UConn-Butler Game Preview

[HuskyNan]

Butler is 1-11, 0-2 in the Big East. They’ve had 4 consecutive games cancelled between Dec. 29th, Butler’s last game, and today meaning that tomorrow will be their first game in 14 days. The last game was a 55-77 loss to Xavier on the road.

In the last game, the Bulldogs went 10 players deep with 8 having 18 minutes or more on the court. The leading scorers were #5 Emilia Sexton, a 5-4 senior guard (15 points) and #11 Tenley Dowell, a 6-0 redshirt sophomore guard (12 points). Both came off the bench. Tenley missed most of her freshman year due to an unspecified injury. The Butler starters scored a total of 19 points that game, the bench had 36.

For the season, the leading scorer is #00 Celena Taborn, a 6-3 F grad student (prev Furman), with 14.4 points per game. She has only 17 assists in 12 games so she may not be the high post passer Liv is so it would be great if the UConn bigs can push her away from the basket and force her to take long jumpers.

As a team, Butler averages 62.5 points a game while allowing 78.8. Maybe the Huskies can finally give Geno the 75 points he’s looking for.

Point guard #13 Zoe Jackson, a 5-7 freshman, has 40 assists for the season but a staggering 45 turnovers. UConn can present three big guards, two being terrific senior defenders, to rotate on her and keep her off balance. People complain about E and Christyn not scoring but they are really good defenders and against Butler, shutting down the PG can be invaluable.

(Edited to correct stats) Butler isn’t a great three point shooting team, only 27.4% combined (76 made, 277 attempted). The percentage leaders are a 5-9 freshman G #10 Trinity White (18-51, 35.3%), 5-10 freshman G #55 Kendall Wingler (19-62, 30.6%), and Tenley Dowell (12-40, 30%). Sexton (19-66, 28.8%) and Jackson (6-43, 14.0%) will also chuck up threes.

It makes me cringe to say UConn (31.0%) is only marginally better than Butler from the arc. Three point records to date:
Azzi Fudd, (8-18, 44.4%)
Caroline Ducharme (10-31, 32.3%)
Christyn Williams (11-35, 31.4%)
Paige Bueckers (9-29, 31.0%)
Dorka Juhasz (3-10, 30.0%)
Evina Westbrook (10-34, 29.4%)
Nika Muhl (2-13, 15.4%)
Others
Aaliyah Edwards 1-3, 33.0%, Liv 0-1, Amari no attempts (thank you!)

Now you know why the Huskies are so often wide open on the perimeter and opponents can pack the paint to stop the post players.

So far, I’ve only seen Paige and Caroline do the stop and pop or floater from 8-10’. Hopefully Azzi will add that dimension as well. The Huskies are soooo much more dangerous when a player can step in from the perimeter and hit some jumpers or step by the defender that comes up to guard her and slash to the basket. (Hello, Christyn?!)

Overall, this should be a good game to rest some players and give anyone who’s healthy enough some playing time to rub off the rust.

 

[HuskyNan]

Butler season statistics

2024-25 Women's Basketball Cumulative Statistics - Butler University Athletics

The official 2024-25 Women's Basketball cumulative statistics for the Butler University Bulldogs

butlersports.com

 

[drweo]

Butler is 1-11, 0-2 in the Big East. They’ve had 4 consecutive games cancelled between Dec. 29th, Butler’s last game, and today meaning that tomorrow will be their first game in 14 days. The last game was a 55-77 loss to Xavier on the road.

In the last game, the Bulldogs went 10 players deep with 8 having 18 minutes or more of game time. The leading scorers were #5 Emilia Sexton, a 5-4 senior guard (15 points) and #11 Tenley Dowell, a 6-0 redshirt sophomore guard (12 points). Both came off the bench. Tenley missed most of her freshman year due to an unspecified injury. The Butler starters scored a total of 19 points that game, the bench had 36.

For the season, the leading scorer is #00 Celena Taborn, a 6-3 F grad student (prev Furman), with 14.4 points per game. She has only 17 assists in 12 games so she may not be the high post passer Liv is so it would be great if the UConn bigs can push her away from the basket and force her to take long jumpers.

As a team, Butler averages 62.5 points a game while allowing 78.8. Maybe the Huskies can finally give Geno the 75 points he’s looking for.

Point guard #13 Zoe Jackson, a 5-7 freshman, has 40 assists for the season but a staggering 45 turnovers. UConn can present three big guards, two being terrific senior defenders, to rotate on her and keep her off balance. People complain about E and Christyn not scoring but they are really good defenders and against Butler, shutting down the PG can be invaluable.

(Edited to correct stats) Butler isn’t a great three point shooting team, only 27.4% combined (76 made, 277 attempted). The percentage leaders are a 5-9 freshman G #10 Trinity White (18-51, 35.3%), 5-10 freshman G #55 Kendall Wingler (19-62, 30.6%), and Tenley Dowell (12-40, 30%). Sexton (19-66, 28.8%) and Jackson (6-43, 14.0%) will also chuck up three.

It makes me cringe to say UConn (31.0%) is only marginally better than Butler from the arc. Three point records to date:
Azzi Fudd, (8-18, 44.4%)
Caroline Ducharme (10-31, 32.3%)
Christyn Williams (11-35, 31.4%)
Paige Bueckers (9-29, 31.0%)
Dorka Juhasz (3-10, 30.0%)
Evina Westbrook (10-34, 29.4%)
Nika Muhl (2-13, 15.4%)
Others
Aaliyah Edwards 1-3, 33.0%, Liv 0-1, Amari no attempts (thank you!)

Now you know why the Huskies are so often wide open on the perimeter and opponents can pack the paint to stop the post players.

So far, I’ve only seen Paige and Caroline do the stop and pop or floater from 8-10’. Hopefully Azzi will add that dimension as well. The Huskies are soooo much more dangerous when a player can step in from the perimeter and hit some jumpers or step by the defender that comes up to guard her and slash to the basket. (Hello, Christyn?!)

Overall, this should be a good game to rest some players and give anyone who’s healthy enough some playing time to rub off the rust.

Good stats, nice analysis. Thanks.

 

[eebmg]

I assume Butler will provide us with everything we need to feel good.

 

[hard2please]

thats what butlers are for

 

[CL82]

I assume Butler will provide us with everything we need to feel good.

For what it’s worth, this should totally be the Butler mascot:

 

[reelfan]

With the stats cited above is it reasonable to expect EACH Senior to get a double/double ???

 

[and one]

This is a game that in the past would have been UConn up 25 points at the half. I doubt we'll see that in this game. I'll be curious to see if bad 3 point shooters on the other team discover their inner Steph Curry, something of a trend of late. Conversely, can any of our players shoot a decent 3 point percentage against a bad team? Gosh, golly, gee I hope so. If the MOV is less than 20, there will be some 'splain to do.

 

[eebmg]

With the stats cited above is it reasonable to expect EACH Senior to get a double/double ???

are TO's included? Sorry, could not resist. I

 

[Cuango]

Thanks for the info!

 

[Littlemin]

This is a game that in the past would have been UConn up 25 points at the half. I doubt we'll see that in this game. I'll be curious to see if bad 3 point shooters on the other team discover their inner Steph Curry, something of a trend of late. Conversely, can any of our players shoot a decent 3 point percentage against a bad team? Gosh, golly, gee I hope so. If the MOV is less than 20, there will be some 'splain to do.

Not sure your definition for “of late” is but GT, UCLA, Lville and Creighton shot a combined 26 for 89 on 3’s against Uconn; 29% is far from discovering “their inner Steph Curry.”

 

[HopJim]

I look at this as a great game for Geno to practice several offensive and defensive tactics. UConn would be well served shutting down drives down the middle that often result in layups or kick outs to open 3 pointer shooters. Most teams that UConn has played have done well for parts of the game using this play. In the same sense, it would be great to see the Huskie guards, particularly Williams, to stop standing still around the 3 point line. Too many times this year, our guards have just held the ball at the 3 point line trying to get the ball to the bigs. Without motion, our offense tends to slow down.

 

[HuskyNan]

Not sure your definition for “of late” is but GT, UCLA, Lville and Creighton shot a combined 26 for 89 on 3’s against Uconn; 29% is far from discovering “their inner Steph Curry.”

I get what he’s saying, though. I’ve seen dozens of games where some freshman or someone who’s missed 15 in a row all of a sudden start nailing threes from wherever. What a lot of people don’t realize is that the coaching staff looks at stats for the game prep and they decide, “Hey, Jane Smith is only shooting 20% from three. Let’s give her that shot and double their best player”. It’s not a coincidence that the shooters are open. Sometimes the Huskies get burned but more often, not.

I remember after a game against some mid-major when such a player went off for about 25 points when she’d been averaging 5. Geno smiled wryly in the post-game and said, “Sometime people forget other teams recruit Division I athletes, too”.

 

[GoUconn7961]

Chat room will be awfully chatty if Butler ends up making a game out it.

 

[JellyBean]

Hopefully after a good day or two of practice sessions and getting some solid shooting reps in and offensive reps in, the players will look a little more fluid out there on the court. Also, after watching the C-Dub, Caroline, and AE's post game presser yesterday, I am hoping that someone just flips the script and has an out of body experience and just goes off! Stop playing in fear. Just play! Red Auerbach said it best ...“I can’t stand a ballplayer who plays in fear. Any fellow who has a good shot has got to take it and keep taking it. So he misses — so what?”

Let's go, UConn!

 

[JellyBean]

Chat room will be awfully chatty if Butler ends up making a game out it.

Oh my goodness. I am staying out of the chat room just for that very reason.

 

[HuskyNan]

Chat room will be awfully chatty if Butler ends up making a game out it.

This is different how? UConn could be up 50, miss a layup or turn over the ball and the chat room would explode

 

[GoUconn7961]

This is different how? UConn could be up 50, miss a layup or turn over the ball and the chat room would explode

How true. I can only stay on there for so long until some of the usual people start ramping up the rhetoric. LOL

 

[tchalla1]

I get what he’s saying, though. I’ve seen dozens of games where some freshman or someone who’s missed 15 in a row all of a sudden start nailing threes from wherever. What a lot of people don’t realize is that the coaching staff looks at stats for the game prep and they decide, “Hey, Jane Smith is only shooting 20% from three. Let’s give her that shot and double their best player”. It’s not a coincidence that the shooters are open. Sometimes the Huskies get burned but more often, not.

I remember after a game against some mid-major when such a player went off for about 25 points when she’d been averaging 5. Geno smiled wryly in the post-game and said, “Sometime people forget other teams recruit Division I athletes, too”.

What "he's saying" makes no sense--As Husky Nan pointed out, the immutable fact is that our latest opponents have shot only 29 percent from behind the arc, so are we talking metaphysically, feelings or what on your conjecture. Even if the opponent has been wide open as you contend, the ultimate objective of making the shot does not appear to have been fully achieved at a respectful rate. Does our perimeter defense need improvement against top tier teams? Perhaps, but thus far your and other's conjectures about "Steph Curry" lights out shooting against us so far statistically speaking at least appear to be baseless and groundless...

 

[Littlemin]

I get what he’s saying, though. I’ve seen dozens of games where some freshman or someone who’s missed 15 in a row all of a sudden start nailing threes from wherever. What a lot of people don’t realize is that the coaching staff looks at stats for the game prep and they decide, “Hey, Jane Smith is only shooting 20% from three. Let’s give her that shot and double their best player”. It’s not a coincidence that the shooters are open. Sometimes the Huskies get burned but more often, not.

I remember after a game against some mid-major when such a player went off for about 25 points when she’d been averaging 5. Geno smiled wryly in the post-game and said, “Sometime people forget other teams recruit Division I athletes, too”.

Agree completely about deciding what to give up and what to cover but here is what many fans miss; when you play a particular team or player, WHEN you play them is very important because teams and players obviously blow hot and cold over a long season.
In your example of a player missing 15 in a row, if that player is a legit shooter you know they are going to break out at some point, as a coach you just hope it is not against you.
One of my favorite mantras when coaching is that a team is only as good or bad as they play THAT day, so NEVER get overconfident and not take an opponent seriously or conversely go into any game thinking you are going to lose before the ball is thrown up.

 

[HuskyNan]

Agree completely about deciding what to give up and what to cover but here is what many fans miss; when you play a particular team or player, WHEN you play them is very important because teams and players obviously blow hot and cold over a long season.
In your example of a player missing 15 in a row, if that player is a legit shooter you know they are going to break out at some point, as a coach you just hope it is not against you.
One of my favorite mantras when coaching is that a team is only as good or bad as they play THAT day, so NEVER get overconfident and not take an opponent seriously or conversely go into any game thinking you are going to lose before the ball is thrown up.

Yep. I remember Maria Conlon missed, I think, 22 consecutive threes then she had a bunch of them in a big game when the opponent unwisely left her alone on the perimeter. I don’t care how many Maria misses, I would never let her roam freely on the perimeter.

 

[Notyetready]

Agree completely about deciding what to give up and what to cover but here is what many fans miss; when you play a particular team or player, WHEN you play them is very important because teams and players obviously blow hot and cold over a long season.
In your example of a player missing 15 in a row, if that player is a legit shooter you know they are going to break out at some point, as a coach you just hope it is not against you.
One of my favorite mantras when coaching is that a team is only as good or bad as they play THAT day, so NEVER get overconfident and not take an opponent seriously or conversely go into any game thinking you are going to lose before the ball is thrown up.

Another way of putting it is a good player who is missing badly will overproduce at some point in a reversion to their mean, while a lessor player who is at their mean will at some point overproduce, that's just the way life is.

 

[eebmg]

If they get to the line 10 or more times, I will take 10 misses. (not really but..)

 

[Charliebball]

I assume Butler will provide us with everything we need to feel good.

with this UConn team I never assume........