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Kia Nurse also developed an outside shot after her freshman year, which made her a potent scoring option.
Yes Kia was known as a potent slasher and good 3pt shooter, high energy. Transformed herself into one of the best 3 and D players UConn has ever had. She'd play great defense and leak out for a transition 3. Really caused problems in match-ups that didn't respect her.As a kid in high school Kia had a reasonable reliable 3 pointer. It could be that the pressure of a freshman year made it go away for a time.
It doesn't always get picked up on TV, but if you have the opportunity for a game to sit lower than the nose bleed seats, Nika is very loud and very often. Sort of like the old E.F Huton commercial, when Nika yells, people listen.I wrote in a preseason post that Azzi should start over Nika and she has made a fool out of me. She is the mitochondria of this team. The assists, defensive energy and are great but I underestimated her as a game manager. There are times when she calls a play and the team gets organized quicker than I've ever seen a team. I hear her yelling in the tv on plays she's not even a part of.
Teams get physical with her and she has none of it. No one bullies her and everyone listens. I think a big chunk of everyone's success this season is they all eat well because she feeds everybody plenty.
Excelling both at steals and locking down your opponent are somewhat at odds. There are a few who have done OK at both, like Jefferson, but usually one will either excel at theft, like Sales, or locking down, like Faris.A little more love for Nika and how much she's stepped up her game this year:
-Nika's season high in assists was 15 at NC state. Last year, it took her 9 games into the season to reach 15 assists
-She had 87 total assists last season which she surpassed after her ninth game of the season this year against Florida State
-Assist to turnover ratio this year is just a hair under 3.0 which is almost doubled from her first two seasons which has been around 1.57.
One thing I do miss a bit is that it feels as though she's not getting as many steals this year, but this is probably a direct result of a conscious effort not to get into foul trouble and not being as aggressive going for steals as a result. In terms of her ranking among elite point guards this year, I would put Nika 4th after Caitlin Clark, Olivia Miles, and McKenna Hofschild, who is having a spectacular season at CSU.
Did you really write a screed on Nika’s failure as a scorer without actually looking up the facts?No doubt Nika is having her best year ever but she's still option # 6 or 7 as a scorer. Especially on her drives but she has developed a classic flop manuever no matter what happens on the way in and she's getting those calls. She's a smart basketball player and getting the most from her abilities. She can make some 3's but she can also throw up 4-5 bricks in a row. She's probably a .350 3 point shooter which is decent. On some teams, she'd be a real option but on Azzi and Lou's team she's way down on the list. Nika's weakness still is that she doesn't have to be closely guarded on offense. That may actually be to her advantage though as a passer as she's often unencumbered in executing plays. She's doing a solid job defensively and doing a great job running the team overall.
I'll let Chris Dailey respond (her comments after Nika returned from her concussion).I still wouldn't play her more than 25 minutes though if Caroline, Lou, Azzi and Aubrey are available. Not to mention Paige.
I also think Ice could well be our 5 next year. I don't think a lot of people push her around and she can finish at the rim.
I still wouldn't play her more than 25 minutes though if Caroline, Lou, Azzi and Aubrey are available. Not to mention Paige.
I also think Ice could well be our 5 next year. I don't think a lot of people push her around and she can finish at the rim.
This is taken out of context for sure, but CD didn't help Nika's case when she said this after a recent game. We all know Nika's value, but Chris certainly must've wanted to whack herself upside the head after this one...“I don’t think you can underestimate her value,” Dailey said.