Nika Player Breakdown

[RockyMTblue2]

I think he got Nika mixed-up with Aubrey. Nika was practicing yesterday with the rest of the team. Aubrey is the one that had the white brace/boot on.

Whoopee, thanks @MSGRET. Made my week. She's huge for this team, start or not.

 

[stamfordhusky]

When someone steps off a curb and blows out their achilles tendon, that someone that injures themselves. It's a freak accident, but I did it. Same thing happened to Nika, it's a freak accident, but she injured herself. @Alyder stated that the High Point player did it on purpose and that's why Nika got hurt. My statement above is not what I meant to say. Unless you can, she did injure herself.

Alydar did NOT say that. Merely said the opponent moved her leg into Muhl's landing spot. Didn't say whether the foul was on purpose or not. That still doesn't mean it wasn't a foul.

 

[UConnCat]

 

[Huskee11]

Get used to it, opposing point guards.

 

[Dokey]

I always enjoy Nika's interviews, nothing is forced, very genuine, often a bit of levity and always enjoyable to see her interact with the interviewer. I have said before that I believe she will be one of those players that the crowds at Gampel really react to - she has such a demonstrative personality, high energy and intensity. We'll see what Geno comes up with given all the talent on the rooster and depth at all positions but I will be surprised if he plays Paige primarily at point guard, given how he was very intentional at moving her off point and inserting Nika in that role for better than the half of last season. I feel she responded to all his challenges last season, continually improving and earning her starting spot and I believe she will have continued to work to improve her game to be ready for this season.

I expect Nika to come back this season with continued intensity on defense, solid picks, great passing and box outs on rebounds. I anticipate her to show more willingness to shoot when open and/or challenge defenders more with drives to the basket and pull-ups, which should result in more kick outs, and-ones and trips to the line. Given a year's experience together I believe she knows where to deliver the ball to each teammate and they know to expect a pass from her so her assists should go up and turnovers drop. I expect her to continue to maintain her intensity on defense, disrupting their point in starting their offense and getting tips and steals while improving her ability to keep her player in front of her and reducing fouls.

Nika's stats for the 15 games she started (finishing out last season) all showed improvement. Over that period she shot 44% FG, 37.5% 3pt and per 40 minutes, averaged 8.63 points, 4.41 rebounds, 4.51 assists and 3.16 steals. As I suggested above I expect to see her improve on all those numbers, continue to be a great teammate and be an impactful member of the team. From all that she has said her goal for this season is to play what ever role she is asked to and do whatever she can to help her team win. How can you not be grateful this kid is on our team. I personally want to see her on the floor as much as possible because imo she makes her team better and I love to watch her play the game.

One word sums Nika—dynamite.

 

[jabstep]

The thing about Nika I love is her ability to get better quickly. After a slow start, she started to have beautiful form on her three-point shot. I think this year and in the future, she will learn from Azzi to improve her setup and quickness of her release. She has cut down on her turnovers, she has gotten better on the pick and roll. I guess having the NPOY as your slime sister to learn from helps a little. This year I expect more improvements to her game because of her competitiveness to get court time. The one thing I think she has the most work to do is keeping guards in front of her. I am not talking about Division 2 or Big East guards. If you watch her closely the quick guards beat her frequently and I am sure The coaches are working on that with her. Every player from their freshmen year to their senior year improves tremendously on defense. Nika will do the same. She reminds me so much of Jenifer Rizzotti and what she brought to the team.