ND Postgame Thread | Page 4 | The Boneyard

ND Postgame Thread

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Kaizen said:
Anyone knows why Caroline played only 13 mins? Is she not fully recovered yet?
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Again, Caroline is really out of shape and has a lot of work to do in the gym to get back in shape before she will provide any meaningful help for this team. Just was her she is really struggling to get up and down the court. She just needs to put the work in to get into game shape.
 
Bad day for ranked teams, as Maryland, Creighton, and Marquette have also lost so far. Louisville is down late in the first half. I guess Virginia Tech over Tennessee isn't an upset, as VT is ranked and Tennessee is not. Usually Connecticut can avoid the upset bug on days like today, but not this time. Also broke a decent winning streak in Jimmy V games.

Another odd thing which I don't think is normal: the telecast was running several minutes behind real time: when I checked the ESPN box score when it went to commercial, with Connecticut ahead 11-9 on the telecast, Notre Dame was ahead something like 18-13. Before the halftime show ended on ABC, they were at about 8:30 of the 3rd quarter in reality after Connecticut made a small run.
 
jaydee602 said:
LOL.,,.How about when Aubrey went up to block a shot & annihilated the shooter because of a pump fake. It's part of the game with two ultimate competitive teams.
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If you watch the replay, the ND player had lost the ball and run underneath Aubrey. There was no place for Aubrey to come down. Not saying it wasnt a foul but not all Aubrey's fault.
 
oldude said:
Some thoughts on the ND game:
  • A big game on the biggest stage, ND in front of a packed house in South Bend along with a national tv audience. Geno acknowledged yesterday that he would learn a lot about his team by how they responded to this environment.
  • The last time UConn won at Purcell was 2018 when freshman Christyn Williams went off for 28pts. Since that victory, not a single current Husky has played a game in South Bend.
  • Clearly, the Huskies were not up to the challenge today. Miles was outstanding with her ability to attack the basket and run the offense, and the rest of the ND lineup chipped in.
  • In the 2nd half, with Azzi out, UConn went with their best defensive 5, subbing Ayanna for Azzi, and that started to turn the tide somewhat.
  • With that said, UConn struggled to score without Azzi on the court.
  • I would love to believe that Amari could drop shots from the arc when it really matters. Time will tell.
  • The good news is that it’s the first week of December. Plenty of time for UConn to fix things and get everyone healthy.
  • Time to lick our wounds and get ready for Princeton.
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MY take on the beatdown, and after watching many reuns of Irish defeats to us, I could see their relish at this debacle. However, that's no excuse to go after Nika, not unlike undercutting our bigs during one of their championship losses.
During this year's winning streak, Awbrey hasn't been called on to be our critical outside shooter. She's made a few, but her focus has been slashing to the rim, leading the fast break, and harassing their shooters. She has heard Geno's advice, to "do what you do well", and she has flourished at that. Today, we needed her make the intermediate jumper, or beat the outside defender and then complete the short jumper, because they were not letting her get to the rim, her specialty. We were left with Lou, as the main pure shooter, and it wasn't enough. ND has a lot of fire power, and with that big lead, they were ALL loose as geese.
Hoping Azzi is not critically injured. Go Huskies.
BostonCanuck said:
Not sure why Griffen continued to take all those outside shots, long after it proved not to be working. Surely you have something else you can run in lieu of that, anything. Even with your best long-range shooter sidelined. And then he sends Aubry to the bench, as though she had done something wrong, after which the comeback efforts immediately fizzles out.

Inexplicable. Especially coming just one game after he said they have been encouraging each player to find the one or two things that they do very well and focus on that.
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CONNCAN said:
Absolutely - Tip my hat to Coach Ivey and to the Notre Dame team. They played better than us today. Nothing more to say other than let's pray that Azzi's injury isn't that serious and let's get ready for Princeton.
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Didn’t realize ND was so big not only
wingsfan055 said:
Pretty easy to diagnose. ND controlled the paint on both ends. UConn outrebounded 39-26. Everything looked easy for ND, hard for us. Losing Fudd hurt, but to be honest, probably would not have made this a win. Uconn/Fudd was playing poorly when she got hurt. AG/CD a combined 1-15, 5 personal fouls, 4 turnovers, 1 assist. Ugh.. They couldnt compete with ND's size, physical play, and aggressiveness. The others played as well as they could. Ugly loss that exposed our Achilles heel - lack of size & post play. Dorka will help hopefully when she gets back.
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HuskyNan said:
Azzi played 13 minutes and had zero points. The defense was in her shorts. Having her out made the ND defense adjust.

Kudos to Lou for finding some spots to shoot from.
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Nan, do you really think ND could have held Azzi down for forty minutes? She has started slowly before, but usually finds her groove. And the defenders would have exerted more energy trying to limit her shots.
 
I do think Dorka would've been huge in this game. Her fight and energy would've been great against their front line. And when Miles got into the lane, her length would've been huge.
Also, given how Azzi's played all year, I do think she probably would've been able to get into a rhythm offensively at some point in the game, but the face guarding thing, which I'm sure she probably saw a lot in high schools, is something that she'll have to be prepared for. Citron is a studd and she pretty much didn't let Azzi get any open looks Tbh it gave me flashbacks of Paige against Arizona in the tournament.
 
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Well, this game did highlight some of the things I’ve been weary about this year. But it’s hard to blame the loss on one of those, when the team wasn’t fully healthy.

My biggest concern has been Aubrey Griffin. I love watching her play, but her offensive game is so raw. I was wishing she showed more patience today, but I’m sure she’s told to take the open shot. So I can’t really fault her, but it’s something I’m keeping my eye on as a viewer. Teams will try to exploit us at that position when scheming defensively.

I was pleased to see Muhl hit some shots, but she’s not a big offensive threat either. That’s been hidden given Lou and Azzi having supreme shot making ability. But taking one of them out of the offense really threw us for a loop. I don’t feel like this loss was her fault either, just what I saw unfold when Azzi left.

I don’t want this to be interpreted as a bashing post. I’ve noticed all year the imbalance offensively, but those two players excel defensively. It’s just an observation.

My main hope is for us to get healthy soon. I think Dorka aids Caroline’s game. I recall them having great Chemistry last year, with Dorka passing from the high post. And Dorka has the size we missed today.

Of course, want to see Azzi healthy ASAP, as she’s our best player.

Overall a disappointing loss, but kind of makes sense it happened, given the circumstances. Kudos to Geno for setting up a tough schedule, it’s already paying dividends. No doubt we’ll regroup and get better from it.
 
darrell said:
Good news regarding Azzi.

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Very glad to hear this. I have the utmost respect for Azzi and hope she can come back health and ready to roll. Same for Dorka.

I'll add one comment: Though Maddy Westbeld's play helped the Irish immensely. She shot well, led the Irish in rebounding and also had 3 blocks. Essential element of the Irish.

Was very impressed with Lou Lopez-Senechal. Kept her focus and was a threat the entire game. Go get 'em at Princeton.
 
Very poorly scheduled game!
UCONN had to play Friday night, and in about 36 hours travel half way across the country, and play a good Notre Dame team on their home court who played Thursday at home, and just had to sit home and wait for UCONN to show up!
This is the reality, not excuses, UCONN has to do a better job of scheduling, especially the last few years where they are short handed, and there are so many injuries!
Glad Geno took no chances with Azzi, she won't be needed against Princeton, so it'll give her time to rest the knee!
 
EricLA said:
Kind of a beatdown. I think the Azzi injury threw everyone for a loop, but even early on with Azzi in the game, Miles was taking it to UCONN while if not for Nika, we would have been down 10 midway thru Q1.

ND had their crap game the other day against Maryland. We saved ours for today. Out played, out toughed, and out maneuvered. Nice game by Lou, but UCONN could not overcome Azzi's injury AND Aubrey's no-show offensively. Nika had some nice numbers trading assists for scoring - 11 points, 6 assists, 5 rebounds. And it was GREAT seeing Amari getting time even in a loss. My glimmer of hope for her earlier in the season is slowly growing!!!

We had some good stretches and some good defensive stops, but not enough in the end. Kudos to ND for taking it to us on national TV on their home court. Miles is the REAL DEAL. Loved her game in spite of hating the outcome.
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It was painful watching them dare Aubrey to shoot, and she just became more and more uncomfortable as she kept missing.
 
This was the first game UConn has played on an opponents home floor. Also, Iowa led
UConn for much of their game on a neutral court.

I'd like to think that UConn can beat tough teams when the crowd is against them.
I look forward to the game at Maryland to see what we can do there.
 
Always tough to lose in a beatdown esp against a team I can't stand. But gotta give it to them, they're the better team today. Outplayed us every which way. As poorly as we played, it's still just a loss. Plenty of time to fix our shortcomings. I'm more concerned about Azzi. Glad Coach took no chances.
 
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TCC Kid said:
The question I will ask, need not be asked: How does Geno fix the lack of one scorer causing a short circuit or is the problem deeper than that?
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Not just one scorer is bad. All three, Azzi, Aubrey and Caroline are bad today. It is a very bad day for Geno.
 
TCC Kid said:
Uconn Women are a great team to watch , when they are winning. Notre Dame revived an old ND plan and an old WestBled and a new Baby Maybre (spelling). Physical size apparently mattered. Ayanna can leap but taking up post room she doesn't. I was pleased number 42 DeBerry drilled a three. Post defender she isn't, which is a shame because that would get her lots of PT.
ND coach covered Aubrey and Lou heavily and it paid off. It seems Niel I. watched lot of Uconn game footages.
An 18 point better team than the one Uconn fielded last week--just isn't.
The question I will ask, need not be asked: How does Geno fix the lack of one scorer causing a short circuit or is the problem deeper than that?
ND Coach deserves some credit. The injury to Azzi happened AFTER UC was behind. That didn't help but it didn't cause it.
At half time ND interviewed a master at physicality, and a good shooter--I still don't like her.
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I think it was a two point game when she was injured.
 
jdote33 said:
I do think Dorka would've been huge in this game. Her fight and energy would've been great against their front line. And when Miles got into the lane, her length would've been huge.
Also, given how Azzi's played all year, I do think she probably would've been able to get into a rhythm offensively at some point in the game, but the face guarding thing, which I'm sure she probably saw a lot in high schools, is something that she'll have to be prepared for. Citron is a studd and she pretty much didn't let Azzi get any open looks Tbh it gave me flashbacks of Paige against Arizona in the tournament.
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The game was allowed to be too physical, and that wouldn’t favor Dorka. I didn’t expect to see people block Ayanna’s shots so easily either. I know she can jump.
 
I liked our fight to keep fighting without Azzi and Dorka. Lou is a gamer bucket getter. Do yall think she can make and play in the W??? Nika needs to be a little more unselfish because she can score getting to the basket for lay-ups. Caroline need to find her confidence and play fearless like last year. Aubrey should stop thinking about shooting and just shoot. She hesitate before every shot. I hate that they lost but it's a good lost that will only make them better.
 
Couldn't watch the last 5 mins, went for quick dinner and came to the BY hoping some miracle happened, but alas, no. While I was eating, I was wondering who were the players that got on the plane with Lou and Azzi. They looked nothing like the women who played the last 7 games. Notre Dame was good, but not THAT good. Ocerall defense was poor; need Dorka in there. Too much standing around. Aubrey has a lot of strengths, outside shooting is not one of them. Caroline mystified me, something is going on with that neck/back thing, and it may be there all year. I just expected a better showing, even without Azzi. The losses the past few years have certainly tempered my post game reactions.
 
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jdote33 said:
I do think Dorka would've been huge in this game. Her fight and energy would've been great against their front line. And when Miles got into the lane, her length would've been huge.
Also, given how Azzi's played all year, I do think she probably would've been able to get into a rhythm offensively at some point in the game, but the face guarding thing, which I'm sure she probably saw a lot in high schools, is something that she'll have to be prepared for. Citron is a studd and she pretty much didn't let Azzi get any open looks Tbh it gave me flashbacks of Paige against Arizona in the tournament.
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I don’t think Dorka would have made any difference in this game. Dorka and Edward’s struggle against big front court players. ND’s front court manhandled UConn. I suspect UConn will have the similar problems facing the SC front court.
 
JBK said:
I am just wondering if Caroline can reach her potential with all her injuries.
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Griffen "took those shots" because she was open and other players were not, and she's been practicing those shots (but not under duress). She needs more practice shots to get confidence in them, so that she can feast on the opportunities defenses provide and become an All American.
 
uconnfan68 said:
The game was allowed to be too physical, and that wouldn’t favor Dorka. I didn’t expect to see people block Ayanna’s shots so easily either. I know she can jump.
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She's been getting blocked or having to adjust every team she faced so far. I'm shocked also the way she can get up but she played well today
 
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