Providence Postgame Thread | Page 2 | The Boneyard

Providence Postgame Thread

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maple said:
A win is a win and thankfully they don’t give out style points.

Kind of wish we had actually blown out Providence though. I don’t really love seeing a 20+ point win over a team that we could have (and probably should have) beaten by 40+. I know it seems nitpicky but to me this just points to some continuing issues — particularly with scoring; the 3rd quarter was dreadful. And 7-29 (24.1%) from 3pt for the game is not great. I’m not expecting Iowa St game % shooting in every game but honestly … we could do better.

Also being out rebounded …
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The switch was turn on in the first 10 minutes. Our defense defined the rest of the game. Ragged for sure, reluctance to shoot open shots or take the ball into the hoop continues. Hard to be pleased with being out rebounded. Q could be playing center and came close to out rebounding our starters for that position in just a few minutes. Hoping this imbalance changes going forward.
 
Topsail said:
As Geno said in post game interview , I know who they are and the rest are a work in progress with a smirk. This was in response to , you are trying to figure out a combination.
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I heard that and I had no idea what Geno was talking about.

I assume in his head, the lineup is a small ball lineup. Probably what we closed the third quarter with. Chen/KK, Shade, Azzi, Paige, Strong. Please keep fishing Geno. I don’t think that will work against certain teams.
 
Next 12 said:
This game will be used as a learning curve, about what should have been different or better. No worries, we won.
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Actually...and especially after the 1st quarter...this was a god-awful. disappointing game in which especially in the 3rd quarter with many of our best players in, very little offense transpired.

We averaged 13 points a quarter after the 1st quarter...against a decent defense by a regional team...Anything like that against a top 20 team will be a loss.

I'm not convinced the mixing and matching the lineup is a good enough excuse.
 
Centerstream said:
I also felt like Morgan was not looking for her shot, which I don't understand. She seems like she could be just like freshman Caroline or Ashlynn. She has shown this in previous games but today, not so much.
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I think it is hard to shoot when you are on the court with Paige, Azzi, and Sarah. I remember in a clip from practice Geno telling them no one but Azzi better shoot the ball. And I think he was trying to encourage passing. But I do remember that.

I am kind of curious to see if she is a lot more aggressive offensively next year when one maybe two of them are gone.
 
This team is not right. The loss to USC and the holiday break didn't seem to help. They started with a lot of energy and then seemed to decide their work was done and were content to just pass the ball around the perimeter and shoot (and miss) jump shots.

Post play remains a big problem. Jana was off to a decent start and then misses a layup followed by a lazy effort at a put-back and she's done. She seems unable to shake off bad plays.

Ice is Ice. Plays like she's stuck.

Azzi played not much better than she played against USC. Didn't move freely and didn't play with a lot of energy.

Paige played great early but didn't seem interested in sustaining it. The team followed her lead. She still passes up open shots. She's far from the biggest problem but something is missing.

Shade's job off the bench is to make shots and she shot an 0-fer in the first half.

Chen makes strange decisions on both ends.

Rare so-so game from Strong, likely affected by early fouls.

KK plays with energy but has lost all confidence in her shot.

A lot of positive things would flow from improved post play. Geno may just have to let Jana play through her mistakes and hope she can gain some confidence. At the very least she'll go after rebounds.
 
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CONN SCORE BY QUARTER28171111
Wow, that was unexpected. Also 4 turnovers by Kaitlyn and 4 fouls by Ash, also unexpected. 24% 3 point shooting, just at a loss for words. I'm excusing Ice and Jana for rust, I imagine Geno will work all that off right away. Here's hoping!
 
UConnCat said:
Post play remains a big problem. Jana was off to a decent start and then misses a layup followed by a lazy effort at a put-back and she's done. She seems unable to shake off bad plays.
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I'm not the only one who picked up on this. Things changed with the two missed layups.

Geno Auriemma on starting Jana El Alfy over Ice Brady: “At some point, we have to keep experimenting to see what works… I think the progress that we need to make in that area is gonna take a while. It’s not gonna be easy. We’ll keep trying. I thought until she missed her own layup, she was ok. The biggest challenge for these guys is mentally staying present.”
 
Jana and Ice played a combined 23 minutes. In Jana’s minutes she scored early on a nice low post move and then missed a few bunnies. On defense, both she and Ice deterred a number of drives by providence guards just by their presence in the paint.
 
hoophuskee said:
I'll have to watch again - which I will -. I do recall Morgan had a wide open 3 and she just gave up the 3pt shot, she dorve the lane resutling in an offensive foul.
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Isn’t her finger taped up? I saw some pictures on the UConn twitter account and it looked like her finger was taped up; like maybe she was playing with a jammed finger.
 
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pvdoggy said:
Despite Geno's talk about needing to get more from the inside game, I thought he was just not patient enough to see it through judging by how many minutes Jana/Ice played and how he yanked them when they made a mistake. I can't see how they will get their confidence up for tougher remaining games.
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As frustrated as I am with the play of Ice and Jana I agree with this unless Geno just feels they aren’t as critical as we do. When he took Jana out after she got that over the back fouled super early in Q3 I thought that was a mistake. I felt he needed to let her play through that as mistakes are going to happen.
 
Stagnant said:
I think it is hard to shoot when you are on the court with Paige, Azzi, and Sarah. I remember in a clip from practice Geno telling them no one but Azzi better shoot the ball. And I think he was trying to encourage passing. But I do remember that.

I am kind of curious to see if she is a lot more aggressive offensively next year when one maybe two of them are gone.
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Unless you are supremely confident (like Strong), Uconn players have been drilled in their heads to make the extra pass to get a better shot for the team, so with better shooters on the floor that's what they do even if they seem wide open.
 
Odd game, glad we did the press. 31 Providence turnovers.

That means the Friars only got 40 shots!

They went 13 of 40...

...and why UConn got so few rebounds.

I hope Geno gives some extended minutes to the centers and backups. Would like to see how they play in longer stretches without worrying about being pulled.
 
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Let's hope that's the case. If she's not 100% thinking about playing basketball, then what is she thinking about? I guess it's the knee.

 
UConnCat said:
A lot of positive things would flow from improved post play. Geno may just have to let Jana play through her mistakes and hope she can gain some confidence. At the very least she'll go after rebounds.
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Don't see this as a long term solution. Can't see her scoring vs the top teams other than making wide open layups.

Long term solution is Azzi making shots at a consistent level and Sarah taking the ball to the basket enough to get just enough inside scoring.

His postgame last week was the odd comment of wanting more scoring while only playing JEA 6 minutes. JEA is not going to be much ao threat this year no matter how many minutes they force upon her. It's giota be Paige/Azzi/Sarah and sprinkle in some others but they won't get it from just dumping the ball into the low post.

The best way UCONN is going to win is win with its stars. Not trying to force-feed someone that ins't a star.
 
Paige in 1Q was the stellar Paige we all know and love. That was enough to get us a huge lead and everything after that was patchy coasting.

The ineffectiveness of our two post players is really vexing.
 
In some ways the big east games are hard. There is no way really for UConn to win. A 20/30/40 point win and the discussion afterwards is that they should have played better. And that is what they have to look forward to for the next two months tbh.
 
hoophuskee said:
Don't see this as a long term solution. Can't see her scoring vs the top teams other than making wide open layups.

Long term solution is Azzi making shots at a consistent level and Sarah taking the ball to the basket enough to get just enough inside scoring.

His postgame last week was the odd comment of wanting more scoring while only playing JEA 6 minutes. JEA is not going to be much ao threat this year no matter how many minutes they force upon her. It's giota be Paige/Azzi/Sarah and sprinkle in some others but they won't get it from just dumping the ball into the low post.

The best way UCONN is going to win is win with its stars. Not trying to force-feed someone that ins't a star.
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I understand what you're saying but the team doesn't have enough guards who can make plays against the pressure perimeter defense that results from not having to respect the post game. The perimeter defenders on better teams are bigger and faster than what Providence throws out there. The team has to get enough from the post players to take a little bit of the pressure off the perimeter players feeling like they have to make shots.
 
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UConnCat said:
I'm not the only one who picked up on this. Things changed with the two missed layups.

Geno Auriemma on starting Jana El Alfy over Ice Brady: “At some point, we have to keep experimenting to see what works… I think the progress that we need to make in that area is gonna take a while. It’s not gonna be easy. We’ll keep trying. I thought until she missed her own layup, she was ok. The biggest challenge for these guys is mentally staying present.”
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He's got this right. Indecisiveness, slow feet, and fragile confidence is a bad combination and they've both got it.
 
There was very little about this game that you can point to and say "wow that was really good". Coming off a loss, and a break, the team stormed out in Q1 and was sub par to bad the rest of the game. Come on - this is a 7-8 PC team who just lost to Seton Hall by 11.

Q1 - A
Q2 - C+
Q3 - D-
Q4 - D

Sure Paige was great. But mostly in Q1. I thought KK gave some great minutes especially on defense. Azzi, Ash, and Allie hit a few shots. I actually thought Allie showed something in this game. And Azzi mostly had solid defense. Post play was flat out bad. Most of the team was average or worse. Sarah was lifeless till the 4th quarter.

Not sure how anyone can say "rusty". If that were the case, Q1 would have looked like the 2nd half. We scored 22 in the 2nd half. PC scored 22 in the 2nd half. They played us even for 20 straight minutes. Yuck.

I did LOVE the full court pressure and defensive effort for much of the game. But the offense needs a LOT of work. Can't throw out the baby with the bathwater for one game, but there was far too little good stuff happening.

Oh and I couldn't disagree more with 2 comments Meghan made. First, "KK needs to shoot the 3 when wide open". Absolutely NOT. She is literally shooting 7% from 3. That's abysmal. Second, the no call when KK got elbowed in the jaw in the 2nd half. "Good no call" Meghan said. Good grief. Elbow to the face is a good "no call"? Totally disagree.
 
Stagnant said:
In some ways the big east games are hard. There is no way really for UConn to win. A 20/30/40 point win and the discussion afterwards is that they should have played better. And that is what they have to look forward to for the next two months tbh.
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Not really. If the team plays to its talent the fans here will be thrilled. Today the team played 3 quarters of very average basketball and that showed on the scoreboard. Providence is a bad basketball team yet the score after the 1st quarter was 39-35.
 
Outside of the 1st quarter, this was an ugly and disappointing game to watch.

There is no flow to the offense. Kaitlyn dribbles way too much and had 1 assist. KK does better with assists but for some reason is very hesitant to shoot. What happened to crisp passing, continual motion, setting screens and back door cuts? Not happy with our point guard play at all.

Post players not scoring is partly because the guards aren't looking for them. We have a guard oriented, and I'm going to say it - a Paige oriented offense. Geno needs post players but he seems to be hesitant to give them the minutes needed to develop.

Geno says he knows who the 5 are. Good, I think. Then play them as a complete unit for more than 5 to 6 minutes. However, the subbing to get others minutes to see where they fit is the opposite of the old Geno. The semblence of team chemistry is missing.
 
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