Providence Postgame Thread

[Fore!]

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.

The only positive in it is as long as the Ref’s are letting bumping and ticky tack fouls go equally against both teams it helps UConn keep their 5 ready for prime time players on the court. When one has to sit they are significantly diminished offensively and defensively.

 

[BRS24]

Swerve: It looked like Jana was in uniform. What would be the point of that? I am curious, that's all.

Perhaps getting her involved in the team's actives, familiarizing her with the pre-game routine? She missed the summer and fall semester, so everything that was taught to the freshmen between then and now is significant. Whether it be how they jog onto the court, what warmup routines they use, etc, etc, it's probably like drinking from a fire hose for Jana. I like that she was dressed in a uni, as it shows her bonding with the team.

 

[sun]

Providence was inspired by the close game with Villanova.
That and Edwards getting into foul trouble forced UConn to need to adjust by finding other ways to score.
UConn needs to be able to adjust when the ref's call a tighter game than usual.
Luckily Providence wasn't able to capitalize on all of the UConn turnovers.
Maybe staying out of foul trouble in a tightly officiated game will work out for the better when they play Scar.

 

[oldude]

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.

I strongly suspect that one of the issues with the development of UConn’s 3 bench players has to do with practice. UConn has always taken pride in conducting extremely demanding practices, and that’s when young players can really develop their skills and gain confidence.

Unfortunately, all the injuries have severely limited what UConn can and should do in practice. Geno has spoken on this subject several times, indicating that the Huskies are relying on Andrea Hudy to manage player workloads by limiting how long and how hard practices go.

So young players who really need hard practices to develop their ability to provide quality PT in actual games, just aren’t getting those practices essential to player development.

 

[LwrcasefaN]

I strongly suspect that one of the issues with the development of UConn’s 3 bench players has to do with practice. UConn has always taken pride in conducting extremely demanding practices, and that’s when young players can really develop their skills and gain confidence.

Unfortunately, all the injuries have severely limited what UConn can and should do in practice. Geno has spoken on this subject several times, indicating that the Huskies are relying on Andrea Hudy to manage player workloads by limiting how long and how hard practices go.

So young players who really need hard practices to develop their ability to provide quality PT in actual games, just aren’t getting those practices essential to player development.

Most years, Patterson as a freshman wouldn't be even playing. She lost sight of a player last night, but it happens. I can see her patience developing on the offensive end. She's fine to me...folks just want more because we need bodies. Amari, despite the fouls isn't a lost cause, but that's a thread to itself.

 

[sun]

When Amari receives a pass at the foul line, she should be able to make that shot without attempting to thread a bounce pass into the lane for a turnover.
After shooting she should quickly advance into the lane to get her own rebound.
Amari's not shooting the ball when she gets into the game.
Since she's got the shooter's touch and a clear shot she should try to score.

 

[Rowdy831]

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!!!

They are playing like a very tired team right now. The bench doesn't need to score to be an important part of the game. Right now their role is to give the starters just a little break. Nika is the engine that makes this team go and I think the level of play against SC will be much better and I would expect UCONN to play them close. The players they do have will have to play good, limit the TOs and the fouls but their five are as good as anyone in the country.

 

[Geew1992]

Watching that game last night, there wasn't enough movement without the ball. It got stuck numerous times at the top of the key, regardless of who's hands it was in.

Were you guys this negative about this team last year after this same game where UCONN squeaked out a win??

 

[Rowdy831]

Lots of people here want Geno to play the bench more... well, this is what you get.... the bench was "ineffective" to put it kindly... at least they ate some minutes...

If they have 4 starters on the floor and one reserve at a time they should be fine. No one expects the reserves to come in and take over the game, they barely play. Rest at this point for the starters is as important as their contributions on offense.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

Geno admitted to being mad during the game, but he didn't dwell on the whys of it. As a matter of fact he said he has been mad this year infrequently and this team has listened to him and tried to deliver all he asked for. He said in the past he has been an emotional coach, but maybe he is by that now ... a little. The "little" made me laugh. However, Geno's demeanor is that of a worried coach presented with one injury after another for a super talented team. Think good thoughts for Geno and the team and let's get through this wounded year together.

 

[sun]

When Nika made that nice pull up shot a lot of folks must have been surprised to see that.
Meghan Culmo was lucky that she didn't faint.

 

[HuskyNan]

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.

Are you using stats to determine how well or how badly a team plays? Did you watch the game? Providence shot poorly but their defense was well-coached and well-executed. Providence’s key problem is that they can in no way match UConn’s talent. Their best player would probably come off the bench as the 8th player for the Huskies.

Providence played as well as they could, their A game, not UConn’s A game.

 

[meyers7]

Swerve: It looked like Jana was in uniform. What would be the point of that? I am curious, that's all.

I noticed that too. I was thinking maybe she goes through warm-ups????

 

[HuskyNan]

Most years, Patterson as a freshman wouldn't be even playing. She lost sight of a player last night, but it happens. I can see her patience developing on the offensive end. She's fine to me...folks just want more because we need bodies. Amari, despite the fouls isn't a lost cause, but that's a thread to itself.

I wanted Geno to pull Aaliyah and put Ayanna in for the 4th quarter. At least Ayanna was playing hard. A Providence player drove to the hoop and Aaliyah didn’t even put her hands up, just stood and watched. It happened a couple of times. Ayanna might have fouled but at least she’d try, and maybe she’d learn something

 

[HuskyNan]

I noticed that too. I was thinking maybe she goes through warm-ups????

 

[freshler40]

When Nika made that nice pull up shot a lot of folks must have been surprised to see that.
Meghan Culmo was lucky that she didn't faint.

Our cat did faint, then led with the left paw!

 

[Longtime fan]

A tough grind. Happy we got a win. Providence played hard and defended well.

Dorka had a phenomenal game with 19 points and 17 rebounds. Nika played well with 9 Assists And 14 points. Aubrey and Lou had strong contributions with 13 points each. Aliyah was off tonight and she picked up a few early fouls. The bench provided limited relief.

There were 20 turnovers, two more than the 18 assists.

Time to get some rest and get ready for South Carolina!

27 minutes of court time from the bench and one point. What a crew. I say; start them all against South Carolina. And have a rule: no one can come out until they have scored 7 points minimum.

 

[Cornell Lt]

27 minutes of court time from the bench and one point. What a crew. I say; start them all against South Carolina. And have a rule: no one can come out until they have scored 7 points minimum.

This might just be the most tone deaf post I've ever seen on the BY

 

[DEpup]

Obviously she made a bad choice and is under a coaching staff with no clue on how to develop players.

Depleted I will give you but dispirited I have to beg to differ. This team has never shown to be dispirited. They support each other all game every game.

I would attribute Ayanna's challenges compared to highschool as learning the UConn way of doing things. I'm sure she maybe learned remedial skills but now CD and Jamelle are probably breaking down her techniques and building them back again. She'll be fine next year. Ayanna is like a lot of super athletes. They first get by with the athleticism and youth coaches are just excited to win and they didn't focus on the details of the technique. Well CD isn't that kind of coach so she is probably relearning the fundamentals.

 

[rubymae4]

‘Twas an ugly game. I realized though that this is the first very ugly game by the team all season. Usually there are 2-3 by this time in the season.

Unless you are able to perform at 100% every minute every day of your job, I think there’s not much to criticize. Everyone has let downs. Sometimes on a team, everyone is having a let down at once and you end up with these games. It happens to the best of teams.

We’re still won, so even if it wasn’t pretty, it was still successful.

 

[BBallF]

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!!!

Really nice summary not only of the game but also of the current status of the team. You could see exhaustion in Aaliyah's eyes, even under the mask, and Lou's poor shooting stats (5-26) in the last 2 games are simply due to fatigue and some outright muscling which is transforming women's basketball for the worse with each passing day. On the other hand, the energy and will of our PG is just remarkable and both Dorka and Aubrey have been having very good games and also carrying us. As Geno has repeatedly said, we need all 5 of our starters to have solid games. When they don't every game is in jeopardy. Our bench is simply not helpful except to give short breathers and they actually have hurt us at times. It's disappointing but a reality.

We shall see. I have a lot to say about the schedule ( absolutely penal ), the officiating, and the nature of the game now, but it is best to just relish where we are right now despite adversity of what seems like Biblical proportions for our team. I think Geno has done an extraordinary job this year, even better than at the same time last year and I thought last year was the best coaching job he ever did. As for our players, nothing but respect and admiration, pure and simple.

 

[boontonbomber]

I would love to see Amari posting up more. She has shown moves when she's down low. Don't really understand why she spends most of the time at the top of the key, setting meaningless picks. She doesn't have much of an idea what to do out there. Almost like Geno is trying to groom another Dolson , but doesn't appear to be a Dolson type player.. Wonder where she spent most of the time in High School. Just looks to me like she's being put in a spot where she will fail. Tell her to get down low, and tell players to get her the ball. Of course, only in blowouts for the moment.

 

[mudblood]

‘Twas an ugly game. I realized though that this is the first very ugly game by the team all season. Usually there are 2-3 by this time in the season.

Unless you are able to perform at 100% every minute every day of your job, I think there’s not much to criticize. Everyone has let downs. Sometimes on a team, everyone is having a let down at once and you end up with these games. It happens to the best of teams.

We’re still won, so even if it wasn’t pretty, it was still successful.

There was another one, the Georgetown game.