Ohio st recap

[chrissaran]

Katie Lou led the team in scoring with 19 and rebounds with 7. Great team effort. A lot to improve on, but that's why they play the games.

 

[JavaMan]

After their 85-53 win over the Ohio State Buckeyes, UConn Huskies women’s basketball head coach Gneo Auriemma along with Napheesa Collier, Katie Lou Samuelson and Megan Walker met with the media.

Post game interviews and presser HERE

.

 

[Husky fanatic]

What I saw was a pretty good zone press and zone defense in the first half. In the second half it was “let’s work on our man defense” Not so good. The second unit was much more cohesive than against Vanguard.

 

[BroadwayVa]

I love our 1st 5. Still not sure what we'll have coming off the bench against better teams.

I was more than pleased with the "bench". In the final 5 minutes for the first time I can remember, against a decent team, the Bench increased the score.
Coombs, still learning, was very very good. Irwin pretty good, Touly played the best I've seen in a UConn Uniform, Gordon, in her limited time took ONE shot that almost went in and didn't look like a deer in Geno's headlights, ONO in a lot of what she did I said OH-NO!, Molly isn't terrible isn't good she is MOLLY. With a solid playing 5 this is my most encouraging game for the BENCH in 3 years.
Walker is the Walker she was expected to be and she shall BECOME WALKER before March. CW looks like she played Div 1 BB her whole life..
UConn has to stop the "in traffic" backward passing, what's with that?? All 4 top kids hit double figures--pretty good
Remember our Frosh Sophs played against 4th and 5th year experience 10 of them..

 

[donalddoowop]

1. Megan looks much improved. Having her as a consistent scoring option will alleviate a lot of pressure from the big three.
2.This team is going to need Lou's height on the boards. Looks like she is willing and able to help.
3. If Coombs is going to be our third guard, I would have her working on her outside shot every day at practice. She looks completely reluctant to shoot from beyond 5 feet. An outside shot with her first step could prove difficult to guard.
4. Christyn looks comfortable and I was happy to see she mostly played within the flow. With more game reps, she will be a very solid starter on both ends of the court.
5. Depth will be an issue. At least it looks like Geno is willing to give people minutes this year. Hopefully some can put the pieces together.

I believe Coombs is working on her outside shot at every practice. Right now it is more important for her to work on her defense and ball handling. Maybe that is what the coaches want her to concentrate on. K. Faris did not become a scoring threat until her senior season. At this point UConn has other players who can score. Coombs offense will come in time. I believe she will improve to a point where she will, although she may not start, be good enough to start, imo.

 

[Longtime fan]

The above folks have said it all. But I am sitting here with a keyboard, so I'll use my words:

1. The core three are, of course, amazing.
2. Walker may be the " savior' for this year....she looks totally different and was our best rebounder. Once she begins scoring from everywhere ( she showed some of that today ), she will be a beast to defend.
3. Williams played with confidence and composure. Clearly, she needs some outside shooting success to let her offensive talents loose. But she is going to be terrific.
4. It was interesting to see Makayla as first off the bench. I believe she can do everything well except shoot from the outside. She has speed, drives well, passes well and sees the court. Her defense needs work, both through experience and working with the coaches. I don't know if she can ever shoot well from the outside. I have said this since the first time I saw her put up a three ( last season). Nonetheless, Geno showed a lot of confidence in her.
5. Kyla played a lot better than last year. She is smarter and made fewer mistakes. She is light years ahead of Batouly. She looks tougher and more confident.
6. Batouly looks as though there is no chance she will ever be more than a mop-up player. I was hoping for more, of course. But she looks hampered. Can't run, jump or extend. She would ride the bench for Ohio State.
7. Molly remains terrified of shooting, and continues to pass up good shots for assisting on less good shots by others. She remains a bit of a liability on offense .....highly likely to turn the ball over. Her reticence is very un-Uconn-like and, as a junior, it does not seem a matter of being unselfish. Truthfully, I think fans are beginning to become frustrated by it. The audience actually groaned a few times when she found a way today to do anything but take a shot.
8. ONO does look months away from being able to help. That will be fine, as long as she is ready by March. Clearly, though, she has the body type to be dominating. The problem is, it can take a full season.
9. Lexi, to her credit, will shoot when open. Problem is; do her shots ever go in? I would like to see her make an impact on defense, or under the boards. Then, she might become a contributor. She had little time to display much today. She needs to find and bring out the tiger in herself.

On the whole, a good start. Some obvious sloppiness. Some lack of communication on defense. And rebounding will be an issue against teams with huge, tall people. I fear that many of our players will get banged around a lot. Chrystal is lucky to be fine after several shot to the head. Lou also takes a beating. But this team will be fun to watch develop.

Life has returned.

 

[Buckaroobanzai]

Offense was adequate. Defense (against a much slower team) was mediocre. Rebounding (particularly on the offensive board) was on life support. The bench was a non-factor (and here I am being kind). If any of the starters sustains an injury or gets into foul trouble . . . . well, it has the potential of becoming a very long and unUconn-like season.

 

[Plebe]

Someone who watched the Ohio State-South Florida game described both teams as "bad D-2 teams."

Well, since UConn gave up more points to OSU in Storrs than USF did in Columbus, does that mean UConn's defense is at a bad D-3 level?

 

[JavaMan]

 

[eebmg]

The above folks have said it all. But I am sitting here with a keyboard, so I'll use my words:


7. Molly remains terrified of shooting, and continues to pass up good shots for assisting on less good shots by others. She remains a bit of a liability on offense .....highly likely to turn the ball over. Her reticence is very un-Uconn-like and, as a junior, it does not seem a matter of being unselfish. Truthfully, I think fans are beginning to become frustrated by it. The audience actually groaned a few times when she found a way today to do anything but take a shot.

Life has returned.

Geno in his presser had one of his best lines about Molly. Of course we want her to shoot when she is open. Anything she tries other than shooting is worse. Ooouch.

 

[LasVegasYank]

As always, very pleased with Pheesa, KLS and Crystal (save a couple of awful turnovers). CW was beyond what you'd expect from a freshman. Played like she belonged out there.

On to Meghan Walker. Saw everything Geno said about her come true. The best thing, IMHO, is that I think this won't be an every 4-5 game performance, I think she can put 4-5 of these in a row.

ONO looked like she was still in high school. Coombs looked a bit more in control of her game but still needs work on her stop and pop. Irwin played well but having smaller players hold the ball on her shows she still has some strength problems. Rip it out of their hands!!!!! Bent shows better D and is a tad better ball handling but still is reluctant to take the open shot. Lexi is an enigma, can't figure her out. Longtime Fan nailed it on Camara, she's hobbled by something and doesn't seem to have a solid approach to her role in the game.

A solid 7 will be needed for them to secure a NC. The starting five are set and hopefully ONO will grow her game over the next several months. One more player steps up and they're in. Two would be frosting on the cake.

 

[Husky fanatic]

Got back from the game a short while ago. Enjoyable as always! The starting 5 looked good offensively (except for part of the 3rd). Could really see that they missed Kia and Gabby defensively. They worked at it, but they miss that player that can fill in and cover mistakes. Also got pushed under the basket and missed the longer rebounds more than I remember for a while. Also seemed like a lot of collisions in this game!
I am always amazed at the number of season ticket holders that don't show up. Its the first regular season game on a Sunday afternoon! Better for me - up upgraded my seat to a seatback near the center of the court. Crowd was not real alive IMHO.

Agree with your crowd assessment. Place felt empty

 

[paisan]

Too soon to draw a conclusion, but as I feared , without a post player we will probably not be competitive with the big teams ...Baylor, ND, Miss St, Texas, etc. will pound the ball inside,and Lou and pheesa will not be able to cope without fouling . It will be interesting .

 

[BroadwayVa]

The above folks have said it all. But I am sitting here with a keyboard, so I'll use my words:

1. The core three are, of course, amazing.
2. Walker may be the " savior' for this year....she looks totally different and was our best rebounder. Once she begins scoring from everywhere ( she showed some of that today ), she will be a beast to defend.
3. Williams played with confidence and composure. Clearly, she needs some outside shooting success to let her offensive talents loose. But she is going to be terrific.
4. It was interesting to see Makayla as first off the bench. I believe she can do everything well except shoot from the outside. She has speed, drives well, passes well and sees the court. Her defense needs work, both through experience and working with the coaches. I don't know if she can ever shoot well from the outside. I have said this since the first time I saw her put up a three ( last season). Nonetheless, Geno showed a lot of confidence in her.
5. Kyla played a lot better than last year. She is smarter and made fewer mistakes. She is light years ahead of Batouly. She looks tougher and more confident.
6. Batouly looks as though there is no chance she will ever be more than a mop-up player. I was hoping for more, of course. But she looks hampered. Can't run, jump or extend. She would ride the bench for Ohio State.
7. Molly remains terrified of shooting, and continues to pass up good shots for assisting on less good shots by others. She remains a bit of a liability on offense .....highly likely to turn the ball over. Her reticence is very un-Uconn-like and, as a junior, it does not seem a matter of being unselfish. Truthfully, I think fans are beginning to become frustrated by it. The audience actually groaned a few times when she found a way today to do anything but take a shot.
8. ONO does look months away from being able to help. That will be fine, as long as she is ready by March. Clearly, though, she has the body type to be dominating. The problem is, it can take a full season.
9. Lexi, to her credit, will shoot when open. Problem is; do her shots ever go in? I would like to see her make an impact on defense, or under the boards. Then, she might become a contributor. She had little time to display much today. She needs to find and bring out the tiger in herself.

On the whole, a good start. Some obvious sloppiness. Some lack of communication on defense. And rebounding will be an issue against teams with huge, tall people. I fear that many of our players will get banged around a lot. Chrystal is lucky to be fine after several shot to the head. Lou also takes a beating. But this team will be fun to watch develop.

Life has returned.

Good stuff, Number 6 above : Touly, I have long had your feeling of Touly. Yet today she was as good or better than she has been since she arrived in Storrs. Future????
Number 8: My opinion. Number 9: I agree and disagree. CONFIDENCE, reduced by the coach not believing in her, my louzy opinion. She scored in HS. Shooting is muscle memory and confidence. Like the Music Man: If you believe you shall do. Her HS numbers indicate a kid that can score. Something in her head has changed; Shooters shoot and score--so what's the issue?
We agree on CW. I don't think I have seen a player since DT that walked on the floor as a Frosh and looked like a junior/senior--CW does. DT was one huge ball of Confidence--she spoke to Geno in his native tongue--Sveta didn't lack confidence either.

 

[BroadwayVa]

Too soon to draw a conclusion, but as I feared , without a post player we will probably not be competitive with the big teams ...Baylor, ND, Miss St, Texas, etc. will pound the ball inside,and Lou and pheesa will not be able to cope without fouling . It will be interesting .

I don't drink Geno's vino or lemon aid--but he, with shorter teams, has found ways to blunt taller teams. It certainly won't be easy but even with Bad teams Ucwbb has been competitive. That is why these terrible announcers dwell on 2 losses in 6 years-

 

[JustinesGuy]

First of all so happy to tip off a new season.
A few game observations

I think none were surprised about how well lou, pheese and danger played. Our season will success will depend on there health and play.

I was very happy for walker. She had her best game as a husky. She was aggressive on both ends, some nice highlight plays. Much respect.

Happy to see Coombs first off bench. She looked smooth. Kyla looked good too.

CW - I think she didn’t press the issue. I think it was a good place to start. I think she looked better than walker did last year. She will be fine.

ONO- as I anticipated looks like a project. Needs to get used to college speed and hit weight room.

Molly and Lexi- Typical fair.

Season success depends on health of starters, CW becoming a solid contributor, MW building off this solid performance.

Bonus-Developing solid bench 6-8.
Can’t wait for the next game!!

 

[JustinesGuy]

The above folks have said it all. But I am sitting here with a keyboard, so I'll use my words:

1. The core three are, of course, amazing.
2. Walker may be the " savior' for this year....she looks totally different and was our best rebounder. Once she begins scoring from everywhere ( she showed some of that today ), she will be a beast to defend.
3. Williams played with confidence and composure. Clearly, she needs some outside shooting success to let her offensive talents loose. But she is going to be terrific.
4. It was interesting to see Makayla as first off the bench. I believe she can do everything well except shoot from the outside. She has speed, drives well, passes well and sees the court. Her defense needs work, both through experience and working with the coaches. I don't know if she can ever shoot well from the outside. I have said this since the first time I saw her put up a three ( last season). Nonetheless, Geno showed a lot of confidence in her.
5. Kyla played a lot better than last year. She is smarter and made fewer mistakes. She is light years ahead of Batouly. She looks tougher and more confident.
6. Batouly looks as though there is no chance she will ever be more than a mop-up player. I was hoping for more, of course. But she looks hampered. Can't run, jump or extend. She would ride the bench for Ohio State.
7. Molly remains terrified of shooting, and continues to pass up good shots for assisting on less good shots by others. She remains a bit of a liability on offense .....highly likely to turn the ball over. Her reticence is very un-Uconn-like and, as a junior, it does not seem a matter of being unselfish. Truthfully, I think fans are beginning to become frustrated by it. The audience actually groaned a few times when she found a way today to do anything but take a shot.
8. ONO does look months away from being able to help. That will be fine, as long as she is ready by March. Clearly, though, she has the body type to be dominating. The problem is, it can take a full season.
9. Lexi, to her credit, will shoot when open. Problem is; do her shots ever go in? I would like to see her make an impact on defense, or under the boards. Then, she might become a contributor. She had little time to display much today. She needs to find and bring out the tiger in herself.

On the whole, a good start. Some obvious sloppiness. Some lack of communication on defense. And rebounding will be an issue against teams with huge, tall people. I fear that many of our players will get banged around a lot. Chrystal is lucky to be fine after several shot to the head. Lou also takes a beating. But this team will be fun to watch develop.

Life has returned.

Your post is dead on! Everything I was thinking

 

[HopJim]

I believe Coombs is working on her outside shot at every practice. Right now it is more important for her to work on her defense and ball handling. Maybe that is what the coaches want her to concentrate on. K. Faris did not become a scoring threat until her senior season. At this point UConn has other players who can score. Coombs offense will come in time. I believe she will improve to a point where she will, although she may not start, be good enough to start, imo.

Had very mixed thoughts on Coombs. On her first two possessions, she dribbled through most of the defense and made great layups. From then on until 4th Q, Ohio St. gave her the outside shot and collapsed on her drives. Often played off the drive and went for the steal on her pass. Not very effective. This was not a good team so if they knew to do this, Top 20 teams will see this video and likely to turn things into 5 on 4 until Coombs takes and hits outside shots.

 

[HopJim]

As always, very pleased with Pheesa, KLS and Crystal (save a couple of awful turnovers). CW was beyond what you'd expect from a freshman. Played like she belonged out there.

On to Meghan Walker. Saw everything Geno said about her come true. The best thing, IMHO, is that I think this won't be an every 4-5 game performance, I think she can put 4-5 of these in a row.

ONO looked like she was still in high school. Coombs looked a bit more in control of her game but still needs work on her stop and pop. Irwin played well but having smaller players hold the ball on her shows she still has some strength problems. Rip it out of their hands!!!!! Bent shows better D and is a tad better ball handling but still is reluctant to take the open shot. Lexi is an enigma, can't figure her out. Longtime Fan nailed it on Camara, she's hobbled by something and doesn't seem to have a solid approach to her role in the game.

A solid 7 will be needed for them to secure a NC. The starting five are set and hopefully ONO will grow her game over the next several months. One more player steps up and they're in. Two would be frosting on the cake.

Not concerned yet with Ono. She reminds me of the first few times I saw Morgan Tuck play. Both are about the same time away from their knee surgery and appeared stiff and not comfortable with the speed of play. At 6' 4" or 5" I'm more than willing to wait.

 

[HopJim]

Sad to watch a major D1 program with 6 Graduate Transfers, basically starting 5. Without these, would literally not have been able to field a team. What happened to Ohio State's recruiting?

 

[MilfordHusky]

What happened to Ohio State's recruiting?

Kelsey Mitchell.

 

[Monte]

I would wait and evaluate them after the ND game(December 2nd).

 

[eebmg]

Just got a chance to see the replay. What really pops out is our difficulties rebounding. If I am ONO, I figure out how to get on the floor. The opportunities are glaring and we need her to have some impact

I got to admit, I really like seeing Kyla play. If only she had some real athleticism (or a few more inches) but she is always in position. Geno desperately wants to give her more playing time.

 

[Kevin G]

R E B O U N D I N G

 

[oldude]

Kelsey Mitchell.

It is amazing how one player, plus her father, negatively impacted tOSU recruiting, as well as retaining existing players. So long as Mitchell had the green light to basically do whatever she wanted on the court, with her dad ensconced as an assistant coach, top recruits wanted no part of tOSU.

The same situation may be occurring at TX A&M with Chennedy Carter.