Kudos to MD. They played really aggressive D tonite.

[Olde Coach]

MD has a long history of limited commitments to defensive play.

Tonight they came to play an obviously stronger team; but they played 40 minutes of really determined defense. I was impressed by their effort and skills.

 

[UcMiami]

MD has a long history of limited commitments to defensive play.

Tonight they came to play an obviously stronger team; but they played 40 minutes of really determined defense. I was impressed by their effort and skills.

Yes - I was surprised and impressed - good ball pressure and contended most shots. If they play like that all year they will survive all the ACLs. And the freshman point was pretty good.
I thought the refs allowed a lot of lower body contact in the paint - lots of moving people while they were in the air on rebounds and shots.

 

[HuskyNan]

The elbow shots as the players were running down the court helped, too.

 

[wbfree]

MD has a long history of limited commitments to defensive play.

Tonight they came to play an obviously stronger team; but they played 40 minutes of really determined defense. I was impressed by their effort and skills.

I agree. Great defense all around. I got patted down upon entering the XL center. Really annoyed me. Marisa was wearing a Elizabethan Collar around her waist, I guess to defend her posterior, Shea was flexing her biceps, and Kelley was super women.

 

[uconnfan68]

MD has a long history of limited commitments to defensive play.

Tonight they came to play an obviously stronger team; but they played 40 minutes of really determined defense. I was impressed by their effort and skills.

Agree, big props to Maryland. They looked bigger, faster, and tougher than we did. Played a little too fast sometimes, but didn't seem to run out of gas at the end either.

Also showed Geno a whole slew of things we need to work on over the course of this season. This game will be on the film reel for a long while. Rebounding to start with.

 

[CTGirl15]

I was at the game. Maryland played better than I expected, but I have to say that the game never really felt as close as the score showed. Maryland played tough defense and disrupted the offense, but the offense never really seemed to click from the start.

It was also a very physical game, and I am not sure how much of that translated on TV. Even Kelly was showing frustration later in the game with how physical it was. I think this falls on the referees; they let a lot go in the first half (on both sides) and then tried a little too late in the second half to try and rein it in.

Also, Stef Dolson is absolutely the vocal leader of this team. That was very obvious during this game; she was directing traffic and demanding the ball. And she was getting beat up in the paint today, but she never stopped battling and controlling. She had a great game, second only to Kelly and her monster game.

 

[iri10]

Agree, big props to Maryland. They looked bigger, faster, and tougher than we did. Played a little too fast sometimes, but didn't seem to run out of gas at the end either.

Also showed Geno a whole slew of things we need to work on over the course of this season. This game will be on the film reel for a long while. Rebounding to start with.

I didn't think their rebounding effort was all that bad today. They were outrebounded by Maryland 39-35 (15-14 off.). This sounds a bit poor, but for the games prior to this one, Maryland had outrebounded their opponents by an average of 48 to 26 - it was the number 1 rebound margin in the country.

We made their rebounding prowess look a bit more ordinary today.

 

[uconnfan68]

I was at the game. Maryland played better than I expected, but I have to say that the game never really felt as close as the score showed. Maryland played tough defense and disrupted the offense, but the offense never really seemed to click from the start.

It was also a very physical game, and I am not sure how much of that translated on TV. Even Kelly was showing frustration later in the game with how physical it was. I think this falls on the referees; they let a lot go in the first half (on both sides) and then tried a little too late in the second half to try and rein it in.

Also, Stef Dolson is absolutely the vocal leader of this team. That was very obvious during this game; she was directing traffic and demanding the ball. And she was getting beat up in the paint today, but she never stopped battling and controlling. She had a great game, second only to Kelly and her monster game.

Yes, it was very physical, and very little seemed to be called. I could see the frustration on our faces over some of those non-calls. I'm sure Geno will drill it home about competing anyway.

 

[speedoo]

The Terps played excellent defense, which did not totally surprise me because they have picked it up defensively in recent years.

I thought UConn could have gone back door against them, but for whatever reason, that did not happen. We did dribble drive against them pretty well, especially Bria late in the game.

 

[Icebear]

I said early in the game that MD was exhibiting a commitment to defense not seen before. They maintained that effort throughout the game. A huge step up for them. Maybe they are realizing the ACC is going to be a battle.

 

[meyers7]

I was at the game. Maryland played better than I expected, but I have to say that the game never really felt as close as the score showed. Maryland played tough defense and disrupted the offense, but the offense never really seemed to click from the start.

It was also a very physical game, and I am not sure how much of that translated on TV. Even Kelly was showing frustration later in the game with how physical it was. I think this falls on the referees; they let a lot go in the first half (on both sides) and then tried a little too late in the second half to try and rein it in.

Also, Stef Dolson is absolutely the vocal leader of this team. That was very obvious during this game; she was directing traffic and demanding the ball. And she was getting beat up in the paint today, but she never stopped battling and controlling. She had a great game, second only to Kelly and her monster game.

Very good synopsis of what I saw.

 

[UConnCat]

Also showed Geno a whole slew of things we need to work on over the course of this season. This game will be on the film reel for a long while. .

Geno's quote from last night on how the team responded to the physical play:

“From a coach’s standpoint you kind of know who your tough guys are and you know the guys who are going to be affected by it. It was good for them to see it. The coaching staff, we know who’s going to do what when the punches start flying and we want the other guys to step up and be like that. We have it on film now so they can see it for themselves; it came at a great time this kind of game, at a great time for us.”