UConn-SCSU postgame thread

[HuskyNan]

 

[Notyetready]

Anyone have the team/individual stats?

Stat page:

StatBroadcast Live Stat Feed

All the freshman did well considering it was the first time they played in front of a crowd of 10,000. I thought Shade looked like the hardest worker on the court, she was everywhere. 7 rebounds each for Shade and Q-- impressive.

 

[and one]

All and all a good game to have under their belt going into the regular season. None of the freshman (including ICE in that group) looked lost and for the most part looked pretty good. ICE and KK made the case for primary backups, Ashlyn and Q look ready to get non-4th Q minutes. I'm surprised Amari only got garbage minutes in an exhibition game; I have hoped she would begin showing some quality play this year. There is a whole season for her to do that but she'll need to play a lot of minutes to have a shot at raising her level and I doubt she'll get them.

 

[oldude]

If Coach makes that conscious decision, I'm with you all the way, that could work great with this talent. But do you think it's an approach he's historically been very comfortable with? There's a difference between having a starting five and three players who routinely get minutes vs. an 8 player rotation.

To be clear. When I suggest an “8 player rotation”, what I mean is a regular starting 5, plus 3 bench players that get “meaningful minutes” during the game. My starting 5 right now would be: Paige, Azzi, Aaliyah, Nika & Aubrey with Caroline, KK & Ice coming off the bench.

 

[Rb335]

My guess is that the starting lineup will eventually change and evolve. I was surprised by how small we started the game! Loved seeing Caroline start, as that signals she’s looked good in practice. Her at her best is another great asset to the team. Could eventually see Ice of Aubrey starting as well. It’s great to have so many options.

Paige being back is monumental. She played few minutes, but her presence was huge.

Agree the rotation will probably be 8, including todays starters, Ice, Aubrey, and KK.

Overall glad to be back and excited to see how this season goes.

 

[MilfordHusky]

Lots of nice things in the box score. Liya had 16/10/2 in 21 minutes. Azzi shot 4-6 from the arc. The starters shot 21-33. FT shooting was solid, at 82%. Layups, 21-26, were pretty good. I'd like to see better 3-point shooting from the bench (4-18) and a better A:TO ratio than 21:15. Playing the starters more minutes will help.

 

[Zarathustra]

Southern Connecticut Owls--"We Led UConn 3-0"

Nothing but the truth there! Also, Delaney Haines: 14 points 5 for 10 shooting and 3 for 6 from three-point land.
SCSU should have an excellent season... GO OWLS! Also, quite the nice H.C. Kate Lynch.

 

[Glenn]

quite impressed and happy with KK and Ice. I was sad to see so many turnovers, which really plagued us last year. I suspect Amari got very few minutes as she is still recovering fomr her medical issues.

 

[Zarathustra]

Anyone have the team/individual stats?

It's posted on the UCONN WBB web page. click on "SCHEDULE" and then the stat icon.

 

[Redux]

I'm surprised Amari only got garbage minutes in an exhibition game; I have hoped she would begin showing some quality play this year

She did also get in early for a short while. She was calling for the ball, encouraging, and she's not covered tightly at the top of the key as usual (because the defense is prepped to have higher priorities). But when she did get the ball she just held, thrashed, looking around for help, again as usual.

Valid objection to your (our) view has been made here. Geno believes that minutes are earned. But the potential return on this investment is so high, for this particular team at this time, I'd like to see an exception made; until it becomes clear the investment is not going to pay off. As I said earlier, maybe he already knows.

There are soon upcoming games where Geno can be confident his team will prevail in the end and he can risk some flat time by putting her in with a good supporting cast.

 

[my2cents]

I am not sure how much you learn from an exhibition game against an overmatched team. Azzi was letting it fly, which was good.

 

[Zarathustra]

Stat page:

StatBroadcast Live Stat Feed

All the freshman did well considering it was the first time they played in front of a crowd of 10,000. I thought Shade looked like the hardest worker on the court, she was everywhere. 7 rebounds each for Shade and Q-- impressive.

Both Q and Ashlynn had 8 points in the fourth quarter, both were 2 for 2 on free throws,
both had 3 T.O. and , as noted, both had 7 rebounds!! Also a lot of hustle from each.. The rough edges will gradually smooth out!! GO FRESHMEN!!!

 

[hoopsfan22]

Geno post-game:

 

[Redux]

When I suggest an “8 player rotation”, what I mean is a regular starting 5, plus 3

Gotcha. I thought you might be suggesting something more aggressive with the 3 (or 4 because I would include Aubrey without a fixed 5th starter at all), which I do believe would work great if Geno were committed and comfortable with it.

 

[rubymae4]

We have a lot of great passers on the team, but Paige’s passes are next level. I forgot that about her.

I really love Nika. Her confidence, intensity, and maturity make her an enjoyable player to watch. Her time and impact on the floor are going to take a hit this year with the strength of the back court, but I have no doubt of her overall impact on the team.

Griffin’s play is smoooooth.

I enjoyed watching the freshman + Brady play. While they all had their “new to college bb moments,” I was most impressed with Brady’s post play. She’s moving confidently and strong to the basket. You can see Arnold’s potential—her and Nika on the court at the same time will be something. Shade plays really hard and it’s clear she understands the game well. She was trying to do too much today, but that will settle down. I have less of a sense of Samuel’s play—she seems like the kind of player that you don’t always notice until you look at the box score (Ducharme is like that for me).

All in all, it was wonderful to welcome in the 2023-2024 season. Finally!

 

[donalddoowop]

Two words. THE Freshman!

Which freshman, or do you mean the freshmen?

 

[diggerfoot]

With the caveat that you cannot make too fine +/- analysis for one game, I made some coarse observations of +/- per minute.

The five starters all had a ratio near 2.0.

Griffin, Brady and Arnold were in a category mid 1.0 - 2.0

Shade and Samuels were close to one.

DeBerry and Bettencourt were minus.

Just one game, but this could be a reflection upon the starters and rotation.

Also noted: while overall A/T was 21/15 it was 12/0 for our three main facilitators.

 

[Redux]

I am not sure how much you learn from an exhibition game against an overmatched team

Got your point. But you can learn lots of negatives (and frequently do) but we didn't.

The positives we hoped for were mostly all confirmed (to whatever extent you're willing) and we found no new or unexpected negatives.

Mostly it was just nice to see them in action.

 

[MooseJaw]

I saw exactly what I wanted to see, freshman can and did more than hold their own, Aubrey is as quick as any player I have seen in recent memory. Paige has a court presence unequaled and should be up to full speed in just a few games. The rest of the players did not disappoint. I'm all in, looking for #12.

 

[Bone Dog]

I loved the energy of the game. And I loved the way the freshmen played. And Ice. And just to see a starting lineup like Nika Paige Azzi Caroline Aaliyah was awesome. Looking at this game for clues, I expect Caroline and Ice to rotate in that 5th starting spot depending on the opponent. KK will be first backcourt player off the bench followed by Ashlynn and then Inês. Aubrey will be first front court player off the bench followed by Ayanna and then Qadence.

And don't worry, I realize Geno hasn't spoken of Qadence as a 3/4, or Caroline for that matter. But I expect that's what we'll see. If Qadence learns by imitating Caroline, she'll eventually combine perimeter shooting with rebounding and help defense in the low post. She's a shot blocker, too. I doubt we'll be thinking of her as a guard for long. And, yes, there will be some opponents for which he'll start an Aaliyah-Ice front court and that's kind of a given. But there will be others where he wants more of a speed lineup.

I don't think Geno will play as deep a rotation in March, but it'd be cool to see a 10 deep rotation at least through February. Toward the end of the season, the core players probably need to ramp up the playing time. Everything will be a lot clearer in the NC St and MD games. What we see there will speak volumes.

 

[PacoSwede]

my prime takeaways:

caroline played a lot and seemed fine the whole time (and i was reminded of her unique presence)

paige is still incredible

on the down side, where did disciplined play go after the newbies started playing. plenty of bombs away instead of patience to get the best shot and little movement in 4Q. as meghan noted, why not focus on running half court offense in a non-competitve game? they obviously could score in transition. some players did try off-ball cutting (i noticed ash particularly, and azzi and returnees) but teammates did not pay much attention to them. gotta up the movement and passing. i assume it'll come with practice.

finally, the traveling has got to stop!

 

[AmeriConn]

Great to see the team actually playing a game. Loved the announcing and they had the score, etc. It was great camerawork, and clear etc. Thanks to the UCONN staff or whoever for putting it all together!

Loved seeing our 5 starters our there. Caroline getting the start over Aubrey was a surprise to me. But the core 8 - just wow.

Everyone had their moments. No need to be overly analytical as it's the first real game in the States. Wonderful to see them all out there!!

OF the kids we haven't seen before, flashes from all of them. Ice and KK - they are gonna be part of the core players. Super bright future. Q and Ashlynn showed flashes, but putting all the subs on the floor together is NOT a good look at this time. Ashlynn plays HARD and when she knocks down some shots, can be very good on the floor as well. Q also plays hard and has a nice stroke.

Oh and kudos to SCSU for making the trip. They have some good shooters and play solid fundamental basketball!

I thought Ash played some very good defense!

 

[HopJim]

While the offense rightly so received a number of kudos, I was equally impressed by the defense and its potential to get even better. So much quickness, long arms, and aggressiveness. Even the short run of zone defense looked impressive. Once this team gets used to playing with each other, the defensive abilities of the top 8+ players could make this group scary to play against.

 

[AzzisBraids]

Seeing so many bodies rotating in and out of the court was my favorite moment. Azzi and Aaliyah shined, Paige gave a taste of what we've all been missing, Shade looks like the second coming of the Kia Nurse/Kelly Faris type that UConn had been missing, Q knocking down shots fearlessly, KK is faster than I thought, Ice is going to cause alot of problems

 

[Urshurak]

Two words. THE Freshman!

That’s 4 words.