Game Analysis - UConn vs Georgetown

[cferraro04]

Well this is a case of one team just being much better than the other. Georgetown is a relatively young team 2 Freshmen; 3 Sophomores; 4 Juniors; 1 Senior and 1 Graduate student. Their inexperience shows in their inability to score the basketball. They only average 61.9 points per game, they only make 4.7 threes per game. They force their opponents to turnover the basketball 17.7 times and average 9.3 steals per game. However the biggest problem they have is a personnel one. They just don't have the horses to match-up with UConn's high-octane offense and they have never seen a defensive team like UConn. This should be one of UConn's largest MOV wins this season. It certainly doesn't help the Hoyas that Azzi Fudd is back.

In doing the analysis I was faced with trying to decide whether or not Geno would start Azzi or bring her off the bench for limited minutes like last game. I decided to go with Azzi coming off the bench because I am guessing that Geno would want to make sure that Azzi is completely recovered...there is still a lot of season left...so why would he risk further injury to his star player. But, with Azzi coming off the bench it gives UConn a lot of bench fire-power.

Dorka Jurasz vs Graceann Bennett - Graceann at 6'3" is somewhat undersized but, given that she is the lone senior on the team which translates into leadership and experience Grace has earned a start in every game this seaon. Grace's average of 7.2 points and 4 rebounds per game falls quite short of her UConn counterpart game average which is 13.8 points and 11.2 rebounds per game. Dorka seems to be on a mission to prove she belongs in the conversation for a top 5 pick in the WNBA draft. ADVANTAGE - UCONN

Aaliyah Edwards vs Jada Claude - The Jr. Jada Claude is one of Georgetown's top options at the forward position. She averages 7.7 points and 5.7 rebounds is respectable but again it falls far short of her UConn opponent on Sunday. Aaliyah is simply put a beast...she also is on a mission and is UConn's most consistent player, averaging 16.4 points and 9.3 rebounds. While it was difficult to tell last game that Aaliyah was coming off the injured list I expect her to be even closer to resembling her old self on Sunday. ADVANTAGE - UCONN

Aubrey Griffin vs Kristina Moore - Kristina Moore is a tall guard at 6'1" and she is quite experienced and mature being Georgetown's only Graduate student. She averages 8.8 points and 3.0 rebounds per game. Unfortunately for Kristina she will be playing against the best athlete on the floor in Aubrey Griffin. Aubrey is showing no signs of the injuries that plagued her last season. Aubrey is averaging a respectable 12.9 points and 7.2 rebounds per game. ADVANTAGE - UConn

Lou Lopez-Senechal vs Kelsey Ransom - Kelsey is one of Georgetown's most productive players. She is part of the 1-2 punch of her and Kennedy Faunteroy ..she averages 12.1 points, 6.6 rebounds, 3.6 assists ad 2.7 steals per game...she is a stat stuffer but, again she is overmatched against our graduate transfer Lou Lopez-Senechal. Lou averages 16.9 points, 3 rebounds, 3 three pointers and 1.5 assists per game...a stat stuffer in her own right. I would look for Lou to have a great game. ADVANTAGE - UCONN

Nika Muhl vs Kennedy Faunteroy - Kennedy is the second half of the Georgetown's dynamic-duo. She is one of Georgetown's best scorring options. She is a bit of a stat stuffer herself. Kennedy averages 11.6 points, 3.7 rebounds, 1.5 three pointers, 3 assists and definitely Georgetown's best theif with 2 .4 steals per game. Kennedy is just a good overall basketball player on both sides of the ball. Her match-up with the pesty Nika Muhl should be fun to watch as they are similar players. Kennedy at 5'7" gives up some height to the 5'10" Nika Muhl. Nika does a little of everything for UConn. She averages 6.5 points, 3.9 rebounds, 1.0 three pointers, 1.5 steals and a monstrous 9.0 assists per game. She will make it difficult for Kennedy to do what she is used to doing. ADVANTAGE - UCONN

Bench - Well with Azzi Fudd back and Amari and Ines coming off the bench with 24 points and 5 rebounds it should be enough for UConn's bench to be more productive than Georgetown's bench which will bring 16 points and 11 rebounds. With this game potentially being a lopsided victory it might be that UConn's bench will see more minutes and thus be even more productive. Geno has a busy schedule over the next 2 weeks and he will be looking to rest his starters if possible. ADVANTAGE UCONN

Intangibles - With the game being in Hartford it will have a home type atmosphere. UConn's players have had some extended rest which bodes well for healing injuries. ADVANTAGE UCONN

Coaching - Georgetown's Coach James Howard does not have the resume or the pedigree that Geno has. Howard's top assistant Reid Geckeler has a somewhat impressive coaching resume but it is nowhere near what you get with Chris Daley, Morgan Valley and Jamelle Elliott...nope not even close
ADVANTAGE UCONN

UConn - 95
Georgetown - 51

MOV - 44

 

[Bone Dog]

Thanks again, @cferraro04 ! The only thing I would add is that one of their rotation players, Brianna Scott, is the daughter of Kristy Winters Scott, and is a family friend of Azzi's. I hope she gets some playing time.

Kelsey Ransom and Graceann Bennett have been the core of the Hoyas' team for a couple years now. Ransom is a feisty, indomitable guard with a lot of skills. Not enough to affect the outcome, I expect, but she is fun to watch.

 

[HopJim]

Aubrey's scoring has gone down the past few games due to UConn playing quicker teams able to get back on defense and slow her fast breaks. Also has reduced Muhl's assists. Hoya's do not have speed or quickness to guard Aubrey so predict big games for both her and Nika.

 

[cferraro04]

While I will agree that when UConn plays teams that get back on defense faster and those teams that pack the middle it will impact Aubrey's ability to score. however, I think when more offensive options become available for UConn you will see Muhl's assist numbers increase. When UConn's three pointers made increases from 5-6 to 9-10 that would account for 3-4 more assists.

 

[Bone Dog]

I think there’s actually a trade off going on with how teams respond to our transition game. If they want to stop Aubrey on run-outs, they can’t compete for offensive rebounds. That means a lot of “one and done” sets for them — either they make their first shot or they don’t. If they want to contend for O boards, they are likely to score more in their half court sets, but they’ll give up some run-outs to Nika and Aubrey. It’s a pick your poison situation.

In conference, since few teams can rebound with us anyway, stopping the transition offense is a likely priority for them. In the tournament, we’ll face teams who can rebound at least as well as we do. Then the calculation concerning how to stop our transition game will change again. I suspect we won’t get very many run-outs in March and April, so our half court offense has to run efficiently.

Of course, we’ll still get some run-outs on steals, especially around mid court , and Nika Aubrey and Azzi are especially good at this even one-on-one. Last year, Evina was the other person who got a lot of steals at the top of the key and near mid court.

 

[Carnac]

Today will be an excellent opportunity for the team to work on some things Geno wants to address and get done.

 

[Hist-teacher]

I have a feeling that Azzi is gonna go OFF today! Also, hopefully an opportunity to give LLS and Nika a little rest.