Live and Die by the Jumpshot

[Tonyc]

The game IMO was lost early in the first half when Caroline who establishes tempo and poise left the game hurt and when Dolsen and KML got 2 early fouls. KML also went to the bench. Those were big blows to UConn. I heard many fans say UConn looked off, or UConn looked out of sync or UConn looked lost. Hello that is Carolines job and thats why she starts. Carolines presence to start the game gets us going as a team and her leadership is invaluable.

Yesterday we didnt get the ball underneath. Stef and Stewie both had height advantages and we couldve lived at the line. The press killed us as ND threw over it and many times made layups. Why did ND make layups well in the first half Stef had 2 fouls and to start the second half she picked up and early 3rd foul. Pretty much took her defense away. If Kiah was healthly to play she might have been able to stop those layups. We had a height advantage and didnt use it to our advantage.

Another note to look at. How many treys did KML make after she got hurt? I think none. ND exposed our weaknesses. With 3 chances in the last few seconds of the game we couldnt hit a shot either. This is a learning experience and if we learn from it we will be really good and if we dont we wont win a NC.

As good as this UConn team is we lived by the jumpshot yesterday . Our guards did not penetrate enough and we failed to get the ball inside to Stef and Stewie. We settled for what ND wanted us to settle for and we didnt imo show enough patience and not enough plays to get the ball inside. With our height advantage we wouldve had a better shooting percentage and got to the line alot more. We beat ND in almost every catagory in the stat sheet except rebounds. Hey how important was Brias foot on the line at the end of the first half when they changed the 3 to a 2?

One last thing. How important is it now looking at Tuck and Jefferson sitting out so many games recently due to injury and virus. Our freshman were clearly not ready due to not playing. I think we will see a different group that will be ready the next time. Also Stokes will be back. We missed her big time imo yesterday.

I am looking forward to the game at ND to end the season and the BE tourney. We will see ND again and I believe the next time our bigs will play big.

 

[VAUConnFan]

UConn also outrebounded Notre Dame, Tony. Statistically, UConn won yesterday's game. Just goes to show...

 

[JoePgh]

Tony, honestly I don't care for most of your posts because I find them predictable and Pollyanna-ish. But the one above is an exception -- I think your diagnosis of the game is right on target.

The most important thing to be said about the game was that it was a wonderful advertisement for women's basketball for all the casual fans who hopefully saw it on CBS. Two very good teams were generally playing very well, with runs for both teams and excitement from start to finish. The winner of the game was almost randomly determined, although it is less random when one reflects that yesterday's winner has won 5 of 6, including 2 that went to overtime plus yesterday's nailbiter.

After viewing the replay, I think the causes of UConn's loss, in order of importance, are the following:

1. KML played only 26 minutes, mostly because of fouls rather than because of her ankle. I'm sure the ankle was a contributing factor in her missing both of the 3-pointers in the last two minutes, however. If she had been able to play over 35 minutes as Stef and Kelly did, UConn probably would have won.

2. UConn took way too many 3-point shots -- 23 of their 71 shots were 3-pointers, as were 18 of their 43 misses. That is probably the main reason for the fact that ND shot many more free throws despite the foul count being nearly the same for both teams. This has been an issue in a number of games this year, including blowout games. It needs attention going forward.

3. Breanna Stewart made some big contributions in the second half, but she did also make some big freshman mistakes. The root cause of this is Kiah's injury, which made it necessary for her to play so much. If Kiah had been healthy and had been able to contribute 18-20 minutes to the game, it would have given UConn a decisive advantage on the boards and probably would have produced a victory. Kiah would not have been moved from her position in the paint by any level of physical play that ND was going to bring.

4. ND's freshmen (Loyd and Mabrey), while less talented than UConn's, were more poised -- which is surprising in view of the hostility of the crowd. Mabrey's shooting in a game of this magnitude was amazing -- she deserves a ton of credit for that, and without it her team would surely have lost.

A somewhat unrelated observation -- I'm not sure what is going on lately with Brianna Banks, or with Geno's evaluation of her play. In the last three games, I haven't seen her make any big mistakes (that were apparent to me), but her minutes have clearly been limited. Obviously Geno sees something that he doesn't like with her decision-making or her execution. If she had played at the same level that she did against Maryland or Penn State, the outcome would have been different.

Finally, regarding the refs, after viewing the replay I must agree with the majority of those on this board -- the refs had absolutely nothing to do with the outcome of the game. They did permit quite a bit of physical play, and if anything UConn benefited more than ND from their forebearance in blowing their whistles. KML's fouls in the first half, which probably determined the outcome of the game, were real and were her own darn fault.

 

[UConn990411]

UConn had the lead in the final minute - it definitely was not lost early in the 1st half. Sometimes you need to be able to grind out wins against tough opponents - this team has shown an inability to do so since Maya left.

I understood living and dying by the jumpshot the last two years. But it's a stupid philosophy when you have Stefanie Dolson and Breanna Stewart (and, to a lesser extent, Morgan Tuck and KML).

This team needs to find a way to get easy shots in halfcourt sets against good teams. So far, they've struggled mightily against Notre Dame, Stanford, Maryland and Penn State ... and it's only going to be significantly tougher against Baylor.

 

[Jonathan Husky]

Tony, honestly I don't care for most of your posts because I find them predictable and Pollyanna-ish. But the one above is an exception -- I think your diagnosis of the game is right on target.

The most important thing to be said about the game was that it was a wonderful advertisement for women's basketball for all the casual fans who hopefully saw it on CBS. Two very good teams were generally playing very well, with runs for both teams and excitement from start to finish. The winner of the game was almost randomly determined, although it is less random when one reflects that yesterday's winner has won 5 of 6, including 2 that went to overtime plus yesterday's nailbiter.

After viewing the replay, I think the causes of UConn's loss, in order of importance, are the following:

1. KML played only 26 minutes, mostly because of fouls rather than because of her ankle. I'm sure the ankle was a contributing factor in her missing both of the 3-pointers in the last two minutes, however. If she had been able to play over 35 minutes as Stef and Kelly did, UConn probably would have won.

2. UConn took way too many 3-point shots -- 23 of their 71 shots were 3-pointers, as were 18 of their 43 misses. That is probably the main reason for the fact that ND shot many more free throws despite the foul count being nearly the same for both teams. This has been an issue in a number of games this year, including blowout games. It needs attention going forward.

3. Breanna Stewart made some big contributions in the second half, but she did also make some big freshman mistakes. The root cause of this is Kiah's injury, which made it necessary for her to play so much. If Kiah had been healthy and had been able to contribute 18-20 minutes to the game, it would have given UConn a decisive advantage on the boards and probably would have produced a victory. Kiah would not have been moved from her position in the paint by any level of physical play that ND was going to bring.

4. ND's freshmen (Loyd and Mabrey), while less talented than UConn's, were more poised -- which is surprising in view of the hostility of the crowd. Mabrey's shooting in a game of this magnitude was amazing -- she deserves a ton of credit for that, and without it her team would surely have lost.

A somewhat unrelated observation -- I'm not sure what is going on lately with Brianna Banks, or with Geno's evaluation of her play. In the last three games, I haven't seen her make any big mistakes (that were apparent to me), but her minutes have clearly been limited. Obviously Geno sees something that he doesn't like with her decision-making or her execution. If she had played at the same level that she did against Maryland or Penn State, the outcome would have been different.

Finally, regarding the refs, after viewing the replay I must agree with the majority of those on this board -- the refs had absolutely nothing to do with the outcome of the game. They did permit quite a bit of physical play, and if anything UConn benefited more than ND from their forebearance in blowing their whistles. KML's fouls in the first half, which probably determined the outcome of the game, were real and were her own darn fault.

You forgot that Bria had a very weak game at point guard which is one of the major reasons for the loss

 

[Icebear]

Joe, UCONN took less than the 1/3 of shots as 3s that Geno has previous mentioned as acceptable. It is hard to call that "way more."

I'll attribute the poor shooting on 3s to the frenetic pace of play. That tends to change the natural rhythm of shooters even when the shots are good shots. Many of our misses came on decent quality shots.

 

[Shenandoah]

I agree that we needed to pound the ball inside more than we did. It's difficult to do that, though, when your 6'5" Post is at the high post, and looking to jack up 3's, for most of the game.

 

[meyers7]

I agree that we needed to pound the ball inside more than we did. It's difficult to do that, though, when your 6'5" Post is at the high post, and looking to jack up 3's, for most of the game.

Oh boy.

Our 6-5 post who was at the high post handing out assists (6)? Who took and made 1 (count it 1) 3 pt shot? The 6-5 post who led the team in scoring?

Sometimes things on this board are so ridiculous, and you want to point it out, but you won't want to be mean, but damn.

 

[Shenandoah]

Oh boy.

Our 6-5 post who was at the high post handing out assists (6)? Who took and made 1 (count it 1) 3 pt shot? The 6-5 post who led the team in scoring?

Sometimes things on this board are so ridiculous, and you want to point it out, but you won't want to be mean, but damn.

UConn has the 2nd best post in the country. She has a 2 inch height, and a strength advantage over ND's post. I don't care if she handed out 26 assists, SD had a decided advantage over ND that we didn't exploit. I stand by my comment, regardless of your vast intellectual superiority...

 

[meyers7]

I stand by my comment, regardless of your vast intellectual superiority...

I would expect nothing less from you.

 

[easttexastrash]

Oh boy.

Our 6-5 post who was at the high post handing out assists (6)? Who took and made 1 (count it 1) 3 pt shot? The 6-5 post who led the team in scoring?

Sometimes things on this board are so ridiculous, and you want to point it out, but you won't want to be mean, but damn.

Dolson had nice numbers but that doesn't mean that she couldn't have had better numbers. Dolson and Stewart, like Griner, had a big advantage over ND in the paint and that match-up was under utilized, IMO. I doubt that you will see UCONN take 23 three pointers in the next matchup with ND. Baylor took only 8 three pointers in their win over ND (thank goodness because they only shot 12%) and that is the way to beat ND, with a very strong inside presence. I think their group of guards are better than those of both UCONN and Baylor.

It will be very interesting to see how UCONN attacks Duke. I think that UCONN has a little bit of an identity crisis at this point and Geno will decide what he thinks his bread and butter is.

 

[meyers7]

Dolson had nice numbers but that doesn't mean that she couldn't have had better numbers. Dolson and Stewart, like Griner, had a big advantage over ND in the paint and that match-up was under utilized, IMO.

Well UCONN avg 23 3pt shots a game, and they took 23 vs ND. So that's pretty much how UCONN plays.

I doubt that you will see UCONN take 23 three pointers in the next matchup with ND.

I don't know if UCONN will change a lot from what they have been doing so far. Maybe they will.

UCONN had plenty of open looks, they just didn't hit them as they normally do.