South Dakota State Postgame Thread

[oldude]

Some thoughts on the South Dakota St game:

• Congratulations to the Huskies on their 31st straight trip to the Sweet 16, and good luck to every other team trying to reach that total.
• To their credit, the Jackrabbits were not intimidated playing the Huskies at the Basketball Capital of the World. They are a tough, well-coached team that plays really hard.
• At the same time when SD St or any team really challenges UConn, it is inevitable that the response will be some version of Paige taking over the game, as she did wonderfully, scoring 12 straight points on 5/5 shooting plus an “and 1,” on her way to a brilliant 34-point night for her swan song at Gampel.
• As Rebecca pointed out, Paige has now reached the Holy Grail (50/40/90) for the season. If she carries that forward for another 4 games she will be the 2nd Husky to do so, joining Sue, who achieved that amazing feat during the 2001-02 season.
• KK may not score a single point or even take a shot, but my goodness does she ever impact the game with her DEFENSE!!!
• We are finally seeing the Azzi Fudd that we all expected when she first came to UConn. She is a great 3-level scorer who can D-up and drop dimes with anyone. As part of UConn's 3-headed monster, along with Paige & Sarah, this UConn team may have all the necessary pieces to finally win #12.
• Bring on the Sooners!!!

 

[Bone Dog]

Paige turned out the lights in Gampel Pavilion in style. Way to go, girl!

 

[victor64]

-Paige emptied her bag a tricks for her final home game. One career loss at Gambel is amazing.

—Geno was concerned about SDS before the game. What a well coached, fun team to watch.

-Sarah did a great job guarding Brooklyn Meyer.

—They got away with a slow shooting start (thanks to Paige and KK) tonight but slow starts could be a concern later on. Their defense is allowing them to work through slow starts.

—Paige makes 8 in a row but gives a chance for nine in a row to feed Ash who hits a three. UConn’s unselfishness is instinctive. They just naturally, no matter how hot someone is, gives up a good shot for a great shot. Azzi did it twice on the first half on Saturday.

-When I see Ice shoot that 17 footer, I just wonder if next year, with more front court depth, that Geno gives her more opportunities to play out on the perimeter. It is a nice looking stroke.

-Jana has not had a good tourney so far. I understand why but it is still hard to watch.

-Caroline must have had a setback today. I feel bad for her.

-31 straight sweet sixteens in a row. Yikes.

—Looking forward to watching this team play a good Oklahoma team.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

I'm so glad that Paige took our little talk the other night to heart.

 

[maple]

Respect to South Dakota St. Played tough the whole game. I'm glad that Brooklyn Meyer is okay; that ankle roll was scary. I'm sure they'll be back in the tournament next year, too.

Paige was just phenomenal. What can you even say at this point??

A bit of a cold start, but once we got rolling, there was no stopping us. Everyone kept shooting and the baskets started falling. And our defense was absolutely STIFLING. It was incredible to watch. And then defense lead to TOs, lead to points -- the usual for UConn. It was very nice to see!!!! Some classic UConn ball out there on the floor tonight.

Got the job done at home. Now let's take this show on the road!!!!!

 

[Surly1]

Tying her career high in her last home game is normally found in a feel-good Hallmark movie. The only way this script can get better for Paige is by capping it off with a NC.

I have a feeling that by the time her UConn career is over, Sarah Strong will force her way on the UConn all-time starting 5.

 

[and one]

So sad to see Paige's last home game but she sure enough went out in style. Other than that a good win against a hard team to play. I'm looking forward to this last act of the season.

 

[Happydad745]

Tough game in the first quarter....after that I could breath again and watch without yelling at the TV. The NC tournament this year really looks balanced, going into the elite eight I don't see any team outside a 3 seed. We have a great team that can go all the way.

 

[jaydee602]

It seems like so many games involving the top seeds in this tournament are close for the first half. Then, the cream rises to the top & the games become blowouts. The lower seeded teams just can't sustain an offensive attack to match the high scoring top ranked teams.

 

[heavyhusky]

Great game, not as close as the score would indicate. In the latter half of the 4th quarter the team was trying to get Jana a basket. They kept feeding the post, but to no avail. They are such great teammates; up to that point Jana was the only one who had not scored (Allie and Qadence had not gotten in yet).

 

[DEFCONN1]

At halftime I was thinking what adjustments Geno would make going into the second half. Looking back now, the adjustment was made by the end of the first quarter, when they forced the rabbits point guard Meyer’s into committing 9 turnovers.

 

[RoadMaster]

Swipe..

 

[Stagnant]

I think this game was a good sign for UConn. The second round games haven’t always been that convincing the last few seasons. Syracuse, Baylor, and UCF. So, maybe we are more locked in or just better this year?

 

[RoadMaster]

 

[jaydee602]

Just announced:
UCONN vs. Oklahoma
Saturday, March 29th Spokane, WA
ESPN 5:30 PM EST

 

[my2cents]

KK Arnold coming in and upping the defensive tempo changed the games direction.
Paige seeing nobody else's shots going in, saying ok, I will take over.
Fudd is so smooth.
Strong being Strong.
Two questions though. Why no Griffen in the first half and why do we throw the ball into Jana, nothing good happens from that?

 

[freshler40]

This a very capable team with lots of weapons. Love how we turned defense into offense. Paige picked up the pace with step-backs and some great turn around high stepping shots. She is in her own category. This team was ready against a solid well coached squad. SD out rebounded us with great block outs and good hands. We put a lot of pressure on their ball handlers which resulted in many first half turnovers.

Geno might focus on defensive rebounding in the next few days. That seemed to be our only weakness. UConn is looking primed.

 

[pvdoggy]

SDSU is a really good 3-point shooting team, maybe even better than Uconn. As tight a defense as Uconn plays, they still made 40% of their 3-point shots. Very impressive.

 

[huskeynut]

Congrats to the Jackrabbits. They came to play. They are a well coached and disciplined team. Tonight was not their night.

On to the Sweet 16 we go. the 31st consecutive trip to the 16. That is amazing.

South Dakota came out and put it to UConn. Slowly we came back thanks to Paige and our defense. KK was a menace tonight. Her entrance into the game changed the flow to UConn's favor.

Tonight the defence took it to South Dakota and it took them out of the game. Forced 25 turnovers that led to 35 points.

Paige was Paige and what a way for her to play in her final game at Gampel. Early on the team needed her and she delivered.

Azzi got off to a very slow start but came to life late in the 2nd quarter. Sarah was her steady self and played great defense on Brooklyn Meyer.

Bring on Oklahoma.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

 

[Vowelguy]

Gonna need a big stepup from Jana next game. Beers is no joke.

 

[vballcoach]

Did we all see Caitlyn help a kid up during play with about 5:45left in Q3?

 

[Centerstream]

I was really, really surprised that neither Beth Mowins or Rebecca mentioned during the game that this could possibly be Azzi's last game at Gampel.
Another good game that was really close and then suddenly we were up by 20, then 30 and then 40...impressive!!!

 

[NW-MW]

Gonna need a big stepup from Jana next game. Beers is no joke.

I do wonder in the small ball lineup how Beers will guard Sarah stretching out to the 3-point line

 

[NHUConnfan]

Just wanna say that it was nice that ESPN stayed on the court after the game so we could hear Paige's speech...and Lobo interviewing Geno...what a treat.