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Mercer Postgame Thread

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4 Players in double figures and a very balanced scoring scorecard. This is huge moving forward. We werent as sharp as many thought we could be and we won big. This teams balance and with some really good clutch scorers we are gonna be a very tuff out. Our opponents cant afford foul trouble, our opponents dont have the guards we have or the height we have. We have a huge advantage there.
 
Overall, I was pleased. I thought the defense was really good--I don't believe we have ever thrown a shutout, in the regular season or post-season. But, Q3 was 20-0. The offense was rusty and affected by the Mercer defense. We had a couple of possessions with 4 missed layups each--painful! Generally speaking, I want Paige and Azzi handling the ball. Liv trying to thread a bounce pass to Liya through 3 defenders is not a winning play. I want to see Paige shooting a little more and Azzi shooting a lot more. We should be able to shoot 50% against a 2-seed, even one that defends well.
 
A note to everyone who's complaining about UConn's offense. Go back and watch the 2010 National Championship game against Stanford. In a game when UConn couldn't throw the ball in the ocean, the Huskies won perhaps the ugliest championship game in the history of WBB 53-47. Defense wins championships, and this UConn team is playing championship defense right now, something we really haven't seen since 2016.
 
Firstly, I have to give credit to Mercer for making UConn work harder than anticipated - they fought for rebounds against taller opponents and did well in the first half but the waves finally got to them.

Good rehearsal for the UConn defense, hope they continue to improve. Mixing in full court pressure was key, especially in the 3Q. It fed the offense.

Lots of work needs to be done in half-court offense and layups. Oh, accuracy from the stripe too.

Not enough practice for Azzi shooting.....to be fair, Mercer was quite aware of the deadly weapon quietly running around. On the other hand, Azzi should consider changing: less dribbling after she gets the ball and, if slightly open, shoot. Passing on too many chances to shoot.

Several of them actually did.

Maybe first game jitters was part of the story. But need to tidy up, including turnovers and too much dribbling by one after another on half-court offensive sets. This won't do for the regionals.....

Paige is not yet Paige but then her view of her role now has changed a bit: not the primary scorer, more the playmaker and buckle down on defense.....and take what comes with the flow on offense. When they get better coordinated, the team should function better of half-court offense.

Liked what I saw from Dorka, Caroline. Nika is Nika. Better slightly accident-prone Aaliyah when aggressive like this than not. Evina and Liv have to shoot better. Christyn determined to go out a champ.

Geno rehearsing his 1-2 weapon in Paige-Azzi right from the start. They have to learn to use the Azzi part of it more because they will need it later.
 
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MilfordHusky said:
Overall, I was pleased. I thought the defense was really good--I don't believe we have ever thrown a shutout, in the regular season or post-season. Gut, Q3 was 20-0. The offense was rusty and affected by the Mercer defense. We had a couple of possessions with 4 missed layups each--painful! Generally speaking, I want Paige and Azzi handling the ball. Liv trying to thread a bounce pass to Liya through 3 defenders is not a winning play. I want to see Paige shooting a little more and Azzi shooting a lot more. We should be able to shoot 50% against a 2-seed, even one that defends well.
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Shut out cincy in the 2nd quarter of the big east tourney in Jamelles last year
 
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Initial thoughts: I didn't like how the first unit looked together. With two bigs it sort of reminded me of the offense to start the year vs sc. Not fluid, slow, dependent on PB to get open off back cuts while bigs have it at the high post. However, besides that everyone did what I expect them to do. Sure I'd like Azzi to get more shots, and ONO, Dorka, and CW could've been a lot more efficient but I didn't really think they played poorly, just missed some easy looks. I thought they played a lot better defense in the second half especially Paige. She looked lost a bit and I thought Mercer missed open looks in the first half, the second half was a lot different.
 
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oldude said:
I would really love to see UConn run more plays for Azzi to allow everyone to see a lot more of that flawless 3-pt shooting stroke of hers. Azzi took and made all 3 of her shots behind the arc.
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I completely agree, Oldude--UConn did a very poor job of getting the ball to Azzi, several times she was open, but Liv failed to see her and seemed more interested in jacking up several long twos, unsuccessfully, I might add.. And CW trying to dribble the air out the ball, failed to move the ball around the perimeter. The same with Caroline when she was open...
 
"Caroline - same for her. 2-6 from 3 - just stop with the shooting. "

I agree with most of your comments but there's possibly going to come an important moment in one of these games when Ducharme will be called upon to make a three-point shot.........the only way she's getting her confidence back on that shot is to just keep on shooting......
 
I understand the rust after 10 day bust as big as they won, I really don't think they played well. I was hoping to see most of what was seen during the BET. Hey, A Win is a Win!!! Monday should be better, more fluid and hopefully more dominating!!!
 
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I don't know how we shot 44.8%. It seems like on several possessions we missed not just a bunny, but3 to 5 bunnies in a row, and the only reason it stopped was the refs mercifully called a foul. I guess they could not stand to watch it continue. I assume on all those, every miss counts as a miss, unless they happen so fast the official scorer can't keep up. Maybe he tells the refs to call a foul and stop it.
 
mattlow710 said:
please go and see SC first round fg%
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Considering I specifically commented on that game on the women's board I'm pretty sure I'm aware what SC did. And it's utterly irrelevant. SC's offense isn't good either. But when you allow 10 points in three quarters and out-rebound your opponent by 40 it doesn't have to be.
 
Ralph said:
I don't know how we shot 44.8%. It seems like on several possessions we missed not just a bunny, but3 to 5 bunnies in a row, and the only reason it stopped was the refs mercifully called a foul. I guess they could not stand to watch it continue. I assume on all those, every miss counts as a miss, unless they happen so fast the official scorer can't keep up. Maybe he tells the refs to call a foul and stop it.
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Yeah but they padded their Offensive rebounds. ;)
 
EricLA said:
I have to disagree with folks who say "all that matters is the win". This is not a team who has played together for the entire season. The whole team has only been back and healthy for a few weeks. So every game is a chance for the team to get better chemistry, re-acclimate Paige, figure out which lineups work best, and build for a NC run.

Yeah you can't advance if you don't win, but "style" points matter. What is the team doing? What combinations work best? How are they doing it? Who is playing/shooting well? Who is effective on the floor? Etc.

Too much settling IMHO for post player jumpers. Not enough using our height advantage in the post. Tons of credit to Mercer for playing hard the entire game and collapsing in the post almost every time the ball went in there. And the FT shooting was way off. 58% with Evina going 1-4 from the charity stripe.
  • Paige actually looked great. Took the right shots, had a nice stat line, was efficient and effective.
  • Azzi - very few shots. but hit most of them. And continues to play solid defense as well.
  • Christyn - leading scorer but her offense was just not good. She needs to stop with the 3-point barrage. But her defense was tremendous.
  • Caroline - same for her. 2-6 from 3 - just stop with the shooting. The team shot 45% from 3 and Christyn and Caroline were a combined 4-14
  • Dorka with a double double. How about them apples?!!
  • Overall our post play was solid. Liv and Aaliyah had some nice moments.
  • Nika was Nika.
  • Quiet game from Evina.
The 3rd quarter had tremendous defense. Holding a team to 0 points in a quarter is spectacular. Bottom line it was a 45 point win, but not the kind of dominating performance that screams "This team is ready to win a NC"...
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You must be a perfectionist. UConn can always do better, but they are human. So is South Carolina. Not that it means much, but if you compare what South Carolina did against a way more outmatched opponent, versus UConn's performance today, it may put things in perspective. 79 points on 79 shot attempts. Yikes. I thought the rule book says 2 points for a made basket, lol.

South Carolina vs Howard

UConn vs Mercer
 
oldude said:
A note to everyone who's complaining about UConn's offense. Go back and watch the 2010 National Championship game against Stanford. In a game when UConn couldn't throw the ball in the ocean, the Huskies won perhaps the ugliest championship game in the history of WBB 53-47. Defense wins championships, and this UConn team is playing championship defense right now, something we really haven't seen since 2016.
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You still have to score to win....so offense to make sure you do score more than the opponent is mandatory. This cliche is overused because it is not the only thing you need to win the NC.

A good offensive performance to go along with good defense ensures the win and makes the game more memorable......like all the four straight won by Stewie, MoJeff and Morgan. When that happens, the game crosses the threshold to art.....a beautiful game.
 
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HuskyNan said:
I get exasperated with people picking apart a 45 point win
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Its simple, this is not just any basketball team, this is UConn. We don't practice until we get it right, we practice until we cannot get it wrong. We are totally spoiled, but that is what we expect. I think we can easy go and root for a player who is not that good, like the bench going wild for a walk-on's 3 pointer at the the very end of the championship game. But for most of our players, they are really really talented and we expect them to do it all better. They expect if of themselves also. A win is ok for the national championship game. For every other game, playing really well is part of getting better for the next game. Playing just ok and winning is not ok.
 
Charliebball said:
"Caroline - same for her. 2-6 from 3 - just stop with the shooting. "

I agree with most of your comments but there's possibly going to come an important moment in one of these games when Ducharme will be called upon to make a three-point shot.........the only way she's getting her confidence back on that shot is to just keep on shooting......
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since her injury she was struggling with 3s. It was good to see her make a couple. As you say she needs to keep shooting
 
ScottCT said:
Of course the offense isn't going to be perfect they haven't played in 2 weeks. You people are never happy. They can go 100 percent from the floor and make every free throw and have zero turnovers and y'all will still complain.
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It's not complain, it's a review of which areas need to be improved. SIMPLE : Cut down mental mistakes of miss FT and miss bunny !
 
Geno and his staff have a lot of thinking to do after he starts to sub..who plays well with whom..Forget Dorka's double /double to day she's been playing really well for awhile now..they didn't shoot particuarly well but they are the 2nd ranked offense behind Iowa as far as shooting percentage so I don't worry about that especially when the defense is playing that well.It really does seem like everyone has bought into playing defense..with Paige and Nika up high it gives the other team fits..The first quarter it seemed like Azzi passed up a few shots..the way she shoots she should take a lot more..even when she's covered on the 3 point line I'd like to see her drive and shoot that pull up jumper in the lane which is just deadly.
All in all it was a fun game to watch with the different combinations out there and everyone playing hard
 
BlueSkyGLW said:
You still have to score to win....so offense to make sure you do score more than the opponent is mandatory. This cliche is overused because it is not the only thing you need to win the NC.

A good offensive performance to go along with good defense ensures the win and makes the game more memorable......like all the four straight won by Stewie, MoJeff and Morgan.
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If UConn scores a minimum of 83 pts in ever game they play during the tournament, as they did today, the Huskies will win the national championship.
 
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