Analysis and Comments - Game 16 - UConn vs Providence

[cferraro04]

COMMENTS

Let's face it folks with the way UConn is playing of late, this game is not going to be much of a contest. Providence only averages 56.7 points per game. They only shoot threes at .294 making an average of 4.1 per game. They do not have a player who is a three-point threat. Their foul shooting is close to abysmal as they shoot free throws at 66 percent. They do not take good care of the basketball and commit 20.3 turnovers per game. Defensively they force 14 turnovers per game. They averaged 7.4 steals and averaged 4.1 blocks per game. Providence appears to be without the services of two of their better players. Grace Efosa 12.2 pts and 5.6 RBs per game and Kyle Sheppard 7.3 points, 3.0 rebounds, 4.0 assists, and 2.0 steals have not played in the last few games.

I expect that Ice Brady, Ines, and Qadence will see significant time in this one. I suspect that UConn will flirt with the Centurian mark in this one. It will be interesting to see if Nika will build on her newly found three-point stroke. This may be the game in which Ice Brady breaks out of her freshman funk.

As far as I can tell Georgetown will start a graduate 5'6" guard, a senior 6'0 guard, a junior 6'2" guard/forward, a junior 6'0" forward, and a 6'3" junior forward. The player off the bench who gets the most minutes per game will be Nariah Scott a 5'10" junior guard with 18.6 minutes. Nariah averages 4.2 points, 1.7 rebounds. Sarah Bandoma a 6'3 junior forward averages 12.0 minutes per game and scores 3.5 points and 2.6 rebounds per game. Lastly, Ugne Sirtautaite averages 12.2 minutes and scores 2.8 points and 2.1 rebounds per game.

Providence's RPI rating is currently at 142 and their SOS is currently at 104. Providence has played the following teams with RPIs of 372, 347, 229, 179, 178, 175, 170, 136, 96, 81,80, 78, 75, 38 (Seton Hall), and 12 (Baylor),

UConn's RPI is currently number 1 and its SOS is currently number 1. UConn has played the following teams with RPIs of 224, 137, 93, 76. 60, 55, 53, 52, 18, 14. 13, 9, and 4.

I would look for UConn to bring the pressure and to score a lot of points off turnovers. Let's hope that UConn doesn't play down to its competition.


ANALYSIS


Aaliyah Edwards 6'3" Sr. vs Olivia Olsen 6'3" Sr. - Olivia is the Friars' best player averaging 14.7 points and 8.7 rebounds but she has not faced anyone of Aaliyah's caliber so far this year. Aaliyah is playing her best basketball of late and has been exceedingly consistent averaging 17 points and 8.5 rebounds per game.
ADVANTAGE - UCONN

Paige Bueckers 6'0" R-Jr. vs Maria Morales-Romero 6'1" Jr. - Maria plays a lot of minutes for the Friars averaging 28.3 minutes per game. She averages 7.2 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 2.5 assists per game. Paige is beginning to look like the Paige of old. She also does a good job of making her teammates look good. She is averaging 19 points, 4.1 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 2.2 steals, 1.1 blocks and 2.1 three-pointers per game.
ADVANTAGE - UCONN

Nika Muhl 5'11" Sr. vs Brynn Farrell 6'0" Sr. - I decided to give Nika a break this game lol . While her match-up isn't a walk in the park, Brynn will not pose as difficult an assignment as some of her previous games have. Brynn is a solid player creating stats in almost all categories. She averages 10.1 points, 5.3 rebounds, 1.7 assists, and 1.1 steals. She also averages 1 three-pointer per game. Nika will create a lot of difficulties for Brynn and should get the better of this match-up.
ADVANTAGE - UCONN

Ashlynn Shade 5'10" Fr. vs Emily Archibald 6'0" Jr. - Emily averages 26.5 minutes per game. Emily doesn't have gaudy stats but she does fill the stat sheet up. Emily averages 3.5 points,4.9 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1 steal per game. Ashlynn has been extremely consistent so far this year and quite frankly has become essential to UConn's offensive and defensive schemes. She has worked herself into a double-digit scorer averaging 10.6 points per game. In her last five games, Ashlynn has scored 12, 20, 22, 18 and 16 points. She also averages 2.0 rebounds, 1.4 three-pointers, and 1.2 assists per game. As far as I am concerned Ashlynn has outperformed expectations. ADVANTAGE - UCONN

KK Arnold 5'9" Fr. vs Laryn Edwards 5'6" Gr. - I believe Laryn will have her hands full with KK. I am going to start referring to KK as "Magic KK" she is like a magician with the basketball...now you see me and now you don't. "Magic" KK has been getting better and better with each game. Her confidence has been growing and she is looking very comfortable out there. Her speed and ability to change direction while dribbling the basketball make her very hard to defend. She has played herself to 9.7 points, 2.3 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 2.4 steals per game.
ADVANTAGE - UCONN


BENCH

UConn will bring 10 points and 6.5 rebounds off the bench while Providence will bring 14.5 points and 8.4 rebounds off the bench ADVANTAGE - PROVIDENCE


INTANGIBLES

This game is being played at the XL Center...UConn will be happy to be playing at home.
ADVANTAGE - UCONN

COACHING

Geno et al. will get the job done ADVANTAGE - UCONN


SCORE

UCONN - 102
Providence - 39
MOV - 63

 

[Bone Dog]

Thanks again @cferraro04. I love your predicted MoV, though I doubt Geno will keep his foot on the gas long enough to achieve it. But this is likely to be a blowout.

Olsen is a strong player, as is Farrell. But neither of them is a talented scorer. Olsen has played well against Aaliyah before so I expect a a struggle in the paint. But Providence's guard play is quite weak and this makes it hard for them to run plays effectively.

It would be good to see Ice and Q take advantage of this game to improve their own skills. I expect KK and Ash will pick the Providence defense apart, and Paige will dissect them.

This could be a 100 pt game, though I expect Geno will keep it in the 90s. As for Providence, they may not manage to score even 50.

 

[Centerstream]

On Saturday I watched parts of the St.John’s at Providence game. St.John’s started off playing well, building a nice early lead, with the score at the end of the 1st being 17-7. However watching the game was truly a struggle with both teams not really playing good basketball. I decided to stop watching but did check in a few times. The Friars eventually got better taking a 3 point lead into the 4th. It didn't last with St.John’s winning the 4th quarter 20-10. Again, it was a tough game to watch and not a single player really stood out even though for Providence Olsen and Farrell had double doubles while committing 4 and 5 fouls respectively.
Fun fact: the starting 5 for Providence committed this number of fouls - 1,2,3,4 and 5.

 

[PvP]

As always, highly informative and worth the read!

 

[cferraro04]

As always, highly informative and worth the read!

Thank you...