46.7!!!!

[Bigpetunia]

As fans, when it comes to "critical analysis" of our favorite team, our focus, as reflected by several threads on this board, tends to center almost exclusively on offense...who's contributing, who's not, who is exceeding expectations, who is falling short. I guess that is the nature of fandom, even though it seems we can reliably depend on sufficient members of the main and the supporting cast to step up, game after game. We do, after all, lead the nation in ppg.

Far more impressive to me is that we not only lead the nation in ppg/against as well, but that the number lies somewhere South of 47ppg. That is an astonishing achievement, specially when one considers that a natural tendency exists, in blowout games, to take the foot off the pedal a bit in the second half...I'd love to know what our ppg/against totals for the first half alone might be!

All of this is a remarkable tribute to Geno and his staff. No true fan of the game says, "Show me a team that leads the country in scoring and I'll show you a great coach." But show me one that's playing unrelenting, stifling D? Now that's another story! Especially impressive is how many players are coming off the bench and making a big contribution on that end of the floor, and the extent to which they too have bought into Geno's system. There are, as we know, three teams that can reaistically win a NC this year...I ardently hope it will be us...but, if it is, our D will be largely responsible. Great job, GA!!

 

[trisailin]

Not only is that impressive, but with all of the scoring we do, we in fact give the other team more possessions so it's even more impressive.

 

[Icebear]

Players coming off the bench are playing excellent defense and fitting very well into the team's defensive schemes.

 

[bruinbball]

409 Points allowed in the first half, 522 in the second. 20.45/26.1 per half.

 

[UcMiami]

I think it is natural to focus attention on the offense when talking of individual players except with the rare defensive specialist like Kelly. Defense is hard to identify individual contributions because you never have true one on one match-ups and beyond blocks and steals it is much harder to 'quantify'. With all the switching on screens while we praise Kelly for 'shutting down' an AA, the reality is that she may only actually be on that player for 40% of an offensive set. But looking at the team - yes it is very impressive and it is also something that we have grown accustomed to over the years as Uconn consistently is at the top of ppt against, and field goal % against. Being pretty highly rated on rebounding margin is also a big plus as generally second chance points favor Uconn as well. And Uconn generally has very low foul totals.
There are also advantages to defensive stats that come from the offense - being at the top on field goal percent means more defense possessions start with the other team taking the ball out of bounds allowing pressure defense to be set-up and decreasing transition chances for the opponent. And by generally scoring quickly and often Uconn puts added pressure on the opponent's offense to match.
Geno and the coaches have always stressed the defensive side and base playing time on effort on that end. And most years the early coaching focus is on defense with the offense being worked on later in the process. And by
I was really impressed with the help defense being played against Harry - defenders consistently delayed following their players out of the paint to help prevent cutters from being open for passes

 

[Bigpetunia]

Thanks to Bruinball for doing the math that I was too lazy to do...20.45 first half ppg/against??? Are you kidding me? That must be close to some kind of a record. I tend not to get drowned in statistics...as we all know, one can prove ANY point with stats, but, hell, it is really hard to win basketball games when you've only managed to put up 20 points in the first 20 minutes. Great coaching, and great effort by our players...and, just to complete the point, while it is Bria's name that is most frequently invoked insofar as offensive disappointment this year goes, her contribution on defense remains superb. Still lots of different ways to help your team win. And, once her offensive output returns, as it inevitably will, well, we gonna be bigtime dangerous!