Creighton Postgame Thread

[Centerstream]

I was shocked by the final score MOV. After the Blue Jays came out smoking after halftime, Paige took over the 3rd quarter and it seemed like we were going to get a 20 point victory, minimum. But I guess after we slowed down the offense in the 4th, Creighton did sink a few unanswered 3s to close the gap even though it never felt close.
I'm wondering about Sarah's block total. In the first half, she blocked a shot where the shooter was falling. They even showed it during halftime. But when I looked at the live stats shortly after the play, it wasn't recorded. Hmm.
I'm not going to pick on the officials but there seemed to be a few headscratch worthy calls, on both sides.
All in all, a good win even though the shooting % was not one of best games unless your name is Sarah or Paige.
I was kinda surprised that Aubrey didn't get any minutes but I am guessing that Geno just didn't need her today, due to her lack of previous game minutes (which is obviously understandable).

 

[topogigio]

I'd like to see this team run and gun every time down the court. Thought the half court offense was sluggish too many times. Press the entire game, 40 minutes of hell! They have the personnel for it!

 

[Zonepress]

Defense was very good
Creighton was conceding wide-open three-point shot the whole game to both K Chen and kk
Suspect that will continue

 

[HopJim]

-Chen showing why Geno recruited her. Senior/grad leadership at all levels.
-Not sure why Geno not playing Ice more. Much more mobile with more diverse skills than Jana. I agree on Jana's potential, but "potential" means she is not performing up to expectations. Ice can add more today.
-Very un-Geno like to not put Shade in for Azzi more today. Azzi one of my favorite players at UConn but she did not have it today.
-Let's say our thanks that Strong came to UConn. Similar to today, she is starting to understand that she does not need to defer to anyone. If I was a HS recruit, I would commit to UConn in order to play with her.

 

[Husky fanatic]

Morgan lost minutes as she got lost on defense at least twice. Thought Jana did well but missed her shots.

 

[Longtime fan]

Some thoughts on the Creighton game:

• After 2 dominant home court wins, UConn fans were anxious to see if the Huskies could take their show on the road against a good Creighton team. Outside of Sarah, the Huskies came out ice cold against an aggressive Creigton defense.
• On defense the Huskies started the game by switching on ball screens, which limited Creighton’s ability to step into shots off screens, as the Bluejays also struggled to shoot the ball.
• The back-to-back pick sixes by Kaitlyn & Sarah created some space for the Huskies, but the 1st half was anything but pretty, as the Huskies shot 36% to Creighton’s 31%. The biggest factor in UConn’s 14-pt halftime lead was 12 Creighton turnovers vs 2 by the Huskies.
• For the record, Geno used only 8 players in the 1st half with KK, Ash & Morgan joining the 5 UConn starters on the court. In the 2nd half, Ice had some key PT.
• Paige got it going in the 2nd half, Ice provided some solid minutes off the bench, KK was here usual pain in the ass on defense and Sarah did a little bit of everything as she put up a double-double with 26 points and 12 rebounds, along with 3 assists, 5 steals and 4 blocks.
• Credit to the Bluejays. Their experienced roster includes 5 grad students and 2 seniors who execute their game plan extremely well, they are well-coached, and they didn't go away when UConn made their runs tonight.
• While Paige & Sarah continue to carry this team, with some help today from KK & Ice, UConn will need to see a lot more from several other players to make an impact in March.

My view, without reading the above ( which I shall do ).
1. We have two players who are stars and can do it all Paige and Sarah. Two stars is not going to be enough against the South Carolina and Notre Dame and UCLA's of the world.
2. We have a good supporting cast who contribute in varying amounts, game to game. Azzi is a fine defender and a good BB player. She is not the shooter she once was, nor the shooter we hoped her to be. She does not create her own shot at all. KK is a disrupter and a temporary game changer. Great on defense, lightening fast, and fearless. Not a great shooter but drives to the hoop well. ASH is a workhorse and an effective defender and can rebound. She has a great shot when open, but doesn't create it. And we all know, if her early shot fails, she goes into assist mode. Jana and Ice can do some good work, but they are not ready for the big time. Not really close. Kaitlyn will likely never take an outside shot again. She was 0-7 , and counting, when she started to be unguarded at the arc. And she drove to the hoop rather than shoot again. She is a good ball handler, an effective defender, and can cause trouble when driving and either scoring or dishing off. But she is still a level below what we are going to see at guard vs, South Carolina, ND, etc. Morgan does not trust her shot ( probably correctly ) and isn't ready for the big time either. No one else got in the game and that tells you where they stand. I don't know how this team gets to a higher level. Sarah and Paige can take us a long way as long as the others do positive things. But we can't win it all with two stars. That used to be enough, but it no longer is. A kind of ugly win against a scrappy, and decent , Big East team. But they aren't in the big time by a long shot.

 

[pvdoggy]

Is Creighton a very good team? How did they get smoked by UCLA by 29 pts?

 

[Stagnant]

Defense was very good
Creighton was conceding wide-open three-point shot the whole game to both K Chen and kk
Suspect that will continue

I think other teams can watch this game and learn some things from what Creighton did. Hopefully we are able to adjust when that happens.

 

[Stagnant]

Is Creighton a very good team? How did they get smoked by UCLA by 29 pts?

Too much size. And their defense was too good.

 

[HuskyNan]

Is Creighton a very good team? How did they get smoked by UCLA by 29 pts?

The Creighton coach knows UConn well, UCLA, not so much. It’s why Geno hates playing Big East teams in the NCAA tourney - he’d rather play someone that doesn’t know them

 

[Basingstoke]

First of all: props to the tough, talented and disciplined Creighton team. They should really be ranked (especially in light of #24 Michigan's absolute collapse vs Michigan State at home.
I know it really doesn't figure much in the final score, but, personally, I don't know how Geno avoids going ballistic in reaction to horrible officiating on Paige when she's on offense (how does she only get one free throw - i especially hated Jenson's first half flop and offensive foul on Psige). Just a side note on this, for quite a while the only turnovers against UCONN were for (3?) offensive fouls.
Someone mentioned Kaitlyn's reluctance to shoot from distance today. Actually, I think that was an understandable reaction to her realizing that she was ice cold from behind the arc. Otherwise, she was as effective as anyone not named Sarah or Paige today on offense.
Hopefully, Azzi can shrug this one off and come back on fire next game.
She may not set the world on fire with scoring or rebounding, but I thought that Ice contributed a lot with her passing and picks today.
And, despite not really showing up in the scoring column, I thought that Ash really contributed a lot on defense and with her floor game (ditto KK).
In closing, thank goodness for Sarah (& Paige, as always); although I have a feeling that both of them would like a redo of the brilliant quarter-ending pass by Paige for a missed layup by Sarah...

 

[Longtime fan]

Morgan lost minutes as she got lost on defense at least twice. Thought Jana did well but missed her shots.

Morgan also had an open three and decided not to take it. Instead, she made some awkward drive to the hoop, through heavy traffic, and lost the ball.

 

[Centerstream]

Awesome game!

One downside -- Creighton might show what happens to us when we encounter teams that play tough defense (like SC to take just one example), the scoring contracts to just Paige and Sarah. The rest of the team has to do better, and Geno is sure to continue working on this over the next several weeks. We can't go into the tournament with only 2 reliable scorers.

I don't know how Geno is going to work on this in practice. I really believe that the majority of the missed shots today actually are made in practice, day in and day out. Not one that I recall was a desperate, rushed or ugly shot. I actually feel bad for most everyone because some really good shots just didn't go in. There's nothing that can be done to fix this.

 

[hookshot]

The highlighted statements are true if and only if you confine your attention to their shooting percentage. Azzi had an excellent defensive game, including one rather spectacular overhead steal in the first half. HuskyNan has noted Ash's contributions, in addition to tough defense. Jana and Morgan were "banished" because they weren't effective in the few minutes they had, and those who came in to replace them were clearly having more of an impact.

I'm not too concerned about the poor shooting -- obviously it was a problem for Creighton also. Shooting is hot and cold, and for Azzi to be this cold is quite unusual.

But I am concerned about the rebounding. UConn should dominate the boards with the size advantage that it has over Creighton, and clearly that did not happen.

Pretty obvious why Jana had limited time. Not a bad game for Ash, she did lots of little things. When Morgan freezes on her brief shot opportunities, she diminishes her utility, Brady also Chen did lots of good things but disappointing that her shot has left her

 

[Longtime fan]

-Chen showing why Geno recruited her. Senior/grad leadership at all levels.
-Not sure why Geno not playing Ice more. Much more mobile with more diverse skills than Jana. I agree on Jana's potential, but "potential" means she is not performing up to expectations. Ice can add more today.
-Very un-Geno like to not put Shade in for Azzi more today. Azzi one of my favorite players at UConn but she did not have it today.
-Let's say our thanks that Strong came to UConn. Similar to today, she is starting to understand that she does not need to defer to anyone. If I was a HS recruit, I would commit to UConn in order to play with her.

We all have to hope that some top talent comes to play with Sarah. The top talent has been going elsewhere, prior to Sarah.

 

[Zonepress]

I'd like to see this team run and gun every time down the court. Thought the half court offense was sluggish too many times. Press the entire game, 40 minutes of hell! They have the personnel for it!

You play 40 minutes pressing against a team like so car and ND
And you will be down 20 at half time
Actually, offense produced good shots the whole game but we’re 4-20 from 3 and there were numerous other wide open 3 not taken
Game is pretty simple you need to make shots

 

[JoePgh]

Is Creighton a very good team? How did they get smoked by UCLA by 29 pts?

If UConn had shot at their normal percentage, especially from distance, tonight's game could easily have had about a 30-point MOV. I would prefer to say that UConn beat a good team on the road by double digits (barely) despite a shooting slump by several of its players, notably Azzi.

UConn's largest lead in this game was 20, and Creighton never led after 3-0.

 

[oldude]

Is Creighton a very good team? How did they get smoked by UCLA by 29 pts?

For what it’s worth, Creighton is pulling votes at 27th in both the AP & Coaches polls. As for losing at UCLA by 29, you will recall that SC lost at UCLA by 15.

 

[Zonepress]

First of all: props to the tough, talented and disciplined Creighton team. They should really be ranked (especially in light of #24 Michigan's absolute collapse vs Michigan State at home.
I know it really doesn't figure much in the final score, but, personally, I don't know how Geno avoids going ballistic in reaction to horrible officiating on Paige when she's on offense (how does she only get one free throw - i especially hated Jenson's first half flop and offensive foul on Psige). Just a side note on this, for quite a while the only turnovers against UCONN were for (3?) offensive fouls.
Someone mentioned Kaitlyn's reluctance to shoot from distance today. Actually, I think that was an understandable reaction to her realizing that she was ice cold from behind the arc. Otherwise, she was as effective as anyone not named Sarah or Paige today on offense.
Hopefully, Azzi can shrug this one off and come back on fire next game.
She may not set the world on fire with scoring or rebounding, but I thought that Ice contributed a lot with her passing and picks today.
And, despite not really showing up in the scoring column, I thought that Ash really contributed a lot on defense and with her floor game (ditto KK).
In closing, thank goodness for Sarah (& Paige, as always); although I have a feeling that both of them would like a redo of the brilliant quarter-ending pass by Paige for a missed layup by Sarah...

The inability to make or take three point shots is unfortunately very detrimental to the offense
For obvious reasons

 

[HuskyNan]

We all have to hope that some top talent comes to play with Sarah. The top talent has been going elsewhere, prior to Sarah.

How can you say that when UConn has three #1 kids out of high school?

 

[ThisJustIn]

The Bluejays are a good team, but our shooting in the first half was unrecognizable.....not too bad on turnovers, but something just did not feel right. Paige's shooting showed up and Sarah, as usual, had a very Strong game.

On the radio call they said the team didn't get a chance for a shoot around in the arena. Wonder if that made an impact.

 

[EricLA]

So let's keep it real. People who were predicting a 25-40 point win were swayed by the abnormal point production against Seton Hall and Villanova. It's not realistic for us to shoot 55% from 3. On the flip side, 20% is no bueno either.

Creighton is a solid team. They should be ranked. Probably a top 20ish team. Sarah and Paige were both terrific. If Sarah isn't the best player on the team, she's certainly playing the best right now. There were some solid contributions by some other players, but as a team, an 11 point win, while solid, is not awe-inspiring, and does nothing to support the "NC #12 here we come" posts that we saw after slaughtering Nova and Hall.

I thought KK played well and aside from a bagel from Kait on 3's, she was solid overall. I thought Ice was better than her minutes and stats showed, but Jana and Morgan were no-show. Azzi was solid on defense, but a no-show again on offense.

Bottom line I'd give the team a C+. Vegas said it should have been an 18 point win. We didn't cover.

 

[Bone Dog]

I don't know how Geno is going to work on this in practice. I really believe that the majority of the missed shots today actually are made in practice, day in and day out. Not one that I recall was a desperate, rushed or ugly shot. I actually feel bad for most everyone because some really good shots just didn't go in. There's nothing that can be done to fix this.

It's not going to be solved in practice. It's going to be fixed under the pressure of game conditions. The tight rims were probably a factor, but it was mostly Creighton's speeding players up. For example, a few of Azzi's shots looked rushed. It may also be a matter of executing screens better to force openings.

 

[Zonepress]

How can you say that when UConn has three #1 kids out of high school?

Because it’s the boneyard lol