Nika myth should be dumped

[ochoopsfan]

Nika's Sopron team boxscore, from the Hungary basket site is

Magyar Kosárlabdázók Országos Szövetsége - MKOSZ

Az MKOSZ hivatalos honlapja átfogó információt nyújt a szövetségről. A hunbasket.hu-n megtalál minden információt a válogatottakról, aktuális mérkőzéseikről, a női illetve férfi tagozatokról, bajnokságok állásáról és az utánpótlás helyzetéről. Fiatalos, folyamatosan frissülő honlapunk célja...

mkosz.hu

Interesting that they break shots down as close/nearby/remote

You can go to the main site Csapatok - MKOSZ for rosters and schedules and box scores. I dont know if it has a live boxscore as the games are on.

To watch Soprons games, in just the Hungary league, it requires a subscription.

The Euroleague games will be on you tube for free.
Soprons first Euroleague game is on Oct 8th at 12 noon EDT
Most Euroleague games are on Wed or Thur.
Here is a link Sopron Basket vs Flammes Carolo Basket - Regular Season - First Round - EuroLeague Women 2025-26 | FIBA Basketball

 

[Dixiedog]

Hope the link works! Same old Nika we came to love, talking about helping her team before their first game of the season tomorrow!

 

[ochoopsfan]

Nika with a give and go(no look) dime to her teammate, for the lay up.
This was in a Hungary League game on the weekend.
Nika played 17 minutes, had 9 pts, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 4 steals and drew 6 fouls.

 

[ochoopsfan]

The first Euroleague game for Nika is tomorrow, Wed Oct 8th.
Sopron v Flammes Carolo(French team)
I show it scheduled for 12 noon EDT and free on youtube
Note: sometimes the Euroleague games have announcers and sometimes not.
Here is the link

 

[Scud49]

Nika with a give and go(no look) dime to her teammate, for the lay up.
This was in a Hungary League game on the weekend.
Nika played 17 minutes, had 9 pts, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 4 steals and drew 6 fouls.

Maybe, just maybe now, plays like this help define why our Nika is the all time UCONN assist leader..... 😀

 

[Bald Husky]

The first Euroleague game for Nika is tomorrow, Wed Oct 8th.
Sopron v Flammes Carolo(French team)
I show it scheduled for 12 noon EDT and free on youtube
Note: sometimes the Euroleague games have announcers and sometimes not.
Here is the link

Well, I hope her first game this year is a lot better than last years opener. Stay healthy my dear, please stay healthy.

 

[Dixiedog]

Meanwhile off the court she found time to do a photo spread in elle-croatia including the cover ( yep, no problem coming up with second career - why wait? Nika can multitask!)

 

[oldude]

Meanwhile off the court she found time to do a photo spread in elle-croatia including the cover ( yep, no problem coming up with second career - why wait? Nika can multitask!)
View attachment 112167

Nika has done a little modeling on the side for several years now. That includes modeling several designs for her former teammate, Olivia Nelson-Ododa, who is a burgeoning fashion designer in addition to playing professional basketball for the CT Sun.

 

[HopJim]

I think that some underestimate Nika and ignore her core value. She was not just a great defender but provided energy, particularly her first few years, to the entire team. These were UConn teams with depleted lineups that could have easily mentally surrendered to the injury bug. As Oldude suggested, she was a very good but not perfect defender but with her yelling and slamming her body around, it appeared hard for the rest of the team not to give 150%.

 

[Huskee11]

Well, tough one today as Flammes Carolo (a team KLS played for briefly many years ago) thumped Sopron in a Euroleague matchup, 82-54.

Nika did not appear to have a great game with only four points and a rough plus/minus, but she did have seven assists (half of team total).

Biggest positive takeaway is that she played 29 minutes, after previously playing 17, 20, and 17. So that is a very positive development as she gets back into it.

 

[ochoopsfan]

Well, tough one today as Flammes Carolo (a team KLS played for briefly many years ago) thumped Sopron in a Euroleague matchup, 82-54. It was an away game for Sopron.

Nika did not appear to have a great game with only four points and a rough plus/minus, but she did have seven assists (half of team total).

Biggest positive takeaway is that she played 29 minutes, after previously playing 17, 20, and 17. So that is a very positive development as she gets back into it.

Nika's entire team was not ready for the game. It was actually a home game for Sopron.

Here is a hustle play, by Nika. She didnt save the ball, but the UConn hustle is still there.

 

[Bigboote]

Yeah, I watched the first three quarters (thanks for the link, OCHoops). After Sopron had gone 3-0 in Hungary, I wasn't expecting a thumping like that. Carolo was bigger, faster, and more active. It was nice to see Ashley Joens and Liz Dixon, though.

 

[ochoopsfan]

Yeah, I watched the first three quarters (thanks for the link, OCHoops). After Sopron had gone 3-0 in Hungary, I wasn't expecting a thumping like that. Carolo was bigger, faster, and more active. It was nice to see Ashley Joens and Liz Dixon, though.

It was only one game but I didnt like Soprons forwards or inside game.

 

[Bluenoser]

On October 22 Nika gets to see her big sister Dorka when Galatasaray visits Sopron. Strangely, Dorka's former team, Schio, is in the same EuroLeague group.

 

[Huskee11]

Sopron with another lopsided victory in the Hungarian League, this time 92-40 against BEAC -Ujbuda.

Solid game apparently for Nika with 13 points on 5-9 shooting (3 for 6 from three), 3 rebounds, 5 assists in 24 minutes.

Very strange game in that Sopron only led 30-22 at the half but outscored BEAC 62-18 in the second half. That must have been a halftime speech worthy of Vince Lombardi. Or maybe something else was going on, don't know.

The jury is still out on Sopron despite four resounding Hungarian League victories. There was the bad loss to Flammes in the European, and the four victories all appear to be against some of the weaker Hungarian teams.

 

[MSGRET]

I think her words were along the lines of "can someone get that girl* out of my grille!"

Loved watching her play although, in fairness, I believe that Geno said she came out of the locker room with two fouls already.

And don't forget that she was the one who broke Aaliyah's nose in practice.

* she may not have said "girl", I can't recall exactly...

Clark stated "can someone get that #10 out of my face". It was during one of the Nike tournaments in Oregon.

 

[Rowdy831]

I believe that Caitlin Clark would attest to Nika being an excellent and exasperating defender (remember her in-game statement of something like: can someone get that defender off of me).

Nika is the only defender I have seen that has been able to stay with CC for a game. That goes for college and pro players. With that I would say she was an exceptional defender.

 

[Blacketh’D]

I don’t know about any myths. At least on offense she was better junior and senior year. Not much points but she was getting just as much assists as she scored. Averaging close to 8 and 7 assists helps out a lot. So that’s still lots of points on the board she’s providing those 8 assists still have to be at least 16 points. So she’s still contributing 20 something points to the team. So she’s good enough offensively cuz her passing in transition and just finding her shooters like Azzi offsets her personal shortcomings. Outside of passing though she doesn’t provide a whole lot else in her arsenal. She doesn’t provide any pressure at the rim and while it’s commendable she hit 40% of her threes senior year, she’s left wide open most of the time cuz she’s got no volume to her outside shot. Teams can live by not focusing on her defensively which in some years really hurt our spacing as a team(man sometimes it felt like Paige was the only one who could even shoot consistently).

Defense wise yea she could make mistakes and commit some bonehead fouls but you can kind of overlook that. She was way more important than she was a detriment. She’s just the little engine that could. On ball steals, shooting passing lanes, rebounding at her size, hounding a teams best player all game. While I think her offense is more polarizing, I don’t think it’s possible to think her defense is a little overrated. Even just her motor and leadership alone really set the tone for UConn a lot. She’s a blue collar punch in punch out type player and a bit of an underdog. I think that’s a big part of why ppl were so fond of her. If she wasn’t as good as she was on defense and such a big personality I don’t think she would have played as much as she did or been as popular. Injuries kind of helped her get her opportunity but by god she accepted the challenge.

 

[Bigboote]

Looks like Sopron's next Euroleague game is Thursday: