Tennessee Postgame Thread

[hookshot]

KK needed more than 25 minutes.

Agree, we are starting to recognize that our most competitive lineup for March is KK, Paige, Azzi, Strong, Aubrey. Chen, Ash, Brady are suitable subs for these without too too much fall-off. That is your 8 player rotation, based on performance to date. Jana comes into play for certain post matchups, like UCLA. We are obviously undersized with that lineup, but neither the offense or the defense, including rebounding becomes any better when we add Jana / Brady. Perhaps best to concentrate on optimizing chemistry with that rotation rather than the current big line up, small lineup rotation used up till now. Chelli, Allie, and Q each have something to offer but none breaking out as a March rotation player (maybe Alli will yet, as we sure could use someone who is not afraid to shoot in a pinch). But freshman (Strong excepted) usually are not making a March rotation if they haven't already

 

[DHF]

I could not believe how easily Tennessee got to the basket.

Once Fudd got into foul trouble, Tennessee took advantage and got numerous easy buckets. Was wondering why she played so muck, especially when he was not shooting well.

 

[hoy-ah!]

How many "wake up calls" are needed? If basketball's winningest coach hasn't been able to do it over all the years that Paige has been a Husky maybe it's time for all of us stubborn, bone-headed Boneyarders (that includes yours truly) to realize that it just ain't gonna happen. Paige takes the alpha dog role when she can take advantage of poor defense of mediocre teams but in big games against highly ranked competition she lays back for whatever reason. Waiting for the game to come to her? In big games that should not apply. It is in those times that the best player needs to set the example and take the lead. At this time of the season, a clear leader in the biggest games is needed.

I caught the first half of the game and I thought it would be close and likely an L the way things were unfolding. Per your post, winning or losing "hinges" on Paige's play, which is unfair for her and the team. She can't/shouldn't shoulder the load. I don't think she's that type of player. Paige is a natural PG, a mental PG. She "sees" the game which is why she's "laid" back. She understands when/how to attack. From my perspective, the team is young in basketball experience, outside of Sarah Strong. The offense should flow, the defense should flow, but they don't. This all comes from experience, having played a LOT of basketball. Everywhere, to strengthen the mental aspect more so than the physical. You see them disjointed motioning each other to certain spots, etc. Compare this to years past when there was veteran leadership alongside Paige - Nika and Aliyah, Chrysten/Evina/Olivia/Dorka. One would think all the practice would translate to smoothness, but it hasn't.

Maybe the poor shooting nights are from players being concerned with having to play "well", instead of just playing. Placing too much stress on themselves to perform. Azzi and Aubrey are still finding their game after injuries. I wish Azzi would put more air/arc under her shots. It also bothers me to no end why players don't use the backboard more often on close shots. Sarah sure does!

 

[Jumper33]

And what is your solution? Its the conference we are in.

I don’t think we have to suggest a solution to make the observation. There is obviously no solution, except what Geno already does, schedule difficult out of conference games.

 

[hookshot]

i am kind of hoping this loss will trigger something with uconn fans. hopefully we can be more realistic about our goals this year now.

Goals are the same every year, i.e. final 4 or NC !. Other than some players still shaking off injuries and Jana not able to live up to overblown expectations (offset by Sarah actually over-performing her high pre-season expectations), there was/is no reason to temper goals, for this year. However, this is the strongest group of 6 to 8 teams that has been seen in many years, maybe ever. So maybe an elite 8 is the worthy goal for this injury plagued team, but consider last year's team was even more injury plagued and came within an eyelash of final 2. so not time to throw in the towel yet

 

[hookshot]

Just saw major tornado and storm warnings in Knoxville tonight until 9:45. Low pressure might have affected the Huskies!

Orange tornado arrived in second half, blew us away

 

[VA Huskie]

Not surprising at all. I'm shocked it was as close as it was. The Huskies just aren't very good.

Try rooting for UVA…that’s “not very good”. UConn is still a top ten team!

 

[hookshot]

Their coach subbed 5 for 5 at one point. Our coach would never do that.

Neither would any other coach, but its workin for her

 

[donalddoowop]

Try rooting for UVA…that’s “not very good”. UConn is still a top ten team!

He has been very critical of UConn this season.

 

[Blond D.]

I thought the Huskies outplayed the Vols.
We did pretty good except we couldnt hit our bunny shots. There was at least 10 lay-ups or easy right-under-the-basket shots we usually make that was just not falling tonight.
10 shots is 20 points that easily would have made the difference.
One other problem is how we let them drive thru us and get some layups at the end of the game which THEY did not miss.

This will be a good thing for us to learn from. Now we know what to work on.

 

[uconnever]

Wow! Missing 16 layups & 15 three pointers while only losing by 4 points is amazing.
Give Tennessee credit, but this loss was self- inflicted.

This is what I said, despite our lack of height and aggression, we can beat anyone in the country. Everyone simply needs to be comfortable playing together. I think it just can be Azzi and Aubrey aren’t mixed in YET with the team chemistry so in the big games there’s more mistakes and they haven’t been able to get it done, but if they are who I think they are, we beat South Carolina. We should not lose again this year, except for as we saw tonight, foul trouble. And I’ve heard people say it’s the conference. I think it definitely is, as in who have we played big and athletic like that recently? Now that doesn’t mean we won’t be ready the next time. This game hopefully toughened us up because that is also what they need.

 

[Zonepress]

This is what I said, despite our lack of height and aggression, we can beat anyone in the country. Everyone simply needs to be comfortable playing together. I think it just can be Azzi and Aubrey aren’t mixed in YET with the team chemistry so in the big games there’s more mistakes and they haven’t been able to get it done, but if they are who I think they are, we beat South Carolina. We should not lose again this year, except for as we saw tonight, foul trouble. And I’ve heard people say it’s the conference. I think it definitely is, as in who have we played big and athletic like that recently? Now that doesn’t mean we won’t be ready the next time. This game hopefully toughened us up because that is also what they need.

Aubrey played a great game and looked very comfortable

 

[ERWUC65]

Goals are the same every year, i.e. final 4 or NC !. Other than some players still shaking off injuries and Jana not able to live up to overblown expectations (offset by Sarah actually over-performing her high pre-season expectations), there was/is no reason to temper goals, for this year. However, this is the strongest group of 6 to 8 teams that has been seen in many years, maybe ever. So maybe an elite 8 is the worthy goal for this injury plagued team, but consider last year's team was even more injury plagued and came within an eyelash of final 2. so not time to throw in the towel yet

You made a couple of good points here, first being that we are still shaking off injuries, and yes, I know that some players over the past have come back better than before, but not all and let's add that it is both a difficult physical and mental challenge. I know we don't want to think about it but I think our nature to play tenative in hard games has a legitimate basis with our stars, and it affects the entire team when the leaders don't play up to the standards we expect. When you have your best seniors/grads/redshirts like Paige, Azzi and Aubrey in this situation and mix in a bunch of sophmores and freshmen you have to adjust your expectations accordingly. To add to this, the 2024-2025 season not only has 6-8 great teams, but another 10 that can win on any given night, and the player talent level/depth on these teams is exceptional. Not to say that the FF is out of reach, but with the continued health of all, a heavy dose of confidence (a good effort against SC) and a great draw anything is possible.

 

[OviedoFLHusky]

"Going cold" suggests that the team shot below average. If you limit the sample to the 6 best opponents, this was not below average.

Even though I'm admittedly bad at math, I respectfully disagree. The team did shoot below their average. I also chose who I thought were the 5 best opponents so far this year (choosing a 6th was too subjective a call for me), and even averaging those numbers out, they still shot below average.

 

[maple]

I thought the Huskies outplayed the Vols.
We did pretty good except we couldnt hit our bunny shots. There was at least 10 lay-ups or easy right-under-the-basket shots we usually make that was just not falling tonight.
10 shots is 20 points that easily would have made the difference.
One other problem is how we let them drive thru us and get some layups at the end of the game which THEY did not miss.

This will be a good thing for us to learn from. Now we know what to work on.

To be honest, they should have known this by now. And they should have improved.

It kills me to be negative … I would prefer to be happy with ANY win. But I struggle to see any improvement between ND -> USC -> TN. It feels like we are still consistently losing in the same way. The poor shooting is absolutely the worst and we continue to shoot like crap in important games and go lights out in games that mean nothing. Why?? I wish I knew.

 

[VA Huskie]

Even though I'm admittedly bad at math, I respectfully disagree. The team did shoot below their average. I also chose who I thought were the 5 best opponents so far this year (choosing a 6th was too subjective a call for me), and even averaging those numbers out, they still shot below average.

View attachment 106826

Wow!

Even though I'm admittedly bad at math, I respectfully disagree. The team did shoot below their average. I also chose who I thought were the 5 best opponents so far this year (choosing a 6th was too subjective a call for me), and even averaging those numbers out, they still shot below average.

View attachment 106826

Wow! That’s really, really telling. We’re actually a pretty poor 3 point shooting team against those 5 highlighted teams. That might explain a lot about who we are and who we can be. Certainly not as good as I thought we were.

 

[donalddoowop]

A lack of athleticism had nothing to do with the loss. A player does not need to be athletic to make a layup or hit a wide-open shot. An open shot is an open shot whether against a weak team or highly ranked team. I believe it is more mental than physical.

 

[Vowelguy]

Even though I'm admittedly bad at math, I respectfully disagree. The team did shoot below their average. I also chose who I thought were the 5 best opponents so far this year (choosing a 6th was too subjective a call for me), and even averaging those numbers out, they still shot below average.

Ahh. I was referring to the 3-point shooting. 24, 19, 26, 20, + 21 vs Ole Miss. Today's 25% was actually above avg.

 

[RSHERMVIKES]

I will never throw our players under the bus!
For myself it's a major disappointment to see our girls play like they do in so-called "big games"! They're so much better than their performances show!
One big reason for our UConn troubles is talent has been spread to more and more programs, because of NIL, transfers, making more teams competitive!
At the beginning of every season I look at the roster and see wall to wall talent! Geno & staff get the best players they can!
But IMHO our players in BIG games try to hit "5 point" baskets, trying to hard! The missed layups is like they're SHOT PUTTING the ball to the rim instead of a gentle push!
They are tremendously NICE girls that don't have the killer instinct in their bones!
DT, Birdie, Stewie, Shea, MJ, Renee, Maya, Tina (in her junior and senior years), Rebecca, Rizzotti, you get the idea, would rip the opponents heart out and eat it for lunch!
There's nothing UConn can do about the Big East Conference!
We're in it for better or worse, so complaining about it makes no sense!
I still believe all the injuries over the last 3 1/2 years have taken a toll by disrupting practice time and game time! Everyone is disjointed from missed time!
I don't have an answer to the above but the players should have a player only meeting and air out the answers!
The talent is as good as any team in Division I, it's just not being realized!

 

[Dugway]

Didn’t see the game, don’t plan to watch a replay now knowing the outcome against the ugly orange team.

Reading the post game thread and all of these comments, most seem to suggest that we had another poor offense game. I’ve had concerns about our offense all year. But offense is only half of the game.

Our defensive has been really solid; or maybe it’s just my opinion, but I haven’t had the same unease with our defense. Tonight we gave up 80. I didn’t see it, but are you all certain that the loss was a result of our lack of offense? We gave up EIGHTY!

 

[packwrap]

I'll be positive. In a road game against a 40 min "press and 3" team:

-We held TN's leading scorer 7 pts below her avg.

-We won the turnover battle and points off turnovers.

- We held them to 25% 3pt shooting 7/28.

- We even won at the free throw line! (In Knoxville)

- and we had more total shot attempts.

So the mathematics of the Tenn press did not win it for them.

Of course we lost. Our own shooting was poor, we were outrebounded(expected), played bad in last 2 min, and Paige/Azzie had quiet nights.

Still a loss in a close, exciting, 1 posession game. Just like USC.

In other good news, KK and Aubrey rose to the challenge of who would step up in a big game vs a ranked team.

This loss has no bearing on how we play, again away at SC. A lot to learn here, and some motivation to play with a chip on our shoulder down in Columbia. Not just Paige, but whole team would like to earn a big win.

I'm still looking forward to the SC game and an Elite 8 game on March 30.

 

[uconnfan68]

Didn’t see the game, don’t plan to watch a replay now knowing the outcome against the ugly orange team.

Reading the post game thread and all of these comments, most seem to suggest that we had another poor offense game. I’ve had concerns about our offense all year. But offense is only half of the game.

Our defensive has been really solid; or maybe it’s just my opinion, but I haven’t had the same unease with our defense. Tonight we gave up 80. I didn’t see it, but are you all certain that the loss was a result of our lack of offense? We gave up EIGHTY!

The 80 was about 11 under their average, so we did a few things right. Cooper was held in check until the 2nd half. UT shot their 2s better than we did. We were very out of sorts. Even Sarah made mistakes we haven’t seen from her all year. Others just shot way below their best. Maybe the atmosphere was too much for them. This team has too many deficiencies to go very far. Athletic teams just have their way.

 

[NYCHUSKIES]

Just wasn't our night tonight. Too many missed layups.. We technically won this game, but we didn't. It's all good.. these games are all about a learning curve. I'm thinking Uconn is going to pour it on south Carolina. Uconn will avenge this loss and take it out on South Carolina. Either way, great game.. congrats to the Vols .

 

[Glenn]

We gave up 11 points in the last 3:19, after tying the game at 69. They scored on nearly every possession. Defense lost the game.

 

[Fore!]

What’s your solution? I’m tired of the complaining when there’s absolutely nothing that can be done about it

There is no solution to them being in the Big East; but it is accurate to say the league doesn’t help them get better.