Game Analysis - Game 24 - UConn vs Tennessee

Geew1992 said:

Why?? Just why??

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Uuuummm, wrong thread?

Puppy Love said:

Uuuummm, wrong thread?

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Yup

It may still be a little early in the recovery process, but I would love to see Aubrey get some minutes and make a difference.

I remember being at the XL Center for the game against Tennessee on January 23, 2020, over five years ago. About six weeks later, the season would be shut down due to Covid.

A 60-45 victory, and IMHO the star of the game was first year Aubrey Griffin with 13 points, seven rebounds, three assists and FIVE steals in 23 minutes of play off the bench. She was all over the court.

She outplayed opponents that included Jordan Horston, Rae Burrell and Rennia Davis.

Her teammates were Crystal, Olivia, Christyn, Megan Walker, Kyla Irwin, and Anna Makurat. Only seven players played.

This game shapes up as the type she typically excels in.

Let's make this simple. UConn is 6th ranked, UT is 19th. We'd better win this one or . . .

Huskee11 said:

It may still be a little early in the recovery process, but I would love to see Aubrey get some minutes and make a difference.

I remember being at the XL Center for the game against Tennessee on January 23, 2020, over five years ago. About six weeks later, the season would be shut down due to Covid.

A 60-45 victory, and IMHO the star of the game was first year Aubrey Griffin with 13 points, seven rebounds, three assists and FIVE steals in 23 minutes of play off the bench. She was all over the court.

She outplayed opponents that included Jordan Horston, Rae Burrell and Rennia Davis.

Her teammates were Crystal, Olivia, Christyn, Megan Walker, Kyla Irwin, and Anna Makurat. Only seven players played.

This game shapes up as the type she typically excels in.

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Reading the tea leaves, UConn had 3 players meet with the press ahead of the game with TN: Paige, Azzi & Aubrey. All have performed well vs TN in the past. Coincidence? I think not……

oldude said:

Reading the tea leaves, UConn had 3 players meet with the press ahead of the game with TN: Paige, Azzi & Aubrey. All have performed well vs TN in the past. Coincidence? I think not……

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Who else on the team has played against Tennessee?

Geew1992 said:

Who else on the team has played against Tennessee?

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The only other player currently on the roster that has seen any PT against TN is Ayanna in the game 2 seasons ago.

oldude said:

The only other player currently on the roster that has seen any PT against TN is Ayanna in the game 2 seasons ago.

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I’m thinking that’s why they were interviewed

As noted earlier, Azzi has played against Tennessee - she had a huge game at XL on February 6, 2022. 25 points including 7 for 9 from three. 75-56 win.

Huskee11 said:

As noted earlier, Azzi has played against Tennessee - she had a huge game at XL on February 6, 2022. 25 points including 7 for 9 from three. 75-56 win.

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Awesome game! Practically a ‘statement’ 3rd quarter from Nika, and then Azzi slammed the door shut in the 4th.

I decided to check in on the LADY VOL NATIONAL BLOG.
A rather balanced set of comments. The Pre-Game Pressers
with H.C. Kim Caldwell and Jewel Spear were enthusiastic and
refreshing. From my calculations their (TENN fans) prognostications
were trending with TENN winning by 3.5 to 4.5 points. (One
outlier of TENN by +15.). I saw that the MASSY RATING was
76 - 72: UCONN. The big things that I took away from the
Pressers was that TENN dug themselves a big hole against
Missouri (early foul trouble by guards "Kaiya" and "Samara")
and that the Lady Vols CAME BACK strong, and they toughed
it out to win in the fourth.
So, all the BONEYARDER'S Comments are ON TARGET: We need
to start strong, limit turnovers, and play an "EVERYBODY EATS" (team basketball)
game for 40 minutes. Defense and rebounding with a
breakout game or two!!, GO HUSKIES!!!
P.S. When the Lady Vols fans picked UCONN to win, the winning
margin of victory is about + 8 for UCONN, only one big
outlier score of - 16, i.e. UCONN 88 -62. Interesting stuff.

Geew1992 said:

Who else on the team has played against Tennessee?

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No one on the current UConn roster has played this version of Tennessee. The revolving line change substitution pattern, the full court press and jacking up 30+ threes will be new to UConn.

Cornell Lt said:

No one on the current UConn roster has played this version of Tennessee. The revolving line change substitution pattern, the full court press and jacking up 30+ threes will be new to UConn.

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Not only haven’t they played this version of TN, but the Lady Vol roster has no less than 11 transfers. So in effect, this is an almost entirely different TN team.

Cornell Lt said:

No one on the current UConn roster has played this version of Tennessee. The revolving line change substitution pattern, the full court press and jacking up 30+ threes will be new to UConn.

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I wonder if it will feel a bit like the Jackson St game from last season. They were a tall, athletic team that had dominated a weak conference with an aggressive defense, a deep rotation, and an undisciplined, playground-style offense. Paige engineered a decisive thumping, and we led by 27 midway through the 4th quarter, though they closed the gap to 22 on the strength of three 3 pointers by T. Boler. As a whole, that game followed the pattern folks have been recommending for this one: we opened up a 22-8 lead after the 1st q, and led 49-28 at halftime.

Paige, of course, was tremendous on that day with 28 pts 11 rebounds 7 assists and 3 steals for a double-double. But Ash was also awesome with 26 pts 6 rebounds 2 steals and hit 5-11 from 3, and Aaliyah had 20 pts and Nika added 7 pts and 7 assists. And though Ice didn't score, she contributed 5 rebounds 4 assists and 2 blocks in 22 mins. In other words, it was classic UConn basketball -- tough defense, lots of steals and even more assists (23 assists on 34 made baskets).

As you suggested elsewhere, playing UConn basketball is the best way forward.

Of course, the SEC is a much tougher conference than the SWAC. But several here have suggested that a lot of Tennessee's wins and stats come from a weak OOC schedule. Against the stronger SEC competition, they have not produced the same numbers. In their last 4 games, they've averaged 71.25 pts on 38% shooting, and 30% from 3, and their turnover advantage largely evaporated. It's hard to find a good contrast for UConn since our toughest competition came before the conference schedule began. We also struggled to shoot 3s against ND and USC, but we shot well against the other ranked opponents. A lot depends on whether our performance in conference games will carry over better than Tennessee's performance in their OOC games did.

Bone Dog said:

Awesome game! Practically a ‘statement’ 3rd quarter from Nika, and then Azzi slammed the door shut in the 4th.

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connolly and gauer on their podcast today were uneasy about tonight because something (undefined) is missing on the team. my thought is that nika muhl in the past provided what they were talking about. is that right?

PacoSwede said:

connolly and gauer on their podcast today were uneasy about tonight because something (undefined) is missing on the team. my thought is that nika muhl in the past provided what they were talking about. is that right?

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No, it’s not Nika. It’s someone in the post who can bang, rebound and score, like Aaliyah. UConn has the best group of guards and wings in the country. But the Huskies will need solid defense and rebounding from Jana, Ice and Aubrey tonight.

oldude said:

No, it’s not Nika. It’s someone in the post who can bang, rebound and score, like Aaliyah. UConn has the best group of guards and wings in the country. But the Huskies will need solid defense and rebounding from Jana, Ice and Aubrey tonight.

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I'm not overly impressed by Tennessee's two bigs, Spearman and Hollingshead. They are pretty good on offense, maybe better than Ice and Jana. Hollingshead in particular played well against Aaliyah 2 years ago. But I think Ice is a better defender than either of them, and Jana may not outplay them, but they won't dominate her. And we have someone who can bang with their bigs in Sarah, but can't really be guarded by them. Who will take up this slack? Puckett? Darby? Latham?

I think Tennessee's strength comes from their trio of big guards, Cooper, Whitehorn, Spear, and the little guards like Spencer and Boyd give them good minutes too. And they have a decent trio of 6'2 players: Pucket, Darby and Latham. They can score and rebound, though they aren't as speedy as the rest of the lineup.

We hear a lot of talk about the hockey-style lineup changes, but the second line is not nearly as potent offensively as the usual starters -- Spearman Cooper Spear Spencer Whitehorn. This is also the group that does the bulk of the scoring and can get 70 pts/g. I think the question is only half about how our starters line up against them. And I think Paige Azzi Sarah Kaitlyn and Jana match up quite well against them.

If we can dominate against the second lineup -- I mean if KK Ash Morgan Aubrey Ice can outplay Puckett Darby Boyd Hollingshead Latham -- that might force Caldwell to play the starters longer than they're used to. Their dominance depends in large part on the starters being able to run as hard in the 4th quarter as they did in the 1st. Take that away and you might just choke off their late rallies. I hope that Morgan and Aubrey do good work against the second unit. I have no doubt KK Ice and Ash will.

I also hope we have better mix and match lineups than they do. Caldwell has experimented with mixed lineups, starting Puckett instead of Spearman for example. And Cooper Spence and Spear have on occasion played with the second lineup. But Geno may have done much more of this mixing of lineups. Over the last month we've seen him play KK and Ash and Ice, and even Morgan and Allie, with one or more of the Big Three quite often. That extra experience is likely to come in quite handy tonight. Being able to rest Paige Azzi and Sarah early, letting Aubrey or Morgan fill in here and there for Sarah or Ice, these moves could be difference makers. Lineups with chemistry play much better than last second patchworks.

At the first hockey-style line substitution, if Geno brings in KK and Ash for Azzi and Kaitlyn, it might be quite a surprise. KK and Ash have at least as much intensity as any of the Tennessee guards on defense. There will be no fall off in that department. When their first unit returns, bring in Azzi and put Aubrey on Cooper and rest Paige and Sarah, and great things might happen. No hockey style changes, but the effect could be astonishing.

But my final crystal ball prediction is: if we can get a few stops to open the game, Paige Azzi and Sarah will take it from there.

I’m confident but nervous about this game. i can’t help but think back to our loss our tournament loss to Ohio State who pressed us into 25 turnovers. If we beat the Vols press , we win, and we now have Paige for this game and they don’t !