Game Analysis - Game 26 - UConn vs St John's - 2nd Act

[cferraro04]

GENERAL COMMENTS:

2nd time around the Huskies vs the Johnnies. St John's is 13 and 10; UConn is 22 and 3. The Red Storm lost the first one to UConn on January 15th, 71 to 45.

ST John's - Players minutes played / Points and Rebounds in the first match-up:

Ber'Nyah Mayo - 25 minutes, 10 points, zero rebounds
Kylie Lavelle - 26 minutes, 7 points, 1 rebound
Jaliah Donald - 30 minutes, 6 points, 2 rebounds
Phoenix Gedeon - 19 minutes, 4 points, 0 rebounds
Lashae Dwyer - 14 minutes, 2 points, 1 rebound
Ariel Little - 22 minutes, 8 points, 3 rebounds
Janeya Grant - 14 minutes, 5 points, 2 rebounds
Ariana Vanderhoop - 14 minutes, 2 points, 2 rebounds

UConn - Players minutes played / Points and Rebounds:

Azzi Fudd - 25 minutes, 13 points, 2 rebounds
Paige Bueckers - 23 minutes, 12 points, 5 rebounds
Jana El-Alfy - 17 minutes, 8 points, 6 rebounds
Sarah Strong - 24 minutes, 6 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists
Kaitlyn Chen - 21 minutes, 5 points, 1 rebound, 3 assists
Ashlynn Shade - 16 minutes, 10 points, 0 rebounds
Morgan Cheli - 21 minutes, 7 points, 4 rebounds
KK Arnold - 21 minutes, 6 points, 2 rebounds
Ice Brady - 15 minutes, 2 points, 3 rebounds
Allie Ziebell - 11 minutes, 2 points, 2 rebounds.

In their first match-up, UConn scored 38 points in the paint exposing St. John's weakness in the post. They also forced 15 turnovers while committing while committing 13 turnovers themselves. UConn was able to score 17 points off turnovers while the Johnnies only converted their turnovers to 6 points. UConn was able to get 27 points from the bench while the Johnnies were only able to get 16. The teams were essentially equal in three-pointers. The Red Storm shot 37 percent from the floor while the Huskies shot 56.9 percent. St. John's shot 6-7 from the line and UConn went 9 for 11 from the line.

PLAYER MATCH-UPS:

Jana El-Alfy, 6'5" - RS-Freshman - Center vs Kylie Lavelle, 6'2" - Junior - Forward - Kylie averages 7.9 points, 3.6 rebounds, .8 assists, .7 steals, and .8 blocks per game. Jana is averaging 5.6 points, 5.1 rebounds, 1.0 assists, .6 steals, and .7 blocks per game. In the first match-up, Lavelle had 7 points and 1 rebound to Jana's 8 points and 6 rebounds. ADVANTAGE - UCONN

Sarah Strong, 6'2" - Freshman - Forward vs Phoenix Gedeon, 6'0" - Senior - Forward - Phoenix averages 5.4 points, 4.8 rebounds, 1.0 assists, and .5 steals. Sarah averages 16.7 points, 7.9 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 2.3 steals, 1.4 blocks, and shoots 1.6 three-pointers per game. In the first match-up, Phoenix scored 4 points and no rebounds. Sarah had 6 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists.
ADVANTAGE - UCONN

Paige Bueckers, 6'0" - RS - Senior - Guard vs Lashae Dwyer, 5'6" - Senior - Guard - Lashae averages 12.7 points, 4.1 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 2.9 steals, and hits 1 three-pointer per game. Paige averages 18.8 points, 4.1 rebounds, 4.4 assists, 2.0 steals, and hits 1.9 three-pointers per game. In the first match-up, Lashae only played 14 minutes and had only 2 points and 1 rebound while Paige played 23 minutes and had 12 points and 5 rebounds. ADVANTAGE - UCONN

Azzi Fudd, 5'11" - Graduate - Guard vs Ber'Niah Mayo, 5'6" - Graduate - Guard - Ber'Niah averages 10.3 points, 2.5 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 1.4 steals, and hits .7 three-points per game. Azzi is averaging 11.5 points, 1.9 rebounds, 1.7 assists, 1 steal, and she hits 2.2 three-pointers per game. In game one of this series, Ber'Niah played 25 minutes and was able to score 10 points but failed to get any rebounds while Azzi also played 25 minutes and had 13 points and 2 rebounds. ADVANTAGE - UCONN

Kaitlyn Chen, 5'9" - Graduate - Guard vs Jaliah Donald, 5'7" - Junior - Guard - Jaliah averages 6.3 points, 3.1 rebounds, 1.3 assists, .7 steals, and hits .7 three-pointers per game. Kaitlyn is averaging 6.6 points, 1.8 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 1.1 steals, and hits .7 three-pointers per game. In the first match-up, Jaliah played 30 minutes and had 6 points and 2 rebounds while Kaitlyn played 21 minutes and had 5 points and 3 rebounds. ADVANTAGE - UCONN

BENCH:

UConn can bring 30.4 points and 16 rebounds off the bench. St. John's can bring 31.9 points and 15.9 rebounds off the bench. In the first match-up, St. John's got 16 points off their bench while UConn got 27. Now Aubrey is back and if she is playing and Ice is healthy UConn's bench should dominate this game. If both Aubrey and Ice are unavailable for this game then the bench contribution tightens up considerably.
ADVANTAGE - EVEN

INTANGIBLES:

UConn is playing for the post-season now. Both teams will play tough defense, however, I look forward to watching UConn's defense round out into post-season form. They will not look forward to South Carolina instead they will be focused on this game. Too much talent, too much height. UConn's defense will be smothering while their offense will be firing on all cylinders as they put on a show for the home crowd at the Gampel Pavillion, in Storrs. ADVANTAGE - UCONN

COACHING:

Geno and his staff know what they have to do to prepare for Sunday's battle with the Gamecocks and to get this team ready for a deep run toward a championship in March. ADVANTAGE - UCONN

SCORE:

UCONN - 83
ST. JOHN'S - 50
MOV - 33

 

[Bone Dog]

Thanks again, Sensei.

SJU is offense-challenged, but scrappy on defense. They got 6 steals and forced 13 TOs, which wasn't quite as good at what the Huskies managed, but it was close.

Ber'Nyah Mayo is a crafty scorer who only played 25 mins last time. I expect her to play more like 35 this time around. She'll be a challenge for Kaitlyn and KK. This may be the highlight of the game.

I hope the game is even more lopsided than you suggest. Shutting down the Red Storm is an important milestone on the way to playing SC.

 

[Tonyc]

This game I expect to see us preparing for Sundays Nationally Televised game @ SC. Tuff place to win. I expect he execution against STJ is going to be what we will be using against STJ. Again my thought is practice execution, have an awareness where the opponent is, and take shots you know you can make. This is a big game in the fact we need to prove that we can win against a top team. We may not win the game @ SC but we need to know we can. Knowing we can will fuel our confidence knowing we can. I am looking for us to play to our potential.

 

[yhun89]

Ice is 100% not playing, Geno said her injury might set her back until March. (3-4 weeks)

 

[Centerstream]

I think that this match-up is a big one for Sarah. Her scoring has been below her average for the previous three BE games. She did score 18 against Tennessee but she was probably capable of even more.
Even with possible reduced playing time against St John's due to the score, hopefully Sarah can start off the game "strong" with double digits in the first quarter, along with at least two of Paige, Azzi, Kaitlyn, Ashlynn and Jana reaching double digits in scoring by halftime.
It's time for Sarah to win another BE weekly award or two.

 

[Geew1992]

Where's Aubrey? Geno said she could've played Sunday. So, I am pretty sure she'll play tomorrow.