

• Free throws and fouls: Crooks’ ability to draw contact without lowering the ball decides both rotation patterns and clutch-time matchups.

The awards race has a new (old-school) center of gravity

With several perimeter stars absorbing injury pauses or usage dips in recent days, the national player race has tightened—and Crooks’ combination of efficiency, workload, and game-shaping gravity has her firmly in the thick of it. Voters typically reward two traits: production against ranked teams and sustainability on the road. Crooks has checked boxes across both, pairing volume scoring with a shot chart that rarely blinks. If the Cyclones rack up more Quadrant-1 road results, her candidacy will move from conversation to consensus.

After a reality check, the blueprint for Iowa State is clear

The recent road slip showed what happens when spacing narrows and entry angles stagnate. The corrective steps are straightforward: widen the floor with early drag screens to force switches before the post, use ghost actions to deter hard digs, and feed Crooks on the move rather than from static two-handed overheads. Iowa State’s guards can also hunt middle drives that trigger high-low drop-offs, a subtle way to buy Crooks deeper position without a traditional post entry.

Defensively, every efficient touch for Crooks is amplified if the Cyclones hold opponents to one shot. That starts with scram switches after ball screens to keep a big on a big when the shot goes up, and with weak-side X-outs that don’t bleed corner threes—two areas that cost them in their last tight finish.

What a strong January means for March

Bracket math loves reliability. A dominant interior scorer who rarely takes bad shots is the sport’s closest thing to certainty, and that’s what Crooks supplies. For Iowa State, protected seeding comes into focus if the team pairs paint efficiency with incremental gains at the line and steady turnover rates in true road games. For Crooks individually, the checklist ahead is small but meaningful: keep assist numbers ticking up under pressure, avoid the second foul before the first quarter horn, and continue to own the defensive glass in closing time.

Audi Crooks has made the Cyclones’ identity unmistakable: power, poise, and purposeful touches that travel in March. Today offers another measuring stick—and another chance for one of the country’s most unstoppable posts to set the terms of engagement.