UConn-South Carolina postgame thread | Page 11 | The Boneyard

UConn-South Carolina postgame thread

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Great atmosphere inside the XL Center today! The energy reminded me of some of the UConn-ND games from the past. Like others, I left the game feeling so proud of this team's effort. They didn't back away from any challenge.

The jury is still out for me on the wisdom of Geno's technical, but I will add one thing I haven't seen mentioned. As others have noted, Lou was being absolutely mauled. Cooke was holding her jersey, holding her arm, and hip checking her the whole game. (Egregious that she was only called for one foul while defending Lou when I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that she fouled her on every possession.) But after the T, Dawn switched Cooke off of Lou - probably because she suspected that the refs' attention would be on Cooke - and Lou found more freedom to move without the ball and the team seem to spark offensively. I think Geno is especially protective of these young women because of the way they've hung together and played like gladiators all season and he'd just had enough by that point. And the momentum did swing back to UConn a bit after going toward SC for awhile.
 
Rb335 said:
No offense defense substitutions in crunch time.
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Seriously?! Who would be the subs against the #1 WCB team? Patterson? DeBerry? Bettencourt? Alexa Philippou said it best. "Yes, UConn has eight available players, but its three reserves would be the last ones off the bench if the team were healthy. Against Providence, that trio played a combined 27 minutes and finished with one point, one assist and zero rebounds." Geno is a great coach, not a magician.
 
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this might sound a bit stupid but I actually think a really close loss is not remotely the worst thing in the world - of course a win would have been great, but I also think winning without CD and Azzi would have potentially shifted people's attention and the pressure could have started to shift to UConn come March. As it is now, SC are still favourites and have the pressure. UConn now knows they can absolutely compete with them + having 2 more players back will massively help if they have to play them again.
 
hookshot said:
The offense did tend to stall at the perimeter (a combination of good defense and uncalled grabbing and bumping) and some the point producing take it to the rim efforts bordered on the miraculous in a good ! way
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Honestly, I don’t understand miraculous to describe players who have played well all year making good plays, but maybe it’s just me.
 
This was a fantastic effort by the starting five. Lou was a warrior - with her outside shot not falling she found other ways to score even though she was being held the entire game. And her defense is markedly improved from the start of the season. AE proved she is AA. Aubrey and Nika both played excellent defense and had some really nice drives to the basket. Dorka and even AP gave good defensive minutes but needed to be more of a factor on the offensive end. If Azzi and CD can come back healthy and playing well, I really like our chances in a FF matchup.
Good job today. Rest up for the run to the BE title and tourney!
 
Rowdy831 said:
I agree that UCONN got good position on the boards but they were so much taller they just went over our rebounder. Geno can't take out AE and put in a 6'2 player who can't score into the game. She played over a full quarter and other than fouls didn't get into the scorebook.
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I hear what you're saying, and her reluctance to engage on offense is problematic, but Patterson did make a lot of hustle plays that don't show up in the scorebook - diving on the floor for loose balls, tipping rebounds away from their bigs, etc. - and fired up her teammates.
 
HuskyNan said:
who was supposed to sub in?
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I think the reference is to the very end when UCONN was shooting at the line and they knew they had to foul. Take out Nika and Lou at that point and let one of the reserves who hasn't played get the foul. They put your starter back in for offense.
 
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Rb335 said:
Great effort by the players. They had a chance which is admirable given our injury history. Area to improve is definitely the rebounding department.

Weak in game performance by Geno in my opinion. Untimely technical that got us into a hole. No offense defense substitutions in crunch time.

Moral victory? South Carolina isn’t as big of a Goliath as their reputation made them seem. Get healthy and we have a great shot against them.
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If Geno is serious about beating SC the next time they play he will be getting DeBerry quality playing time the rest of the year. Keep in mind that SC didn't get much from one of their stars today and you can't count on that the next time. This team right now matches up with every other team but SC has bigs UCONN just can't guard with the team they had today.
 
01Neaggrad02 said:
Okay the first bullet point is your opinion. Everyone is entitled to their opinion.... does not make it a true statement. I believe the T was more than justified and shocked it did not happen sooner. I do not think this cost us the game. Especially since Cardoso got a T afterwards....
The last bullet point I wholeheartedly support!
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Yes it is my opinion. But if you listened to Geno’s postgame presser, It’s also his opinion. In discussing the T Geno commented, “Dumb mistake by me. Bad decision.” In addition, when Lou was asked about the T in the postgame, she indicated that, “Geno apologized to us” for getting hit with the T.

The T cost UConn the ball and resulted in 4 pts for SC (potential 6 pts). Cardoso’s T was unrelated to Geno’s T, but Lou only made 1of 2 FT’s.
 
Rowdy831 said:
I agree that UCONN got good position on the boards but they were so much taller they just went over our rebounder. Geno can't take out AE and put in a 6'2 player who can't score into the game. She played over a full quarter and other than fouls didn't get into the scorebook.
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No, they didn’t get good position; good position is not being on the inside, good position is being on the inside and getting your backside and legs into your opponent, essentially putting them “on your back”. This does two things, it can take “their legs away” preventing them from jumping and make them go over your back to get to the ball. Modern players play too much with their upper body when it is the legs and backside that are the keys to boxing out.
 
Team showed a lot of grit and fight .. IMO Geno did the best with what he has and yea he picked up a tech but you can holding bite your tongue for so long Zz .. Boston is a bull in a china shop yea she is a great player but them shoulder checks I’m not sure will not get called at the next level .. Lou gets mailed over and over again and she gets the most ticky tack fouls against her …
Still do t get how people are still complaining about Geno’s coaching and criticism aimed at some of our players …
In all honestly SC should be disappointed they didn’t take UConn to the woodshed playing 11 deep vs 6 ?
 
HuskyinWRNY said:
just want to say i was soooo proud of those girls today. an obvious mismatch against a very good team. but i believe a message was sent today - see you for the rematch in march. and im sure sc has that in the back of their minds!
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I hear you, but.........unless we get Azzi, and Caroline back in tip top condition, I'm afraid a rematch would have the same results. We can't beat this team with what we currently have. We got nothing from our bench, so unless THAT changes, I would not be too optimistic about a rematch. I said in other comments that NEXT YEAR will be our year because ALL of today's starters for SC will be gone next year, look at their roster.

Any team including UConn that wants or plans to win the national championship MUST beat South Carolina at some point to do it. Right now they look very good, and are on a roll. Their last loss was to Kentucky last year in the SEC conference championship game. They're 29-0 since that loss and are running like a torpedo....hot, straight and true.

Let's keep it 100 friends, the road to the championship THIS YEAR goes through Columbia South Carolina whether you like it or not. NEXT YEAR, the route changes and will go through Storrs Connecticut. ;) I had a brief chat about this with the King of Siam (The king and I -1956), he agrees with me.......

 
Unbelievably, this was my first game seeing these Huskies. Saw a second half recently.

They battled their butts off and am very proud of their effort. Down 3 top players and were within a score late.

Not sure why the SC inside game was late to arrive but what a force down low they are. And how many treys did we take? 5?

Anyway, great effort. Great crowd.

Refs stunk, as usual.
 
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BBallF said:
If the refs allow our outside shooters to be held like in football like today, the inside game will dominate. When your shooters can't shoot because they are being fouled non-stop because that is the game plan of the other team and the refs are too intimidated to do their job or are not competent at their jobs, either inside or outside, size and bulk will always prevail. The problem is that is not basketball.
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The game was called terrible both ways. Just a bad ref job all the way
 
gold2323 said:
Geno got the tech because he got tired of the body checking on Lou and other UCONN players
He yelled “Call the body checking this ain’t hockey”
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The problem wasn’t whether he was right or not, the problem was the timing, he expects his players to play with poise and be aware of time and score, he needed to do the same but we all know stuff happens and it did to him today.
 
uconnever said:
Exactly, and I think his in game coaching was awesome. The changes in defense and his sub patterns were good. No complaints. And his technical was in my opinion, the result of bad officiating which I completely agree with. You know this year especially, I’ve noticed bad refereeing across each sport that I watch, it’s not just in basketball. The refereeing in todays sports is just bad.
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His only in game substitution was questionable as was his timing on the Technical. Geno is a wizard a preparation and planning for a team. He also has great players up and down the lineup regardless of who he has that can play that day. After his first sub didn't work he should have tried more height. The difference in this game was they subbed a 6'7 player and we countered with 6'2.
 
Rowdy831 said:
The players they have on the bench that might play this year don't help them on the boards and that is where they lost this game. UCONN played about as good on defense as you could ask but they had no chance giving SC so many 2nd and 3rd shots to score.
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They’re both pretty decent rebounders. But even if they don’t help much against the length of SC, their ability to hit outside shots can makeup for being out rebounded.
 
oldude said:
Yes it is my opinion. But if you listened to Geno’s postgame presser, It’s also his opinion. In discussing the T Geno commented, “Dumb mistake by me. Bad decision.” In addition, when Lou was asked about the T in the postgame, she indicated that, “Geno apologized to us” for getting hit with the T.

The T cost UConn the ball and resulted in 4 pts for SC (potential 6 pts). Cardoso’s T was unrelated to Geno’s T, but Lou only made 1of 2 FT’s.
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But he followed up with, "I didn't say anything for a long, long time … I don’t like to see a kid get manhandled like that right in front of the officials. You should see the bruises all over Lou's body. And then they call a touch foul on Nika for reaching in". So, he apologized before justifying his technical.
 
CTinLA said:
They’re both pretty decent rebounders. But even if they don’t help much against the length of SC, their ability to hit outside shots can makeup for being out rebounded.
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Geno made exactly that comment after the game. In order to counter SC’s inside strength, UConn needs to make more 3’s.
 
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Sanka541 said:
this might sound a bit stupid but I actually think a really close loss is not remotely the worst thing in the world - of course a win would have been great, but I also think winning without CD and Azzi would have potentially shifted people's attention and the pressure could have started to shift to UConn come March. As it is now, SC are still favourites and have the pressure. UConn now knows they can absolutely compete with them + having 2 more players back will massively help if they have to play them again.
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And according to "everyone" (well, not the BY), SC was supposed to win. So there was a decent amount of pressure on them before the game, and as it was close for a majority of the game, more pressure. For UConn, it would have been nice to win, but now they have a bevy of stuff to improve upon, regardless of who is playing.
 
Just want to add to all that has been said: This years team is the toughest, most resilient, and cohesive squad that I can remember. When you factor in all the adversity they have had to endure, the injuries, playing with no rest and no safety net - all of it - and they just don't crack. These guys are warriors (talented ones, no doubt to boot). This game was winnable, but they will hold their heads up high even while absorbing a defeat that could have easily gone the other way. They will just channel those emotions into fuel to feed them all the way through cutting down the nets at seasons end. I just love these guys to death!
 
SLY63 said:
Random thoughts...
  • Great effort by the team
  • Lack of outside shooting hurt today (Azzi addresses that)
  • Wish Geno got the T earlier where it could impact the game more and when SC had the ball (not us)
  • We need to have a better answer to the Boston-Cardoso combo
  • AE in foul trouble might have been the difference
  • Boston really gets preferential treatment with her shoulder on offense
  • Incredible how much Lou is being grabbed and held
  • If we play them again, we won't have more depth up front and need be better with front court fouls
  • Can't be disappointed with this one
  • I don't see us dropping in the polls (hopefully) and if we win out, should be a 1 seed
  • Can't believe the refs missed the inbounds handoff !!!
  • We lost to the undefeated #1 team with an All-American (well, really 2) on the bench
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South Carolina has the best post player in the nation- again. And also, arguably, the second best post player in the nation in Cardozo. And a back-up center in Amihere.

Too much firepower. That simple.
 
Nolefan said:
Team showed a lot of grit and fight .. IMO Geno did the best with what he has and yea he picked up a tech but you can holding bite your tongue for so long Zz .. Boston is a bull in a china shop yea she is a great player but them shoulder checks I’m not sure will not get called at the next level .. Lou gets mailed over and over again and she gets the most ticky tack fouls against her …
Still do t get how people are still complaining about Geno’s coaching and criticism aimed at some of our players …
In all honestly SC should be disappointed they didn’t take UConn to the woodshed playing 11 deep vs 6 ?
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Why is analyzing the game so wrong? I have criticized but I am not complaining in the least, I have the utmost respect for the program, the coaches and the players, especially this team. To me, it is merely discussing the game. I was rooting for Uconn and couldn’t care less what SC should be disappointed about; maybe the difference is that I thought Uconn had a legitimate chance to win before and during the game. There is no shame in the least in the loss, the team played all out and were right there, but discussing the reasons why they lost should not be considered “complaining” or blasphemous or heretical IMO.
 
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