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UCLA Postgame Thread

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Paige first made her national presence felt when she scored 30 in a win over SC as a freshman. As a sophomore, Paige & UConn lost to SC in the NC. Now, things have come full circle. It will be UConn vs SC on Sunday. Paige's last game as a Husky. All of us are willing her & UConn to make it happen.

The difference between this UConn team and the one from her soph season is UConn is mostly healthy, have a talented cast (Sarah + Azzi) and playing a snarling and swarming defense.

This team is on a mission.
 
Our Huskies were phenomenal tonight! Everyone played well; they followed the excellent game plan Geno crafted, and made very few errors. Especially happy for Jana, who played a good game with her parents in attendance.

They may have to dig deep to win on Sunday -- but (even though we are doomed) I don't think Paige will let them lose. Go Huskies!!!
 
oldude said:
Some thoughts on the UCLA game:
  • UConn has now conquered the City of Los Angeles with back-to-back victories over USC & UCLA. Just one more mountain to climb on Sunday for the Huskies to earn an unprecedented 12th national championship.
  • OK, who in hell had UConn with a 34-point MOV in Sarge's pool????
  • The game within the game was the war in the low blocks defending Betts. With her parents in attendance, Jana’s defensive effort against Betts was downright heroic. Maybe Geno should make sure that Jana’s parents come to every UConn game. :) When Jana picked up a couple fouls, Ice took her turn on Betts and came up BIG. At times, UConn's guards dived down to harass Betts. She got her points, but she had to work extremely hard for every last one.
  • Azzi didn’t wait around tonight for the 4th qtr to find her shot. She came out on fire, exploding for 19 pts in the 1st half.
  • In the 2nd half, Sarah assumed the scoring load and essentially put the game out of reach.
  • Paige had an uncharacteristically average shooting night, but she was flying around the court on defense like Rodan ;)
  • Some of the dimes UConn dropped tonight were unconscious. Kaitlyn had a couple of beauties and Paige’s incredible “slap pass” to Kaitlyn on the fast break was something I had only seen done before by Larry Bird. :eek:
  • Once again UConn’s defense was suffocating, holding UCLA to only 51 points while forcing 19 turnovers.
  • Against the much bigger Bruins, the Huskies more than held their own on the boards outrebounding Betts and her teammates 34 to 29.
  • UConn now faces SC on Sunday for the national championship. Should UConn win, they would become the first team in history to beat 3 x #1 seeds in route to a championship. I guess there’s a 1st time for everything, :cool: GO HUSKIES!!!
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Hey oldude. Was Kaitlyn’s “slap pass” to Sarah one of her beauties? :D
 
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I am speechless!! A 34 point beat down.

Sarah, Azzi and Paige.

A dominating defensive performance.

Jana was amazing as she refused to back down against Betts. Ice coming in to spell Jana and battled Betts.

What a total team effort!!
 
victor64 said:
When Azzi shoots like she did in the first half, it is over.

Jana effectively defending Betts was unexpected but clearly indicative of what the future may look like. Ice more than held her own. Betts got hers but they weren’t easy.

I don’t know what the overall head to head record is but Geno coaches circles around Close. What a clinic in game preparation.

Paige MAY have had an off night shooting but more than made up for it by being by a complete menace defensively.

Apparently, UCLA had not seen perimeter pressure like UCONN showed.

Both UConn and South Carolina’s Final Four experience showed. The best two programs in the country meet Sunday afternoon.
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C. Close got national Coach of the Year award. She clearly got out-coached by the master tonight.
 
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The only player on UCLA that did their job was BETTS. But I really can't blame any of the other players because they ran up against the BEST defensive team in the country. Uconn Out performed UCLA in every statistical Category except fouls. WE had more. From the very beginning Uconn had control of the game and increased our lead in every quarter. This was a Beat Down. S Carolina must be shaking in their boots after this performance GO HUSKIES!!!!!! NO.12 is here!
 
Amazing win. Jana played with so much confidence and was really our only true defender that could even contain Betts and I thought she was great. Azzi, Sarah and Paige took turns ripping the heart out of the bruins. You could tell they knew they weren’t at the same level. What can I say about the supporting cast of Chen, KK and Shade. Really great defense all around. Chen is playing at a different speed and her defense is very underrated. I am hoping to give payback for the championship game we lost in 2022.
 
Great games by Azzi and Sarah. Though Paige was not her sharpest, still a very good game for her and the great defense of the team.
Happy for Jana playing so well in front of her parents.
Play of the game was Paige's tap assist on the fast break.

This game reminds me of the Men's championship against Purdue and Zach Edey last season. Betts got her points but nobody else did on UCLA. I believe this was the first game this year where Betts scored more than 20 but UCLA lost.
 
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and one said:
Can we stop talking about whether UConn can beat a team with a really good big? We can, we did. We embarrassed UCLA. UConn is playing at a level akin to some of the great Huskies teams of old.

I watched the Texas - SC game and was struck by how neither team played defense with real intensity. Such a contract to how UConn plays.

One game left. I'm psyched.
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I only watched some of first half of Tx-USC, and it was VERY physical. Some great athletes out there, and Joyce Edwards is the real deal.
 
Next 12 said:
The only player on UCLA that did their job was BETTS.
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UCONN's supporting cast for Bueckers:
60.5% FG, 53.8% 3pt, 69 points, 29 rebounds, 15 assists, 10 steals, 7 turnovers,
UCLA's supporting cast for Betts:
26.4% FG, 25% 3pt, 25 points, 24 rebounds, 10 assists, 3 steals, 18 turnovers.

UCONN's supporting cast put on a masterclass in everyone stepping up and thriving. UCLA's just completely no-showed.
 
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So proud of them! Excellent effort and performance for 40 minutes. UCLA didn’t know what hit them.

Every player that hit the floor, like Geno said post game, exceeded our expectations. Just bravo!!!!!

Sunday will be tough for sure. It’s not going to go like it did in February. That being said, UConn has the pieces. Go UConn!!!
 
HCCForever said:
Great games by Azzi and Sarah. Though Paige was not her sharpest, still a very good game for her and the great defense of the team.
Happy for Jana playing so well in front of her parents.
Play of the game was Paige's tap assist on the fast break.

This game reminds me of the Men's championship against Purdue and Zach Edey last season. Betts got her points but nobody else did on UCLA. I believe this was the first game this year where Betts scored more than 20 but UCLA lost.
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Betts had a terrific game on offense with 26 points against a very good UConn defense focused on containing her but she had only 5 rebounds to Sarah’s 8, and Jana’s 8. Paige also had 5.
 
victor64 said:
I don’t know what the overall head to head record is but Geno coaches circles around Close. What a clinic in game preparation.
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I noticed a little full-court pressure after scores by UCLA. With 1:30 to go in the game down by 30. I didn’t notice any earlier, may have missed it, but if so it wasn’t much. Why not start, say, halfway through the second quarter down by 15 when there’s still a chance and it might give them some energy?
 
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