SC Postgame Thread

[AmeriConn]

It is such a security blanket for SC when you can get offensive rebounds. If you only get one shot, the pressure to be flawless just grows. SC could miss and not be concerned.

I think we need to get Piath and DeBerry some minutes and forget the idea that fouls are bad. Play physical with all the size you have to rotate in. Make them feel you at least. And to give up more TO's than SC. Did not see that coming.

We don’t have players who play a physical game.

 

[Camiam88]

I’m not necessarily doom and gloom about this - clearly, it showed some work we need to do on rebounding, aggressiveness in the post, and getting our guards to stay active in the second half. I’m mostly just…confused. What is causing the disconnect here? I feel like we haven’t seen them playing anywhere close to potential in any of their four games yet. Things almost always feel a bit forced and disjointed, and it seems like it’s not just one or two players, but almost everyone. Is something up with team morale, or bonding, or trust? Just reads as a group that doesn’t know how to work well with one another in an easy flow. Which is concerning given that most of our major players worked together all last season.

 

[Stymie]

Needed Aubrey today. But I’d rather have her heathy in March and April.

No ONO bashing today. She played great. She did not score but she played battled with the bigs.

C and AE need to figure it out. C did not play like an All American today.

Geno said the team needed to lose, so we’ll see how they respond.

Disagree with most of your observations.
Find it disturbing that Geno inserts Azzi with time running down in the 4th and expects (?) her to bail team out.
Zero redemption for any of our bigs-maybe you were watching some other game?
Check the box score- that’s where the game was lost.

 

[tchalla1]

SC team rebounds so well, esp on offensive boards, it’s such a huge advantage, to beat them you have to get strong on the rebounds or they will wear you down with second shots. They won 41-26 on the boards.

That old thought that they cannot hit a three is over, they can knock it down when needed.

True but UConn blocks out so poorly, so incredibly poor and undisciplined today.... AE for some reason has significantly regressed and Dorka thus far is not as advertised.... Some think AE has fatigue from playing so much international ball--perhaps the break will do her some good, she seems listless right now when last season she was frenetic...

 

[Happydad745]

PG had the most assist/points and tied for the most rebounds....lots of this wrong with that. I thought Westbrook played well, CW at least made FTs, but otherwise no very good.

 

[MD#12Fan]

I have had a feeling for a few games, which may be entirely wrong, but I'll throw it out there. I am beginning to wonder if Aaliyah's summer with the Canadian national team didn't hurt her development coming into this season. She basically had to cut short her summer practice and conditioning program at UConn to join the national team, and then got precious little PT leading up to and during the Olympics. Aaliyah needs to play "catchup" now.

Agree about Aaliyah!
Geno has to stop all is glorification of the UConn program (stuff can go without saying now) and start coaching these players up. Excluding Paige in this comment, their players were sharp, they knew what to do, our veteran players did not. I thought Liv played well.
Get us out of this passing game offense. I've said 50 times that Liv doesn't need to get the ball out top. She can post up other places. Players are not developing as they should be. CW should be ready for this. EW should be ready. AE is just flopping around out there. You telling me that the only significant minutes Mir deserves is against SC. Should have Azzi figured out by now. Can't play man with her and she MUST have some impact on this game. WTF. You coach who you got. If it means you make the whole square, so they'll fit in it, do it!
Here's one: Jordan Horston and Aubrey came in the same year. This blog has compared the two 100X. Yesterday, Horston looked like a cross between Cheryl Miller and Sheryl Swoopes. (sorry could be sacriledge) What's Aubrey doing? Not talking about being injured. Players aren't getting developed! Come on, coach em' up. Time to go back in time. 1995. Put away all the trophies and banners and walls. You gotta win with this group! Period. 3 #1 HS players. 3 accomplished seniors. PB maybe the best ever. Let's go!!

 

[Cornell Lt]

The better team won today. Dawn's adjustments worked and Geno's for the most part did not. Not the end of the world and nowhere to go but up after today's beat down.

 

[ballerfan]

A lot of good comments here. Thanks.

I’ve been micro-analyzing the game, and I do think UConn is physically talented enough to beat South Carolina. But they are not mentally tough enough against a relentlessly strong team lead by Boston and Cooke. They got worn down as the game went on and then collapsed. I don’t know if there is an easy solution to this.

As for Azzi, as good as she is and as great as she will be some day, she seemed like a freshman again. It’s only her fourth game, this time against a much better team than yesterday. May she improve quickly.

 

[Rixxx]

Maybe the game has passed me by, but the weave out front takes energy away from the players. If the transition opportunity is not there, run a play for somebody. It doesn't have to be Paige either. I saw about one play called a quarter. Run the same successful play until they stop it. Create your own opportunities.

 

[CTBballfan243]

Who were those guys?

What a meltdown. I don't think I recall such a panic.

Where was the leadership - we have a bunch of tired & true players who have played together before and they looked like a Div III group.

Where was the coaching, sorry didn't want to say that but I didn't see it when it was SORELY needed.

Yipes

It’s an early season tournament. I’d be surprised if there was really a game plan. I would have just told the kids to go play and see what we got. This game will have zero bearing on the regular season or March.

 

[Rb335]

SC is good but not scary good--UConn had them flustered and was up by 13, but a lack of consistency killed them--and except for Liv, not much from the seniors, both CW and EW disappeared before our very eyes. We have to remember this was only UConn's fourth game of the year--that's a tall order for such a young team to play the #1 team this soon... When Paige gets a bit more support, we'll be just fine. Actually, I see UConn improving more than SC by the end of the year.

I tend to agree. Not backed by fact but my imperfect memory, but it seems like Evina always comes out guns blazing but defers as the game goes on. Almost the opposite of Paige. We need both of them to be aggressive offensively the full 40 minutes.

 

[uconnfan68]

Who were those guys?

What a meltdown. I don't think I recall such a panic.

Where was the leadership - we have a bunch of tired & true players who have played together before and they looked like a Div III group.

Where was the coaching, sorry didn't want to say that but I didn't see it when it was SORELY needed.

Yipes

The coaching staff was right where they needed to be.

 

[my2cents]

Its the little things that you do or don't do that wins games. Not grabbing rebounds, lazy passes, not boxing out, ...we were not good today.
However, when you have only one player that can beat their "man" off the dribble, and only one player that can make a pass when help comes, and its the same player , your offense looks terrible.
Why the heck do we dump the ball to our post players up top, only to have them either turn it over, hold it forever....its just a bad offensive scheme.

 

[CTBballfan243]

The sky is not falling. UConn was not eliminated from the regular season.

 

[Figurehead]

Many of us wounded Ducks were pulling for you guys in this game. Win or loss you are all ways gracious to the other team. Cant say I see that from every team. I won’t mention those others.

 

[uconnfan68]

Its the little things that you do or don't do that wins games. Not grabbing rebounds, lazy passes, not boxing out, ...we were not good today.
However, when you have only one player that can beat their "man" off the dribble, and only one player that can make a pass when help comes, and its the same player , your offense looks terrible.
Why the heck do we dump the ball to our post players up top, only to have them either turn it over, hold it forever....its just a bad offensive scheme.

It works against 99% of our opponents.

 

[TeamFirst!]

As noted yesterday South Carolina is a mature team who can make 3 pointers now with more success and we needed to position ourselves for rebounding or lose. They are very athletic and, if anything, I expected even more pressure from their defense. Our only hope was to force turnovers, score on transition and have the strongest rebounding we could. ONO surpassed expectations and I thought Dorka at least was a decent defender and rebounder, which is what I prioritize for her. We had to assume it was going to be difficult for this team to score outside of Paige and that is why I focus on players who can make plays against top competition. I STILL think Caroline is one of the major keys to this team's hope of winning this year. She can get a shot off over those SC guards and she can help rebound and defend as well. I'm sure she's not ready or Geno would play her but if she is not able to help in the playoffs it's not nearly as likely to be successful

 

[tchalla1]

I tend to agree. Not backed by fact but my imperfect memory, but it seems like Evina always comes out guns blazing but defers as the game goes on. Almost the opposite of Paige. We need both of them to be aggressive offensively the full 40 minutes.

Exactamundo! We need more assertiveness! Did you see the 4th quarter when Azzi, EW and Dorka all passed up relatively open jumpers waiting to pass to Paige. God, Paige is great great great but she's not the messiah--she needs some help from her teammates. I have to cut Azzi some slack because she's only a freshman, but the rest are far too tentative when the game is on the line. Remember all this redemption talk and "unfinished business"? Well none of the seniors except for maybe Liv handled their business in the 4th Q--they all got tentative and quiet and deferred to Paige.

 

[Fairfield Fan]

ONO was great if you ask me.

Not sure how one concludes that ONO was "great." ONO is the starting center on the team that was out rebounded 42 to 25. She pulled down just five rebounds total, while fouling four times in 34 minutes. The opposing team pulled down nearly as many offensive boards as UConn had total rebounds- 19 to 25. And ONO was the leader of the front court, which together scored just14 points. That's not "great." That's getting killed inside. Enough with the rose-colored glasses. I doubt ONO will even get selected in the WNBA draft, let alone make it onto a WNBA team.

 

[Tank]

It’s early, and UCONN will get better, but so will S.C., they have a longer bench btw and I’m not talking height though they have that also.
It appears they are getting better at perimeter shooting, which is big trouble for everyone else if that holds up.

 

[Urshurak]

It works against 99% of our opponents.

Yup, and that last 1% will be curb stomping you every time unless you dig deep and fix it.

 

[Fairfield Fan]

Don't think this one can be put on ONO. Except for dumb fouls, she played well.

Her opposing center scored 22 points and pulled down 15 rebounds. Not a great comparison.

 

[jaydee602]

Not to sound like sour grapes since both teams were affected, but why was this game played at Noon? It should have been a primetime event with many more viewers. It would have given both teams an extra several hours of rest. Since when is the consolation game played AFTER the championship game? Oregon is playing USF now.

 

[oldhusky]

UConn played fine first three quarters (3rd quarter was just okay.). 4th quarter was just baaaaaad. UConn lost in quarters 2,3 and 4 points wise. After going up by 13 and losing by 16, you don’t win games with a 29 point swing…

Offensive rebounds by SC leading to second chance points was the big part of this loss. UConns offense was second part of it. Awful in 4th quarter. As bad as it gets.

And 19 TO’s. Yikes

On the turnovers I felt like SC adjusted to the frequent back doors and in the second half we were forcing passes that were not there when other things were not opening up.

 

[Surly1]

This iteration of UConn is not to be confused with teams of the past. This team will never be a great defensive bunch. They are an offensively minded team. Can they improve? Absolutely. It should materialize over the course of the year. However, this team will win based on how effectively their offense performs. Today, they were uncharacteristically sloppy with the ball, particularly late in the game. Some of them were mental errors and the others appeared to be due to physical fatigue. Early in the season, 3 games in succession can have this effect. Losing to a number 1 SC team is not a reason to be demoralized. In fact, other than the first quarter, they did not play well. There are plenty of areas for the team to work on. SC is the biggest hurdle to clear for UConn. It will be a challenge because in comparison to last year’s game, Boston, Cooke and Henderson have improved, and Boston significantly, as she has gained more fitness by losing weight. Suffice to say, UConn is still a work in progress. The pieces are there, but putting the puzzle together is incomplete, for now.