Providence Postgame Thread | Page 2 | The Boneyard
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Providence Postgame Thread

The boss once labeled me a contrarian, well here goes:

The starting lineup didn’t look so great with Allie and Shade as guards with Fudd
Geno also had them playing straight up, man to man offering Providence opportunities…so at the outset, the Friars stayed close.

Geno’s "line change” K9, Blanca, and El Alfi, won the game…the ball moved, shooters were open, Providence had few answers. Give Kaleigh a lot of credit, she played a masterful game…And of course the pressing D caused havoc.

Does anyone have a theory of why Geno didn’t do that (the pressing D) at the outset?

I thought…given KK’s injury…that it was an audition for Allie to see if she could blend in well with the starters…My impression is that she didn’t win any confidence points and her pairing with Shade actually (to my eyes)
lessened Ashlynn’s effectiveness as well.

Serah had some fine moments…not so much at the awkward outset, but also is yet to completely settle in...I imagine the coaching staff is a bit mystified as must she. Why is it taking so long?

Blanca missed a few that she normally makes in the first half but in the 2nd she was a complete monster…that steal and score at the buzzer was amazing…such awareness….helped by the refs adding time.

K9 for me was the essential peg around which the game revolved…my star...
Just a splendid point guard effort on both sides of the court.

There…I didn’t say a word about Sarah’s 3’s or TO’s or Azzzi’s all-around excellence.

Lastly, I thought the announcers spent too much time chatting about how great UConn was and not enough on the play…especially when it was less than beautiful BB that they were observing…but I ‘m sure they’re just bringing the potential new audience up to date…still disconcerting

Geno’s gotta know what works…just trying to feed more talent into the system…Tonight…those results were variable.

But he seems to have enough.




"
 
huskeynut said:
A win is a win. 13 - 0 to end 2025.

And "x*it" happens every once in a while. Missing you starting PG is going to create some problems and it did. Allie and Kayleigh performed good. Hopefully KK returns for the next game.

Is the number of turnovers today a cause for concern? Not unless it starts to repeat itself.

Jana is improving. Her work around the post is improved. Less missed shots. She looks like she knows what she has to do.

Serah is integrating nicely.

I like Geno using Serah, Sarah and Jana together. Could be needed down the road.

Happy New Year everybody. Here's to health and happiness in 2026!!
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Ummm…..14-0
 
The score differential really does not tell the story of this game. Hard to complain with a 37 point win, but Geno's facial expressions spoke volumes. I never thought I would say this (because Ash is one of my favs) but Blanca's play is making a very strong case for her starting and playing more minutes. K-9 is a very capable point guard in KK's absence. Strong is making some very, very lazy passes, and they are getting more and more frequent. Serah does not finish well enough, and commits silly fouls. Jana is playing herself into a bigger role, and Azzi is a consistently superb player. KK, although not needed in this game, is the straw that stirs the drink.
 
Lots for the coaching staff to work on. Over passing and passing up wide open shots. Trying to get the ball to our bigs is our worst offensive strategy. Too many turnovers passing it to players who are not really efficient.
Thought it was Shade's worst game, she seemed tentative and was fumbling all over the place.
 
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Happydad745 said:
K9 might not have started because of her injury....it was a sloppy game compared to what we are used to seeing. For me, the second half was very hard to watch.
On a positive note: I think Azzi is faster than she has been in years past.
We can't play like this and expect to beat Norte Dame.
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I thought about that. But it didn’t seem to be the case; it’s not like K9 was on a minutes restriction.

The whole season, when KK is subbed out of the game… 9 times out of 10… Heckel has been her replacement. I think if you are going to run Allie, Shade, and Azzi as the guards… it is Azzi that needs to play the point the majority of the time. Maybe Geno needed to see this result for himself? I think Allie is a pure 2. And I remember when we brought in Ash; she was referred to as a combo guard. But I also think after 3 years; we can say she is mostly a 2.
 
Does anyone remember when Geno continued starting Caroline Doty after her Nth knee injury where N is a large number? She wasn't the player she'd been when she showed up at UConn, but he said he (paraphrase) "liked the way she set the tone." Well, it seems KK is the one who sets the tone now. On both offense and defense.

As said above, there's a lot to work on after this game, and it should serve a few purposes. Some combinations who almost never play together got time. Shade and Fudd trapping isn't quite the same as either trapping with KK, things like that. Ziebell at the head of the press, just not the same. It's good to get a game like this when there's plenty of season left.
 
msf22b said:
The boss once labeled me a contrarian, well here goes:

The starting lineup didn’t look so great with Allie and Shade as guards with Fudd
Geno also had them playing straight up, man to man offering Providence opportunities…so at the outset, the Friars stayed close.

Geno’s "line change” K9, Blanca, and El Alfi, won the game…the ball moved, shooters were open, Providence had few answers. Give Kaleigh a lot of credit, she played a masterful game…And of course the pressing D caused havoc.

Does anyone have a theory of why Geno didn’t do that (the pressing D) at the outset?

I thought…given KK’s injury…that it was an audition for Allie to see if she could blend in well with the starters…My impression is that she didn’t win any confidence points and her pairing with Shade actually (to my eyes)
lessened Ashlynn’s effectiveness as well.

Serah had some fine moments…not so much at the awkward outset, but also is yet to completely settle in...I imagine the coaching staff is a bit mystified as must she. Why is it taking so long?

Blanca missed a few that she normally makes in the first half but in the 2nd she was a complete monster…that steal and score at the buzzer was amazing…such awareness….helped by the refs adding time.

K9 for me was the essential peg around which the game revolved…my star...
Just a splendid point guard effort on both sides of the court.

There…I didn’t say a word about Sarah’s 3’s or TO’s or Azzzi’s all-around excellence.

Lastly, I thought the announcers spent too much time chatting about how great UConn was and not enough on the play…especially when it was less than beautiful BB that they were observing…but I ‘m sure they’re just bringing the potential new audience up to date…still disconcerting

Geno’s gotta know what works…just trying to feed more talent into the system…Tonight…those results were variable.

But he seems to have enough.




"
Expand ...
Here is my theory on Allie starting.

The nose situation happened late in practice on Tuesday and they probably didn't have Kayleigh practicing that day too much because of the sternum bruise.

Therefore, they took the second year guard who participated in the whole practice and said you are starting.

It was the least disruptive thing to do since first years K9 and Blanca are used to coming in together.

I have no insider info but I think it is a plausible scenario. And against an inferior team, why not put your second year guard in a position of opportunity.
 
My theory is that Geno would say he likes bringing in Blanca and K9 as a pair to change the game when it is needed. And that makes sense to me. But we started the game without a point guard as a result.

I think Geno also probably thought Sarah would run the offense some. And he was probably surprised by those quick turnovers she had.
 
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Guys, it’s almost inevitable that sometime after Christmas, after a few days off, before school is back in session, UConn will play down to their competition. Last year, on December 29, UConn hosted Providence in Hartford, beating them by 67-41 in an ugly game.

Yes, last year’s national champions beat lowly Providence by 16 at home, with everyone healthy. Chill everyone. The Huskies will be firing on all cylinders when it matters most.
 
Charliebball said:
way too many turnovers........forcing the ball inside through multiple defenders isn't a high percentage pass......
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We have a pattern that teams should prepare for. In the first quarter; we are going to start the game by spending the first several possessions forcing the ball into Serah Williams. Halfway into the quarter we start to just play basketball. But that pattern is pretty consistent and we do it a lot.
 
I thought it was a mediocre game and was disappointed in the MOV. Several players for Providence impressed me. Gueye looked good, but mostly after Azzi went to the bench. The Fuddster locked her down pretty well.

Sarah had a strange start--sinking 3-pointers and giving the ball to Providence. Turnovers became contagious. Sarah, Azzi, and Blanca all scored near their averages. Jana was well above her average. I think we missed KK. I was glad to see Kayleigh back; she looked good.

Road games can be tough, especially around holidays. Let's be more focused on Saturday.
 
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msf22b said:
Does anyone have a theory of why Geno didn’t do that (the pressing D) at the outset?






"
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Yes they did.
I thought Allie blew the pressing coverage after the 1st make because Azzi and Ash were pressing their players while Allie was at halfcourt.
The 1st turnover they didn't show but you could see Sarah in the backcourt.
When it was 6-4 Allie was pressuring the inbounds. Matter of fact Allie stole it.
After she hit the 3 she was there pressing again.
 
oldude said:
Guys, it’s almost inevitable that sometime after Christmas, after a few days off, before school is back in session, UConn will play down to their competition. Last year, on December 29, UConn hosted Providence in Hartford, beating them by 67-41 in an ugly game.

Yes, last year’s national champions beat lowly Providence by 16 at home, with everyone healthy. Chill everyone. The Huskies will be firing on all cylinders when it matters most.
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Some posters on this board don't know how to chill. They expect perfection from every player every game. It gets old. I can see why some posters stop posting.
 
oldude said:
Some postgame thoughts on the Providence game:
  • With their 14th win today UConn arrives at the New Year undefeated for the first time in 9 seasons. Let’s hope the Huskies end Easter Sunday the same way.
  • Playing without your starting PG is typically a recipe for sloppy offensive basketball, and 21 turnovers by the Huskies was pretty ugly.
  • At the same time, it was business as usual on defense as the Huskies forced 30 turnovers with 16 steals while holding the Friars to 35 % shooting.
  • I did think UConn’s offensive flow was better with Kayleigh at PG. She had tape on her chest, likely securing padding to protect her sternum.
  • I’m not sure who put together the gameplan for Providence to “back off” Sarah at the arc... 😮
  • UConn has some wonderful athletes on the roster. But honestly, Blanca is at another level that we haven’t really seen since Gabby, and she’s only a 19 year-old freshman!!! 🤩
  • UConn is a great passing team. But I really would prefer that they not pass up point blank layups to pass the ball to a teammate on the perimeter….🤯
  • I’m guessing the next time we see KK on the court, she’ll be wearing a mask, signifying her superhero status 😎. In the meantime, let’s hope the Huskies stop beating the hell out of each other in practice.
  • I’ll be at PeoplesBank Arena for the Seton Hall game on Saturday. Thanks in advance to whomever starts the postgame thread on the BY.
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I don't think it was tape for padding on K9's sternum, looked more like kinesiotape. Whatever it was, I hope that she's 100% soon.
 
Stagnant said:
I hope someone asks Geno in the presser why he started Allie. I don’t really understand that decision.
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KK got her nose broken in practice yesterday. It seemed that K9 had kinesiotape or something similar on her sternum. Thank goodness Azzi, Ash & Allie were 100%.
 
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Today might be an omen for next year. UConn, as with most teams, needs at least two ball handlers. Putting Shade and Allie on the floor at the same time makes Azzi the only one with true point guard skills. As their primary outside shooter, putting this on Fudd not ideal. Next year?
 
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