Villanova post game thread

[TeamFirst!]

The best news from today was that 2 of our top 5 players played GREAT and the other 3 were on the bench. When everyone is back they should still be very nasty....

Stats updated already. Check out Azzi and Christyn:

2021-22 Women's Basketball Cumulative Statistics - University of Connecticut Athletics

The official 2021-22 Women's Basketball cumulative statistics for the University of Connecticut Huskies

uconnhuskies.com

 

[ABCDFE]

Tough loss. There was a chance to possibly take it to overtime or at least have another possession but CW miss near the basket was big. I will give the team a pass. They didn’t play great as a team and relied a little too much on one one and forced it to Azzi trying to have her same the game. For those who think Liv is expendable she will be sorely missed we do not have a defensive presence like her and rebounding big would’ve helped tonight.

• Now seeing Azzi healthy it just shows we have a found another dawg on our team. Cannot wait until her, Paige, Caroline play together with ONO and CW.
• Nika did not play well enough for us. Too many times she picks up her dribble and stagnates the offense. Too bad was hoping she could’ve stepped up for us.
• Dorka is hurting I give her a pass
• AE needs to be smarter with her moves inside especially the way the refs were calling it, her foul trouble really limited her impact tonight.
• CW - though she played great. Wished she could’ve finished a couple more tough inside layups even with the contact but she played hard
• Evina - was ok. She has a stiffness in her movements probably from the knee surgeries, but we needed a little more from her tonight.

Overall this season the team has faced so much adversity. I think if any year they were going to lose it would be in the pandemic with tons of injuries and lineup changes. I don’t want to take away from Villanova. This team with Caroline, Fudd and a healthy rest of the team even without Paige I think can be very dangerous. I just hope that there’s a way that we can see all three big dawgs play together this year oh the post season. We just gotta get in and be healthy and then let the chips fall where they may.

 

[hoopsfan22]

Some of the shots Villanova made were pretty crazy. Sometimes it's just your night.

 

[Penn]

Disappointing game. Olivia’s absence ( her rebounding in particular) was the difference between winning and losing. She is not only was a rebounder but her points and assists made her an essential part of the team’s success. I will end with a quotation above by Churchill that Geno has used recently.

 

[TCC Kid]

Some thoughts on the Villanova game:

• UConn sets another milestone this season with their 8th different starting lineup in only 20 games.
• Somebody please wake me up from this nightmare. No Caroline announced a little over an hour before game time and no Liv announced right at game time cut UConn’s rotation to just 6 players against one of the hottest team in the BE. With Aaliyah picking up fouls quickly and often, UConn was practically down to only 5 prime time players.
• Christyn and Azzi provided some desperately needed scoring punch, and they both played really hard tonight. But it was not enough to give UConn a realistic chance to pull the game out, despite making a desperation late run in the 4th quarter.
• Without Liv on the court, Nova owned the paint, outrebounding UConn by 16. They attacked the lane all night and then repeatedly kicked the ball out to wide open shooters at the arc, over and over again.
• So much for UConn’s 169-game conference winning streak, along with the potential 2-seed in the Bridgeport Region.
• I think now, it all comes down to getting healthy, hopefully winning the BE tournament and then letting the chips fall where they may in the Big Dance.
• Respectfully asking the Boneyard to take it easy on the Huskies. The team feels far worse than you do about the outcome of the game tonight.

I screamed at Fudd to drive the middle and if you don't get the shot, get fouled. I don't know why Geno didn't tell her that. She must do that from now on. Attack, as CW does and take the hits.
Having said that--that is my grand total of criticism. This was a very under staffed team, Essentially 6 players to draw from. Edwards got 3 too quick fouls. Too many calls of charges with moving defenders. Hand checking foul called on Muhl could have been called all game on both the Wildcats and Muhl. I wonder why Geno didn't begin the pressure/fouling in late the 3rd quarter. Another minute in the game and a Uconn win (maybe).
I commented to Charlie in a previous post that Geno likes teams with one hot player, that is still true, however Maddy had lots of long shot help. It wasn't a one player team.
I'm more than happy with the performance, unhappy with the loss. Great with end of game. Proud of these ladies they didn't give up. Where are we seated now???

 

[Camiam88]

I agree with other folks that this game really showed off the wide range of skills Azzi has and her sheer athletic talent, court vision, awareness, and pure effort. She just looked different than anyone else out there - so much more fluid, natural, and easy. I am so excited to see more of that over the next few years and am trying to see that as a huge net positive to come out of this game.

 

[Huskie78]

Gave up the chat room 2 years ago, and I'm feeling really good about it.

I never enter the chat, or tweet, or anything.
When I'm watching the Huskies, I need ZERO distractions!

 

[hoopsfan22]

• Now seeing Azzi healthy it just shows we have a found another dawg on our team. Cannot wait until her, Paige, Caroline play together with ONO and CW.

I think that's going to be our best lineup for the rest of this year when everyone gets healthy.

 

[darkstar1]

All this game proved is that not to take Olivia for granted. A player like her Uconn cannot win without.

I don’t see that. Of course they are better with any missing starter in the game. But you must play with what you have. Despite the subpar defense and apparent lack of intensity for 3/4, despite being crushed on the boards, the game still could have been won if 1/2 of the gimme layups were made. Tough, bad loss, but surely could have been one with the 6 players out there. Hopefully Caroline and Liv are OK soon.

 

[TCC Kid]

Some of the shots Villanova made were pretty crazy. Sometimes it's just your night.

I only wish Uconn in any game makes as many close in or lay ups as the Wildcat ladies did this night. Their accuracy within a 7 ft arc was amazing.

 

[Vowelguy]

The Big East accomplishes what the American never could.

 

[JBK]

It is hard to win when when you only have 2
Offensive minded players in a game.
Unfortunately, Westbrook and Edwards fell back to the way they have been performing most of the season.
I always root for Muhl and I know she can hit an occasional shot but I honestly sigh every time she goes to shoot -
Azzi is amazing and now she is forced to play 40 minutes a game. Don’t get me wrong, I love watching her play - but I hope she does not have any physical setbacks.
I am getting a feel that she is equally as talented as Paige.
Very frustrating watching all the open shots Villanova got in the first half . I was also wondering why we did not have Williams guarding their top player again - it felt like we were in a slow zone
Would like to see more of De Berry . The other 2 freshman have performed pretty well when they got some time.

 

[Ozimoto]

After the first half my thought was they were playing like a team that lacks maturity. But, then I reflect on the fact that Villanova was shooting out of their minds. Villanova played a nearly perfect game (undoubtedly a perfect half) on a night when the Huskies were missing their key inside defender and one of their more productive scoring threats. Once Villanova started hitting their three point shots and pulling the defense out to the three point line they were making outstanding entry passes to the paint. To many open looks down low, likely because Dorka is still not 100$% mobility wise and Aliyah was saddled with fouls. I think it is now pretty obvious how much Olivia means to this team.

This can go one of two ways. They hitch up their britches and play well to get the bitter taste out of their mouths from tonight or they have a meltdown and the season gets away from them. The fourth quarter comeback gives me hope that for the next game we see the former and not the latter.

I am sure the Blue Demons are licking their chops right now.

As to how they could play so well on Sunday and so "lousy" today? It's simple. Villanova ran an offense and hits their shots. The Huskies didn't rebound and seemed to forget how to run an offense in the first half. On Sunday, the Huskies did those things.

 

[tchalla1]

Man really makes me think about those 2 point blank bunnies Dorka missed - one in each half.

In all my life watching b-ball. I've never seen a team miss more layups--and it's not just one player--collectively, if there were such a stat, this team would lead the nation in blown bunnies... injuries and all aside, Villanova deserved the win--they outhustled UConn as the game analyst kept mentioning, and outsmarted them--and as Geno often alludes, we don't have the smartest (in the basketball sense of course) players on the court...

 

[and one]

A nice push at the end dispite wasting way too many seconds. The rest of the game...oh well, you saw it just like I did. Clearly Villanova is better than UConn if they are spotted 3 starters. Which isn't to say that Nova isn't a pretty good team, which they are.

Now for some venting, not against UConn but rather against the technology boogie man. I get SNY via Roku/Fox Sports. A couple of times early in the first quarter the feed would stop and take 10 or so seconds to get back to the game. Then it was fine until the last couple of minutes in the game, at which point the feed was lost three times including the last 20 seconds of the game. I don't ask for much in life but damn it, don't be messing with my UConn games!

 

[eebmg]

CW and Geno at the Presser

 

[ochoopsfan]

Hard to say a lot of analysis on tonights game whe you can only play 6.

2 questions, 1)if Ono wasnt feeling well, why is she sitting on the bench next to other players. Of course it could be something else.
2) Was tonights 21 rebounds a record low? If not what is the record?

 

[oldude]

The Big East accomplishes what the American never could.

I was thinking about that earlier today. The Big East is a strong "coaches conference," with enough talent that you can't take teams for granted.

 

[caseyb7]

Deja vu all over again.

Short handed yes, but...

Still LONG stretches where not everyone plays with intensity.

No bench? Play only 6, get in serious foul trouble against a height challenged team and no bench?

This team continues to offer as many questions as answers.

 

[Dogstar]

All this game proved is that not to take Olivia for granted. A player like her Uconn cannot win without.

Wish I could give you multiple likes for this.

 

[tchalla1]

Lousy game! We are a Dr. Jeckel and Mr. Hyde team. How can we look so good against Tenn and so lousy against Villanova. Outside of Azzi and CW,the rest of the team was horrible. villanova guards killed us with their 3 point shooting. Poor defensive effort on our part. We came out flat and the play in the first period was terrible. we only had 7 points until a last minute spurt gave us 15. Final score was deceiving given we were down in the high double digits for a significant part of the game.

Amen.

 

[Tonyc]

We shot the ball well. 45% from the floor and 50% from 3. Until we healthy I dont know what to expect. Watch the games and hope we get healthy We missed Ono and Caroline and we will continue to miss them if they dont play on Friday.

 

[maple]

Credit to Nova: they didn’t win just because UConn lost. They won because they played hard and shot well. That being said, UConn was still severely under-manned, and while it isn’t the whole story, it’s a part of it.

Excuses aside, UConn can’t just have two players stepping it up and doing all the scoring. They just can’t.

But I did like how the team dug down deep and fought until the end. It would have been easy to just give up — and lesser teams have. It came too late but at least it happened at all. No moral victories here, just showing the ladies have heart.

On to the next one. The season’s far from over. Win out the rest of the conference games, then win out the tourney, and let the chips fall where they may.

 

[Plebe]

I was thinking about that earlier today. The Big East is a strong "coaches conference," with enough talent that you can't take teams for granted.

Frankly, tonight's version of UConn could have lost to a lot of teams, including a team or two in the AAC.

 

[UConnCat]

A little tough on herself I think.