UCONN - Iowa post game

[Rixxx]

If anyone watches a replay, check and see if Caroline is wearing tape. I didn't see tape in the second half.

 

[HuskyNan]

Sabrina liked the game…

 

[Urshurak]

Wow. Fast break points. UConn usually wins that category.

 

[HuskyNan]

Lol

 

[cgshuskie]

A great game all around. Aaliyah was great. Caroline and Lou played gritty and tough. Caroline great post ups on Iowa's guards. Azzi brilliant 2d half....if you are a good shooter, keep shoting. Nika great defense on Caitlan Clark. Aubrey and Ayanna strong defense. And Geno figured it out in the second quarter.

 

[Cuango]

Don't want to overstate the value of my contribution to the win, but some may remember my go to beverage during UCONN games is Mike's Hard Lemonade, Mango flavor. I nursed one during first half...then open a new one at start of 3rd qtr and the Huskies turned things around... then another at start of 4th quarter and the Huskies cemented the W...

Great Game
So Happy to play my small part!!!

Go Huskies... love this Team!!!

Perhaps we should have a Badass Award for the fan side of things? I feel some sort of recognition is in order for your tremendous contribution!

 

[HuskyNan]

 

[jdote33]

Such an impressive win. Azzi is like a cheat code at times. For years ppl talked about her pull up jumper and the 3rd quarter was a clinic on that, once again demonstrating she's not just a catch and shoot player. After starting 1-8 and having Caitlin Clark kinda go crazy in the first half, on abc, it was such a mentally tough performance from her.
AE was pretty insane as well. To outplay Czanano like that and just score the different ways she did was really impressive. Her and Aubrey really kept UConn in the game in the first half.
I think Caroline started 0-3 and probably got an earful when she first subbed out but never looked back. But my favorite play of the game was in the 4th, after she had hit a big three, she had the ball again semi open, but kicked the ball to Lou who was open in the corner. Before Lou shot it u can say Caroline's hands go up. Just such a dope team vibe.
Unpopular opinion, but I think Iowa is a legit threat. They probably will lose 5-8 games and may end up in a 3 or 4 seed but they are a good team with a lot of threats. I really like Warnock, though she was a little bit off shooting. And Czanano just got outplayed by our bigs which I have really never seen.

 

[Dove]

Saw my first action of the team today. Some late first half, then the 4th quarter.

Just wanna say...this team is NAILS!!!!!

 

[Conndog]

26 combined from CD and Lou makes us real tough. AE was great flashing to the foul line against the zone - imagine that with Dorka there for dump downs. Yanna played great defense, especially in the 3rd period.

I’m liking Aliyah’s shooting so much, no defender is able to defend it because of the high release. When Dorka gets back to playing, she & Aliyah will have a field day feeding each other for baskets- or feeding the hungry snipers waiting to shoot the 3

 

[psconn]

Did we miss mentioning that Aaliyah was named tourney MVP?

 

[hookshot]

The quality that I love in Ducharme is that she is never really afraid of big moments, a gripe we’ve had as fans about several players in the past few years. Tonight, she hit a huge 3 to halt the Iowa run at the end of the first half. And then she scored 10 points in the last 6 minutes of the fourth quarter. I love a player whose willing to take those big shots in the big moments.

Great breakout performance from her! She’s going to elevate our team once she’s consistently back to 100%.

Shoutout to the team as a whole, everybody stepped up and played their roles. My only frustration was the 2 or 3 turnovers by Muhl that led to uncontested layups. But I’d say her assists helped to erase those mistakes!

Totally agree, if a couple of our guys looked a bit tight on this stage, imagine what what it will be like in March - helps to have someone ready to go with ice-water in their veins

 

[Conndog]

Yes, and she was fouling her earlier on. I would watch the full game on youtube tomorrow.

Almost guaranteed it will be available later here, check back in a few hours

 

[Centerstream]

Did we miss mentioning that Aaliyah was named tourney MVP?

I thought I heard Azzi say it to her right before Aaliyah joined the post game Holly interview.

 

[Centerstream]

Totally agree, if a couple of our guys looked a bit tight on this stage, imagine what what it will be like in March - helps to have someone ready to go with ice-water in their veins

How does one look "tight"? Asking for a friend.

 

[brownale]

Iowa started 4 seniors. This may have been Clark's last chance to beat UConn unless they meet in the NCAAs.

 

[Carnac]

Far too exciting for my taste LOL. Seriously tho, it was like a heavyweight battle of body blows. UCONN had a great Q1, crappy start to Q3 that turned into a great quarter, and Iowa had a great Q2.

Overall, a tremendous win. Much closer than most of us I think thought. It goes to show how good a team who is blessed with talented upperclassmen who have played together for several years (Iowa) can be when they are clicking. They are way more than Just Clark and Czinano. 13-36 from 3 for Iowa - 36% - a bit high for my taste - was hoping someone would cover that kid Martin LOL. They are a really tough team to play.

But UCONN found their sea legs and ended up 8-20 (40%).

A fantastic learning experience for the team. The win was incredible, but Geno will be able to go back over the tape for the team and show then things that need improvement. This team is super focused and seems incredibly coachable so I expect good things from that.

Azzi and Lou pretty much no-shows offensively in H1. Much better in H2. BUT my POG is Aaliyah. Double double and 6 assists to boot. she was a monster. Nika is well on her way to being one of my favorite all time PG's for UCONN. only 2 points and 6 TO's BUT 13 assists? COME ON. Ridiculous in a great way. Aubrey was great in the 1st half, but kind of quiet for stretches. Not her best game, but I think it will be hard to take her out of the starting lineup when Dorka comes back.

And how about Caroline? Talk about finding your sea legs. She did a lot of good things on the floor including going 3-6 from 3 and scoring 15 points. Ayanna continues to get better each game as well.

Overall a great win. Not a great MOV, but what a gutty comeback from the team - no quit in these guys.

Eric, this post game thread has become THE MOST POPULAR THREAD in the yard. 60 minutes after the game, it had over 3 thousand hits. EVERYBODY comes here after the game. This is the place to be post game. It's our 19th hole if you will. You or Oldude always start it off with your unabashed view and opinion of the game, and we appreciate it.

Good or bad, you call a spade a spade and that (IMO) gives your post-game observations credibility. Most of the 3,000 plus people that read your post (at the time of this writing) did not give you a like. Only 48 did. They either didn't agree with it, or thought it was not worth a simple courtesy click of the mouse that costs absolutely nothing. SMH. I guess some folks are very conservative when handing out likes. To me, your comments on today's game are on point, and absolutely merits one. Thanks.

 

[psconn]

I thought I heard Azzi say it to her right before Aaliyah joined the post game Holly interview.

It was announced over the PA system in the Arena just before Phil Knight gave the trophy to Geno. That's why the team was chanting "MVP". The Middletown Press mentions the award.

Pretty low-key for such an important award.

No. 3 UConn rallies past No. 9 Iowa to win Phil Knight

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Azzi Fudd scored 24 points to rally No. 3 UConn past No. 9 Iowa...

www.middletownpress.com

 

[pghhuskydoc]

Did we miss mentioning that Aaliyah was named tourney MVP?

YES!! Very much deserved. So happy for that young woman!

 

[BBallF]

The zone was a real problem for us in the first half. In the second we started going to the basket and Azzi started making the pull ups which not surprisingly led to open 3s for her and that was huge. Caroline had a heck of a game. 15 points, 5 boards, 3 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocks. This is exactly why she is such an X factor because she is an inside outside threat and plays bigger than her 6'2", and she is just getting going now.

I think Dorka starts when she comes back if not the first game then soon thereafter. Her size would've been a big factor today together with her inside offensive game and she has a very confident 3. Aubrey is still coming back but she is so unique as a player that she is almost more impactful coming off the bench. Once her offensive confidence is here to stay, I don't know who guards her. She has a fast and long first step, finishes high and strong and runs without stop. If she hits from the outside consistently, she becomes a real nightmare.

Nika had 6 turnovers but she was relentless on Clark and I think wore her down. 13 assists in a game like this from the point against a soft 2-3 zone keying on Azzi is just stupid. As to the player who is most improving and getting better every game, it's Aaliyah in my book. Another tremendous performance. 20 and 14 with 6 assists and great defense on Czinano who looked pretty average today with 8 points. She is not.

Lou is improving also. She has shown that she can break a game open. A little more discretion at times but it looks like this is her 5th year here.

This is an exciting team and that was a very exciting game. I was annoyed that in the college basketball scorecard show they immediately went to after our game they began by talking about the past men's games so far and how they have been so exciting. What was this game? A walk in the park? Two of the top 5 players in the country and future members of our national team for a decade or more in this game and not a word. Basketball is basketball whether it's men's or women's and this game had an awful lot to hold the interest of any fan.

I really like this team. They had to come back today and they did exactly that with an 11-0 run to tie it and then they did what they had to do down the stretch to win it. Iowa is good, they will be around come March. If Clark didn't seem super human today it's because of the person who was covering her who would make coffee nervous.

 

[The deacon]

This play to me was the most amazing for many reasons



1) Caroline just coming off her own 3pt shot gives up the chance for the go ahead 3pt shot for a better 3pt shot to Lou in the corner

2) Caroline could have been in ball hawk mode just back from a long layoff and passed to her "minutes" competitor.

And Caroline signaled the good '3' before the ball left Lou's hand!

 

[hookshot]

How does one look "tight"? Asking for a friend.

glassy eyed and hesitant to a fault

 

[Kat]

This was such a great game. Well-coached teams that almost mirrored each other in tenacity, fitness, and skills. I know that there are people who want every game to be a 20 (or more) point win, but this was a lot of fun to watch.

 

[oldhusky]

IMO, it was more a case that they couldn’t figure out the triangle and two that Rebecca illustrated so well. Geno figured it out and corrected the problem at halftime, though

Really good coaching job by Geno today

True, and part of the adjustment to facing that defense was more Caroline and less Aubrey. Aaliyah and Aubrey were much quicker and mobile than their bigs, but when Iowa turned to zone we needed the perimeter shooters more and countered with that.

 

[SoCalCanine]

Everyone did a good job of highlighting the incredible play on both sides. But I need to shout out to the refs. Sure there were a couple of iffy calls, there always are. But for the large part, the refs called few fouls and let the women just play. The fact that nobody seems to be calling them out must mean they did an excellent job. We are all quick to complain when they do poorly, I felt they deserve some praise for this game.