Reply to thread

Message: [QUOTE="JoePgh, post: 4784629, member: 1131"] Yesterday I watched the replay of last year's NC State game, which UConn won rather easily by 22 points (91-69). I had forgotten that Dorka did not play in that game because of an injury sustained in the previous game against Texas. So last year's UConn team against NC State was not significantly bigger than UConn will be in tomorrow's game. The only other UConn subtraction relative to last year is Lou Lopez-Senechal, who uncharacteristically did not score in the first half (and didn't play very many minutes because of foul trouble), but had a 20-point second half. By contrast, NC State will lose quite a bit from last year's lineup: Diamond Johnson (13 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 assists), Jakia Brown-Turner (12 points on 5-11 shooting), Jada Boyd (10 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 offensive rebounds), and Camille Hobby. In last year's game, Azzi had 32 points and Nika had 15 assists. Aaliyah had 20 points, 12 rebounds, and only 3 fouls. But I thought that the big impact was by Aubrey Griffin, who had 16 points on 6-9 shooting, 6 rebounds and [B]6 steals[/B], creating mayhem in the Wolfpack's transition game. NC State had 19 turnovers to UConn's 14, and points off turnovers favored UConn by 27-9. NC State's two starting bigs tomorrow, Mimi Collins and River Baldwin, came off the bench last year to play 19 and 21 minutes respectively. Baldwin got 9 rebounds (only 2 offensive) and showed some offensive skill although she only scored 6 points. Collins got 2 points and [B]zero rebounds[/B]. Neither looked particularly athletic, and I thought that they seemed to rely mainly on Boyd as their inside presence. If those two are the anchors of NC State's front court tomorrow, I don't see them as a major threat to score in the paint. Last year, without Dorka, UConn outscored the Wolfpack 38-26 in the paint. Offensive rebounds were tied at 10 each, and rebounding overall was very close (26-25 in favor of UConn). On paper, the game tomorrow should be another 20 to 25 point win for UConn as I see it. [/QUOTE]

Verification: First name of men's bb coach