Sun vs. Stars

[EricLA]

Close game - every starter on the sun has scored. Morgan not in yet. Moriah a starter for the Stars - 5 points and 2 assists at the midway point of the 2nd quarter...

Box score says Kelly was in for a moment - has 1 foul and no other stats...

 

[EricLA]

Mo hits her 2nd 3-pointer of the game (2-2 on 3's and 2-3 overall). She's also 2-2 on FT's. 8 points now to lead SA

 

[EricLA]

Hamby playing well early too. 8 points on 4-4 shooting and 3 boards. Bone and Ogwumike with much of the scoring for the Sun - all the post players seem to be taking good shots as their FG% are solid. Sun up 32-30... Tuck in, called for a foul right away.

 

[EricLA]

Mo not scoring so far in the 2nd half but she's up to 7 assists now and still only 2 TO's...

 

[Orangutan]

I was a big Hamby fan when she came into the league. She was not good last year but it appears she's having a good game today. She may yet end up validating my thought that she'd be a very good pro.

In other news, neither of these teams are good. Connecticut needs to come up with a better offensive plan than just letting Bentley fire at will. That's not working for them.

 

[OldAlum]

I don't think Morgan played at all in the second half. Hope she is okay. Mo looked good but the offense was often disjointed as either the ball went inside and was sometimes forced or McBride ended up trying to do it herself. I miss seeing the UConn extra pass!

 

[EricLA]

I was a big Hamby fan when she came into the league. She was not good last year but it appears she's having a good game today. She may yet end up validating my thought that she'd be a very good pro.

In other news, neither of these teams are good. Connecticut needs to come up with a better offensive plan than just letting Bentley fire at will. That's not working for them.

Sun pull it out but Bentley went 3-18. YIKES!

McBride not much better for SAS - 5-18 and 1-8 on 3's. Just a bad shooting day for both of them...

 

[Orangutan]

Sun pull it out but Bentley went 3-18. YIKES!

McBride not much better for SAS - 5-18 and 1-8 on 3's. Just a bad shooting day for both of them...

Bentley was 6-19 in the Sun's first game for a total of 9-37 (24.3%) so far. Yikes, indeed.

At least K-Mac was 10-17 prior to today's subpar effort

 

[Beemer]

How did Chiney Ogwumike look? I haven't seen her play yet, was wondering how her knee is holding up

 

[triaddukefan]

I was a big Hamby fan when she came into the league. She was not good last year but it appears she's having a good game today. She may yet end up validating my thought that she'd be a very good pro.

In other news, neither of these teams are good. Connecticut needs to come up with a better offensive plan than just letting Bentley fire at will. That's not working for them.

As you know I've been a huge Hamby fan..... she started off last year pretty good...... then she got injured... and struggled afterwards.

 

[easttexastrash]

Looks like Jefferson had a solid game with 10 points and 7 assists.

 

[UcMiami]

Still don't understand the Sun draft strategy - they were strong in the post and weak in the wing/guard rotation and they end up giving up a guard to get 2 of the top forwards in the draft

 

[psconn]

I have watched all but 2 or 3 of the WNBA games played to date including both Sun games. Right now, much to my distress, the Sun look pretty awful compared to just about any team except SAS.

Jaz Thomas has been the most reliable player so far in my opinion. She missed a couple she should have made but had 8 assists and snuffed a Mo jumper with an emphatic highlight reel blocked shot. Jaz is a very good athlete with really good ups and showed it against Mo today.

Alyssa Thomas had a very good game today doing what she does best - aggressive charges down the court and tough work under the boards - BUT her game remains very one-dimensional. To my delight, she did make one of two attempts in the mid range. She desperately needs this element in her game.

Camille Little with 13 points and 6 rebs looked very good in her first game in this new system. Her game is a good match for Coach Millers system.

Kelsey with a double-double, looked pretty good but I set a very high bar for her performances... this should be a normal night for her.

Not a great outing for the kids... Rachel and Morgan did not look very good on D and disappeared on O... they were both better in the preseason. Jonquel was OK but the Sun need her to be much better as the season goes on.

Next up is a very good Washington team. I don't expect a win but I do expect to see a better performance than tonight.

 

[DaddyChoc]

Still don't understand the Sun draft strategy - they were strong in the post and weak in the wing/guard rotation and they end up giving up a guard to get 2 of the top forwards in the draft

so they shouldn't have picked Tuck?

of course it was just part of history and she is a UConn player

 

[DaddyChoc]

How did Chiney Ogwumike look? I haven't seen her play yet, was wondering how her knee is holding up

she fouled out in 13 minutes according to the boxscore 9 points 3 rbs... 3-4fg... 3-6 free throws

 

[JoePgh]

Still don't understand the Sun draft strategy - they were strong in the post and weak in the wing/guard rotation and they end up giving up a guard to get 2 of the top forwards in the draft

They wouldn't have been weak at guard this year if they had retained Chelsea Gray to go with Bentley and Jasmine Thomas. And I'm not so sure that they would be good enough in the front court without Tuck and Jonquel Jones. I think Jones is such a high-potential player that it made sense to trade Gray and next year's #1 to get her -- if that were necessary.

But it wasn't really necessary -- they could have taken Jones with the #4 overall pick and passed on Rachel Banham. Or they could have taken Courtney Williams with that pick and then made the same trade to get Jones. I thought Banham was a mistake as soon as I heard her name, and I have seen nothing to change my mind about that.

Regarding Ogwumike, Tuck, and Kelly Faris in yesterday's game: I watched the replay. Chiney seemed to be playing well and having no problems with her knee, but she just kept fouling and that was what limited her to 13 minutes. Morgan played very briefly in the second quarter, and could not stop Dearica Hamby from blowing by her. I think that is why she went to the bench. I'm not sure that she ever had to guard a really fast and mobile forward at UConn -- Stewie usually got that assignment while Morgan guarded the Alaina Coates types.

I thought Kelly played well in limited minutes. She did give up a drive to Haley Peters, whom she should certainly be able to guard. But she got a nice block that led to a turnover and a runout for the Sun. It seemed to me that she was playing 4th quarter minutes that the coaches hoped that Banham would play until they realized that wasn't going to work.

 

[Beemer]

she fouled out in 13 minutes according to the boxscore 9 points 3 rbs... 3-4fg... 3-6 free throws

Sounds like there is still a lot of rust to be gotten off.

 

[JoePgh]

I should have mentioned in my previous post that Moriah Jefferson played VERY well for San Antonio and looked like her UConn self. You can tell that from her double-digit points, 7 assists, and 2 turnovers in over 30 minutes. It could have been a UConn stat line for a very good game. She was relied on at the end of the game when the Stars were within a few points and had a chance to win.

Kayla McBride also looked very good in the second half of the game -- not so much in the first half.

 

[MumboJumbo]

MoJeff looked great. You can see it on her face that she wants to be the leader despite only being a rookie. Great example of what UConn can do for a player.

Love KMac's game but would hate to have her as a teammate. Her head is out of the game when things aren't going her way (e.g. when she picked up those two quick fouls during the game).

As an undersized post, Tuck will need to make the biggest adjustments compared to the rest of the Big Three. Just give her time.