UCONN - Marquette post game thread (merged thread)

[dtbtbtb]

Few thoughts:
*Duffy is a real good coach and took away a lot of UConn strengths (UConn had no transition game and AE was guarded real well).
*Lou: simply put, the most important transfer in the history of the program. What an amazing offensive player and so cool.
*CD: best game of the season! can she play with a helmet? every game the poor girl is hit on the head and it is scary...
*Dorka: a solid game! i think our collective heart stopped when she was on the floor holding her knee.
*Nika: didn't control the tempo of the game like in other games and was 0 for America but was real good on defense.
*AE: they clogged the area where she likes to operate, and the rim was not kind to her this game.
*Amari: showed some positives. Hope she can get more minuets so she can get some game experience.
*AP: didn't do much and seemed confused, So Geno put her back on the bench. Maybe next game she can get extended minutes. We'll need her come March.
*UConn was clearly tired, and the physicality of this game didn't help. Good for the team to be able to fight through and get a solid win!
*Azzi and AG can't get back fast enough

 

[freshler40]

Ines has 7 stitches in her forehead. She would have been in jeopardy playing against this team.

WOW, didn't know that and was wondering why she wasn't playing more.

 

[Carnac]

Tough game.It seem like hand to hand combat.
I wish Amari can get more playing time she has
the ability to contribute….size…outside threat….can post up strong.
And I like she is back to her old hairdo.

I liked her short hair do. It was nice to see Azzi dressed even though it was understood she would not play. We should see her sometime next week against Butler (Jan3) or Xavier (Jan 5). Both of those games are on the road. UConn's next home game is Jan. 8 versus DePaul.

 

[TeamFirst!]

Caroline struggles to play 40 minutes as most players would. She is being called to do more than optimal right, as they all are.

 

[HopJim]

Caroline's best game of the year...delighted for her!

Ayanna 3 minutes? Ines 0 minutes? For a fatigued/tired team??
Thumb an issue? Stitches an issue?

Geno's substitution patterns have always been predictable based on his assessment of practice performance and whether he thinks UConn will have a better chance with a tired player or one with less talent.

 

[topogigio]

Amari had 2 fouls in 6 minutes and missed a point blank layup when the team needed scoring. Ayanna had all zeroes in the box score - Geno put her in to rebound.

...and what did Inez do wrong other than have a bandage on her head? Amari had a couple of good defensive stances, and Ayanna is "too afraid" to make mistakes rather than just playing - wonder why. By the way Nan, Dorka missed a couple of point blank lay-ups in the first few minutes, too. Kids need to play to get confidence and contribute to the team, long term. You can only drive a car so long before it stops breaks down! We'll all take the win, however!

 

[HopJim]

Patterson played for a short while in first half. Set a nice screen for a Lou drive.

Based on Patterson's performance the past few games, her lack of minutes is not a surprise. Hopefully she will get her game in sync soon.

 

[SVCBeercats]

A game to pretty much forget and move on from.

I hope the team learns from this game and not forget it. Because S. Carolina's defense will be more brutal. This team has work to do.

 

[wingsfan055]

I hope the team learns from this game and not forget it. Because S. Carolina's defense will more brutal. This team has work to do.

Exactly. Right now, its not hard to figure out how to play UConn. SC is a brutal matchup for many reasons. Although, Azzi & Aubrey should make things easier going forward.

 

[Redux]

Nika didn't drive the train, was to passive

Every time she looked down the floor there were five Marquette defenders already in place. She had to adapt to a more deliberate half court game and though results were mixed she did OK.

Not everyone will be able to do what Marquette did to us: they were perfectly set up for us in their personnel, coaching and strategy implementation. Also right now we have a player or two inherently slower and some others step or two slower than their norm from fatigue. Despite this we won; not easily or overwhelmingly but I would claim convincingly. With some fresh legs coming, I'm not hugely worried by this game.

 

[UConnCat]

 

[UConnCat]

 

[UConnCat]

 

[HopJim]

Few thoughts:
*Duffy is a real good coach and took away a lot of UConn strengths (UConn had no transition game and AE was guarded real well).
*Lou: simply put, the most important transfer in the history of the program. What an amazing offensive player and so cool.
*CD: best game of the season! can she play with a helmet? every game the poor girl is hit on the head and it is scary...
*Dorka: a solid game! i think our collective heart stopped when she was on the floor holding her knee.
*Nika: didn't control the tempo of the game like in other games and was 0 for America but was real good on defense.
*AE: they clogged the area where she likes to operate, and the rim was not kind to her this game.
*Amari: showed some positives. Hope she can get more minuets so she can get some game experience.
*AP: didn't do much and seemed confused, So Geno put her back on the bench. Maybe next game she can get extended minutes. We'll need her come March.
*UConn was clearly tired, and the physicality of this game didn't help. Good for the team to be able to fight through and get a solid win!
*Azzi and AG can't get back fast enough

Have rewatched most of the past few games and focused on Patterson. Surprised to see how flat footed she plays. While Edwards, Dorka, etc. are always going to the ball for offensive rebounds, Patterson let's shorter defensive players outrebound her by standing in one spot-rarely moves. Same thing on her layups. Not surprising that she gets so many shots blocked by players much shorter since she doesn't get up on her toes and make ball fakes. Hopefully Geno and the assistants are coaching her since she appears to have the physical skills to contribute much more.

 

[Kaizen]

...and what did Inez do wrong other than have a bandage on her head? Amari had a couple of good defensive stances, and Ayanna is "too afraid" to make mistakes rather than just playing - wonder why. By the way Nan, Dorka missed a couple of point blank lay-ups in the first few minutes, too. Kids need to play to get confidence and contribute to the team, long term. You can only drive a car so long before it stops breaks down! We'll all take the win, however!

I think Geno needs both Lou and Nika to the end as they both play solid 40 mins guard. Ines will have to replace one of them which is difficult to Geno.

 

[Carnac]

Caroline is not as quick as a lot of players but she gets her hands up and contests a lot of shots without fouling. She’s strong fundamentally.

Ducharme started today and played 38 minutes. They don't win without her effort and production. She was probaly tired as she's still working her way back from injury.

 

[HuskyNan]

Have rewatched most of the past few games and focused on Patterson. Surprised to see how flat footed she plays. While Edwards, Dorka, etc. are always going to the ball for offensive rebounds, Patterson let's shorter defensive players outrebound her by standing in one spot-rarely moves. Same thing on her layups. Not surprising that she gets so many shots blocked by players much shorter since she doesn't get up on her toes and make ball fakes. Hopefully Geno and the assistants are coaching her since she appears to have the physical skills to contribute much more.

I rewatched the Texas game recently and was reminded how well Ayanna can play, even as a freshman. She seems to have lost some of her energy since then but I suspect it’s more mental than physical. Contrary to some comments I’ve seen, Geno doesn’t pull players for making mistakes, he pulls them when they don’t play with energy and effort.

Just guessing here, but it seems Ayanna is taken aback by the speed and physicality she’s seen from opposing post players. This is entirely normal. Adjusting to the size, strength, and speed of college players often takes a season or so.

 

[Carnac]

I rewatched the Texas game recently and was reminded how well Ayanna can play, even as a freshman. Contrary to some comments I’ve seen, Geno doesn’t pull players for making mistakes, he pulls them when they don’t play with energy and effort.

Just guessing here, but it seems Ayanna is taken aback by the speed and physicality she’s seen from opposing post players. This is entirely normal. Adjusting to the size, strength, and speed of college players often takes a season or so.

THAT is exactly why I've said many times, I'm not worried about Ayanna. She will mature and adjust. She'll be fine next year, if not by March of next year. This is still 2022. I look for Ayanna to be "monsterous" her junior and senior years. Kinda like Aaliyah is this year.

 

[bballtalk]

When Uconn is challenged, that’s wen they learn how to get better. Not every game will be easy and they pulled the game out. The Bugs didn’t have great games, so glad to see Caroline step up. We will need her. We are learning to win without Azzi and when she gets back, we’ll be better because of it.

 

[#12in21]

On the cusp of Azzi’s presumed return the loss of Aubrey for these last couple games has been a hard blow. Nika in particular IMO has struggled the most over these couple games because of it. She has played the most minutes and has had to slow down the opponets best players. She just hasn’t had her usual energy on the offensive end - too much expended on defense.

I think she can taste the return to ‘normalcy’ when Azzi gets back but it’s just out of reach. Aubrey being out these two games has just been alittle too much. She has had to let others make it happen on the other end. Aaliyah and Dorka did so last game and Lou and Caroline this one.

With Azzi snd Aubrey back I expect a real surge for a tired squad and a return to where they all started at seasons start. Nika’s assists will be back up ( correspondingly the team assists) and our offensive flow will return. One positive is that our defense has remained solid and will only get better with those two back as well.

 

[Huskee11]

Good sized and enthusiastic crowd, but not many students of course. The Cromwell eighth grade girls played at halftime and they have some good shooters!

Azzi warmed up with the team, no knee brace, looked good, and I spotted her parents in the stands so I thought something might be up. Nope, but she seems close.

Kudos to our starters for all going 35 or more minutes, 40 for Lou and Nika. The game was physical and played in the half court, and I thought our defense was outstanding.

Caroline and Lou were the stars today but all five contributed to the win.

It was tough to get any offensive flow and part of the problem was that Marquette was forcing us to start our offense about 3-4 feet further out than normal. We usually are able to exploit that with back door cuts and we did some of that, but they defensed that pretty well.

Not Nika`s finest game but don`t underestimate the job she did on the defensive end. 40 minutes, no fouls. She bothered King all day - she leads Marquette in points and assists, and ended the day with 4 points on 2-9 shooting, no assists, and no offensive rebounds. In addition, I don`t think Nika was covering her when she made the two hoops. Nika was stuck to her like she was stuck to Clark against Iowa.

This is a tired team. Getting Aubrey and Azzi back will be huge. Hopefully the next two games, Butler and Xavier, will not require anyone to play more than 30-32 minutes and we have at least one of them back for those games.

 

[MSGRET]

Caroline is not as quick as a lot of players but she gets her hands up and contests a lot of shots without fouling. She’s strong fundamentally.

Don't hear you talking about her 5 T/O vs 2 assists, bet if it was Nika it would be different.

 

[MSGRET]

We played tired and uninspired it seemed. Nika didn't drive the train, was to passive and played like practice set-ups. She has to drive and shoot more to open up the court. Our offensive sets are much too predictable. Our starters are playing too many minutes, even with the short bench. Zero points from two positions hopefully will change. We need to look for our shot more instead of looking to pass. Our creative basketball is missing.

Nika had the main job of shutting down Marquette's best player. King ended up with 4 points, 2-9 shooting with 0-2 on 3 pointers. She also had 0 assists and 3 fouls.

 

[Geew1992]

I rewatched the Texas game recently and was reminded how well Ayanna can play, even as a freshman. She seems to have lost some of her energy since then but I suspect it’s more mental than physical. Contrary to some comments I’ve seen, Geno doesn’t pull players for making mistakes, he pulls them when they don’t play with energy and effort.

Just guessing here, but it seems Ayanna is taken aback by the speed and physicality she’s seen from opposing post players. This is entirely normal. Adjusting to the size, strength, and speed of college players often takes a season or so.

I think Ayanna is in her head as most freshman tend to get.

 

[The deacon]

Geno said Caroline played well except on defense

Geno says a lot of things... Caroline missed a few switches but otherwise played a good defensive game, particularly for a physically struggling player on the court virtually throughout.

 

[#1florida]

Seven

We have only

Yes, with only 6 players in today's game.

 

[JJTB]

Like seeing CD’s pull up jumpers the last 2 games….nice, fluid deliveries.

 

[Glenn]

We looked tired, as others have said and i think Geno got out coached today. They took our bigs out of the offense, particularly AE, who did ont have many touches. We never seemed to adjust our spacing to get good looks for AE, like she has had teh past few games. And the dropoff in play when Amari and Ayanna were put in was not that great--i think they should have played a bit more to give our starters a chance to catch their breaths.

 

[Rb335]

Don't hear you talking about her 5 T/O vs 2 assists, bet if it was Nika it would be different.

And similarly the board harps on Caroline’s every missed shot, but Nika can go 0-5 from the floor and nobody complains because of assists.

With a short rotation, you have to have some give and take.

 

[Valleyfan]

Agree with most, the team looked tired, both mentally and physically. Getting Aubrey back will help as her athleticism and energy she brings, especially on D - is sorely missed. Adding Azzi on top will hopefully be like icing on the cake!

It looks like Patterson will be glued to the bench when these two come back.