UConn @ East Carolina Game Thread | Page 7 | The Boneyard

UConn @ East Carolina Game Thread

Status
Not open for further replies.
.-.
I hate to say it, but when Saniya gets in, runs the point, and the game is out of reach, she seems to forget about distributing the ball (like tonight), takes too many poor shots, and seems more interested in scoring herself than finding her teammates.

As a junior looking for more playing time, she isn't helping herself. I expected much better from Saniya.
 
She didn't "throw" her to the floor. The kid was going for a retaliation bump and Nat was stronger than she was.
I was watching Chris's reaction and she seemed to be sticking up for what Nat did.
Bingo. Let's not get all hysterical. Nat was a tad overly physical. So was ECU. The red head for ECU almost took out Samuelson earlier. ECU is a physical team and they were frustrated and it showed. Good for KLS and Butler for giving it back. It was reminiscent of Bam Bam... She was quite the enforcer.

Anyway I'm glad Nat worked thru it. Got back into the game and scored double figures. I bet Geno is privately pleased she showed some fire.

Side note - in the 4th quarter we ended up outscoring them 18-10. I think ECU was up 6-2 early in teh quarter. So with mostly our reserves in for the rest of the game, we did outscore them 16-4. Just sayin...
 
Last edited:
I actually really like how Saniya runs the point. She brings the ball up and runs the offense better than anybody but Mo.
 
.-.
We're the 800 lb gorilla in the room. Let's be classy. It's easy money (a.k.a. PR) when you know you will win by 30-40-50 before you even tip. I love seeing shots where our players are helping the opposition off the floor.
 
Bingo. Let's not get all hysterical. Nat was a tad overly physical. So was ECU. The red head for ECU almost took out Samuelson earlier. ECU is a physical team and they were frustrated and it showed. Good for KLS and Butler for giving it back. It was reminiscent of Bam Bam... She was quite the enforcer.

Anyway I'm glad Nat worked thru it. Got back into the game and scored double figures. I bet Geno is privately pleased she showed some fire.
I can see Butler has confidence tonight... good girl
 
Yeah they saw that Butler pushed her (not throwing her down). Nobody is denying that. But the play was over and the EC kid got in Butler's face.

The way I saw it, the play was over, Natalie was in the paint and quickly turned to run to the defensive end. I don't think she ever saw the ECU kid; she wanted to get the heck to the other end, fast, and the ECU kid was just there, in her face...Nothing to do but run her over... We all know that Nat is NOT a dirty player. She was getting hammered a lot and returned the favor. YOU GO, NAT! Playing tough and strong will get you lots more minutes- that's what Geno is looking for from her. So go blame Geno.
 
Look how ECU play tough on Coller,

11710736.jpeg
 
Last edited:
I can see Butler has confidence tonight... good girl
There's an interview this week with Geno who said he wanted Natalie to "impose herself on the game" and an interview with Natalie in which she said that for the very first time she's beginning to play with the same instincts she had when a freshman at Georgetown. It must have been very difficult last year, being part of and apart from the team, and suddenly having as teammates the very best WCBB players in the world. The last couple of games, she's letting it all go and playing on instinct. This could get good!
 
.-.
One last thought...I LOVE the fact that neither Geno nor Stewie give a damn about double-doubles or triple-doubles. (Not nearly as much as the fans do.) Stewie could have easily had several this year, but coach limits her minutes when the game has been decided. Period. I think most other coaches would keep their star kid in to get that headline double-double or triple-double. For many, I'm sure it would be a huge ego thing, a big story lead in.

But the only statistic that matters to our players and coaches is wins and NCs.
 
Who cares? You don't intentionally throw a kid to the floor. If it was your kid you'd be livid. That was a BS play and I will call it out even if it was one of our players.
I didn't see anything wrong with it. Some teams try to rough house our girls, to intimidate them. Natalie was having none of it.
 
So I enjoyed that game, and I liked the fire that ECU showed - they have been absolutely ravaged by injury and are in a tough spot with only seven available players. I thought they played some good offense and were active on defense from the start to the end. Clearly they are way overmatched against Uconn, and yeah they were maybe a little chippy, but I didn't see a lot of 'dangerous' play, and when there was a hard foul on one drive, the kid who made the foul went over to help the Uconn player up. Uconn players are no angels in terms of physical play and a team stepping up to 'protect their court' is OK by me. I don't want undercuts or dangerous stuff on drives, but a few shoulder to shoulder confrontations are just that. (On the earlier double foul with Lou, when I rewound, Lou actually made the first bump as the two were heading down the court and they went back and fourth a few times before the whistle. On Natalie's foul, I thought the ECU player initiated the confrontation, but Natalie responded quickly and with more force.)

EDIT - so the box score lists EIGHT ECU players as DNP - I hadn't realized they had that many players injured, thought it was only 5. That is just an astonishing number - 53% of the team unavailable!
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.

Forum statistics

Threads
168,409
Messages
4,571,823
Members
10,477
Latest member
Goose91


Top Bottom