Baylor post game thread

[Centerstream]

Geno said we'd learn some things tonight, and he wasn't kidding. My biggest takeaway is that if your last name wasn't Dangerfield, Walker or Williams, you were in no way ready for prime time tonight.

I'm really glad he benched Aubrey and Olivia for the rest of the game. Hopefully that will kick-start their development in time to make a difference by this year. Too bad it left him with nobody to sub in for Kyla, though. Just not enough pieces.

I wonder how much longer the team has to underperform in both layups and foul shooting before Geno makes what I feel are long-overdue changes to his practice sessions to address the matter.

I could be wrong but I believe that probably 99% of college players make 99% of their layups and 80%+ of their FTs in practice. Game situations are entirely different.
Geno tweeted this to me once.

 

[Rb335]

Our 1-2-3 players are championship caliber, IMO, but when forced to do it all they can be beaten as they were today. And so it goes.

Completely agreed. It doesn’t matter if we have the most players on the watch lists; Basketball is a game of 5v5. We have 3 of the best guards in the country, but 3 really good players won’t beat 5 good players.

Looking forward to seeing how those who didn’t have a big impact tonight step up in the next big game.

 

[HopJim]

Nah, Baylor is FAR better defensively than the Huskies. They're also much tougher. UConn would've scored 40 if not for extra possessions.

Missed open layups would have given UConn at least 10+ points. Have to give credit to Baylor defense but doubt we will see this amount of missed bunnys again.

 

[Monte]

Last year, about this time, some fans were saying that this year's team would only have 3 players.........they were right tonight.

 

[Wbbfan1]

Haven't read any of the Posts before this one.

Its time for Geno to end this Kyla Irwin Experiment. Yes, the offense may run smoother with her in the game, but he needs production. Irwin is not going to provide that against Elite Teams/Players. I wish I knew why Evelyn Adebayo can't get off the bench. I presume she's got bad practice habits and/or doesn't know the offense. If she's not an option, then I start Aubrey Griffin. She will score points and get rebounds.

Tonight it was 3 UConn Players against 5 Baylor Players that are slightly more talented then UConn. Baylor's Front Court scored 36 Points, UConn's front court of Irwin and Nelso-Ododa score ZERO Points. Olivia wasn't ready for Prime Time and because of that and the Extremely COLD shooting in the 4th Quarter UConn had no chance.

I don't think Baylor is 16 points better then UConn. However they are the better team. If UConn got any production from a 4th player and didn't go cold in the 4th quarter its a much closer game. Olivia tried tonight, but couldn't produce. She's got some soul searching to do after today's performance.

ON to the Next Game. Lots of teaching moments in this game.

 

[Siestakeyfan]

Kind of a shame that Kyla wasn't able to make her shots after being so on in recent games. Otherwise I liked her play, steady on defense and offense.
Just feel extra bad for her (and for everyone) after this hard fought loss.

Kyla understands uconn HOWEVER has limited physical abilities and is not an asset overall !

 

[Sluconn Husky]

Folks, Baylor got 63 of their 74 points from three players. Their bench provided little of anything either. The result was due to the massive difference in defensive abilities of these teams. It doesn't help that UConn makes it easier by being too much of a 1-on-1 offense.

 

[veryolddog]

I really like the first half and part of the third. It was a really great game until .... well, you know. Look, bottom line, you still have to make the ball go threw the hoop and score and you have to make your layups and foul shots. I thought that their defense for 3 quarters was good, but when they couldn't get baskets, they were just plain beat.

I like Baylor, they stayed in the game, they are tall, and they seemed to the scoring that they needed to do to challenge UConn. Mulkey still says that the program is the program that all coaches want to achieve. But she is the one a few years ago who said, that I want all of the bigs that "I" can get and we will figure it out from there. I like her style.

 

[BroadwayVa]

The lack of scoring from two starters was diappointing. But I was shocked by the margin that their shots missed. Kyla & Ono threw airballs on shots that they usually drain with ease.

Kayla was predictable and she played more than well. Baylor took Olivia out of HER game. It is not all in what a player can do or usually does--good defense takes that away. Uconn took away a lot of Baylors favorites in the first half, not so much in the second.

 

[Urshurak]

The team played a solid 34 minutes and hung with Baylor, but we won’t win against the top teams by relying on only 3 players. We need to play 5v5.

this sums it all up perfectly.

 

[Siestakeyfan]

Poor game by Uconn

 

[RockyMTblue2]

A very disappointing offensive performance... everyone was off. How often does that happen. Sobering to say the least.

 

[uconnever]

We need Liv to get better if we want to make it to another final four. Boston has 25 rebounds today for South Carolina. She was a huge loss. Liv and Deberry are cool and all but we need some rugged players down low or this will be the result. I also noticed we didn’t take a lot of shots we usually do

 

[bballnut90]

Haven't read any of the Posts before this one.

Its time for Geno to end this Kyla Irwin Experiment. Yes, the offense may run smoother with her in the game, but he needs production. Irwin is not going to provide that against Elite Teams/Players. I wish I knew why Evelyn Adebayo can't get off the bench. I presume she's got bad practice habits and/or doesn't know the offense. If she's not an option, then I start Aubrey Griffin. She will score points and get rebounds.

Tonight it was 3 UConn Players against 5 Baylor Players that are slightly more talented then UConn. Baylor's Front Court scored 36 Points, UConn's front court of Irwin and Nelso-Ododa score ZERO Points. Olivia wasn't ready for Prime Time and because of that and the Extremely COLD shooting in the 4th Quarter UConn had no chance.

I don't think Baylor is 16 points better then UConn. However they are the better team. If UConn got any production from a 4th player and didn't go cold in the 4th quarter its a much closer game. Olivia tried tonight, but couldn't produce. She's got some soul searching to do after today's performance.

ON to the Next Game. Lots of teaching moments in this game.

Agree about Irwin. She just isn't a threat out there in big games. I think Griffin should've played a lot more minutes than she did tonight. Looked more aggressive and confident.

 

[jaydee602]

I have been tough on ONO this year but predict after this game she will learn she is truly 6'5". Being a bit facetious, but all she needed to do was turn around and in one motion shoot over Cox. Cox is good defender but has no "ups" and would not have been able to guard turnaround. Would have been good if Geno had taken ONO out early in game and done some coaching. Glad this happened to ONO early in season.

I agree. Cox is great, but I think Ono was defeated by the challenge more than the defender. She put too much pressure on herself & the matchup, and came up way short. I hope it is a learning experience!

 

[Sluconn Husky]

Missed open layups would have given UConn at least 10+ points. Have to give credit to Baylor defense but doubt we will see this amount of missed bunnys again.

UConn's #1 players (CW, ONO, MW) have been missing layups at a high rate all year. It's something I have mentioned repeatedly.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Baylor got most of their scoring from only 3 players as well, but a little bit more help w/ 3 others combing for 11.

 

[oldude]

Losses are no fun. So to lighten the mood here on the BY, I'll just throw out there that ND lost their 4th straight home game tonight to unranked BC. Get the popcorn. MM has to come to the post game press conference.

OK, now back to UConn's loss to Baylor.

 

[HuskyNan]

Kyla understands uconn HOWEVER has limited physical abilities and is not an asset overall !

Untrue. Did you see Kyla grabbing the back of Aubrey’s jersey and directing her to the right spot on the court? She did that for the younger players several times. She also blocked out really well and actually chased down loose balls. Kyla did what she could

 

[Hayven]

I knew Baylor’s athleticism would be a problem for UConn. But I wasn’t expecting ONO to be benched for the entire 4th quarter. I think if there is a rematch in March, UConn will grind out a win

 

[Zanzman]

We need Liv to get better if we want to make it to another final four. Boston has 25 rebounds today for South Carolina. She was a huge loss. Liv and Deberry are cool and all but we need some rugged players down low or this will be the result. I also noticed we didn’t take a lot of shots we usually do

We never had Boston to lose so let’s get past her

 

[BostonBay]

Bottom line is we're paying from some disappointing recent recruiting classes. We really could have used Boston tonight in the middle. That's what we're missing - no physical inside presence. Its hard to win this way - have to shoot lights out when you dont have a lot of easy baskets.

 

[HuskyNan]

UConn's #1 players (CW, ONO, MW) have been missing layups at a high rate all year. It's something I have mentioned repeatedly.

Ad nauseum, in fact

 

[Blueballer]

Poor game by Uconn

It wasn't that bad until the fourth quarter.

 

[jaydee602]

Kayla was predictable and she played more than well. Baylor took Olivia out of HER game. It is not all in what a player can do or usually does--good defense takes that away. Uconn took away a lot of Baylors favorites in the first half, not so much in the second.

Yeah, Kyla played hard on defense & many plays ran through her. Geno played her most of the gane which indicates his confidence in Kyla. But she has been draining the open jumper that ignites the team. Tonight, she rushed her shot & was way off the mark.