Texas Game Thread

[jcoton56]

Texas fan here. Kudos to UConn. Your team does everything well. Collier is one of the best I've ever seen. We wouldn't have won, but the score would have been closer if Ariel Atkins hadn't gotten hurt. She is kind of our glue, she and McCarty. Like the big sister everyone depends on. I've only seen Aston get that mad maybe one other time. Lord, let's hope she is not taking lessons from Kim Mulkey.

McCarty was splendid! Sh had to live with Nurse in her face, but every time she had room, she delivered

 

[oldude]

Texas fan here. Kudos to UConn. Your team does everything well. Collier is one of the best I've ever seen. We wouldn't have won, but the score would have been closer if Ariel Atkins hadn't gotten hurt. She is kind of our glue, she and McCarty. Like the big sister everyone depends on. I've only seen Aston get that mad maybe one other time. Lord, let's hope she is not taking lessons from Kim Mulkey.

Nobody likes to be 2-4, but Karen Aston & her team deserve a great deal of credit for playing their own "murderers row" pre-conference schedule. It will pay dividends this season, hopefully starting with a thumping of UT in a few days.

 

[Charliebball]

Nobody likes to be 2-4, but Karen Aston & her team deserve a great deal of credit for playing their own "murderers row" pre-conference schedule. It will pay dividends this season, hopefully starting with a thumping of UT in a few days.

Texas players/fans are probably hearing what UConn folks have been hearing.......better get them this year because next year with Booth and Patterson the cavalry is coming

 

[hoophuskee]

I don't remember the scores but didn't they play well against us in both games last year? I remember them being a pain in the you know what.....

Two of our 3 matchups we had 16 and 17 point leads going into the 4th qtr. The 1st game in Tampa the lead varied between 15-21 pts in the 4th qtr. Why would these games be "a pain?"

I think I understand. We didn't blow them out by 40 so maybe it means they are tough. But don't you see how "warped" we've become. If the game isn't a complete annihilation - then it's as if "they played us tough." I said similar with Texas last year that they played us tough then I look at the boxscore and I wonder how I could think that. But I guess when you win the title game by 31 and the ff game by 29, and the sweet 16 game by 60, then the 22 point win may feel like a barnburner.

 

[hoophuskee]

He's saying that the game should've been easier based on the good Assist/TO numbers among other things. Much of the issue today was simply the athletic size difference. UConn had to adjust and eventually did.

I didn't understand the 20-12 reference. Thanks!!

But again I don't see why it should be "a laugher" vs these type of big teams. We know going in that there is a tradeoff. Our quickness and skill vs the opposing team's size. There are points in the game that size is over-whelmming the huskies. Thus when you bring in Nat-- you lose firepower on offense which generally makes it easier to turn the game "into a laugher."

We know that going in, don't we? That's the tradeoff this year.

1-- Very good teams with a very good big post or two are generally going to be able to control tempo to some degree that this year's team won't make it like a laugher.

2-- If they are an athletic team too along with the size and overall pretty good, then they are generally going to be able to control tempo to some degree that this year's team won't make it like a laugher.

IMO there is no mystery to this. To expect vs these type of good teams that we're going to automatically make it "a laugher" I just think makes no sense. These teams have a strength that is our weakness and they have pretty good scholarship players that want to compete too.

DePaul played awful beyond it. IMO you can't go expecting because we beat DePaul so badly that any team around 15 also should get annihilated. DePaul's strength was sort of our strength.

 

[chuck.r]

Well that was fun. Texas is pretty good and very big and they have one pesky point guard.
1. Really glad to see Uconn running that foul line curl for Lou - it is unstoppable and she should be as good with it as Maya was.
2. Thought the refs were weird tonight - didn't really affect the game that much, but very physical game with lots of tickytack fouls called while a bunch of the big ones were missed.
3. Natalie is a critical member of this team - complain all you want but we probably would have lost three games already without her.
4. Thought Texas ran out of gas at the end of the third. Their bigs were not a factor in the fourth.
5. Kia kept her rhythm from the DePaul game. Napheesa and Gabby continued being brilliant. Thought Dangerfield got seriously exposed as a freshman in this one - her defense was pretty much a swinging door.

It can't be stressed enough how the superior conditioning of this Huskies team is their ultimate weapon, and a major source of their swagger. "Fatigue makes cowards of us all", said Vince Lombardi. And exhibit A of the truth of this dictum is the resilience and fearlessness on display for the full 40 minutes game after game by this group of athletes.

 

[UcMiami]

UcM Basically I agree with you although 3 of Texas's four losses were by double digits ( the other one was by 9). My point was that IMO this was a B minus performance and I wonder if anyone thinks Geno would give it a higher grade. We can't win in South bend if we bring our B minus game

I'm not sure we really know what their 'A' game is because we don't really know what the competition we have faced is relative to the rest of the country. You can say the DePaul game 1st and 3rd quarters, but DePaul played a terrible game, couldn't hit a shot and allowed Uconn to steamroll them. They aren't particularly athletic, they don't have any size, and the only thing they have going for them is shooting and teamwork, and used their week's allotment of that at home in the Syracuse game.
The Baylor game is probably a better indication of their A game and we won that by 11. Well, we won this one by an easy 18 and I am not sure that TX is any more than 10 points worse than Baylor at this point.

I certainly think they started the game poorly, but they had very few turnovers after the first quarter and won the final 30 minutes by 20.

I think when we think of 'A' game we think about most of the last 4 years where if we brought our 'A' game, no one could touch us. But this year's team isn't last year's, and their 'A' game may only be good enough to get us to an elite 8 and not an NC against teams that bring their 'A' game. I think it is good enough for a FF berth, but I don't know that yet, and I don't know how consistently this team will bring its A game.

I also think TX for much of that first quarter brought a pretty high standard of play - probably pretty close to their 'A' game and that changes the look of the game, too.

(Does any of that make sense - seems a bit nebulous, but I know what I mean! )

 

[NewCorn]

Umm, and also South Carolina.

If we meet South Carolina, without having a loss, we will have established a new record of 99 straight.

 

[UcMiami]

Texas fan here. Kudos to UConn. Your team does everything well. Collier is one of the best I've ever seen. We wouldn't have won, but the score would have been closer if Ariel Atkins hadn't gotten hurt. She is kind of our glue, she and McCarty. Like the big sister everyone depends on. I've only seen Aston get that mad maybe one other time. Lord, let's hope she is not taking lessons from Kim Mulkey.

I am hoping Ariel is OK - i assume she will go through your concussion protocol, and hopefully that goes as smoothly as Crystal's did for us. Agree that Ariel would have eased some of the rough spots in the game for TX. McCarty is a good one! She is wonderfully 'pesky' and a gamer.

 

[UcMiami]

Well I went to the DePaul game UCONN awesome! On Friday I was admitted into L&M hospital I had had a heart attack the night before and didn't know it! I just watched the game from my hospital bed! Great effort not pretty! Oops dinner is here! Go Huskies!

Hope everything goes well with recovery. Does this mean that you get to spend every more hours every day posting here!?

 

[RSHERMVIKES]

To all of you that responded to my post above, thanks it means a lot that this loose cannon is thought of as a respected member of this exclusive club!
About the TX game they showed a lot of guts and stamina as the bench was really short! Not pretty by any means but sometimes you have to just dig deep and pull it out!
KLS came back after a horrible beginning and everyone did enough to win!
TX athlete wise is still not there yet, but is getting better!

 

[hoophuskee]

To all of you that responded to my post above, thanks it means a lot that this loose cannon is thought of as a respected member of this exclusive club!
About the TX game they showed a lot of guts and stamina as the bench was really short! Not pretty by any means but sometimes you have to just dig deep and pull it out!
KLS came back after a horrible beginning and everyone did enough to win!
TX athlete wise is still not there yet, but is getting better!

Just get better!!

 

[eebmg]

To all of you that responded to my post above, thanks it means a lot that this loose cannon is thought of as a respected member of this exclusive club!
About the TX game they showed a lot of guts and stamina as the bench was really short! Not pretty by any means but sometimes you have to just dig deep and pull it out!
KLS came back after a horrible beginning and everyone did enough to win!
TX athlete wise is still not there yet, but is getting better!

I have seen multiple posters say this game was not "pretty" but I think for many extended periods, we ran good offensive sets
against tough defensive pressure and often got easy shots off of good passes (especially high post) in tight spaces. This cant happen for 40 minutes but when it does, it is "beautiful". Compared to the more 1-1 play (dump in the post or drive and pray for a foul) many other WCBB teams invoke, we should appreciate the beauty of our team even if it is only in spurts.

 

[JoePgh]

UcM Basically I agree with you although 3 of Texas's four losses were by double digits ( the other one was by 9). My point was that IMO this was a B minus performance and I wonder if anyone thinks Geno would give it a higher grade. We can't win in South bend if we bring our B minus game

The B- grade should apply only to about the first 8 minutes of the game. They were bad. But the last 32 minutes (IMHO) were in A to A- range, with an A+ to Napheesa. They took the Longhorns' best shot in the first 8 minutes, and then punched back very successfully.

One area where this team seems to have an edge even on the teams of the last few years (and particularly in the KML era) is their response to adversity. There were times in past years when I felt the team had a certain level of panic when the opponent actually started competing with them. That is probably because it was such a rare occurrence. Starting with the FSU game, but also in the Baylor and Texas games, this team seems to play best under stress, and take opponents' good play as a personal affront that needs to be addressed.

I also agree with those who say that the 18-point margin in this game was mainly due to a difference in conditioning between the two teams. I think that is what Karen Aston meant when she referred to "toughness" in the 4th quarter. That may account for Texas's other double-digit losses to good teams. Joyner Holmes is talented, but she doesn't look like she is in great physical condition, and it took a toll in this game.

 

[TitleTown]

Texas fan here. Kudos to UConn. Your team does everything well. Collier is one of the best I've ever seen. We wouldn't have won, but the score would have been closer if Ariel Atkins hadn't gotten hurt. She is kind of our glue, she and McCarty. Like the big sister everyone depends on. I've only seen Aston get that mad maybe one other time. Lord, let's hope she is not taking lessons from Kim Mulkey.

Gamer you guys got a damn good basketball team that is only going to get better. Texas will be a nightmare for somebody come March. With the talented youth you have now and the incoming class Texas will be a contender for the foreseeable future!

 

[Siestakeyfan]

KLS was being mauled , so she finally retaliated and got the flagrant. Geno sat her w/2 fouls, but I think he was sending the wakeup call to her. This is what Stewie went through early. She has to be tough enough to play through it.

KLS was REALLY getting beat up !!

 

[skilz]

The B- grade should apply only to about the first 8 minutes of the game. They were bad. But the last 32 minutes (IMHO) were in A to A- range, with an A+ to Napheesa. They took the Longhorns' best shot in the first 8 minutes, and then punched back very successfully.

One area where this team seems to have an edge even on the teams of the last few years (and particularly in the KML era) is their response to adversity. There were times in past years when I felt the team had a certain level of panic when the opponent actually started competing with them. That is probably because it was such a rare occurrence. Starting with the FSU game, but also in the Baylor and Texas games, this team seems to play best under stress, and take opponents' good play as a personal affront that needs to be addressed.

I also agree with those who say that the 18-point margin in this game was mainly due to a difference in conditioning between the two teams. I think that is what Karen Aston meant when she referred to "toughness" in the 4th quarter. That may account for Texas's other double-digit losses to good teams. Joyner Holmes is talented, but she doesn't look like she is in great physical condition, and it took a toll in this game.

Agree on the B- grade applying to the first 8 minutes of the game. We were slow to start and didn't find a rhythm until after the first 8. Geno made several adjustments and the team started playing off of each other.

The Baylor and Texas games were home games for us (basically), but I'd be interested to see how we would do on their home courts this year. This is a great time to have these games in CT since this is a new team. Winning these games has given the team the confidence they need to push forward for another title.

Joyner Holmes is a great talent, but she is young and out of shape. Post freshmen never seem to come out of high school in a great physical condition. These girls are so big in high school that most teams just plant them under the goal and not expect much physical playing from them. This is one of the hardest positions to transfer from when going from high school to college. Texas will get Holmes in shape but we probably won't see it until next year. She will be a great asset for that team in the future.

 

[j66kicker]

To all of you that responded to my post above, thanks it means a lot that this loose cannon is thought of as a respected member of this exclusive club!
About the TX game they showed a lot of guts and stamina as the bench was really short! Not pretty by any means but sometimes you have to just dig deep and pull it out!
KLS came back after a horrible beginning and everyone did enough to win!
TX athlete wise is still not there yet, but is getting better!

Glad they let you watch the game - take care of yourself!

 

[bags27]

2 thoughts:

1. Last year's ugliest game (not the closest, but the ugliest), by far, was against TX in the Elite 8. They play an extremely physical style and it's like quicksand to UConn's finesse motion offense. So, rather than "grade" UConn on this game, maybe let's call it getting the necessary experience in playing that sort of ball and say that it was a required course on the pass/fail system: UConn passed. Even Geno seemed exceptionally relieved in the presser, suggesting that he appreciated that they had got through something they needed to get through.

2. Lou's flagrant foul is related to that. Clearly, she had already felt beat-up before throwing that elbow. Lou isn't a superfast learner (it takes a couple of times for her to "get" something), but she is an extremely good learner (once learned, it sticks). This is an early lesson for her for how she's going to be played the rest of her career, esp. in the pros. We all know that she's tough to the core, and she will learn soon enough to exact her revenge, not with elbows, but in the scoring column.

 

[HoopsFan21]

Lou learned her elbow moves from Caroline.

 

[UcMiami]

Bags27 - love your point #2 and it goes to a comment Geno made earlier (do not remember the source) to the effect Lou had no idea what she was in for this year, but she was going to learn pretty quickly - referring to the amount of attention and physical punishment that was coming now she wasn't a happy passenger on the 'Big Three Express'.
Stewart took about three months to learn the same lessons, but it happened her freshman year - Lou had a pass last year because of Stewart particularly.

 

[Sluconn Husky]

An interesting aside:

Samantha Brunelle "liked" the official UConnWbb's tweet recapping the win.

Also for the Chattanooga game.

 

[CocoHusky]

An interesting aside:

Samantha Brunelle "liked" the official UConnWbb's tweet recapping the win.

Also for the Chattanooga game.

And I liking your post because I like BabyBrun.

 

[RSHERMVIKES]

Latest news as of 4:30pm today, my heart stopped at 3:30pm for a milisecond so the plan is to give me a pacemaker tomorrow so they can increase meds without shutting down my heart again! A heart specialist from Yale-New Haven Hospital is coming up to L&M Hospital to do the operation!
Never a dull moment!

 

[Gus Mahler]

Latest news as of 4:30pm today, my heart stopped at 3:30pm for a milisecond so the plan is to give me a pacemaker tomorrow so they can increase meds without shutting down my heart again! A heart specialist from Yale-New Haven Hospital is coming up to L&M Hospital to do the operation!
Never a dull moment!

Yoicks. Hang in there, man.