Providence Postgame Thread

[Cornell Lt]

Good thing Geno didn't listen to the ones who wanted Amari, Ayanna and Ines (aka The Bench) to start and play significant minutes against the Friars. The girls keep fighting and got a win. Biggest challenge of the season is next up.

 

[fomalhaut]

Someone should complain to the Big East about the double three point lines at Providence. I think Connecticut lost several points on what should have been three pointers if the lines weren't confusing.

 

[wingsfan055]

Team obviously tired. Playing so many games in a short amount of time is ridiculous. I know it was due to the makeup game but still... Probably the cause of all the turnovers tonight. So, can't take much from this game. Need CD and Azzi by March to make a run to another FF.

 

[Zarathustra]

Droka 19 pts, 17 rebs, 4 asts ...Aubrey, Lou and Nika all have double .. great team effort.

I always liked DORKA...... but without the thumb protector on..... who is not to love her more!! Great Double Double, Dorka!
Go Huskies!!

 

[JellyBean]

Props to the team, especially Dorka. Great game, Dorka. Nika with the darn near double-double! Well done. This is what makes this team so wonderful & dangerous, the multiple scoring options on the floor. Where we had Aaliyah having an off night, we got Dorka, AG, & Lou and now Nika. Well done, ladies.

 

[Zarathustra]

A win is a win. A lot of ranked WBB teams lost on the weekend. UCONN
continues to get the "W". Sunday noon will be interesting.

 

[Wbbfan1]

As the season goes on, I'm extremely disappointed in the play of Ayanna Patterson and Amari DeBerry. They were highly rated coming out of High School and barely able to contribute on either end of the court. Yes, we hear and say it takes awhile for Post Players to get used to the College Game, but they're not. Ayanna and Amari should be able to contribute more against the lower teams in the Big East but like tonight they don't. Has Ayanna Patterson ever looked like she was the overall 4th Ranked player coming out of HS. Also she was the #1 Ranked Post player.

 

[Siestakeyfan]

I'm all for letting ticky tack fouls go, but Lou took a beating on cuts. I know Geno wants them to play better, but I sensed the players decided to dial it back a bit. I get the grind at this point. Never sensed they weren't in control.

ROUGH play seems to be ALLOWED against UCONN these days !

 

[freshler40]

UConn played their C game, Providence played, I guess for them, their A game. Trap game, too

I think there were 3 bench points, btw

On edit: Ayanna had one point, 1 turnover, 1 foul
Ines was 0-1 and 1 steal
Amari, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 block, 1 turnover, 3 fouls

No rebounds from the two big girls

Hoping for better and more effective play from our bench. They just seem to wander around not knowing where to be or what to do. What's a mother to do??? Will they show up for meals????

 

[freshler40]

Speaking of ugly, I'm wondering what has happened to Ayanna's low-post game. I saw her in HS, and her overall skill set seems to have regressed since coming to UConn: She has no shooter's touch, no appreciable footwork, and her court movement is stagnant. Wow. BY-ers were speculating preseason if she would get a dunk--I really hope so, because that appears to be the only shot she is capable of making.. She needs some serious focus and improvement before she can make any kind of appreciable contribution to thisteam...

Still feeling like Ayanna's game could breakout. She seems focused but is playing small now, not using her BB skills. Perhaps needs to loosen up, make a few shots and she is on her way. Patterson is playing too much like a practice player and afraid to make a mistake.

I don't get this feeling from Amari, now in her second year. She needs to improve her footwork and quicken her response to drives and rebounding. She got beat a number of times last nite. She does hold the ball up high and passes well from that position. Coaches need to improve her quickness!

 

[freshler40]

Uconn showed very mentally fatigued tonight. They played like they knew they had Providence and just showed to get the win. Dorka played great as expected. Nika also. Aubrey brought a semblance of her game to this one. AE seemed to be out of it. Teams have figured out how to limit the efficiency of AE. They've simply watched the film on her moves all season. Especially on her driving and spinning. The answer is to drop a player (or send a player) to a position under the basket whenever the ball is passed into her. Then there is someone there to double team her, capture a charge or force her to pass out. She must adjust her moves to regain her scoring. Lou needs a break. Weak legs will affect a shooters efficiency. Mostly defenders are not going under screens for her and teams are putting a player who is fast on Lou to not let her beat them to the inevitable screen. She needs another to pull some of the pressure off of her attempts to get open.
The bench needs more and more time. Also, they should be encouraged in practice to do more than defense. If we expect them to score than they must do so in practice. Learning defense and nothing else as a freshman is simply old school and will not work with today's players. Freshman must learn offense as well as defense. Both warrant practice. Uconn will play better against SC because SC's guard play is weaker this year than last. The struggle will be on the boards and in the paint. Can Dorka, with help, restrain Boston. How will we react when Boston and Cardoso is on the floor? Who will cover Amihere when she comes in? That is the struggle. Will Lou cover Beal? Matchup nightmare!

Good thoughts here especially about practicing offence. We don't seem to include the bench in scoring options. Is this the second year, 102??? It does show up as a lot of missed close in shots as the player is surprised to have to ball and the shot clock is running down.

 

[HopJim]

A few added thoughts:
-Dorka's basketball IQ is outstanding. May not make every shot or hold onto every rebound, but she is consistently in the right spot offensively and defensively. She sees the court well and does not press - good things happen at critical times when she is on the floor.
-Past few games, other teams have been doubling or tripling Edwards, particularly when she drives. Not sure why she doesn't just square up sometimes and shot the 5-10 jumper. She did in the beginning of the year, but now on drives she seems to aways dribble into the double team.
-All of UConn's offense starts with one of the bigs at the key and a lot of guard and wing picks. Would seem the Dorka and Edwards setting picks for each other with both down low would work as a changeup.
-Providence was a great opportunity for the bench to show their skills. Didn't work out this way. Looking forward to Caroline coming back.

 

[CL82]

We won but this gives us a glimpse of what Sunday s game will be like.

We play poorly, but win by double digits? Sign me up for that!

 

[Fairfield Fan]

Was it just me? Or did Providence look very sharp, very aggressive, and dogged on defense from the opening tip-off? They certainly don't play like a bad team. Not at all.

I know we struggled, and there were, once again 20 turnovers. But I have to admit that Providence had a lot to do with it....

 

[Huskie02]

Some thoughts on the Providence game:

• Something about the bus ride from Storrs to Providence the past two seasons hasn’t agreed with UConn. It was ugly, but a win is a win is a win!!!
• Nika had a season low 3 assists vs Nova on Sunday. Different story today as Nika added 9 assists to her NCAA leading total. In addition, I like that Nika was looking for her shot more tonight as she added 14 pts on 6/9 shooting.
• Dorka has this unique “scissors kick” shooting style. Like many jump shooters, her shooting foot (right foot) is forward. But when she’s up in the air, she scissors her legs closed and then scissors them open again as she lands, kind of like a ski jumper doing a telemark landing. I don’t know if she does it for balance or it’s just an odd shooting quirk, but her shots keep falling and that’s all that really matters. Her double-double tonight was a big key to the game for UConn.
• Any contribution from the bench is a welcome one for UConn, and the Huskies did get minutes tonight from Ayanna, Amari & Ines. But they really need more meaningful contributions at this point in the season.
• What are the odds that UConn would shoot 43% from the arc with Lou going 1-5?
• The refs allowed a lot of banging and bumping tonight. It was even on both sides but it certainly didn't help the Huskies.
• With the win today, UConn successfully navigated the gauntlet of 5 games in 12 days. Next up is the toughest test of the season vs SC on Sunday. On paper the shorthanded Huskies are no match for the Gamecocks. But games are not played on paper. Go Huskies!!!

Ayanna very disappointed with her development at this point in the season. She seems lost. Amari how many fouls did she commit in her short time on the court 2-3? As a 6’5” sophomore who was so highly recruited, a lot more should be expected of her. Ines looked ok but she is no scoring threat.

 

[donalddoowop]

A few added thoughts:
-Dorka's basketball IQ is outstanding. May not make every shot or hold onto every rebound, but she is consistently in the right spot offensively and defensively. She sees the court well and does not press - good things happen at critical times when she is on the floor.
-Past few games, other teams have been doubling or tripling Edwards, particularly when she drives. Not sure why she doesn't just square up sometimes and shot the 5-10 jumper. She did in the beginning of the year, but now on drives she seems to aways dribble into the double team.
-All of UConn's offense starts with one of the bigs at the key and a lot of guard and wing picks. Would seem the Dorka and Edwards setting picks for each other with both down low would work as a changeup.
-Providence was a great opportunity for the bench to show their skills. Didn't work out this way. Looking forward to Caroline coming back.

Providence gave the starters a fit and you expected the reserves to do better? That's not being realistic.

 

[HuskyNan]

Ayanna very disappointed with her development at this point in the season. She seems lost. Amari how many fouls did she commit in her short time on the court 2-3? As a 6’5” sophomore who was so highly recruited, a lot more should be expected of her. Ines looked ok but she is no scoring threat.

Ironically, given the rankings and such, Ines looks like the player with the most positive effect on the team so far this season.

Go Ines!

 

[VaConnFan11]

I have to laugh when posters say stuff like Providence played their 'A' game or their best game of the season. They shot 36%. UConn shot 51%. I would hardly call that their 'A' game. If Providence had shot 45%, they win the game.

The turnovers and lack of fast break points are a major concern. Granted teams are dropping players back on every shot to prevent the fast breaks and force UConn to run half court offense. To me it looked like a lot of one-on-one basketball, which UConn is not good at.

I disagree with the posters that disrespected the subs' play. Their net +/- was 0 over 26 minutes. With the subs UConn has, that is all you want them to do. Give the starters rest without giving up any of the lead.

Sunday's game would be difficult at full strength, it will take a "perfect storm" to win with the current 8 players.

 

[LarryLegend]

As the season goes on, I'm extremely disappointed in the play of Ayanna Patterson and Amari DeBerry. They were highly rated coming out of High School and barely able to contribute on either end of the court. Yes, we hear and say it takes awhile for Post Players to get used to the College Game, but they're not. Ayanna and Amari should be able to contribute more against the lower teams in the Big East but like tonight they don't. Has Ayanna Patterson ever looked like she was the overall 4th Ranked player coming out of HS. Also she was the #1 Ranked Post player.

At least Patterson is still a freshman. Deberry is almost through her sophomore year, and doesnt appear to have progressed at all.
Guess thats the difficulty in evaluating high school kids, it could be that the only reason they excel is because they are much taller than everyone else.

 

[PacoSwede]

Was it just me? Or did Providence look very sharp, very aggressive, and dogged on defense from the opening tip-off? They certainly don't play like a bad team. Not at all.

I know we struggled, and there were, once again 20 turnovers. But I have to admit that Providence had a lot to do with it....

'lesser' teams have extra incentive vs. the huskies. knocking the 'legendary' uconn off would be the highlight of their season -- even their multiple seasons.

you see it time after time against 'non-competitive' teams. this makes huskies' record even more impressive.

 

[meyers7]

I said this all before the game, but I think this bears repeating. I'm worried about this team. I don't think they're in a good place right now. As I said, all of these starters are at best 80% physically. Some significantly less. They're as tired mentally as they are physically. They have two more games this week, Sunday against SCar, and next Wednesday against Marquette. They're already worn to the nub and when you're playing your starters more than 30 minutes a game it won't get better. AE just looks a shell of herself and she's having trouble jumping and running, Lou is getting very little lift out of her legs, and Nika either can't or smartly, won't push the ball up the court. The coaches are worn out as well mentally and physically. There isn't much more to say. Hopefully 3 days will help, but who's to say? AG though looks like the Energizer Bunny. Fatigued or not she just keeps going. Thank goodness for her.

Gotta laugh at you. How'd those 20 minutes a piece for the bench work out for you?

27 minutes - 0/2 shooting, 1 point, 0 rbs, 1 assist, 2 TOs, 2 Stls, 4 fouls. Just imagine what they could have done with 60 minutes.

Players didn't seem too upset about winning the game.

 

[Beemer]

She would say that if she was bleeding to death in the huddle LOL

Ugly game. Just absolutely ugly. AE in particular looked & played exhausted, probably the worst game I've seen her play in a long time. Thank goodness Dorka was able to pick up the slack with 17 rebounds. They all looked like they were trying to run in wet cement.

Now they get to play SC. At this point I just want them to survive the game physically unscathed, they just can't take any more injuries.

 

[PacoSwede]

I have to laugh ...

Sunday's game would be difficult at full strength, it will take a "perfect storm" to win with the current 8 players.

keys to a uconn win will be:

solid sharpshooting
fine defense
a fast start would help

and: gamecocks have FAR more pressure to deal with: continuing undefeated, living up to their reputation as far superior to everyone.

plus they're playing a road game and know, at least subconsciously, that they haven't faced a really potent opponent, sans stanford, and thus doubt may undermine them

meanwhile, the huskies should be relatively loose. what have they got to lose? nothing, really.

sunday is not a 'mission impossible' for uconn, although much of the BY apparently feels otherwise..

 

[Cornell Lt]

keys to a uconn win will be:

solid sharpshooting
fine defense
a fast start would help

and: gamecocks have FAR more pressure to deal with: continuing undefeated, living up to their reputation as far superior to everyone.

plus they're playing a road game and know, at least subconsciously, that they haven't faced a really potent opponent, sans stanford, and thus doubt may undermine them

meanwhile. the huskies should be relatively loose. what have they got to lose? nothing, really.

sunday is not a 'mission impossible' for uconn.

In this day and age anything is possible. Let's roll out the ball and see what happens.