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UCLA postgame

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Seems like Aaliyah has gone back to sophomore year. Well…just have to hope Paige gets through the season healthy. She will carry the team to the national championship game but this team doesn’t have enough offense, just like her freshman year
 
I've only seen a few clips and read tweets and chats so far. But it looks like Paige's heroics were not enough. But it also looks like this was a game the team could have won even with 4 hands tied behind their back -- which was in fact the case: Azzi Caroline Ayanna Jana. Bad as it was, and as bad as we shot in the 1st and 3rd quarters, those were extremes, and I think even slight improvement and a lot more game experience for the freshmen and we could beat them in March.

1st + 3rd quarters = UCLA 50 - UConn 20
2nd + 4th quarters = UConn 47 - UCLA 28

It's pretty hard to digest that stat.
 
I’m in the Nika should not start camp and she is limited in her abilities. But at least she fights and is tough. This team is not tough with a few exceptions. Paige can’t do everything and Geno has to recruit some talented size because he hasn’t gotten it done lately and needs to be held accountable. I love him as our coach and he can’t force players to come here but I’m starting to think that this is the beginning of the end.
 
Urshurak said:
That was most frustrating. She got off 9 threes making 6 and not a UConn player within 10 feet of her. This team does not guard the 3 line. Why not? Been like that for a couple years now.
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I don’t get it. We have been letting teams kill us from the 3. Are we just hoping they miss?
 
Fairfield Fan said:
This went the way it had to go. With their front court coming in at 6'7" and 6'4", and ours at 6'3" and 6'3", what did we expect? Outrebounded by 13. Our two forwards (no post) went 2 for 12. Their's scores on nearly half of their shots. We cannot match up against talented teams with multiple bigs. This is how the season will go. Kudos for the courage of Paige, but she is one star without the supporting cast. Aaliyah is going to be ganged up on all season long. We need to get used to this.
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I don't disagree that size is a major factor for UCONN going forward, especially against big teams, but the box score indicates it was the guards who were winning the rebounding battle. Back court players grabbed 25 boards for UCLA, front court only grabbed 15. It was a similar story vs. NC State and Minnesota too where their guards grabbed a ton of boards.
 
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said it before the season everyone is disrespecting Ucla, they are a national title contender with the addition of Betts in the offseason. Team doesn't even look like it's reached it's potential.
 
SLY63 said:
Some observations

  • Paige is awesome. Such a competitor.
  • Aubrey showed some great flashes
  • KK showed some flashed in Q4
  • Some keys to our success
    • We need Ice or Amari to emerge and play the 5, so AE can play the 4. AE is not a 5 against a big post.
    • We also really need another shooter to step up or teams will just focus and be physical with Paige and pack in and double team AE. Hoping Caroline could fill that role but given her injuries not sure. Maybe one of the frosh?
I am interested to see how Geno responds tomorrow as Kansas has a big inside who is going to give AE trouble, and the blueprint is there to disrupt our offense. Tomorrow will be an opportunity for him to adjust.
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Amari is and has been a lost cause for some time. By all accounts a great kid but there’s just no fire in her belly.
 
pvdoggy said:
This team is too offensive challenged to be talking about national championship. They literally have no real outside shooter other than Paige.
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I am not sure what happened to Q
 
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uconnever said:
I’m in the Nika should not start camp and she is limited in her abilities. But at least she fights and is tough. This team is not tough with a few exceptions. Paige can’t do everything and Geno has to recruit some talented size because he hasn’t gotten it done lately and needs to be held accountable. I love him as our coach and he can’t force players to come here but I’m starting to think that this is the beginning of the end.
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Love Nika but her lack of shooting is a problem. Add to that the fact the KK has more offensive skills and I can’t help but wonder if a change is needed. We definitely are lacking in the height department. Wonder if the result of this game would be different if Paige and KK started the game a little more aggressive. It is difficult to play catch-up.
 
Hayven said:
Seems like Aaliyah has gone back to sophomore year. Well…just have to hope Paige gets through the season healthy. She will carry the team to the national championship game but this team doesn’t have enough offense, just like her freshman year
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You’re dreaming. Sweet 16 is a realistic goal.
 
Soxx said:
I think their focus on shutting off the big girls inside—doubling them—made it hard to recover on the three point shooters waiting on the wing.
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Listening to the game, it sounded like they would: double Betts, she would kick it out, 2/3 pass on the perimeter, open 3 and in.

I remember Edwards in the ND kind of got worn down by the end by Ebo. I wondered if matching against Betts would be draining like that. Edwards is definitely out of position.
 
JBK said:
I am not sure what happened to Q
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Q can shoot, but I recall geno saying her confidence wanes a bit when she does not hit her shots early.
 
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ucbart said:
Ok!

That was not great, but I only want to say one thing. Paige not looking for her shot immediately has been the only detriment to her game since she got here, IMO. She has got to shoot the ball every time she touches it(if a shot is there). She passes the ball way too much to open games. If her teammates see her shots going in, it gives them confidence. Unfortunately, she waits far too long to call her own offense.
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Because she’s smart enough to know that she needs help.
 
GG said:
Love Nika but her lack of shooting is a problem. Add to that the fact the KK has more offensive skills and I can’t help but wonder if a change is needed. We definitely are lacking in the height department. Wonder if the result of this game would be different if Paige and KK started the game a little more aggressive. It is difficult to play catch-up.
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They did start the game
 
I didn't watch the game, used livestats play by play, and won't watch the replay, so...

I take comfort in knowing that we lost to the #2 ranked team and we put up a fight.
I am sorry but over the course of this season, I believe in Aaliyah, Aubrey, Nika and Paige. Tonight not all 4 played to their potential but we lost to the #2 team by only 11 points...in November!!!
Yup, we are doomed!!!
KK stepped it up a bit to reach double figures, and we only got 3 points from the rest of the newbies.
Yup we are doomed!!!!!
 
CTBballfan243 said:
They did start the game
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If they were more aggressive from the start (I did not say they didn’t start). Paige was a little tentative so start and KK barely played because she was not contributing.
 
JBK said:
The defense does not guard Nika or Aubrey - so it will be hard in the bigs. We have to play full court and create track meets or we cannot compete with the top 10.
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Nika, Aubrey, and KK in starting lineup did not attract guarding at the perimeter which is understandable, so that makes it tough on the other two and when Edwards starts slow, she stays slow
 
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Centerstream said:
I didn't watch the game, used livestats play by play, and won't watch the replay, so...

I take comfort in knowing that we lost to the #2 ranked team and we put up a fight.
I am sorry but over the course of this season, I believe in Aaliyah, Aubrey, Nika and Paige. Tonight not all 4 played to their potential but we lost to the #2 team by only 11 points...in November!!!
Yup, we are doomed!!!
KK stepped it up a bit to reach double figures, and we only got 3 points from the rest of the newbies.
Yup we are doomed!!!!!
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If you watched the game, you might feel differently.
 
I followed along with the stats and while it didn't sound pretty, UCLA is one of the best in the country and UConn seemed to fight back in Q4 as much as they could. AE likely won't have another game like that again. PB was herself as usual, and if another consister scorer emerges UConn will be fine. Will they be NC fine? Debatable but the house isn't on fire by any means.
 
NGL, I was anticipating a tough game, but a lot of what happened seemed very un-UConn like. UCLA going 71% for 3 pt in the first half was unreal. I'm not totally surprised of the result though. Loved Amari battling in the post on defense, however she reminds me of me, with some indecision on offense read/react, a paralysis by analysis. The bigger picture was going up against the #2 team in the nation after finding out a key starter and scorer is out for the year. Definitely not ideal. Coaches had to piece the team together both mentally, and tactically in a short time period.

That being said, I'm glad we had this game now in November. There is so much time left to rethink the starters, the sub pattern, who needs to do what, how we counter another team with size. If we were in March, there would not be much, if any time to recover and reconstruct the team, Shea's injury in the 1st round of the tourney in 1997 completely turned everything upside down, and the team never really recovered. Per Geno postgame, "Our combinations are all screwed up right now, so that's gotta get sorted out."

Geno has said that he intentionally plans the "murderer's row" schedule early, as he wants to play a competitive schedule so there aren't any surprises in March. A 3-2 record today is not going to doom us. Let's see what happens and look for both individual and collective growth within the team.
 
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