Kiah and SC

[Zorro]

Has anything been said about why Kiah played so little against SC?

 

[HoopsFan21]

Probably for the same reason TLaw, Ek, and Polly played so little? Geno had a game plan, and their skills weren't needed to execute it. Geno's game plan as he said on the pre-game show on ESPN was he wanted to run South Carolina out of the gym. The guys that played the least were not going to help do that.

 

[CocoHusky]

Probably for the same reason TLaw, Ek, and Polly played so little? Geno had a game plan, and their skills weren't needed to execute it. Geno's game plan as he said on the pre-game show on ESPN was he wanted to run South Carolina out of the gym. The guys that played the least were not going to help do that.

I'm not sure I understand. Kiah can run as well or better than any of the SC bigs.

 

[Wbbfan1]

Nothing came for the coaches that I saw. I expect Geno wanted as much offense of the floor as possible. As long as Stewie and Tuck were able to score and control South Carolina Bigs, didn't see the need to bring in Kiah. Kia Nurse was the only starter that was replaced and probably because Geno wanted to see if Saniya could get some points from the 2nd guard.

 

[EricLA]

Has anything been said about why Kiah played so little against SC?

I tend to agree with hoopsfan21 and wbbfan1. I also think Kiah might have played more if our big 4 struggled at all. But they didn't. Nurse didn't have a great game, and in fact only played 3 more minutes than Chong. If you consider that both are guards and it's likely that Geno brought one in for the other, then look at the minutes for Tuck, KML and Stewie...

35, 37 and 37. That leaves 11 minutes they weren't on the court, the exact number of minutes Stokes played. I think her defense is phenomenal, but her offense is more limited than the other 3, and I suspect that's why Geno kept them in. Also, in spite of the insane amount of O-boards, SC never got closer than being down 10 after UCONN's run in the first half.

 

[HoopsFan21]

I'm not sure I understand. Kiah can run as well or better than any of the SC bigs.

Is Kiah faster than Mo, Kia, or Chong? If the answer is no, then you solved the mystery. If the answer is yes, then I would have to defer to Geno on that. Who would you sit in order to get Kiah in the game? Remember, our starting five can go all out for 40 minutes. In theory Geno can go with five unless there is foul trouble. It was a simple plan, but effective. South Carolina was gassed, hence a lot of the dumb fouls called against them.

 

[Waquoit]

Cool how UConn ran them out of the gym even though SC was supposed to have superior depth.

 

[HoopsFan21]

Cool how UConn ran them out of the gym even though SC was supposed to have superior depth.

Yeah, a point of pride with how well conditioned they are. Even K who some SC fans made fun of. Also kind of funny about the conspiracy theories about UConn's home cooking.

 

[Vowelguy]

My thought was that having 5 players on the floor who could score on the perimeter kept the lane open, and allowed for dribble drives and for Stewie to post up down there. This worked very very well. Bringing in Stokes would've meant that her defender could clog up the lane.

Also, Geno had said he thought they needed to score 80. Stokes is not going to help with that.

 

[HGN]

I agree with wbbfan and hoopfan , UConn's frontline of Tuck, Stewie , and KML brought their A-Game Monday nite. Substituting wasn't needed and they were breathing easy. As a matter of fact , USC probably wished Geno had subbed in Kiah , because they had their hands full with the starting 3.

 

[CocoHusky]

Is Kiah faster than Mo, Kia, or Chong? If the answer is no, then you solved the mystery. If the answer is yes, then I would have to defer to Geno on that. Who would you sit in order to get Kiah in the game? Remember, our starting five can go all out for 40 minutes. In theory Geno can go with five unless there is foul trouble. It was a simple plan, but effective. South Carolina was gassed, hence a lot of the dumb fouls called against them.

HoopsFan21,
Kiah is a post player Mo, Kia, & Chong are guards. Unless Dawn decided to play 4 guards substituting Kiah for any guard is not a decison Geno would have to make. SC had at least two post players on the floor for the entire game as did UCONN. Kiah would have been matched up against 1 of the SC post players. Kiah can run as well or better than any of the SC post who she would have been matched up against. so if the plan was to " run them out of the gym" Kiah could/should have been part of that plan.

 

[CocoHusky]

Has anything been said about why Kiah played so little against SC?

Zorro,
I just don't think Kiah was needed. Stewie was being Stewie + Kiah. Stewie was blocking shots and as someone said in another post crashing the boards harder than I have ever seen her.

 

[Waquoit]

...so if the plan was to " run tht of the gym" Kiah could/should have been part of that plan.

Should have? Why, to make everything nice-nice? My take is that this was the last chance before the Final Four to get the starters major minutes against top competition. Good for the coach for not squandering the opportunity.

 

[HoopsFan21]

HoopsFan21,
Kiah is a post player Mo, Kia, & Chong are guards. Unless Dawn decided to play 4 guards substituting Kiah for any guard is not a decison Geno would have to make. SC had at least two post players on the floor for the entire game as did UCONN. Kiah would have been matched up against 1 of the SC post players. Kiah can run as well or better than any of the SC post who she would have been matched up against. so if the plan was to " run them out of the gym" Kiah could/should have been part of that plan.

My point was more of who do you take out? Only five can play obviously. Do you take out the best player in the country? Or the best shooter in the country? Or perhaps our most versatile player in Tuck? In a game like that, why try to fix what isn't broken?

 

[HistoryMajor]

I had the same question (i.e why no Kiah), during the game. I called a friend at halftime who is very knowledgable about BB. In fact my friend was a manager of the BB team. The answer was "Geno wants scorers in the game. For this game Geno's strategy isn't to play better defense by blocking more shots. Geno's strategy is to score more points so he left the scorers in." FWIW but it came from a knowledgable source.

 

[HoopsFan21]

Should have? Why, to make everything nice-nice? My take is that this was the last chance before the Final Four to get the starters major minutes against top competition. Good for the coach for not squandering the opportunity.

I was impressed with how well the starters played considering they've gone over a month not playing much together, and not getting a ton of minutes against conference opponents. It speaks to how well coach and CD prepare this team.

 

[meyers7]

Nothing came for the coaches that I saw. I expect Geno wanted as much offense of the floor as possible. As long as Stewie and Tuck were able to score and control South Carolina Bigs, didn't see the need to bring in Kiah.

I'm thinking that is the reason. It worked out pretty well.

 

[jdubct]

Cool how UConn ran them out of the gym even though SC was supposed to have superior depth.

Yep! Uconn has repeatedly shown that a starting five with some help from the reserved can win national championships against teams with superior depth.

 

[CocoHusky]

Should have? Why, to make everything nice-nice? My take is that this was the last chance before the Final Four to get the starters major minutes against top competition. Good for the coach for not squandering the opportunity.

Q: Should have?
A: Yes Kiah could/should have been part of that plan-"to run SC out of the gym"

Q: Why, to make everything nice-nice?
A: No, because she is capable of out running the SC bigs-which would have contributed to the execution of the plan.

C: My take is that this was the last chance before the Final Four to get the starters major minutes against top competition.
R: Final four is almost 2 full months away. The rotation for the final four will be a minimum of 6 players- not just 5 starters. Kiah will be an integral part of that rotation as she was during last final 4. My take is Kiah needs minutes against top competition also.

C: Good for the coach for not squandering the opportunity.
R: Nothing was squandered during this game. Kiah was not needed and did not get her usual minutes, not a big deal IMO.

 

[xHunt3r]

Don't see this as a knock on Kiah at all.... Breanna was doing well on defensive end battling SC post in the paint (Nice to see the player the other teams use to be physical with to take her out of her game... being physical with the other team).

Not needing the defensive stopper allowed UConn to push harder on offense.

If things where not working he would of made a change (reference: ND game). As it was, Kiah was only needed to give Morgan and Breanna a break here and there.

 

[geneticrex]

Stewart-Tuck-KML is THE best frontcourt in WBB and it's not close. When they are playing at, or near a level they are capable, unless there are foul issues, there is no reason to sit them for any length of time beyond a quick blow, especially since it's obvious they don't get gassed.

I don't care how many "intimidating" bigs SC, Duke, or Tennessee tries to throw at UConn, when those 3 are on their game, they'll will shred any other post group in the land.

I love Stokes and believe her to be the top defending/shot blocking/rebounding post combination in the country, but when you have the skillset of the 3 players UConn starts, there is no way a coach is going to interrupt that group when they are rolling.

 

[Shenandoah]

Breanna, Morgan and KML were all playing exceptionally well. When you have a hot hand, you don't risk them cooling off by sitting them for an extended period of time. This game was not about blocked shots and rebounds, it was about scoring, something which Kiah has not shown a knack for...The other thing is that the 4 minute media timeouts, combined with the regular team timeouts give the players enough of a blow to stay sharp. JMO...

 

[HGN]

Not to worry....Once again Geno has proven that he really doesn't care that much about individual records . He knows that Kiah could block shots against USC , if she was in the game , but Geno was coaching to win the game. Not to provide anyone an opportunity to get a blocks record. Also , Geno knows that there are many more season / conference games , plus conference tournamnet games left where Kiah will get much playing time and opportunities.

 

[DobbsRover2]

For whatever reasons, Geno just saw situations in this game that made him make the substitutions that he chose. Each game is different, and he just felt more comfortable keeping an offensive group of posts on the floor and try to work the pace at one he knew would wear out USCar.

Look at the point about 8 minutes into the game when USCar was winning 18-15. From a number of other games this season when UConn was struggling, Stokes was brought in and the game quickly turned as she intimidated the opponents and UConn was off and running in mad transition scoring. No, Kiah wasn't the key player running the court, but she was the spark and tall tower that got it going and then protected the basket on the other end against the occasional quick counterattack. But Monday was different, and though Stokes contributed a decent amount in her 11 minutes, she was basically battling USCar's bigs and not so much kicking off UConn's transition.

Instead Geno turned to another player, because it was Mitchell who was hurting UConn with 8 points and an assist to boost them to an early lead at 90 team point and 40 player point pace. Chong was sent in to wrap up Mitchell with incredible D, which then shut down the USCar offense so that the Gamecocks would score only 2 points in nearly 8 minutes. Stokes came in and Nurse returned for the second part of that 8 minutes when the big Husky lead had been built, and the Gamecocks were faced with another tough matchup, though they eventually did better in the last 5 minutes of the half with 11 points in 5 minutes.

It comes down to needs and matchups, and Geno found the answers on Monday.

 

[Alydar]

One thing I noticed early in the game was that UConn was able to isolate individuals in the post in one on one's. Staley correctly knew that a zone wouldn't work and was forced to play a man defense. With the starting five there is no weak offensive player to ignore. I'd guess that Geno and CD picked out matchups in the low post that favored UConn and set those up to be exploited. If Kiah was in the game SC could have sloughed off her to help out. In fact when Kiah was in the game and out at the high post SC backed off her into the paint. I don't know if Geno and Chris expected having the starters in would work as well as it did but since it did work so well they stayed with it. If UConn had struggled more on the boards UConn would have been forced to play Stokes. But they held their own and that was all she wrote..