Down Memory Lane: Alyssa Thomas vs. Kelly Faris, 12/3/2012

[JoePgh]

With Alyssa Thomas doing so well lately and really dominating the paint against some of the best players in the WNBA, I thought it would be interesting to go back and watch the Maryland-UConn game on December 3, 2012, which featured her playing one-on-one at both ends of the court against Kelly Faris. Kelly was in her senior year; I think it was also AT's senior year but I'm not sure about that. This is the UConn team which featured the Big 3 as freshmen, and which went on to win a National Championship in 2013 despite 3 losses to Notre Dame and one loss to Baylor.

To cut to the chase, here are their respective stat lines in this particular game:

AT: 6 points on 2-for-12 shooting with zero points in the first half, 7 rebounds but only one offensive rebound, 4 assists and 8 turnovers, 1 steal, 4 fouls in 36 minutes.
Kelly: 8 points on 4-for-6 shooting, 7 rebounds with 3 offensive rebounds, 7 assists with 0 turnovers, 8 steals, 4 fouls in 34 minutes.

Obviously, Kelly dominated this particular matchup. She certainly did not do it alone; there were immediate double-teams whenever AT caught the ball in the paint, and she had to pass to the perimeter in most of those cases. But still ...

During the broadcast, both Rebecca and Doris Burke commented on how they expected Kelly to have a long and successful pro career, because of her smarts, effort, and athleticism for her size.

As Sun fans will know, AT and Kelly were teammates on the Sun for a few years, with Kelly barely getting on the court and hardly ever scoring while Alyssa was making a name for herself almost from her first season. There is absolutely no comparison in their pro careers. Certainly, AT is a player who can manufacture her own shots whereas Kelly is someone who depends on the defense focusing on her teammates to get her shots. But I don't understand how their pro careers could have been that different, especially after reviewing this head-to-head matchup when they were in college.

There are some other notable observations about this game that don't relate to this particular matchup:

• Geno looked a lot younger even in 2012 than he does now.
• That 2012-13 team had a lot of depth, and Geno used all of it (contrary to continual Boneyard assertions that "he never plays freshmen" or "he only ever plays 7 players in competitive games"). In this game, which UConn only won by 15 points, 7 UConn players had double-digit minutes (including Brianna Banks who played very well and had 10 points including 2 3-point baskets). Morgan Tuck had 8 minutes and Kiah Stokes had 7. Moriah Jefferson (as a freshman) had only 3 minutes.
• That team had a lot of size: Dolson, Stewart, Stokes, and Tuck. Maryland was big and strong also and had a huge edge on the boards against their previous opponents. However, UConn's guards did a lot of rebounding even against taller opponents: in addition to Kelly's 7 rebounds, Caroline Doty and Bria Hartley each had 4 rebounds. UConn ended up with 35 total rebounds compared to 39 for Maryland. On the offensive boards, Maryland had only a 15-14 edge.
• Despite Maryland's size, UConn led in paint points by 32-16 for the game, including a 22-4 margin in the first half.
• Chloe Pavelich was a freshman at Maryland that year. Because their regular backcourt was out with injuries in this game, she played 38 minutes and had 10 points.
• UConn's 4 losses in 2012-13 were by a total of 18 points, 9 of which were in a 3-overtime game against Notre Dame at the end of the regular season. ND beat UConn 3 times that season by a total of 12 points, but UConn's one victory over the Irish (in the National Semifinal game) was by 18 points.

I see a lot of similarities in depth and size between this year's team (2020-21) and that 2012-13 team. Hopefully the results will be the same.

 

[diggerfoot]

The case for Faris being the arguably the best one-on-one defender lies in this game she had against Thomas, a PF, juxtaposed with the game she had against Chelsea Gray, I believe the same year. Towards the end of that game Gray, Duke’s PG, was avoiding the ball. I had never seen a player so intimidated, not even by Ricky Moore.

 

[BobbyJ]

With Alyssa Thomas doing so well lately and really dominating the paint against some of the best players in the WNBA, I thought it would be interesting to go back and watch the Maryland-UConn game on December 3, 2012, which featured her playing one-on-one at both ends of the court against Kelly Faris. Kelly was in her senior year; I think it was also AT's senior year but I'm not sure about that. This is the UConn team which featured the Big 3 as freshmen, and which went on to win a National Championship in 2013 despite 3 losses to Notre Dame and one loss to Baylor.

To cut to the chase, here are their respective stat lines in this particular game:

AT: 6 points on 2-for-12 shooting with zero points in the first half, 7 rebounds but only one offensive rebound, 4 assists and 8 turnovers, 1 steal, 4 fouls in 36 minutes.
Kelly: 8 points on 4-for-6 shooting, 7 rebounds with 3 offensive rebounds, 7 assists with 0 turnovers, 8 steals, 4 fouls in 34 minutes.

Obviously, Kelly dominated this particular matchup. She certainly did not do it alone; there were immediate double-teams whenever AT caught the ball in the paint, and she had to pass to the perimeter in most of those cases. But still ...

During the broadcast, both Rebecca and Doris Burke commented on how they expected Kelly to have a long and successful pro career, because of her smarts, effort, and athleticism for her size.

As Sun fans will know, AT and Kelly were teammates on the Sun for a few years, with Kelly barely getting on the court and hardly ever scoring while Alyssa was making a name for herself almost from her first season. There is absolutely no comparison in their pro careers. Certainly, AT is a player who can manufacture her own shots whereas Kelly is someone who depends on the defense focusing on her teammates to get her shots. But I don't understand how their pro careers could have been that different, especially after reviewing this head-to-head matchup when they were in college.

There are some other notable observations about this game that don't relate to this particular matchup:

• Geno looked a lot younger even in 2012 than he does now.
• That 2012-13 team had a lot of depth, and Geno used all of it (contrary to continual Boneyard assertions that "he never plays freshmen" or "he only ever plays 7 players in competitive games"). In this game, which UConn only won by 15 points, 7 UConn players had double-digit minutes (including Brianna Banks who played very well and had 10 points including 2 3-point baskets). Morgan Tuck had 8 minutes and Kiah Stokes had 7. Moriah Jefferson (as a freshman) had only 3 minutes.
• That team had a lot of size: Dolson, Stewart, Stokes, and Tuck. Maryland was big and strong also and had a huge edge on the boards against their previous opponents. However, UConn's guards did a lot of rebounding even against taller opponents: in addition to Kelly's 7 rebounds, Caroline Doty and Bria Hartley each had 4 rebounds. UConn ended up with 35 total rebounds compared to 39 for Maryland. On the offensive boards, Maryland had only a 15-14 edge.
• Despite Maryland's size, UConn led in paint points by 32-16 for the game, including a 22-4 margin in the first half.
• Chloe Pavelich was a freshman at Maryland that year. Because their regular backcourt was out with injuries in this game, she played 38 minutes and had 10 points.
• UConn's 4 losses in 2012-13 were by a total of 18 points, 9 of which were in a 3-overtime game against Notre Dame at the end of the regular season. ND beat UConn 3 times that season by a total of 12 points, but UConn's one victory over the Irish (in the National Semifinal game) was by 18 points.

I see a lot of similarities in depth and size between this year's team (2020-21) and that 2012-13 team. Hopefully the results will be the same.

Are you saying that you think this year’s team matches up with that size of Dolson, Stewart, Stokes, and Tuck? To me, that team had functional size. They could all really play. Ono at 6-5 and possibly Edwards at about 6-3 is about it for this year inside. Gabriel will be emergency depth at best for now.

 

[RSHERMVIKES]

UCONN WBB has a history of "willing itself" to a victory where heart an conditioning take over from just the talent level. A lot of teams are talented but not merntally or physically tough enough to gut out a close seemingly improbable win! Notre Dame, Duke, and Rutgers are 3 teams that had as much talent as any team but "something" was missing in their makeup!
I see a lot of that mental & physical toughness in the CT Sun! There have been many times this season where the Sun could have folded under the pressure of illnesses and/or injuries but somehow and somewhere they dug deep and held on for a victory!
On Sunday we will see if the disrespected Sun can pull out a victory against a more talented Aces team, closing out the semifinals!

 

[JoePgh]

Are you saying that you think this year’s team matches up with that size of Dolson, Stewart, Stokes, and Tuck? To me, that team had functional size. They could all really play. Ono at 6-5 and possibly Edwards at about 6-3 is about it for this year inside. Gabriel will be emergency depth at best for now.

Dolson and Stewart were the only "functional" big players on the 2012-13 team. Kiah Stokes was a sophomore who almost never scored (although she did rebound and block shots when she was motivated, which was not consistently the case). Morgan Tuck was a freshman with a gimpy knee that needed surgery the next year.

Also, the 2012-13 team did not have anyone like Anna or Aubrey to help with "functional" front court depth.

 

[chrissaran]

Are you saying that you think this year’s team matches up with that size of Dolson, Stewart, Stokes, and Tuck? To me, that team had functional size. They could all really play. Ono at 6-5 and possibly Edwards at about 6-3 is about it for this year inside. Gabriel will be emergency depth at best for now.

Why are so many of you obsessed with size? The 2002 undefeated UConn team's frontcourt players were all 6'2".

 

[CocoHusky]

Dolson and Stewart were the only "functional" big players on the 2012-13 team. Kiah Stokes was a sophomore who almost never scored (although she did rebound and block shots when she was motivated, which was not consistently the case). Morgan Tuck was a freshman with a gimpy knee that needed surgery the next year.
Also, the 2012-13 team did not have anyone like Anna or Aubrey to help with "functional" front court depth.

There was nothing "gimpy" about Freshman Morgan Tuck she was versatile & fluid defender that was capable of giving the team meaningful minutes backing up Dolson at the 5, KML at the 3 and Stewie at the 4. In the semifinal game against ND she was primarily assigned to guard KMac & Jewell Loyd. Doris Burke annoyingly praised Morgan for the way she "comported" herself in that game.

 

[MilfordHusky]

I was at the game in which Kelly defended Alyssa. What was interesting was that Kelly was rarely in front of Alyssa. She played a full step to Alyssa's left, effectively taking away a drive in that direction. Since then, Alyssa has greatly improved her ability to go right.