Tennessee Postgame Thread

[boontonbomber]

I haven't taken the time to "wade through" most of the comments here, but what I have read is rather critical of the players and team.. Unfortunately, as is often the case here, the opponent is not give much credit. UConn was playing a very good Tennessee team on their homecourt. Tennessee lost very close games to Texas, LSU, and Oklahoma; games against highly ranked teams that they very well could have won. And they beat Florida State, and a good Iowa team who just beat USC. It was an exciting game to watch, and UConn could have won. In fact, everything considered , I am feeling pretty good about the team. I really don't expect Paige to shoot like that very often, I think Azzi is moving in the right direction (she does lots more than just shoot), Sara made some atypical mistakes( Tennessee games can do that to a frosh). And I was tremendously encouraged by Aubrey's play. I just see her continuing to get more comfortable , and I see her making this team much better down the road. Oh, and KK just keeps getting better, having more impact all over the court. A starting team of Paige, Azzi, Sara, KK, and Aubrey will be rather formidable come March, in my not so humble opinion.

 

[Vancat]

tick...tick...tick...

 

[GoUconn7961]

Wouldn't it be great if we could give Geno a call and fill him in on our expertise and see what the thinks.
A coach/armchair coach roundtable so to speak. I'd pay money to see that.
We'd have to be present at a few practices though to get an idea of what's happening.

 

[ucbart]

In our 3 losses, Shade is 6-22 from the floor and 1-9 from 3. She has got to figure this out. And her misses are absolute bricks.

 

[ucbart]

Jana is a wonderfully skilled basketball player. But the game is clearly moving too fast for her right now. That’s not unusual for a Big learning how to play D1 basketball. I am reminded that during her 1st season at Stanford I thought Lauren Betts was an overrated bust. Two years later, she’s on track to be the NPOY.

As for Morgan getting only 6 minutes, she was OK in her 6 minutes of play. But Aubrey was a difference maker who needs to get 25+ mpg either as the starter or the 1st forward off the bench.

Morgan is far too hesitant on offense. She flat out refuses to take open shots, drives, picks up her dribble, and gets stuck in no man's land which leads to broken plays or turnovers....and it happens every game. That game was far too fast for her. If you have speed problems, you can't make mental mistakes...which she does. These are very much freshman problems because I think she will be quite good.

 

[uconnever]

“ to win in this environment you have to have tough mature players”
“ the bottom line is we have some players on our team that are supposed to be our best players, and they have to play better”

Interesting post game comments from the coach

Azzi and Ashlynn play to their potential, even without the height, we can beat anyone. Paige needs to be more aggressive but she’s always good at least. Sarah always shows up. I think the key will be Ashlynn because I think Azzi will show up. Jana plays hard but she is who she is at this point. I’ve noticed in the big games, Ashlynn misses all of her shots and if that changes, we will be hard to beat. But Geno is right, overall, the best players on our team should be the best players on the floor. I could be wrong about this but I was thinking. Is there a lack of leadership? I think they don’t hold each other as accountable as prior teams because no one wants to be the bad guy. Just feels that way. This may be exactly what we needed. I hate to say this, but if Paige isn’t the best player on the floor against South Carolina, in a win, then we know it’s not in her. I’m not giving them an excuse but Paige and these players haven’t had the chance to grow together like teams in the past because of injuries and covid. I think things would be different if it was a normal career for them.

 

[Conndog]

I think come tournament time, it’s going to come down to hitting shots. If UConn has even just a good shooting night, there may be only a couple of teams that can match. On defense, especially with Aubrey back, we can survive if a couple of areas get addressed, practiced and improved. With rebounding, some players put a hand on ball and bat it away- if you can get a hand on it, then grab it!

 

[uconnfan68]

It would be no different had they stayed in the AAC either. There's nothing the team can do about it. The WBB program doesn't control which conference they play in. Like HuskyNan said, this is a tiring topic because there's nothing that can be done about for now.

I agree about the AAC, we never lost a game there, but that league did get better. Not sure the BE will in today’s portal climate. We’re a feeder league for P4.

 

[Soxx]

He has had Sarah Strong take the opening tip the last two games.

Thanks—missed that.

 

[Performance]

Some of you guys have to get a grip. It’s a basketball game. Stop trashing players

THANK YOU!!!!

 

[packwrap]

Game conditioning is a real factor. The quality of the league only matters when it effects your conditioning and when your key players play 21 minutes a night they will be wore out in a tough game where they must play 38 minutes to win.

I think lack of conditioning is overrated. Exception being Azzi, Aubrey and Jana coming off their surgeries.

UConn used to say they won because they were the best conditioned team in basketball. Now physical training knowledge the same at many schools.

Games are actually the easy days compared to practice. The ladies are all trained to play 40 plus overtime. When given an off day, what do they do? They go to open gym for a full day of pick-up games. These are 18-22 year old women at their athletic peak.

Geno was Olympic coach, he is well linked in W and NBA. If he felt there was a disadvantage due minutes, he would adjust for it.

The real problem with games is not fatigue, it's the bruises and minor injuries, daily pounding of feet on gym floor, and mental stress that accumulates over a full season. Note despite this, both men's and women's teams have won conference tournaments while playing 5 nights in a row!

 

[Conndog]

As frustrating as it is to watch so many layups and put-backs missed, many times the UConn player after shooting just watches and, I guess, hopes it goes in. They need to stay there and anticipate a miss and grab the rebound instead of being passive observers. Sarah is the only one who follows the shot/ this should be emphasized in practice when they do set after set of layups (hopefully)

 

[uconnfan68]

Game conditioning is a real factor. The quality of the league only matters when it effects your conditioning and when your key players play 21 minutes a night they will be wore out in a tough game where they must play 38 minutes to win.

Pretty sure their practices make their games seem mild.

 

[Performance]

Listen it’s not the end of the world and it’s not the tournament. But as I said the optimism with posters about how we should beat Tennessee by double digits only shows a myopic view of this team. We don’t have enough dawgs and we consistently don’t shoot well. And as I said when you don’t have a post game and we have an off shooting night this can happen. The problem is we used to play great UCoNn defense. Now it’s a thing of the past.

I dont expect us to get past the elite eight. Next year will be even worse. Disappointed in what Azzi and Paige is bringing to these big games. We just don’t have that killer mentality we’ve seen with past great teams where if we are up by 8 it becomes double digits and we stay there.

Sad to see the state this program has become in terms of the types of winning big games. I hope we strike lighting in a bottle because I’ve lost all confidence in this team.

A little harsh??

 

[marti3td]

There is no fire in this team. They should be playing like there is a chip on their shoulder and they play soft. Besides Jana and KK...they are the only ones that show some swag.

 

[LuvBball]

I think...that we have a lot of talented players. You win some, you lose some.

I do think that we missed Ice this game. She may not be a dominant back to the basket big, but she's mobile and a good passer and would've likely helped with transition defense.

I don't think its fair to still expect players to turn into something they aren't--and then be disappointed when they don't.

I'm mostly interested in seeing how (if?) that foul will affect Sarah. I think when its all said and done, it may be one of those moments

Time will tell.

 

[Blond D.]

You’re saying we don’t work on layups?

No, I said "shots we usually make". Its obvious that we have worked on layups and close in shots a lot but last night they just weren't falling. It happens and we need to work even harder so they become automatic.

 

[PacoSwede]

Ok, here we go. Geno says Paige wants to have the ball in her hands all the time. Well, isn't that what we all want. Right now, Paige is getting too much noise about her game, from social media, fans, outsiders, and Geno. Must Geno remind Paige all the time about not winning a NC? I think Paige has to return to the PG position. She will set up Azzi, Sarah, and anyone else, and she will have the ball in her hands all the time which is not a bad thing since she is great about creating her own shot. Starting with the next game, Paige has a decision to make. Is she the player she knows she is, and if she is, how about going out and showing everyone. Its obvious that we cannot beat the really good teams. They have impact players that are aggressive and do not turn to anyone else on a regular basis. Apparently, Paige is not that player any more, or at least she hasn't shown it lately. Did everyone notice that she either has a great first half, or a great second half, but not both in the same game? She can't stay aggressive the entire game, and that is hurting us. This may be stupid, but I think the team, no coaches, should have an intervention with Paige, letting her know that they want her to play to win like there was no tomorrow. They must feel the pressure when Paige isn't scoring, so the entire mind set for Paige has to change. She has to block out everybody else, including Geno when he starts to get on her. She only has a few good games left to the season and it is up to her how she wants to end her career.

perhaps paige would benefit from the stewie/tuck treatment i.e. bench her for a whole game. maybe geno's preaching finally would get through. paige talks a good game, but apparently she can't like lick her stubborn streak. she has been advised over and over by coaches since high school to be more assertive.

she can be who she is, but i think it's far past time to take that advice to heart or discover the reason she is unable to be an alpha). when she was NPOY she didn't need to have that leadership -- she had others with seniority who provided it. she is a fabulous basketball player, not so much a leader on the basketball court. sue bird learned to lead early with the help of geno's tough love. maybe it should be employed again. it sure would be difficult to bench the best player, but that's what stewie was.

 

[Surly1]

Maybe 1-5. She made 2 threes, 2 pull up midrange Js from the foul line area, and had one mid range bank shot from about 10 (then missed another shorter one right after). She airballed a 5 footer early, threw up a wild shot in the paint to end the third and missed a 10 foot runner badly in the fourth right after she traveled. But she missed a couple 15-18 footers too, so maybe 1-5 inside of 15.

Whatever the exact numbers, her inability to get points around the rim or get to the line was a problem again. Your top scorer needs to find ways to score other than Plan A. If the jumper is off, get to the rim. Get to the line. We have Chen/KK/Fudd out there to rotate back - when’s the last time you saw Paige attack the offensive glass and get a putback or draw a foul? Shes averaging less than 3 FTs a game. The only two she got today were because Tennessee pushed their own player into her. And she probably should have finished that one and had one FT instead.

I honestly get frustrated watching her these days. As a freshman, I always felt like she had an answer to your answer. If you took one thing away, she’d beat you another. I don’t feel that way any more. You can let her shoot her 15-18 footers all night and even if she makes most of them, it won’t be enough. Her three is too inconsistent and she treats the charge circle like it’s hot lava, so she’s out of answers very quickly.

I am frustrated by Paige as well. It bothers me to state this as she is my favorite player, surpassing Sue Bird. Lest we forget, she had a tremendous march in the BE tourney and NCAA up until the Iowa game. Last year, she was a given for a post-up basket or two. She drove to the basket more, and initiated contact on occasions. So, I don't think we have to go back to her freshman season to see what is missing this year.

Like many others, I was expecting her to ratchet her game to another level this year. I was excited with her preseason proclamation of being more assertive offensively, looking for her shot. Instead, the last 4 games, she has shot 23-60 from the floor, and was barely a factor in the first half of each game. To her credit, she picked it up in the 2nd half of the Creighton game.

I do believe issues with Paige are more mental than physical. She stubbornly wants to do things her way, yet it's costing the team. She plays the way she wants things to be rather than the way they are. This team needs someone to take over when games get tight or players act tentatively. As a fifth-year player, with a stated purpose of winning a NC, what is she waiting for?

Mentally, she was checked out of the DePaul game. I chalked it up to another mundane Big East game. I expected her to come out last night firing on all cylinders, especially after a couple of subpar outings.

Am I and others being unrealistic? Do we expect too much from her? Despite our criticisms, she's still shooting over 50% from the field, over 40% from 3-pt, and has an assist-to-turnover ratio of 3 to 1.

Maybe there's too much pressure on her, or maybe she's placing/carrying too much pressure on her shoulders. I enjoy watching her play, even more so when she is playing with joy. Unfortunately, I'm not seeing that lately. As her college career is quickly winding down, I hope she lets the noise, pressure and other distractions go and simply go out and play ball.

 

[Bone Dog]

I had to go to a concert last night and only got to watch the first quarter before leaving. So, it's all my fault -- I'll take the blame. I took my eyes off the game and we all can see what happened.

But what I did see once I got to watch a replay surprised me.

• We forced more TOs and got more steals against a pressing team. As people have surmised, we are not an easy team to press because of all the ball-handlers
• But we seemed to rush our shots most of the game -- I guess pressing teams can have that effect, too
• When Ash got 2 offensive rebounds in a row and missed both putbacks, I got worried.
• We were out rebounded on the defensive boards worse than on the offensive boards. This was probably a result of their shooting better than usual. But one striking thing was that we got almost no rebounds on our missed 3s, while they got several on their misses, and it was their guards who got a lot of them. One-and-done misses on 3s is a killer. When we do that to opponents, it usually turns into transition layups.
• Ash Aubrey and Jana got the bulk of our O-boards, and Ash's couldn't be converted.
• Spearman had a very good game for Tennessee, but Jana played well against her in her 11 minutes. The bulk of Spearman's scoring came while Jana was not on the floor. Whatever went wrong in our interior defense, it wasn't Jana's fault.
• Also, it's clear that the lack of Ice hurt a lot. A road game with a last minute scratch of a major rotation player on whom we depend to be a defensive stopper. My heart sank when I heard that news. No way Spearman scores 16 with 7 rebounds if Ice were available. And that 3rd quarter might have looked very different.
• Do we have a problem shooting 3s in big games? It's starting to look that way. But why would this be the case? Is the pressure on Paige and the rest of the team in her final year too great? I wonder if they feel like they are constantly under a microscope because they haven't gotten an NC in the Paige-era and this may be their last shot. If that's the case, I'd tell them: "Don't worry about an NC. Just play your game." I'd much rather see them have a great season that ends however it ends.
• On 3s in general -- they are only worth designing a game plan around if you shoot at least 33%. This number assumes that a typical good FG% is ~50%, and 33% 'cashes out' to the point-equivalent of 50% from 2pt range. Obviously, good open shots are always worth taking, and a 3pt strategy can be used to open up the lane for more 2 pointers, especially for Ice and Jana. But if we consider perimeter shooting in isolation, it looks like 33% is the cutoff. And in a particular game, maybe we should rate it in relation to how we shoot in that game. Yesterday, we shot 24-52 from 2, or 46%. Shooting 25% from 3 in such a game looks like a bad bargain, since that 25% is equivalent to shooting 37.5% from 2. And this is confirmed if you miss a lot of layups.
• Some have said that we are a jump-shooting team and soft in the middle. This may be true, but I'm not sure how to explain why this has to be so, since Jana played relatively well in her 11 minutes. Could she have played more? Or is her conditioning not yet up to it? I have a feeling there is a stronger big lineup lurking somewhere here, though without Ice or Ayanna (or a lot more minutes for Jana) we will not get to see it. Aubrey helps a lot, but she is not a 'rim protector,' as great a rebounder as she can be. It can't just be on Sarah's shoulders.
• That 3rd quarter was painful to watch, and most of the damage was done by Spencer and Cooper, not their bigs, and from what I could see Jana played well against them for her 5 mins. This is also where the main rebounding battle seemed to be lost. Only Sarah and Jana managed to keep them off the boards.

So, I don't think I'll watch this game ever again. It was simply too painful, especially that 3rd quarter. A friend of mine, not a UConn fan in particular, more a Mich St fan, watched the game and reported to me that in her opinion Geno was out-coached. She was mainly thinking of the closing minutes. I'm not sure I agree with her. In my view, Geno is once again playing the hand he's been dealt. But I will say that Kim Caldwell has done a wonderful job with her team. She deserves some sort of recognition at the end of this season.

If something good comes out of this loss, some teachable moment, I hope it involves the youngsters getting their shooting-legs under them better, and maybe a lot more minutes for Aubrey and Jana (if conditioning permits).

 

[ERWUC65]

“ to win in this environment you have to have tough mature players”
“ the bottom line is we have some players on our team that are supposed to be our best players, and they have to play better”

Interesting post game comments from the coach

I'm not sure what else he could say. After watching the game he is spot on. He can teach basketball, but not toughness, confidence or attitude... things UConn players used to have, perhaps not so much now.

 

[Cornell Lt]

One thing that really seemed to be an issue (for me) that Geno did not address in game. When Azzi went back into the game with the 3 fouls, she played so hesitantly on the defensive end and Tennessee acted upon it, yet Geno left her in. That really hurt the Huskies

 

[HuskyNan]

I read an article last night that stated some UConn fans are disappointed with Geno's decision making this season. They are questioning his substitution pattern. I wonder what good it does to start Jana and play her for five minutes and then take her out no matter what she does? Sometimes she does not come back in until the second half. I have mentioned this before that if Koval the ND post player had come to UConn she would not be playing as much as she is at ND. Coach Ivey plays Koval and lets her play through her mistakes. She is no better than Jana, imo. In BE games I believe Jana should play more if UConn wants to get solid in the post. Just saying.

Jana will miss 2-3 layups in a row, get angry with herself, and go into funks where she’s ineffective on the court. When the Huskies are struggling to find points it would be helpful to get some easy buckets in the post but Jana is, well, pouting. This includes games against Big East teams with players no bigger than 6-1. Why would Geno leave her on the court if she’s not going to play?

 

[Zanzman]

The only way to improve the competitive environment if stuck with the BE is to schedule more - or as many as possible - non-conference games against highly ranked teams, not teams who are trying to build but are no different than and sometimes much less competitive than what is faced in the BE.

Thats also harder to do with conference sizes growing not all teams want to play a UConn out of conference

 

[Bone Dog]

Jana will miss 2-3 layups in a row, get angry with herself, and go into funks where she’s ineffective on the court. When the Huskies are struggling to find points it would be helpful to get some easy buckets in the post but Jana is, well, pouting. This includes games against Big East teams with players no bigger than 6-1. Why would Geno leave her on the court if she’s not going to play?

I haven't noticed this behavior. But then, I'm not watching the games in person. If that's what's happening, the frustration level for her must be really oppressive. I hope she can work through it.

I have noticed that she isn't making good cuts or receiving passes on cuts well. Though yesterday she made a cut, caught the pass and scored on it. I thought that was a step forward.