Nika Mühl: new UConn single-game assists record!

[SVCBeercats]

Morrow, Fudd and Seigrist are viable First Team AA. for BE Siegrist with an amazing 30 pt 16 rebound performance in a come from behind win for Temple

ESPN stats have Maddie at 41 and 18. Smokin'!

 

[Blond D.]

Nika is a shooter when she has to be. She shoots enough to keep the defense honest. Why shoot when you have Azzi, Lou, Edwards and Aubrey to shoot for you?

 

[SCNCHuskie]

When Nika passes to Fudd, good things seem to happen. The bulk of her assists were just catch and shoot passes on the periphery. She should have 10 assists a game with this team.

I made a joke on another board about how easy it was to get 15 assists - all you have to do is continuously pass to Fudd all game.

However, I just re-watched the game and I was paying close attention to how many missed assists she had, meaning players missed layups, or they were fouled going for the shot, therefore negating an assist opportunity. There were also several hockey assists. She could’ve easily had 20 assists today, and I will not be surprised if she hits 20 at some point this year, particularly if the three point shooters have an especially efficient game.

 

[MilliniumPrince]

I call her the Colonel. She runs the show and sets the attitude. I love her game.

 

[CocoHusky]

No Nan, I disagree. Some ugly things have been said. I won't hunt up the posts, but I know who made them (i.e. there would be less angst if it was Nike who blew out her ACL). I have yet to see anything close to a retraction, and I don't expect one because such people are clearly more astute basketball minds than the majority of the people on the BY. Feel free to delete this post.

I don't think the BY has a retraction button so your expectation is a bit excessive. Paige was the best player in WCBB when healthy and that was as freshman. No real fan wants any of these players to get hurt . But surely you would understand why Piage going down would create more anxiety among us fans than any other player going down. Somehow you manage to personalize this and twist it into someone wishing for Nika to get hurt. I don't believe anyone wished for NIka to get hurt. If they did they the rightoues thing to do is name the names instead of keeping it to yourself because that's not healthy.

 

[MD#12Fan]

When Nika passes to Fudd, good things seem to happen. The bulk of her assists were just catch and shoot passes on the periphery. She should have 10 assists a game with this team.

Thanks for the link!
I love Azzi! I also love the team and Nika!
Tomorrow I’ll pull up YouTube and check out the team highlights and guess what will be there for everyone to gander- Nika making play after play.
Since Nika has Azzi to pass to, let’s start not counting passes to Azzi as assists.
How come I remember a ton of looking up the floor off the break passes leading to hoops. Crap, I remember a cool lookaway to Lou for an and one.
Not only that, she’s leading the team like an old school point guard, getting the ball to the right people. One reason why the team is shooting better, the right people are shooting the ball at the right times. Nuance: it’s more than hitting the open man. This isn’t MS. Think how few bad shots they’ve taken this year. Or even shots by the wrong person.

 

[#12in21]

Few teams are going to pack the middle against this team, especially with Dorka and Ice out. The strength of this team has been 3 point shooting since we added Lou. Other teams have to defend our periphery. We are a solid team right now, for sure, but we still need to beat the likes of Stanford and South Carolina, which are both very difficult to score on and out rebound. Stanford getting 6 more rebounds today than SC was an eye opener. We have to hit a high percentage of shots, and maximize our rebounding, to have a chance of beating either team. And that means squeezing every bit of offense we can out of this team while not losing much defensively or turning it over a lot. I think Aubrey, Ayanna and Caroline can help do that, but not if they all play less than 15 minutes while Nika plays 35 minutes. Aubrey has been putting up great numbers so do you want to set her on the bench again as soon as Dorka comes back, or should she be on the floor subbing in for Nika some? 6 steals today against a top 10 team? 6-9 shooting. 16 points compared to 3. Are we going to play Caroline an average of 6-10 minutes a game all year? None of this is that Nika is a bad player. She's having a great year. So is Aubrey. And if you played Ayanna and Caroline more they would be having great years also.

I get that no one wants to "fix" a team that doesn't appear broken. It's like a top striker in soccer. If a top team gives Erling Haaland 3 times as many scoring opportunities, it makes a great striker an other worldly striker. You could put a mediocre striker in his place and still get 20 goals a year and a winning team but you wouldn't have the best team in the world, which is our goal.

It is almost unbelievable that you, after a game that she set the Uconn all time game assist record and is currently leading the nation in assists/game, still are looking to lessen her time on the floor. I guess we should all realize that today’s comments are actually complimentary compared to your recent suggestion that she should play 5 minutes a game.

Do you think that when Nika is constantly talking in the huddles she is suggesting places to eat after the game? I’m guessing that she is letting/reminding her teammates know what they need to be doing next. You may notice they are all listening to her. If you don’t believe me, pick any number of times Geno has pointed this out.

She is the floor general. There may just be some correlation as to players being in position to receive and finish those shots that she is getting assists on. Or maybe, as you suggested anybody could get 10 or so assists with our shooters - so Nika is nothing special. But you would be totally wrong in that assumption. Nika is a very important PIECE of a very talented team!

 

[#12in21]

What a great image at the end of the game of her teammate showing her big time love. That being the player who held the single game assist record before she broke it - Paige! These guys have such incredible bonds and love for each other. They will carry that with them throughout there lives which is pretty damn special!

 

[eebmg]

I agree with Boston and Clark but Jones is not playing like a 1st team AA (or second) Her shooting stats so far this year is not good at all. Brink would be the natural replacement. And maybe some others. But I said viable meaning it is in the discussion, not that I guarantee they win it

 

[MD#12Fan]

Few teams are going to pack the middle against this team, especially with Dorka and Ice out. The strength of this team has been 3 point shooting since we added Lou. Other teams have to defend our periphery. We are a solid team right now, for sure, but we still need to beat the likes of Stanford and South Carolina, which are both very difficult to score on and out rebound. Stanford getting 6 more rebounds today than SC was an eye opener. We have to hit a high percentage of shots, and maximize our rebounding, to have a chance of beating either team. And that means squeezing every bit of offense we can out of this team while not losing much defensively or turning it over a lot. I think Aubrey, Ayanna and Caroline can help do that, but not if they all play less than 15 minutes while Nika plays 35 minutes. Aubrey has been putting up great numbers so do you want to set her on the bench again as soon as Dorka comes back, or should she be on the floor subbing in for Nika some? 6 steals today against a top 10 team? 6-9 shooting. 16 points compared to 3. Are we going to play Caroline an average of 6-10 minutes a game all year? None of this is that Nika is a bad player. She's having a great year. So is Aubrey. And if you played Ayanna and Caroline more they would be having great years also.

I get that no one wants to "fix" a team that doesn't appear broken. It's like a top striker in soccer. If a top team gives Erling Haaland 3 times as many scoring opportunities, it makes a great striker an other worldly striker. You could put a mediocre striker in his place and still get 20 goals a year and a winning team but you wouldn't have the best team in the world, which is our goal.

Sorry, the more you talk….. You might want to slow down and leave it more to our imaginations. I compare blogs to sitting at a bar with like fans. I just moved to the other side.
I‘ll go one further: if PB didn’t get hurt, it would be PB, Azzi, and Nika with Dorka and AE. 3 guards and 2 posts.
Heard of the GS Warriors- PB playing Steph, Azzi Klay, and Nika Green. Chew on that one!

 

[CocoHusky]

I agree with Boston and Clark but Jones is not playing like a 1st team AA (or second) Her shooting stats so far this year is not good at all. Brink would be the natural replacement. And maybe some others. But I said viable meaning it is in the discussion, not that I guarantee they win it

Are we really picking AA teams based on performance in the first 3-4 games into the season? If so let's give Charisma Osborne UCLA some flowers.5"9" 22.4 PPG and 8.4 RPG. Lets's give Freshman Ta'Niya Latson. of FSU some flowers also 26.8 PPG and she is shorter than Osborne. Might as well give the BE some flowers also 3 ( Morrow, Fudd, Siegrist) of the top 8 scorers in the country are BE players.

 

[eebmg]

Are we really picking AA teams based on performance in the first 3-4 games into the season? If so let's give Charisma Osborne UCLA some flowers.5"9" 22.4 PPG and 8.4 RPG. Lets's give Freshman Ta'Niya Latson. of FSU some flowers also 26.8 PPG and she is shorter than Osborne. Might as well give the BE some flowers also 3 ( Morrow, Fudd, Siegrist) of the top 8 scorers in the country are BE players.

Yup.

 

[TeamFirst!]

Jones didn’t deserve it last year either. Great kid apparently but over rated. Compare her numbers to others and note that she plays for a top team and should have great numbers. At no time did I say play Nika 5 minutes a game. I said I didn’t care who started and you could start her for 5 minutes to help set a defensive tone and then put in a better player but not to play Nika 5 minutes only and set her the rest of the game. It’s not crazy to disagree with my analysis but please don’t make things up.

 

[Bone Dog]

I love seeing Nika's courage when the switches have her in the lane against one of their bigs -- it's already happened a few times this year. She is utterly Indomitable in those situations and will play deny defense if she has to, or just not let them shove her into the paint. I think of her in contrast to Evina at those moments, who also got stuck in similar situations and was also courageous. She may not be able to stop a bucket if the ball gets in, but she also manages to steal a rebound on other occasions .

 

[#12in21]

• Thursday at 2:55 PM
• Thursday at 2:55 PM#58

“After watching Azzi make her own shot and create opportunities for others, I don't see how anyone wouldn't want to put the ball in her hands every time down the floor. Isn't that crystal clear after last game? She can create her own shot and also open up the game with her penetration to help others score. The point isn't that Nika is good. It's that Azzi is clearly better in so many ways. And this team needs that. This team needs a penetrating guard who can maximize the offense. Put Nika in for 5 minutes and have her rev up the defense at the start of the game if you want, and I can see the benefits of that, but maximize team performance overall with Azzi as point guard. Every minute Nika is on the floor is a minute Azzi, Caroline or Lou are not on the floor. And all of them are fully capable of giving us at least 30 minutes each”

Teamfirst, doesn’t sound like you were suggesting more playing time in your post here! But maybe I’m missing something.

 

[Next 12]

• Thursday at 2:55 PM
• Thursday at 2:55 PM#58

“After watching Azzi make her own shot and create opportunities for others, I don't see how anyone wouldn't want to put the ball in her hands every time down the floor. Isn't that crystal clear after last game? She can create her own shot and also open up the game with her penetration to help others score. The point isn't that Nika is good. It's that Azzi is clearly better in so many ways. And this team needs that. This team needs a penetrating guard who can maximize the offense. Put Nika in for 5 minutes and have her rev up the defense at the start of the game if you want, and I can see the benefits of that, but maximize team performance overall with Azzi as point guard. Every minute Nika is on the floor is a minute Azzi, Caroline or Lou are not on the floor. And all of them are fully capable of giving us at least 30 minutes each”

Teamfirst, doesn’t sound like you were suggesting more playing time in your post here! But maybe I’m missing something.

Azzi-32 points, Lou-20 points, Aaliyah -20 points, Aubrey-16 points. That's 88 points from the starting 4 players. How many teams do you think will score in excess of 90 points against our defense? I believe Geno knows what he is doing by letting Nika play like she is. I say you don't mess with almost perfection. GO NIKA! GO HUSKIES!!!

 

[TeamFirst!]

Where did it say that I only wanted her to play 5 minutes a game? You interpreted what you wanted to hear, not what I said. We were talking about who should start and who should get the most PT. As of today, Aubrey is scoring 14.3 points a game, shooting .692 from the floor, getting more rebounds and playing great defense. Who is more valuable? Nika or Aubrey? I'd take Aubrey in a heartbeat. Most division one point guards would be getting 10 assists a game on this team, if they played the same amount. It seems that half the team's assists are to Azzi alone. Pass the ball to Azzi and watch her score. It's valuable but NOT as valuable as shooting at a .692 rate and scoring 14.3 points a game mainly against top competition. We are getting fast break points on turnovers because of players like Azzi, Aubrey and Lou getting out on the break. I've said over and over that Nika is valuable. I've just said she should play less and Aubrey and Caroline should play more. I said the other day that Aubrey should start over Nika. I stand by that analysis. I get that Azzi already has a load on her shoulders and not having to worry about bringing the ball up the court helps relieve some of her stress. That's an important function but at crunch time I want the A team on the floor of Dorka, AE, Azzi, Lou and either Aubrey or Caroline. Caroline looks just like she looked last year before she actually got more than a few minutes of PT. When she had regular PT she was a major contributor.

 

[TeamFirst!]

Good things happen when we give the ball to Azzi. Put her in Caitlin Clark mode. She's just as good if not better.

 

[Mdoggie]

Someone is trying to give Tony C a run for his money. Geesh TF!

 

[diggerfoot]

I had three questions about Muhl before the season started.

Could she stay out of foul trouble? I was fairly confident this at least would happen, as most everyone at UConn tends to improve in this area.

Would she avoid Chuck Knoblach syndrome? I thought her missed foul shots as a sophomore and missed layups at the start of her freshman year were because of mental blocks and not lack of skill. This was wholly unpredictable to me, but I think she has outgrown her mental blocks.

Would she shoot when needed? The jury is still out on this. I think she has generally made the right decisions, and that is what counts. Btw, taking only uncontested threes on this particular roster are good decisions. There may come a time when the right decisions would mean taking 8-10 shots, but those times will not be often and I have hope she can rise to that occasion. There have been a few past games when she took that many.

On the other hand, once Bueckers went down I always felt Muhl was the best leader. Thankfully, at least on this point not many disagree.

I also thought she was the best remaining decision maker. Her stats from the first two years back this up and this year they are off the charts. Am I right in guessing her A/T ratio is close to 4? Remarkable. I’m not sure anyone disagrees with this either, though some (one?) thinks this is because of our three point shooters. I am guessing at least five assists were transition passes in the lane, and that is a respectable number of total assists for anyone, let alone just transition ones. Faulting Muhl for racking up additional assists to three point shooters does not understand why Bird’s A/T ratios were less than the junior and senior versions of Jefferson.

I also thought she was the best remaining ball handler. The stats support this as well, though I know some disagree based on the eye test. Eye tests are subjective, so who really knows on this point?. I will say that her skills on display this year were also on display in Croatia and, despite some claims to the contrary, they were occasionally on display the past two years. No one should be surprised about her court vision and pinpoint passing this year, though it seems some are. Has she improved further? Certainly. Should that be surprising for an Auriemma coached team?

 

[Aluminny69]

Really "slimy!"

 

[UcMiami]

I love seeing Nika's courage when the switches have her in the lane against one of their bigs -- it's already happened a few times this year. She is utterly Indomitable in those situations and will play deny defense if she has to, or just not let them shove her into the paint. I think of her in contrast to Evina at those moments, who also got stuck in similar situations and was also courageous. She may not be able to stop a bucket if the ball gets in, but she also manages to steal a rebound on other occasions .

One of my favorite Mo Jefferson memories was a game against Griner and Baylor and twice in a row they tried to feed Griner while Mo was fronting her on a switch - she stole the first one and forced the second one to be thrown away as they tried to get it over her. Mighty Mo!

Great game for Nika, and it really didn't seem to alter the flow of the offense - often an offense where the PG dominates the assist column keeps having to reset when the first sequence doesn't work. Uconn seemed to keep cycling through their stuff without needing the reset.

One box scoring variations I really like in international play is an assist being awarded if the pass led directly to a shooting foul and at least one FT is made. Nika would have gotten a few of those assists in this game.

 

[MSGRET]

Where did it say that I only wanted her to play 5 minutes a game? You interpreted what you wanted to hear, not what I said. We were talking about who should start and who should get the most PT. As of today, Aubrey is scoring 14.3 points a game, shooting .692 from the floor, getting more rebounds and playing great defense. Who is more valuable? Nika or Aubrey? I'd take Aubrey in a heartbeat. Most division one point guards would be getting 10 assists a game on this team, if they played the same amount. It seems that half the team's assists are to Azzi alone. Pass the ball to Azzi and watch her score. It's valuable but NOT as valuable as shooting at a .692 rate and scoring 14.3 points a game mainly against top competition. We are getting fast break points on turnovers because of players like Azzi, Aubrey and Lou getting out on the break. I've said over and over that Nika is valuable. I've just said she should play less and Aubrey and Caroline should play more. I said the other day that Aubrey should start over Nika. I stand by that analysis. I get that Azzi already has a load on her shoulders and not having to worry about bringing the ball up the court helps relieve some of her stress. That's an important function but at crunch time I want the A team on the floor of Dorka, AE, Azzi, Lou and either Aubrey or Caroline. Caroline looks just like she looked last year before she actually got more than a few minutes of PT. When she had regular PT she was a major contributor.

Go to the Thread: Nika for the wise, You stated it verbatim in post #58.

 

[Bone Dog]

When Paige went down this summer, we all responded to a thread asking what else would be required of Nika, on the assumption that she would have to shoulder more of responsibility. This assumption has turned out to be reasonable. Many of us also assumed that Azzi Lou and Caroline would score in double figures on average, and even in the 20s some nights. This assumption has been undermined by Caroline’s injury, but Azzi and Lou have met or wildly exceeded this expectation. This was the context of the discussion of Nika last summer.

Naturally, we picked up on something Geno said on a couple of occasions to the effect that he wanted to see Nika seeking her own shot more. We assumed this meant not merely waiting at the perimeter for a pass but actively creating her own shot. A few of us who’d studied her stats noticed how few shots she took per game, and even fewer of these came in the half court offense. This is not the typical profile of a pg, though it’s not impossible either.

The next step in most people’s thinking was that a midrange game and improved finishing at the rim would help her passing game. These are not unreasonable thoughts, nor are they cruel or callous. When you think about the great point guards, folks like Paige or Clark or Miles, or even MoJeff, it’s hard to overlook how good they were at finishing at the rim, how diverse an arsenal of floaters, flip shots, reverses, pop-ups, etc. they have. And Nika’s skills in this department are quite undeveloped.

Three other observations stood out: 1) as the season progressed the last two years defenses tended to slack off her and pack the paint, 2) that though she slashed through the lane sometimes, she almost never actually even took a shot much less made one, and 3) that her skills in running the break were uneven, she didn’t have Paige’s or Evina’s skill with the long pass and often merely dribbled as fast as she could up the floor.

Again, not unreasonably, many of us feared that just as last season when she was benched (or platooned) in the 4th quarter of close games and in the tournament, Geno would have to resort to this again this year. Unless she developed better pg skills over the summer and fall, we’d be down to 3 guards at the most important moments this season. This was the fear.

Now, were these fears reasonable? What have the first few games shown us?

1) Nika’s passing is sharper than last season, as is her ability to throw the long pass on the break.

2) while we lost Caroline for the first few games, Azzi has been on fire from everywhere on the floor, and Lou has been good too, and Aubrey has exceeded expectations on offense. This has taken some pressure off Nika’s offense. When Caroline returns, this will be even more the case.

3) Nika took two midrange jumpers off the dribble against Kutztown and made one of them. It was only an exhibition game , but it suggests that she’s been thinking about adding this to her game. No one thinks she has to become Paige, or even MoJeff. But as the season wears on and other teams figure out how to defend our perimeter shooters better, this dimension of her offense will be a welcome factor.

4) we are running a very high energy game these days, one that features pressing and aggressive D. This is Nika’s strength. The more we can score off turnovers and generally bring the mayhem to opposing teams, the less pressure there will be on our half court game.

5) Azzi has impressed all of us with her abilities as a pg and this has also reduced the need and the pressure on Nika, and maybe even freed her to focus on sustaining the mayhem/energy game she’s so good at.

My conclusion is that the concerns from this summer were not unreasonable but were also slightly overblown. Geno went in a different direction than most of us expected and it fits the talent he has quite well so far. Still, it’s a long season and different needs may emerge in February and March. I hope Nika is ready for them when the time comes… and I believe she will be. I want her to be on the floor at the end of all the games in the tournament. Our NC hopes may depend on it.