UCONN-Marquette Post Game Thread

[RoadMaster]

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[VA Huskie]

Well I'll be honest - was NOT expecting this. Down 10 in Q1, and then blew the doors off. I'm guessing the team worked all the Christmas fat off in the first 5 minutes or so LOL. Not only was this a tremendous game for the entire team, it was against a really good Marquette team, who IMHO, plays a tad on the overly-physical side. I was very pleased to see Marquette get into some foul trouble in the first half. I do get tired of watching refs let teams we are thumping manhandle us (as often it's their only way to slow us down). We went from down 10 to up 17 at the half.

• Paige's play was sensational on both sides of the ball. Steals, assists, scoring - she did it all (except for rebounding LOL)
• As much as it was partly the Paige show, Aaliyah put on a show on the interior. Yet another double double for her.
• NO complaints at all about the freshmen. Their shots were off a tiny bit (mostly Ash from 3), but they work so hard and really add a TON to the team. KK with her steals, Ash with her all around play, and Q comes off the bench and does what she needs to do. Still need more from Ice, altho maybe finding her sea legs in Q4? Hope this continues in the future! And not for nothing, BOTH Ash and KK scored double figures. Thru 3 quarters!
• Aubrey coming off the bench is perfect for her. Mystifying FT shooting today, but Aubrey doing Aubrey things is just what the team needs from her off the bench.
• Much maligned (at times on this board) Nika did Nika things. On double double watch with rebounds and assists. OH AND 0 TO's. Marquette plays tough physical defense. VERY impressed with her not going for the home run pass, instead going for the smart pass. 5 points, 7 assists, 10 rebounds. 1 TO at the very end. I'll take that from her EVERY day of the week and twice on Sunday.

I FULLY expected Marquette to come out after half time and make a run. After hitting their first shot - a 3 - it was off to the races again for UCONN. I was shocked that we had no let up and continued to blow them out. I don't mean this as a criticism at all - I mean after shaking off the rust in the first 5 minutes or so, getting down 10, we outscored them by 42 till the end of Q3. That's incredible against an undefeated and deserving top 20 team. 16 O-boards? That's putting in the hard work.

This game was about 25 minutes of smackdown play by UCONN. Was completely over by the end of Q3. To Marquette's credit, they fought till the end and played well in Q4. But the damage was already done. Every core player scored at least 5 points. 4 were in double figures. As much as it's Paige Bueckers' world, the game was NOT the Paige Bueckers' show - meaning the entire team contributed and it was a tremendous team effort. Paige of course is the POG, but EVERYONE ELSE did things they are good at to contribute. Great to see Amari and Ines get on the board with assists and scoring. Such a solid and enjoyable win.

Thanks LA - an excellent summary of an excellent game. Maybe the best performance of the year for us. I think the pollsters are going to have to take us seriously pretty soon.

 

[OldSchooler]

Yeah, I know, Paige was the big star again. But look at that line by AE: another dub-dub; 4 As, 0 TOs, only 2 PFs, and perfect from the line. That engine is purring.

 

[NoSpamHere]

Just made it home so missed the game Is there a replay coming on YouTube/somewhere else?

 

[VA Huskie]

My main concern is the fact that I was booted out of the Fox Sports app more times than I cared to count, but it was at least 10X in the 2nd half alone. When I got a message it was that the connection was lost. I am guessing that it was my home network but really not sure.
About the game, it was a dominant victory even though Paige turned the ball over 15 seconds into the game and Marquette took advantage and scored the first 10 points. Ugh. But then we fought back and the next thing I remember we were up double digits and never looked back.

I too had difficulties with the app, but did get to watch most of the game.

 

[MSGRET]

Couldn't get the game because fox and/or dish were not letting me in. I guess I'll just sit back and enjoy the game later when MJL243 posts it to his YouTube channel.

 

[Centerstream]

Just made it home so missed the game Is there a replay coming on YouTube/somewhere else?

Normally the replay will be posted on MJL243's youtube channel and the link will be posted here on the BY.

I'm looking forward to watching this game again via the replay!!!

 

[ME Husky Fan]

Spot on with your analysis. They simply did not panic when they were down 10-0. That showed they are maturing as a team.

Concur, but slow out of the gate against far greater opponents you typically can’t crawl back.

 

[freshler40]

For recent games we have cut down on turnovers. We have 10 more shots during this game than Marq. In turn our defense was great at steals and easy scoring opportunities. Even with the above, several players missed inside shots. Our future is bright and will likely have a top ten rating soon. Our players are now finding a joy to game and unlocking both a solid defense and up-tempo game. Just wishing for a New Years improvement of our bench bigs. If that happens, we could beat anybody!

 

[cohenzone]

We stomped a hole in the #18 ranked team! What about that was "luck"?

I’m guessing he means you make your own “good luck” through hard play. Meaning you create your own breaks. I doubt he thinks there was “luck“:

 

[Centerstream]

I’m guessing he means you make your own “good luck” through hard play. Meaning you create your own breaks. I doubt he thinks there was “luck“:

Could be but I took it in a completely different way.
And I will admit that most times on this forum, I am not the sharpest knife in the drawer. But at least I am in the drawer.

 

[kidfrom360]

So,#5 Texas loss to #10 Baylor, #6 USC loss to #2 UCLA, #12 Utah loss to #8 Colorado, #13 ND loss to unranked Syracuse, #17 Ohio State loss to unranked Michigan, #18 Marquette loss to #15 Uconn this week.

After UConn has been playing since the Texas game…If UConn isn’t at least ranked #10 this week, there are some real UConn haters on that voting committee. Period.

 

[Cornell Lt]

Most surprising thing I saw was Cadence's new hair style. It was a good look.

 

[dtbtbtb]

an apology: i got to watch the game a bit late and to my shock, Marquette was leading 10-0. It turned ok but i do apologize for this start
Few thoughts:
*a wonderful win against a really good Marquette team. The team (after the 10-0) was amazing on offense and defense.
*It's been some time since we saw the UConn players (all of them) going so hard on defense. Jumping on the floor, creating steals, deflections, etc. Real joy to see!
*Paige: All world and generational player. A tremendous pleasure to watch this kid play. Some of her moves, passes and shots would make the Harlem Globetrotters proud.
*AE: a great game by her. Way too strong and skilled for Marquette to deal with.
*Love our freshmen. All 3 are fantastic players. All 3 clearly have a lot of confidence in their abilities which is probably the first role of being successful at UConn WBB.
*Nika: real solid game by her. 10 rebounds, 7 assists and only 1 TO. This is the Nika we need for the rest of the season.
*Aubrey: not one of her best games. Was great on defense but on offense missed layups and those missed free throws (1-5).
*Ice: Geno continues to give her chances but so far had shown very little. Not a good rebounder and fouls too much on defense. I do think that the 4th foul called on her was a ridiculously bad call by the ref.
*Amari and Ines: very little game time but it is kind of clear way they are the last 2 players of the bench on this team.
*The small line up works because of the commitment of all players to defense and it's not bad to have the rim protector (Paige) to clean the mistakes of others . I doubt it will work against the real big teams (SC).
On to Crieghton. Hopefully UConn can keep this level of intensity.

 

[MSGRET]

So,#5 Texas loss to #10 Baylor, #6 USC loss to #2 UCLA, #12 Utah loss to #8 Colorado, #13 ND loss to unranked Syracuse, #17 Ohio State loss to unranked Michigan, #18 Marquette loss to #15 Uconn this week.

After UConn has been playing since the Texas game…If UConn isn’t at least ranked #10 this week, there are some real UConn haters on that voting committee. Period.

#14 Va Tech beats 6-8 Pitt by 50 91-41, #18 NC barley beats 8-6 Clemson at home 82-76, #22 FL State beats a 4-9 Wake Forest 73-61 and #16 Ind beats a 6-6 IL 77-71. Watch Va Tech get rated higher then UConn because it's in the ACC.

 

[jcoton56]

SNY is rearing today’s game at 9:00 pm

 

[Husky fanatic]

Yeah we will move up one spot…

Maybe 2 and take Notre Dame’s spot at 13

 

[HuskyNan]

 

[HuskyNan]

 

[FanFromMaine]

A couple thoughts on today’s game:

• After yet another slow start, the Huskies ramped up their defensive effort to change the entire complexion of the game by playing in-your-face defense, crashing the boards and diving for loose balls all over the court. UConn’s defense in the 3rd qtr, in particular, was absolutely suffocating.
• Somebody really needs to advise UConn’s players that a significant percentage of their fans are elderly, including yours truly, so the extra excitement created when the Huskies start the game by digging a 10-0 hole is not particularly good for our hearts …
• I love the fact that Geno yanked Paige early in the game after an ineffective start and delivered a pointed message to her. Clearly, the message was received, and then some!!! So far this season we have all seen glimpses of the Paige Bueckers that we all witnessed in her freshman and sophomore seasons. Today Paige looked every bit like the NPOY that we all remember!!!
• Aaliyah too got an early call to the bench for a quick message, after which she played like the AA forward that she is.
• As someone who played a little basketball back in the dark ages, I can definitively say that I would have absolutely hated being guarded by KK Arnold. She plays defense like she’s her opponents second skin……..
• Today was a big win against an experienced, well-coached Marquette team. The next step for this UConn team is to demonstrate they can win against a good team on the road. They’ll have that opportunity Wednesday at Creighton.

Siggy’s in his shirt doesn’t work for KK…

 

[HuskyNan]

Official box

 

[RockyMTblue2]

A high compliment from Geno: "I was really, really, really proud of them today."

 

[Huskee11]

I was at the game and it was a legit sellout, and a great crowd. I was at the men’s game against Saint John’s a week earlier, also a sellout, and it was also a great crowd but a different feel, a deeper, more gravely voice. Both terrific, today it did feel like the Basketball Capital of the World.

Not for the first few minutes though.

The tradition at the beginning of each half is to stand and clap until UConn scores. Which meant we had to stand for the duration of a full UConn time out. Ugh. I stopped clapping.

Paige was electric, just amazing, best I have seen her all year, I will have to go back and watch two plays in particular, a scoop layup and a pass in traffic, not sure many players at any level could make those plays. She took some hits today, one in particular fairly early, but no ill effects.

They could not come close to stopping Aaliyah when playing her straight up. She used that up and under move, finishing with her left, a few times and the Marquette player might as well have not been there.

Also, this is the best I have seen UConn play in your grill half court defense in a long time, all of the first seven are very capable of playing that way and appear to relish it. I also love how they were determined to push the pace, not a lot of fast breaks but they got into their offense early.

Marquette is a good team, physical inside but they did not pressure the ball much on the perimeter. That helped keep our turnovers to a season low seven. In pregame warmups they were simply not missing anything so the story of the game was our pressure defense, better quickness and athleticism, and stamina. And Paige.

Happy New Year, and on to Creighton!

 

[uconnever]

This looked like UConn. When they were down early, they fought back HARD! Haven’t seen that in awhile.

 

[BBallF]

One disappointment: Ice has not found her confidence yet.

Qadence shot poorly from 3 (1-4), but she drained one and Geno gave her a goofy look and she had the biggest smile on her face. The game was almost worth it just for that smile.

And I agree, definitely an NPOY level performance from Paige.

And one empty gripe -- we just thumped a ranked team and will still get discounted in the next rankings (I'm guessing) while other teams stomp cupcakes and get rewarded. Who cares, in the end, but it is galling.

Is it just confidence with Ice? I think a large part of it is conditioning and a lack of timing from not playing a year.