Game Analysis - UConn vs St. Johns (Game 2)

[cferraro04]

I will be doing two analysis today...one for the St. Johns game and one for the DePaul game. I will be going to Colorado to visit my youngest son and will not always have access to the internet. I will start by saying that given the injury situation at UConn to be 24 and 4 is truly quite remarkable. I wonder how any other team in WCBB would fare if they had their top 2 players on the bench and a whole slew of others coming in and out of the IR list on a weekly basis?

Well, we did beat St. Johns by 30 the first go around. But, what might be different? Well, for starters we had 20 minutes, 14 points, and 2 threes from Azzi Fudd...this time we don't. We did not have Caroline Ducharme or Ayanna Patterson available to play. St. John had only lost 2 games when we first met...but, since then they have gone 5 and 5. St. Johns starts Jayla Everette - 5'10"; Kadaja Bailey - 6'0"; Jillian Archer - 6'2"; Rayven Peoples - 6'3" and Mimi Reid - 5'8"...another 3 guard line-up, however they are a very experienced team starting 3 red-shirt seniors and 2 graduate students. Don't expect them to get rattled. Their experience is the reason they only turn the ball over 13 times per game. St. John's problem is that they are undersized and relative to UConn they don't match-up well talent wise.

Aaliyah Edwards vs Jillian Archer - Jillian is a solid player averaging 7.9 points and 8.1 rebounds per game. She is not much of a three point shooter so Aaliyah will not have to worry about playing her too much on the perimeter. Aaliyah has sort of been in a funk since the South Carolina game...I expect her to pull out of it and have a pretty good game...she did score 15 against St. John's in game one. ADVANTAGE - UCONN

Dorka Juhasz vs Rayven Peoples - Rayven is another solid role player and is fairly consistent averaging 5.8 points and 8.6 rebounds per game. She has had games where she has gotten double figure rebounds, she got 11 against us in game one. She doesn't shoot the three often so Dorka will not need to chase her around the perimeter. Daniel is a pretty good defender and averages 1.4 blocks per game. Dorka has been very consistent and is playing her best basketball. She is our only player who averages a double / double. ADVANTAGE - UCONN

Aubrey Griffin vs Kadaja Bailey - Kadaja is St. Johns' second most productive player averaging 13.1 points and 4.4 rebounds per game. She also pitches in with 2.9 assists per game. She is a big guard at 6'0". Kadaja was St. Johns' highest scorer in our first match-up as she went for 17 points. However, she is somewhat turnover prone so look for Aubrey to take advantage of that and maybe pick off some steals. Aubrey is a solid stat stuffer and should dominate at this position. ADVANTAGE - UCONN

Lou Lopez-Senechal vs Mimi Reid - Let me start out by saying that I am so glad that Lou transferred to UConn for her final year of eligibility...without Lou I don't know where we would be this season. It is too bad that we will not get to see Lou and Paige playing together. Mimi is playing her best basketball of the season...but, then again so is Lou...Lou and Aaliyah are tied for first place in points per game at 16.3. Lou leads the team in made threes and her constant motion without the basketball often gets her free for a slashing / cutting lay-up. She is capable of taking players off the dribble and stopping on a dime for a pull-up jumper. ADVANTAGE - UCONN

Nika Muhl vs Jayla Everette - My wish for this game is for Nika to not be a "0fer" in the points per game category. We need her to take shots and make shots in order to keep the defense honest. Jayla is St. Johns' best 3 point shooter. Nika will need to stay close to her on the perimeter. Nika's ferocity as a defensive player will need to be under control and she needs to stay out of foul trouble as our bench is very short and we really don't have anyone who matches Nika's skill set. Nothing in this game should derail Nika's ability to show the viewers why she is leading the nation in assists per game. ADVANTAGE - UCONN

Bench - It is somewhat comforting knowing that we have Caroline Ducharme coming off the bench. Last game DeBerry and Bettencourt did not contribute much to the stat line...and only played a combined 4 minutes. On the other hand, St. Johns' had 16 points off the bench with Danielle Patterson scoring 10 points... Having Caroline this time around should help out a lot. ADVANTAGE - EVEN

Intangibles - We will be playing at our home away from home the XL Center in Hartford...I expect the home crowd to be out in force for the 7 pm game. ADVANTAGE - UCONN

Coaching - Geno and staff got this... ADVANTAGE - UCONN


UConn - 85
St. Johns - 57

MOV - 28

 

[Bama fan]

I will be doing two analysis today...one for the St. Johns game and one for the DePaul game. I will be going to Colorado to visit my youngest son and will not always have access to the internet. I will start by saying that given the injury situation at UConn to be 24 and 4 is truly quite remarkable. I wonder how any other team in WCBB would fare if they had their top 2 players on the bench and a whole slew of others coming in and out of the IR list on a weekly basis?

Well, we did beat St. Johns by 30 the first go around. But, what might be different? Well, for starters we had 20 minutes, 14 points, and 2 threes from Azzi Fudd...this time we don't. We did not have Caroline Ducharme or Ayanna Patterson available to play. St. John had only lost 2 games when we first met...but, since then they have gone 5 and 5. St. Johns starts Jayla Everette - 5'10"; Kadaja Bailey - 6'0"; Jillian Archer - 6'2"; Rayven Peoples - 6'3" and Mimi Reid - 5'8"...another 3 guard line-up, however they are a very experienced team starting 3 red-shirt seniors and 2 graduate students. Don't expect them to get rattled. Their experience is the reason they only turn the ball over 13 times per game. St. John's problem is that they are undersized and relative to UConn they don't match-up well talent wise.

Aaliyah Edwards vs Jillian Archer - Jillian is a solid player averaging 7.9 points and 8.1 rebounds per game. She is not much of a three point shooter so Aaliyah will not have to worry about playing her too much on the perimeter. Aaliyah has sort of been in a funk since the South Carolina game...I expect her to pull out of it and have a pretty good game...she did score 15 against St. John's in game one. ADVANTAGE - UCONN

Dorka Juhasz vs Rayven Peoples - Rayven is another solid role player and is fairly consistent averaging 5.8 points and 8.6 rebounds per game. She has had games where she has gotten double figure rebounds, she got 11 against us in game one. She doesn't shoot the three often so Dorka will not need to chase her around the perimeter. Daniel is a pretty good defender and averages 1.4 blocks per game. Dorka has been very consistent and is playing her best basketball. She is our only player who averages a double / double. ADVANTAGE - UCONN

Aubrey Griffin vs Kadaja Bailey - Kadaja is St. Johns' second most productive player averaging 13.1 points and 4.4 rebounds per game. She also pitches in with 2.9 assists per game. She is a big guard at 6'0". Kadaja was St. Johns' highest scorer in our first match-up as she went for 17 points. However, she is somewhat turnover prone so look for Aubrey to take advantage of that and maybe pick off some steals. Aubrey is a solid stat stuffer and should dominate at this position. ADVANTAGE - UCONN

Lou Lopez-Senechal vs Mimi Reid - Let me start out by saying that I am so glad that Lou transferred to UConn for her final year of eligibility...without Lou I don't know where we would be this season. It is too bad that we will not get to see Lou and Paige playing together. Mimi is playing her best basketball of the season...but, then again so is Lou...Lou and Aaliyah are tied for first place in points per game at 16.3. Lou leads the team in made threes and her constant motion without the basketball often gets her free for a slashing / cutting lay-up. She is capable of taking players off the dribble and stopping on a dime for a pull-up jumper. ADVANTAGE - UCONN

Nika Muhl vs Jayla Everette - My wish for this game is for Nika to not be a "0fer" in the points per game category. We need her to take shots and make shots in order to keep the defense honest. Jayla is St. Johns' best 3 point shooter. Nika will need to stay close to her on the perimeter. Nika's ferocity as a defensive player will need to be under control and she needs to stay out of foul trouble as our bench is very short and we really don't have anyone who matches Nika's skill set. Nothing in this game should derail Nika's ability to show the viewers why she is leading the nation in assists per game. ADVANTAGE - UCONN

Bench - It is somewhat comforting knowing that we have Caroline Ducharme coming off the bench. Last game DeBerry and Bettencourt did not contribute much to the stat line...and only played a combined 4 minutes. On the other hand, St. Johns' had 16 points off the bench with Danielle Patterson scoring 10 points... Having Caroline this time around should help out a lot. ADVANTAGE - EVEN

Intangibles - We will be playing at our home away from home the XL Center in Hartford...I expect the home crowd to be out in force for the 7 pm game. ADVANTAGE - UCONN

Coaching - Geno and staff got this... ADVANTAGE - UCONN


UConn - 85
St. Johns - 57

MOV - 28

Have a good, safe trip!

 

[maple]

Thanks for the write-up! Safe travels and enjoy your time in Colorado.

 

[Bone Dog]

Thanks, Sensei!

 

[The deacon]

Enjoy your family visit, cferraro04, and be safe. Thanks for the extra effort to do two previews.

Just one note: to say Nika has fallen behind Caitlin in assists gives the wrong connotation, because she's still getting a lot of them... however, Clark has pulled ahead by a few, at least for the moment. With UConn facing St. John's, Depaul and Xavier in coming games and Iowa looking ahead to Maryland and Indiana, I'd expect Nika would be back in the lead again soon.

I'm looking forward to Tuesday's game, which will be the seventh and final one I'll see this season at the XL Center.

Cheers, cferraro04!

 

[YKCornelius]

Cferraro04, thanks for your thought-provoking analysis. I always look forward to your previews! Have a safe trip!

As far as the match-ups go, I think Nika will guard Mimi Reid, since Reid is the one who will be bringing the ball up the court; I'm thinking LLS will guard Bailey and AG will guard Everette when the Huskies are in man-to-man coverage.

What a topsy-turvy season it has been for the Red Storm. They started out strong in the first half of the season largely because they were an unknown commodity: an interesting blend of athletic, experienced players from the portal who loved to run and create havoc on offense. At first, teams had no idea what to make of them and really had no “scout” to plan to. Hence, what WBB saw was a bunch of quick, athletic portal players coming together and winning, albeit against a very weak non-conference schedule.

Narrowly defeating Creighton at home in early December caused some AP pollsters’ heads to turn since it was, after-all, a win against largely the same team that went to the Elite Eight last year. Hey everybody, isn’t this an example of how the portal could turn around a program? Well…not really. The home win against Creighton was the game that exposed them as team that doesn’t have any depth, and simply ran a NYC playground offense: setting screens and picks to create a favorable match-up that their athletes would try to exploit one-on-one.

That has been their identity throughout the entire season, and it is reflected in their stats and in their game results. Against under-sized teams (Xavier and DePaul) that chose to run with them, the Red Storm fared well. However, Big East teams with more deliberate offenses (like Marquette, Creighton and Villanova) made adjustments after their first games, and won decisively in round two.

St John’s isn’t a team that spreads the floor, nor works the ball in and out to find the open three (although they have a few players who will gladly shoot from behind the arc). They are athletes whose bread and butter is their ability to create their shots off the dribble. The Red Storm rely heavily on getting the ball to Bailey and Everette, and one of these two will usually end up shooting the ball when the clock is winding down. The key to limiting their offensive productivity centers on Everette, their leading scorer. She is very quick and long, and loves the ball in her hands. However, she HEAVILY favors going to her right, which makes her easier to guard even if the defender is slower than her.

I think the Huskies will defend St John’s even more effectively than they did in the first game. I am thinking UConn holds the Red Storm to under 50. I also think that The Red Storm’s style of play will allow for UConn to transition more which will result in a comfortable margin of victory. Finally, I see the bench playing more which will likely limit our offensive productivity, but save our legs for the track meet in Chicago on Saturday.

I’m going to go with UConn 71, St John’s 46. Go Huskies!

 

[JBK]

Cferraro04, thanks for your thought-provoking analysis. I always look forward to your previews! Have a safe trip!

As far as the match-ups go, I think Nika will guard Mimi Reid, since Reid is the one who will be bringing the ball up the court; I'm thinking LLS will guard Bailey and AG will guard Everette when the Huskies are in man-to-man coverage.

What a topsy-turvy season it has been for the Red Storm. They started out strong in the first half of the season largely because they were an unknown commodity: an interesting blend of athletic, experienced players from the portal who loved to run and create havoc on offense. At first, teams had no idea what to make of them and really had no “scout” to plan to. Hence, what WBB saw was a bunch of quick, athletic portal players coming together and winning, albeit against a very weak non-conference schedule.

Narrowly defeating Creighton at home in early December caused some AP pollsters’ heads to turn since it was, after-all, a win against largely the same team that went to the Elite Eight last year. Hey everybody, isn’t this an example of how the portal could turn around a program? Well…not really. The home win against Creighton was the game that exposed them as team that doesn’t have any depth, and simply ran a NYC playground offense: setting screens and picks to create a favorable match-up that their athletes would try to exploit one-on-one.

That has been their identity throughout the entire season, and it is reflected in their stats and in their game results. Against under-sized teams (Xavier and DePaul) that chose to run with them, the Red Storm fared well. However, Big East teams with more deliberate offenses (like Marquette, Creighton and Villanova) made adjustments after their first games, and won decisively in round two.

St John’s isn’t a team that spreads the floor, nor works the ball in and out to find the open three (although they have a few players who will gladly shoot from behind the arc). They are athletes whose bread and butter is their ability to create their shots off the dribble. The Red Storm rely heavily on getting the ball to Bailey and Everette, and one of these two will usually end up shooting the ball when the clock is winding down. The key to limiting their offensive productivity centers on Everette, their leading scorer. She is very quick and long, and loves the ball in her hands. However, she HEAVILY favors going to her right, which makes her easier to guard even if the defender is slower than her.

I think the Huskies will defend St John’s even more effectively than they did in the first game. I am thinking UConn holds the Red Storm to under 50. I also think that The Red Storm’s style of play will allow for UConn to transition more which will result in a comfortable margin of victory. Finally, I see the bench playing more which will likely limit our offensive productivity, but save our legs for the track meet in Chicago on Saturday.

I’m going to go with UConn 71, St John’s 46. Go Huskies!

Would love to see us get back into the 80 plus point total