Game Analysis - UConn vs Arkansas

[RockyMTblue2]

A little package of chat from E and Geno:

 

[Charliebball]

talking about this year's team and their problematic schedule due to cancellations against competitive teams that makes their defense look statistically better than it is...........if you asked Geno if UConn had the best defense in the country what do you think he'd say?

any questions?

 

[cferraro04]

Well, I couldn't have been more wrong about Dungee...she proved she is a first team All American tonight. She was the closest thing to unstoppable that I have seen all season. 37 points...13 for 21 from the floor and 4 for 5 from three...along with 7 for 10 from the line. While I was disappointed in some individuals play...as a team...I thought UConn played really well...they played a good game...they shot 55 percent from the floor and 52 percent from three...that is usually enough to win most games...tonight Arkansas was unconscious...they probably played the best game they are ever going to play...13 threes...they shot 51.6 percent from the floor and 56.5 from three...that is lights out play...kudos to them...they needed a game like that to beat UConn and they did it.

Here are the positives I take from the game:

1. Bueckers proved she can play well in the big games...27 points on 10 for 15 from the floor; 33 from three and 4 for 4 from the line. I would like to see her getting her team mates more involved...as I think she is capable of getting 5-6 assists per game.

2. McLean was impressive...she is rough around the edges but the talent and ability is there. She played well tonight.

3. Muhl has apparently left her freshman jitters behind and had a pretty good game... 8 points; 2 assists and 3 rebounds...decent outing for her against a rated team.

4. UConn has played fairly well on the road...this was a solid road performance that unfortunately came up short.

5. Westbrook continues to impress...19 points, 7 assists, 5-7 from three, 6 rebounds...and a whole lot of leadership out there tonight.

Areas of Concern:

1. Olivia seems to be regressing...she all but disappeared tonight...she was needed, she had a skill set and natural height advantage that should have translated into an unstoppable force underneath the basket...the fact that it didn't happen...leaves me fairly concerned.

2. I really thought Aubrey was turning the corner and would be able to be a defensive stopper on Dungee...boy was I wrong...6 rebounds for an undersized forward..not bad...but, offensively and defensively she is still not there yet.

3. Williams went cold in the second half...she couldn't throw the ball into the ocean...she needs to be consistent for 40 minutes...if we are going to win a championship this year. Paige can't do it herself. Westbrook, Bueckers and Williams...have to all be on for UConn to go all the way this year. Throwing a 0fer from three will cause the defense to sag off of her and take away her ability to drive the basket...she needs to knock down some threes.

4. Fouls...fouls hurt us tonight 23 fouls to their 13. While they shot only 11 for 20 from the line and UConn shot 9 for 14 from the line...it could be argued that since the differential was only 2 points and they won by 3 that the foul shooting was inconsequential....but, that is only part of the story. We had Edwards foul out, McLean had four and we had three players with 3 fouls... It resulted in Aubrey, Odo getting bench time and made some of our players a little tentative on defense.

5. Another stat that jumps out is we had 15 turnovers to their 9. They took care of the basketball better than we did. Arkansas had 18 points off turnovers to UConn's 14.

6. Arkansas lost the rebounding category but tied in offensive rebounds with 8 and was able to capitalize at a better rate than UConn... Arkansas had 10 second chance points to UConn's six.

Final thoughts:

All in all it was a good road game for UConn...they played well. I don't think if we play Arkansas again that we will lose. I don't see Dungee scoring 37 in a second outing...Geno won't let that happen. I don't see them shooting lights out they way they did in this game. I think Olivia, Christyn and Aubrey play much better next time around.I like our chances in a rematch.

I will post this again under the game thread....in case some miss it here.

 

[Vowelguy]

If bueckers is out I have serious doubts about staying within 10.

Really? This is the same Arkansas that just lost to Georgia a few days ago and I would think Uconn defense would be at least as good as that. Arkansas can easily shoot themselves in or out of a game.

Ahem

 

[Pie43]

Going to sleep, I am happy with this game. You can piss and moan, however this was a great game. Ballers on the court in the 4th quarter. GREAT GAME. This was the game we needed

 

[hoophuskee]

Never thought they could lose a game like this in which their defense was completely manhandled by a finesse team while UCONN shoots tremendous from 3. The game was fun until it was over.

I know the stats show UCONN outrebounded them by 6 - but they seemed just more physical. I guess the physicality had a lot to do with Dungee. She got anywhere she wanted with not only quickness but strength.

Tough loss but fun game.

 

[jaundicedeye]

I could be wrong but I read @hjoerring post with a great deal sarcasm, distain and deep opposition to the prior Op. I picked this up from the first sentence: "Why not go all the way with this logic." Is as if he was trying to abide by BY rules and not call someone stupid.

Thank you CocoHusky for pointing out the sarcasm. I missed it. Sorry Hjoerring.

 

[hjoerring]

talking about this year's team and their problematic schedule due to cancellations against competitive teams that makes their defense look statistically better than it is...........if you asked Geno if UConn had the best defense in the country what do you think he'd say?

I wont disagree; you and Geno are probably perfectionists. My point will be that if this is how those 3 Ark players shoot and handle themselves on the court I have a hard time seeing why they have lost so many games. Or, the teams that would have stopped them. Every team has its night. This is not an argument for us being a good defensive team. Geno can be very sarcastic in his comments and much have flown over my head, but in his comments he worried more about scoring (made shots) more than them rather than stopping them. We came close for a team that cannot shoot. This is why I have a difficult time reading a lot of posts. And lately, you seems to have caught the bug-- maybe!! I've decided to put the BY and bb aside for now and concentrate on Handball and the Danes who, hopefully, will send the Swedes packing in the championship game.

 

[Charliebball]

to take the measure of any team you need to measure the quality of it's opponents...........UConn has just played two good but hardly great SEC teams and came out with a close victory and a close loss...........what does that tell you about this UConn team? For me it simply proves that they too are good but not great team that struggles with a lack of consistency from it's key contributors...........I expect this to change next season..........

 

[jazz]

Well, I couldn't have been more wrong about Dungee...she proved she is a first team All American tonight. She was the closest thing to unstoppable that I have seen all season. 37 points...13 for 21 from the floor and 4 for 5 from three...along with 7 for 10 from the line. While I was disappointed in some individuals play...as a team...I thought UConn played really well...they played a good game...they shot 55 percent from the floor and 52 percent from three...that is usually enough to win most games...tonight Arkansas was unconscious...they probably played the best game they are ever going to play...13 threes...they shot 51.6 percent from the floor and 56.5 from three...that is lights out play...kudos to them...they needed a game like that to beat UConn and they did it.

Here are the positives I take from the game:

1. Bueckers proved she can play well in the big games...27 points on 10 for 15 from the floor; 33 from three and 4 for 4 from the line. I would like to see her getting her team mates more involved...as I think she is capable of getting 5-6 assists per game.

2. McLean was impressive...she is rough around the edges but the talent and ability is there. She played well tonight.

3. Muhl has apparently left her freshman jitters behind and had a pretty good game... 8 points; 2 assists and 3 rebounds...decent outing for her against a rated team.

4. UConn has played fairly well on the road...this was a solid road performance that unfortunately came up short.

5. Westbrook continues to impress...19 points, 7 assists, 5-7 from three, 6 rebounds...and a whole lot of leadership out there tonight.

Areas of Concern:

1. Olivia seems to be regressing...she all but disappeared tonight...she was needed, she had a skill set and natural height advantage that should have translated into an unstoppable force underneath the basket...the fact that it didn't happen...leaves me fairly concerned.

2. I really thought Aubrey was turning the corner and would be able to be a defensive stopper on Dungee...boy was I wrong...6 rebounds for an undersized forward..not bad...but, offensively and defensively she is still not there yet.

3. Williams went cold in the second half...she couldn't throw the ball into the ocean...she needs to be consistent for 40 minutes...if we are going to win a championship this year. Paige can't do it herself. Westbrook, Bueckers and Williams...have to all be on for UConn to go all the way this year. Throwing a 0fer from three will cause the defense to sag off of her and take away her ability to drive the basket...she needs to knock down some threes.

4. Fouls...fouls hurt us tonight 23 fouls to their 13. While they shot only 11 for 20 from the line and UConn shot 9 for 14 from the line...it could be argued that since the differential was only 2 points and they won by 3 that the foul shooting was inconsequential....but, that is only part of the story. We had Edwards foul out, McLean had four and we had three players with 3 fouls... It resulted in Aubrey, Odo getting bench time and made some of our players a little tentative on defense.

5. Another stat that jumps out is we had 15 turnovers to their 9. They took care of the basketball better than we did. Arkansas had 18 points off turnovers to UConn's 14.

6. Arkansas lost the rebounding category but tied in offensive rebounds with 8 and was able to capitalize at a better rate than UConn... Arkansas had 10 second chance points to UConn's six.

Final thoughts:

All in all it was a good road game for UConn...they played well. I don't think if we play Arkansas again that we will lose. I don't see Dungee scoring 37 in a second outing...Geno won't let that happen. I don't see them shooting lights out they way they did in this game. I think Olivia, Christyn and Aubrey play much better next time around.I like our chances in a rematch.

I will post this again under the game thread....in case some miss it here.

I agree with everything except AG did a decent to good job on Dungee when she was guarding her. I thought she held up well. Not perfect but pretty decent/good. Dungee had to often go to her second and third moves to get by AG as opposed to just blowing past her as she did to the rest of players guarding her. Mir had a good moment or two on defense against Dungee as well.

 

[jazz]

You did miss it. Saylor projects to be second best perimeter on this UCONN squad once she gets game ready. In case you also missed it I'm the one doing those projections, which means they are subject to error. For example I had Nika projected as a far better defender than she has shown and Paige has far exceeded my projection as a defender.

Wouldn't you say that NM held up well on defense in this game....and is progressing??

 

[RockyMTblue2]

I believe we should nominate @CocoHusky to distill the advice and brilliant observations in this thread, add illustrations, have them bound in the finest embossed leather binding, and present them to Geno in a half time ceremony. Whatcha think?

 

[jazz]

Time for some big picture perspective:

• It is only one loss. Just in case you don’t believe me, check out the won-loss column
• We lost on the road against a very experienced team by a grand total of 3 points.
• We could have won this game is so many ways which I think most of us either know and/or mentioned in posting here.
• There is a lot of BB to be played and we are a very young team. Usually this means the team can get a lot better as the year progresses.

Some Good things:

• PB is lights out. First team AA consideration and is ONLY scratching the surface of how good she can really be.
• EW has gotten better every game. A steady progression to the point that she is a force on offense.
• Nice improvement in some of our young players and freshies not named PB. We are starting to see glimpses of their talent. I think they will get even better in another 5-6 weeks.. I’ve seen improvement over the first 10-11 games and if we can get the same kind of improvement over the next 10-11 games, we may have something there!
• We should get some kind of lift when we get AM back and Saylor on the court. You may not be a big believer in either, but we are a better team with them than we are without them.
• We are playing a lot of young players in different positions but still score points for the most part and this last game we had 87. The offense will come around. It is the defense I am most worried about.

Some bad things with my usual optimistic spin:

• We are not a good perimeter defensive team. Some are better/worse than others. Hopefully we get better – I think most will get better and I think one player may not.
• We have not shot the ball well from the outside this year. I still think this will improve. As critical as I have been on CW, I still think she will rebound and start hitting shots. As a 2G, she has shot very poorly this year.
• Liv has not played as well as I thought she would. I am hoping to see how she does against SC. We just need 12 and 10 and stay in the game.
• We are not a physical team and this might hurt us. We will see when we play SC.
• I thought AM would be a much bigger force thus far, but she has not found her rhythm yet and this hurts us on offense. I think if she gets her rhythm along with CW and/or Saylor, we have PB, EW and NM to dribble and kick to open shooters and this helps those shooters a lot. We saw this in the Ark game – made some and missed some.
• I think EW is a little slow on her closeout of the 3 point shooters and hope she will be quicker at doing this.
• AG hasn’t quite become the force I thought she might. She seems inconsistently confident in her outside shoot. I still think she can help us big time down the road.

 

[CocoHusky]

Wouldn't you say that NM held up well on defense in this game....and is progressing??

Nika is definitely progressing. I would not say ANY UCONN player help up well defensively in that game. Might be the worst defensive game I’ve seem in a long time.

 

[jazz]

Nika is definitely progressing. I would not say ANY UCONN player help up well defensively in that game. Might be the worst defensive game I’ve seem in a long time.

Well for me, Nika held up reasonably well, considering she is a freshie. That is the key: she is learning to play better defense in her 9th or 10th game and had to deal with really savvy players. She had some good defensive possessions. She didn't win all of them but the other team is good too!

To further this discussion if you will, AG did a lot better than some think on defense as well. She made Dungee work and sometimes she lost the battle. Well guess what? Dungee is an exceptional player and a very savvy one too.

I thought Mir was respectable as well. She had 1 or 2 really bad possessions on defense but she won her fair share as well. She is a bit hit or miss to me on defense.

PB was decent, but it is harder to play defense and react on a bad ankle than it is to know where you will go on offense with a bad ankle.

We were late on the zone close-outs and had some trouble keeping guards in front of us. EW was at fault some on this. I've noticed this year that she seems to be a tick late on 3 point close-outs.

CW's defense was poor, no matter if she was in zone or man.

 

[CocoHusky]

Well for me, Nika held up reasonably well, considering she is a freshie. That is the key: she is learning to play better defense in her 9th or 10th game and had to deal with really savvy players. She had some good defensive possessions. She didn't win all of them but the other team is good too!

To further this discussion if you will, AG did a lot better than some think on defense as well. She made Dungee work and sometimes she lost the battle. Well guess what? Dungee is an exceptional player and a very savvy one too.

I thought Mir was respectable as well. She had 1 or 2 really bad possessions on defense but she won her fair share as well. She is a bit hit or miss to me on defense.

PB was decent, but it is harder to play defense and react on a bad ankle than it is to know where you will go on offense with a bad ankle.

We were late on the zone close-outs and had some trouble keeping guards in front of us. EW was at fault some on this. I've noticed this year that she seems to be a tick late on 3 point close-outs.

CW's defense was poor, no matter if she was in zone or man.

As I said before there were no passing or even respectable defensive performances in that game. Not from the freshman not from the upper class men. 23 to 13 in personal fouls. UCONN gave up 90 points even with AK missing 9 FTs. The AK players go to the basket at will and shot 56% from deep. Defensively that was about as bad as it gets= curb stomping. Other post are blaming Geno and several others ( perhaps yours) are trying to find a ray of hope in that performance. There were none defensively IMO.

 

[jazz]

As I said before there were no passing or even respectable defensive performances in that game. Not from the freshman not from the upper class men. 23 to 13 in personal fouls. UCONN gave up 90 points even with AK missing 9 FTs. The AK players go to the basket at will and shot 56% from deep. Defensively that was about as bad as it gets= curb stomping. Other post are blaming Geno and several others ( perhaps yours) are trying to find a ray of hope in that performance. There were none defensively IMO.

Yeah I get cha. Good point in saying it could have been worse with the missed FTs. I meant to comment about that but didn't have the stats at the time and then forgot.

I agree with you for the most part. I thought the freshies held up better than some others. I do think GA should have put Liv and AG in earlier in the 4th.

I will say though that I never would have thought that having Mir play centre would have helped us have a spark. Now that was genius. I just think that after a while, Neighbors told his players to take the ball to the rim because: 1. they can get there 2. there is no tall player in the paint to bother you.

Also, to be fair, Ark hit some contested shots as well...although there were loads of times they were wide open...

 

[CocoHusky]

Yeah I get cha. Good point in saying it could have been worse with the missed FTs. I meant to comment about that but didn't have the stats at the time and then forgot.

I agree with you for the most part. I thought the freshies held up better than some others. I do think GA should have put Liv and AG in earlier in the 4th.

I will say though that I never would have thought that having Mir play centre would have helped us have a spark. Now that was genius. I just think that after a while, Neighbors told his players to take the ball to the rim because: 1. they can get there 2. there is no tall player in the paint to bother you.

Also, to be fair, Ark hit some contested shots as well...although there were loads of times they were wide open...

That another often overlooked great point Neighbors coached an excellent game stuck to his game plan and exploited every UCONN weakness. The small adjustments he made after UCONN had taken the lead were brilliant and led to the 10:0 game deciding run. That mindless blame game I refereed to earlier is taking it way too far though by saying Geno was out coached.