Game Analysis - Game 29 - UConn vs Butler

[cferraro04]

GENERAL COMMENTS:

Better late than never...I just got back from Colorado, visiting my son. I am extremely tired so this may end up being an abbreviated version. This is the 2nd bite at the apple for both of these teams. They met 19 days ago at the Harford Civic Center where UConn gave them a pretty good drubbing beating "The Bulldogs" by 42 points, 101 - 59. Even though this match will be held at Butler's Hinkle Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, Indiana I think we will see a repeat of the first game with UConn winning by over 40. I don't believe that UConn will reach the century mark in this one...more in the mid 80's with everyone on the team making it into the box score.

In the first match-up, Butler's players scored as follows: Kilyn McGuff - 17; Riley Makalusky - 10; Sydney Jaynes - 9; Lily Carmody - 6; Lily Zeinstra - 3; Karstyn Norma - 2. UConn had six players in double figures. Each player scored as follows: Paige Bueckers - 18; Azzi Fudd - 13; Ashlynn Shade - 13; KK Arnold - 12; Sarah Strong - 11; Jana El-Alfy - 10; Allie Zeibell - 6; Qadence Samuels - 5; Aubrey Griffin - 4. Butler's RPI = 160 and its SoS = 134 while UConn's RPI = 4 and SoS = 8.

UConn's offense averages 20 points per game higher than Butler's with 83.1 per game, while Butler averages 63.3 points per game. UConn on average holds its opponents to 52.2 points per game. Butler exceeded this average by 7 points in the first meeting. Butler manages to get to the line 4 times more per game than UConn does...Butler 12.3; UConn 8.6. Butler makes 18.3 turnovers per game while UConn averages 10.9. UConn scores 22.5 points off turnovers while Butler scores 15.1 points off turnovers.

PLAYER MATCH-UPS:

Jana El-Alfy, 6'5" - R-Freshman - Center vs Sydney Jaynes, 6'3" - Senior - Forward - Sydney averages 7.8 points, 3.1 rebounds, 1.7 assists, .7 steals, and, .3 blocks per game. With both Ice Brady and Morgan not being available Jana will have to start playing more minutes which should result in Jana's stats going up. Jana is currently averaging 5.6 points, 5.1 rebounds, 1 assist, .6 steals, and, .6 blocks per game. Jana only played 15 minutes in the first game and scored 10 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, and 1 block. Sydney played 21 minutes and had 9 points, 0 rebounds, and 2 assists. Given that Jana will probably play more minutes in this match-up and with Jana's continued improvement...
ADVANTAGE - UCONN

Sarah Strong, 6'2" - Freshman - Forward vs Riley Makalinsky, 6'2' - Senior - Forward - Riley averages 8.3 points, 2.6 rebounds, 1.2 assists, .6 steals, and .1 block per game. Sarah is having a great season as she is averaging 15.9 points, 7.9 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 2.3 steals, and 1.4 blocks per game.
In the first match-up, Riley managed to score 10 points and she pulled down 1 rebound. Sarah scored 11 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, and she had 4 blocked shots. ADVANTAGE - UCONN

Paige Bueckers, 6'0 - R-Senior - Guard vs Kilyn McGuff, 6'0" - Senior - Guard - Kilyn averages 12.4 points, 8.1 rebounds, 1.4 assists, 1.5 steals, and .4 blocks. Paige is averaging 18.6 points, 4.5 rebounds, 4.6 assists, 2.1 steals, and.6 blocks per game. In the first match-up, Kilyn played 34 minutes and had 17 points, 7 rebounds, 1 assist, and 1 block. McGuff was 5-9 in three-pointers. Paige only played 21 minutes and she had 18 points, 1 rebound, 5 assists, 3 steals, and 2 blocks. She did all her damage on the inside only attempting and missing 1 three-pointer. ADVANTAGE - UCONN

Azzi Fudd, 5'11" - Graduate - Guard vs Lily Zeinstra, 5'11" - Freshman - Guard - Lily averages 6.9 points, 2.8 rebounds, 1.6 assists, .7 steals, and .3 blocks. Azzi averages 13.1 points, 2.0 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 1.0 steals, and .3 blocks per game. I expect Azzi to be on "firah" this game and she will take advantage of Lily's inexperience. ADVANTAGE - UCONN

Kaitlyn Chen, 5'9" - Graduate - Guard vs Karsyn Norman, 5'6" - Sophomore - Guard - Karsyn averages 3.3 points, 1.8 rebounds, 2.7 assists, .7 steals per game. Kaitlyn averages 6.9 points, 1.7 rebounds, 3.4 assists, and 1.1 steals. ADVANTAGE - UCONN

BENCH:

UConn will bring 24.8 points and 11.5 rebounds off the bench while Butler will bring 14.3 points and 7 rebounds off the bench. I have a feeling that we are going to see Aubrey have a break-out game on Saturday. ADVANTAGE - UCONN

INTANGIBLES:

UConn is too big, too experienced, too talented. ADVANTAGE - UCONN.

COACHING:

Geno et al will have this game well in hand by the end of the first half. ADVANTAGE - UCONN

SCORE:

UCONN - 86
BUTLER - 45
MOV - 41

 

[Dogdude]

You got kids in Colo too? All I can say is connections in Denver, an adventure every time.

 

[Bone Dog]

Thanks again, Sensei!

I admire the Butler players, and especially the coach, Austin Parkinson. I really like what he accomplished in his two seasons, winning 11 in the first season and 15 in the second. He also seems to be a great teacher and Makalusky and McGuff are two of his current great prospects. I really wish him and them the best.

 

[Huskee11]

Thanks for doing this analysis despite being wiped out, cferraro04.

A few other observations -

It will be the first time that many of these players will be playing (at least for UConn) at Hinkle Field house. There was only one game against Butler last season and it was a UConn home game.

I flipped through the box scores against Butler over the last the previous four seasons and found that Azzi has never played there. Paige played there only once in February 2021, her first year and also the Covid year. Aubrey, Ayanna and Caroline have played there, I don't know about Chen.

The Covid year attendance was only 1721 and UConn has drawn less than 3000 to its two more recent games there. Hinkle seats 9100. With Paige playing, a weekend game, and all of our pther midwestern players, it will be interesting to see what the attendance numbers will be.

Sydney Jaynes, their 6'3" senior center, was injured in their last game and only played 5 minutes. The Butler webpage doesn't go into detail but indicates her availability for today is "unknown". That would be a blow to them, she is a solid player and had 9 points in our first matchup. They were at home and only beat Xavier by 4 points. I hope she is ok and able to play.

It is also a sad day for SNY viewers since this is their last broadcast of UConn WBB. They have done a truly spectacular job and I cannot imagine that the coverage will be as good going forward. It is an end of an era and it has been a great ride with SNY.

UConn scored at will in the first game but its defense was not great, winning 101-59. Butler was 12-27 from three. On the positive side, we did force 22 turnovers and we had 12 steals. UConn will win easily but the point of emphasis should be to guard the three. On offense, maybe Jana can get back on track after a subpar game against Seton Hall following a great game against SC. I also suspect there will be a concerted effort to get Azzi more shots.

 

[Centerstream]

It is also a sad day for SNY viewers since this is their last broadcast of UConn WBB. They have done a truly spectacular job and I cannot imagine that the coverage will be as good going forward. It is an end of an era and it has been a great ride with SNY.

Swerve: I don't know who makes the decisions on who broadcasts the games but it's just wrong that today's game is on SNY and the Marquette Senior Day game is on FS1. They should be swapped. Totally unfair to SNY after their last 12 seasons of UConn WBB coverage. Let them do the game and Senior Day festivities, even if Fox Sports doesn't show the Senior Day festivities.
Besides, Fox Sports has the rights to the BE Tournament (and will probably ignore the round).
Oh well, I just don't think it's fair to the network that has given outstanding coverage for the last 12 seasons. Period!
Swerve over.