UCONN-Texas post game thread

[Rb335]

Great win, led by the emerging superstar Azzi Fudd. Is it out of the realm of possibility to believe that she has the same if not more potential than Bueckers? Fudd looks so much quicker and athletic this season. I pray to the basketball gods that we get at least one full season of both of them playing at 100% health. Would be an absolute treat.

Was really happy to see Aubrey come in and have a great game. She's now a senior, age wise, and was a McDonald's AA in high school. No reason to think she can't be a major part of this season's rotation. Her newfound shooting prowess allowed her to effectively sub for Lou today to tighten up the defense. Without sacrificing too much offensively.

Looking forward to when Caroline is full go, because she proved last year she is a very talented player. She looked very fatigued after just a couple minutes. I expect it will take her some time to get back into playing shape, especially with the up tempo style this season.

Was pleased with how our front court battled tonight. They look up to the challenge this season.

Looking forward to seeing what we look like in another week, against another top 10 opponent. Another opportunity to prove that we belong in the conversation this season.

 

[Blueballer]

Super victory. Sorry to be critical but I can't unsee what I saw. Yes it was a great win but there were two glaring weaknesses I saw. First is Lou. She is not a good defensive player at all and that is why her minutes were so limited. She got beat on simple strong hand drives. She gave up what she got on offense and my vote is for Aubrey to go in the game for her early. She is a delight to watch.

The other weakness is Liyah. I thought she had turned the corner and that the costly floor mistakes were a thing of the past. They weren't. There was a reversion to last year in many respects. You won't necessarily see it in the box score but it was things like a back in offensive foul to give the ball back when we were poised to break it open, not grabbing the ball, going for a rebound with Dorka and not knowing she was there and losing the ball and also judgment plays. She seemed tight and nervous to me and I hope this game will restore her to the heady player we saw the first game. It was also the first game this year against size and power underneath and that may have affected her at times by making her tentative. All she has to do is play within herself.

They shut down Azzi in the beginning but she started to drive, get some breakaways, and then started bringing the ball up and got open. She figured it out or Geno figured it out for her. Her release is Curryesque and her performance was stellar.

Nika had a workmanlike game. Gritty with some big steals and assists. 9 assists and three steals is impactful.

As for the refs, if you are going to call taiky tacky freedom of movement calls, please also call ticky tacky fouls on the shot and layups. They blew the whistle on every possession it seemed like. I was at the Seton Hall men's game on Saturday and it was the same thing. I guess they are stressing that in referee camp this year. The problem is that come March you see beat downs and a different game being called. I will also make a prediction. You will never see a tacky tacky freedom of movement foul called on the returning POY. Just saying.

I'm not ready to give us the trophy yet. We need a defensive stopper at the guard level and more movement on offense and a healthy with good timing Caroline. Should be there in two more games at the most. All in all, a W and that's all we really needed.

You must have missed that charge LOU took early on. Wonderful defensive play. I don't think labeling her as "Not a good defensive player" is a valid tag in her 2nd game on the team against a top 5 taem in a game where the refs were blowing the whistle every 20 seconds. Let's see how it develops.

 

[Kaizen]

 

[UConnCat]

 

[and one]

This was a tough and very losable game. Not always pretty - although there was plenty of good basketball happening - and getting the win seems huge to me. Winning the first of the string tough games Geno has scheduled takes a ton of pressure off and puts the other good teams on notice that UConn without Paige ain't going to be a cakewalk. I couldn't be happier.

Azzi put the other POY contenders on notice that they will have to be really good to keep up with her. 32 points against a quality team and in the crunch a killer. UConn scored 20 points in the 4th Q and Azzi had 17 of them.

Is anyone not all smiles about the way Aubrey played? The last we saw of her she was all legs and arms in a frenzy of action, alternating good plays and not so good plays. Tonight she slowed things down, was under control and playing within the system. This is a big deal and portends that she'll be a big part of a good team.

 

[UConnCat]

 

[Jewels]

Now we know for sure what kind of team we have. Everyone showed up to play!! Nobody disappeared. Azzi stepping up to lead her team with a new career high of 32 points. No doubt who the BADDASS was tonight. I wonder if the Texas players still think this was "just another game?" A sellout game tonight per Bob Joyce.

I was at the game and while not quite a sellout, it was louder than any sellout game I've ever been to. Student body was terrific!

 

[pvdoggy]

I’d be very happy if Azzi tops those numbers but we ca’t count on it. Some of us have been saying all year to put the ball in Azzi’s hands and look what happened when she was the primary point guard in the 2nd half. We should keep putting the ball in Azzi’s hands. She’s out Olivia Miles only better.

Nika got 9 and 1/2 times as much playing time tonight compared to Caroline. It’s pretty inappropriate to draw any conclusions from that at this time.

Same with Ayanna. Her rebounds per minute played were roughly twice Doarka and AE if I remember correctly.

It’s early. Aubrey looks very encouraging now 2 games in a row.

Trying to compare Caroline, who was coming off an injury and was basically a game-day decision if she was going to play at all, is inappropriate. I fully expect Caroline to be a good part of the scoring rotation this year as she gets healthy. She clearly has proven she was capable of that last year when Uconn needed someone to take over for Paige being out.

 

[hoopsdiva]

 

[BBallF]

You must have missed that charge LOU took early on. Wonderful defensive play. I don't think labeling her as "Not a good defensive player" is a valid tag in her 2nd game on the team against a top 5 taem in a game where the refs were blowing the whistle every 20 seconds. Let's see how it develops.

I didn't miss anything. Taking one charge does not make you a good defender. Why do you think she was on the bench and Aubrey was in there during the important moments of the game? She got beat on two consecutive drives to the hoop. I'm all for seeing her developing as a strong defensive player. She's not there yet and I think the competition before she transferred allowed less than UCONN defense. I'm not trying to be argumentative or negative, I am just pointing out what I saw. It will get fixed or her time will be limited.

 

[BobbyJ]

Didn’t you just describe Texas?

Yes, I should have said "good teams with size the remainder of the season". And I properly thanked Shaefer for his help.

 

[mbr33ct]

I was at the game and while not quite a sellout, it was louder than any sellout game I've ever been to. Student body was terrific!

I don't know it says it was a sellout at 100%.

 

[HuskyNan]

 

[uconnfan68]

I didn't miss anything. Taking one charge does not make you a good defender. Why do you think she was on the bench and Aubrey was in there during the important moments of the game? She got beat on two consecutive drives to the hoop. I'm all for seeing her developing as a strong defensive player. She's not there yet and I think the competition before she transferred allowed less than UCONN defense. I'm not trying to be argumentative or negative, I am just pointing out what I saw. It will get fixed or her time will be limited.

To be fair, she didn’t want to foul. She already had a few, and at least 1 was pretty cheap.

 

[HuskyNan]

 

[Bigboote]

Some folks here have wondered why Nika gets so many minutes, whether Aubrey would contribute, and whether Azzi would live up to her advance billing. I had confidence in all 3. They made statements on national television. I'm very happy for the team!

I thought we were the #3 team after Paige and Ice got hurt. I think we and Texas will trade places in the polls.

I'm right there with you, Mil. Azzi and Nika were hobbled last year and Geno has said folks just didn't appreciate how much UConn missed Aubrey last year.

Let's see how UConn does against NCState and how South Carolina-Stanford goes. UConn might be a legitimate #2 in the next poll.

 

[BBallF]

To be fair, she didn’t want to foul. She already had a few, and at least 1 was pretty cheap.

Many of the fouls were cheap on both sides. Even if you have fouls, you can't just let your player score because you are afraid of picking up a foul unless the coach tells you that. Maybe at Fairfield her presence was indispensable, not here. There is a way to play defense without fouling. Having said all that, the refs were awful and fixated on freedom of movement. If it was her conscious decision to avoid a foul or fouls, I assure you she will not make it again.

 

[UcMiami]

Except for that first Mississippi State game (piranas on a bone!) Vic is a really good defensive coach capable of making games really ugly.

Uconn isn't the juggernaut of old that can make really good teams look silly.

This was a really good early season game that was a double digit lead throughout the 4th Q until the final 10 seconds of the game against a top 5 opponent.

Dorka was the only Uconn player to shoot under 50% for the game and the team shot 55% and 53% from three. They crapped out at the FT line but the offense was very good against a really good defensive team.

Yes Azzi was amazing, but she is an amazing player. Caroline played all of 4 minutes coming back from her neck strain so she should be better as will the rest of the team as the season progresses. Defensively they will improve.

 

[Bigboote]

Great win and Azzi was NPOY class after Q1 but the game was not without it's flaws and I hope that is the lesson we take out of this game so we improve. The last 3 minutes were tough as we got out rebounded and TX made some well orchestrated plays to get to single digits. Surprised Vic did not try harder to extend the game although Azzi is an automatic FT (FT bugaboo came back)

Nobody is better at drawing lessons from a game than Geno. Vic is not far behind.

 

[pvdoggy]

During the game, the announcers talked a lot about how good Moore is, and it seems like she was causing a lot of problems for Uconn bigs. Same with Taylor Jones. Then you go look at the box score and my guess is you would take Dorka+Aaliyah combined results over Moore+Jones, at worst a wash, and somehow people talk like the Uconn bigs were handled by Texas bigs.

 

[dtbtbtb]

Few thoughts:

• UT is a team no one will want to see in March (with Rori)...
• Some of those UConn turnovers...ouch...while the TN turnovers were forced by UConn's aggressiveness, the UConn turnovers were more due to carelessness. This should be cleaned and will be cleaned with more games with tough opponents as the schedule got.

*Azzi is a superstar! in the first half she didn't really shoot from distance but in the second half...wow...
*The whole team fought and fought. Real warriors' mentality. Everyone ready and willing to throw themself on the floor to get a ball.
*Interior defense was not that good. Hopefully it improves.
*There was apart in the game where UConn was going only 1 on 1 and forgot to play as a team and i was screaming at the TV: play like UConn please
*It was a real good test early in the season for both teams. And both will be much better in few months.
*Nika is something else. I can just imagine how much people hate playing against her And those passes...she is our PG!
*Was amazing to see Aubrey out there. She was missed last season. The energy, the speed, the athleticism, the aggressiveness and now the confidence!
*Lou is a player! the only concern with her is her ability on defense to stay with top talent.
*This win should give the team a lot of confidence for the NC St. game.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

Have not seen the game yet, but wanna say

 

[Conndog]

Super victory. Sorry to be critical but I can't unsee what I saw. Yes it was a great win but there were two glaring weaknesses I saw. First is Lou. She is not a good defensive player at all and that is why her minutes were so limited. She got beat on simple strong hand drives. She gave up what she got on offense and my vote is for Aubrey to go in the game for her early. She is a delight to watch.

The other weakness is Liyah. I thought she had turned the corner and that the costly floor mistakes were a thing of the past. They weren't. There was a reversion to last year in many respects. You won't necessarily see it in the box score but it was things like a back in offensive foul to give the ball back when we were poised to break it open, not grabbing the ball, going for a rebound with Dorka and not knowing she was there and losing the ball and also judgment plays. She seemed tight and nervous to me and I hope this game will restore her to the heady player we saw the first game. It was also the first game this year against size and power underneath and that may have affected her at times by making her tentative. All she has to do is play within herself.

They shut down Azzi in the beginning but she started to drive, get some breakaways, and then started bringing the ball up and got open. She figured it out or Geno figured it out for her. Her release is Curryesque and her performance was stellar.

Nika had a workmanlike game. Gritty with some big steals and assists. 9 assists and three steals is impactful.

As for the refs, if you are going to call taiky tacky freedom of movement calls, please also call ticky tacky fouls on the shot and layups. They blew the whistle on every possession it seemed like. I was at the Seton Hall men's game on Saturday and it was the same thing. I guess they are stressing that in referee camp this year. The problem is that come March you see beat downs and a different game being called. I will also make a prediction. You will never see a tacky tacky freedom of movement foul called on the returning POY. Just saying.

I'm not ready to give us the trophy yet. We need a defensive stopper at the guard level and more movement on offense and a healthy with good timing Caroline. Should be there in two more games at the most. All in all, a W and that's all we really needed.

DisAgree about Aaliyah. I thought she had a great game. Give Texas some credit, their bigs are, well, big, and skilled, Aaliyah did well against them given disadvantage in height. Maybe on defense she couldn’t control them do well, but Texas is a good team with quality bigs.

 

[uconnfan68]

Many of the fouls were cheap on both sides. Even if you have fouls, you can't just let your player score because you are afraid of picking up a foul unless the coach tells you that. Maybe at Fairfield her presence was indispensable, not here. There is a way to play defense without fouling. Having said all that, the refs were awful and fixated on freedom of movement. If it was her conscious decision to avoid a foul or fouls, I assure you she will not make it again.

Maybe that’s why she sat then. I don’t think she looked any worse than AE or DJ did early. Lots of things to correct for almost everyone… except . She was pretty good.