UConn-South Carolina postgame thread

[BobbyJ]

I noticed that Aaliyah was running back up the court as soon as the ball went up. Geno must have told her to do so. I’m sure he didn’t want the team getting bogged down in a half court game

The game was decided on UConn's defensive board. No coach is going to tell their best big to leave their defensive board against a rebounding machine like SC.

 

[SLY63]

A lot of discussion on rebounding and I agree, better boxing out would help. I remember one specific time when Patterson did a great job putting a body on Cardosa. Wish we would have seen that more.

But I would say, don't underestimate the impact of the foul trouble on AE. I think it kept her from being as physical as she could have been from the 2nd quarter on.

 

[hoopsnloops32]

The game was decided on UConn's defensive board. No coach is going to tell their best big to leave their defensive board against a rebounding machine like SC.

Geno said post game that they weren’t trying to compete with South Carolina on the boards.

 

[HuskyinWRNY]

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!

 

[BobbyJ]

I'm ignoring some of the Negative Nellie's. Not worth the effort to reply.

The Iron 6 played hard the entire game. They battled the entire game and did not fold. I don't know what more anyone could ask for. This team is not done. Extremely proud of our young women. They represented UConn well today, as they do every game.

As to the Geno technical, I found it well timed and needed. Lou was getting mugged the entire game. Boston was bulling her was in the lane, lowering her shoulder and moving the defender out of the space. All with no calls by the officials. At some point you have to stand up for your players. If you have never coached, you don't understand.

Now on to winning the BE regular season and Tourney. And to getting back a healthy Azzi and Caroline.

Well timed? LLS was getting held the whole game. He should have sent his message in the 2nd qtr. not with under 4 minutes to play in the game. He gave SC 4 pts. that wound up being the difference in the game.

 

[TheGOAT23]

Wow. 37 - 0

A glaring stat. However, we shouldn’t be surprised by that. Those players, who scored the 37 points off of their bench, could have started for SC today and just about any other team in college. Fletcher started, but only played 4 minutes. Available players on UCONN’s bench would not start for many teams in college.

 

[LwrcasefaN]

I hate to beat up refs, but I'm wondering why Boston can hip check and move on her screens.

For the record...the T on Cardoso was bs too. Bouncing the ball hard? To ME...that type of thing at least deserves 1 warning. It was a harmless and an undirected emotional response in the heat of the battle.

 

[boontonbomber]

By " it wouldn't have mattered" I mean...once UCONN got behind, the game was over. We never re-took the lead. It is amazing that it ended as closely as it did. But the score was mis-leading. SC was in total control. We never were going to lead again . And didn't.

C'mon, not getting Aaliyah out may have been a very big deal.You play defense a whole lot differently when you're worried about getting that 4th foul. And SC's inside play was obviously the biggest factor in the game, as their outside shooting was abysmal.

 

[01Neaggrad02]

• We will never know if Geno’s T ultimately cost the Huskies the game. I know he was upset about the continuous bumping his players were dealing with, but he just can’t get T’d up in a close game. That cost UConn 4-6 pts.
• 
  
• I AM INCREDIBLY PROUD OF THE EFFORT OF OUR UNDERMANNED HUSKIES TODAY!!!

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!

 

[boontonbomber]

A lot of discussion on rebounding and I agree, better boxing out would help. I remember one specific time when Patterson did a great job putting a body on Cardosa. Wish we would have seen that more.

But I would say, don't underestimate the impact of the foul trouble on AE. I think it kept her from being as physical as she could have been from the 2nd quarter on.

Never should have been left in to get her 3rd before half.

 

[hoopsnloops32]

C'mon, not getting Aaliyah out may have been a very big deal.You play defense a whole lot differently when you're worried about getting that 4th foul. And SC's inside play was obviously the biggest factor in the game, as their outside shooting was abysmal.

Taking Aaliyah out earlier likely mean we have a bigger deficit to overcome at half.

 

[JustbrewitMan]

Look, SC is a great rebounding team (loads of height, duh)…but I was amazed how many times UConn worked their butts off to get good rebounding position only to have a wacky bounce make it find its way into a SC players hand. Had to have been frustrating.

Boston sure can disguise that shoulder-in offensive foul well. Kudos to her.

The rest of the SC trees sure could travel their ways through our double teams. Lost track of how many times it happened.

Poor Lou got held more in this game than a baby bunny during a Kindergarten show & tell.

Ultimately, loved how we approached this game and fought to the end. Can’t wait for the rematch!

 

[willie99]

Is the three second call still in the rule book?

They did let SC campout a tad, but when they're playing volleyball around the rim, that's not 3 seconds

 

[Rowdy831]

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

Great points. If Geno didn't see the need to get DeBerry time on the court then UCONN really will need someone else to knockoff SC in the tournament. The played as good as they could on defense but Dorka can no hang with the tall girls on SC and physically was dominated on the glass. When they did substitute they brought in a player that was way too short to compete on the glass and isn't a threat on the offense. Geno has always been bull headed but his assistant coaches need to get to him.

 

[Zanzman]

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!

#1vs #5 how is that an obvious mismatch can’t believe how many people had UConn getting beat by 15 +

 

[BBallF]

Does anyone know the names of the three officials today?

 

[Rowdy831]

We got Paige, Azzi, Caroline, and Isuneh on the bench and lost to South Carolina by 4. By 4. That's pretty dam good. I hope we can learn from this game. They guarded Lou really well today. Aalyah just put herself top 3 for AP player of the year. Overall, a lot to learn from this game and it really showed the Huskies grit and heart.. If Uconn goes to the championship game vs South Carolina this year, Uconn will win by 15 points.

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.

 

[Dognusty]

South Carolina is like the Pistons of lambeer, foul like crazy the officials won't call them all. Is there a new NCAA rule Boston can't foul?

Please stop this narrative. The refs were equally bad. They were just bad bad

 

[hoopsnloops32]

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.

Wrong. As Geno said post game they will never win the game on the boards. They need to win from behind the arc and three of the four players on the bench are excellent at that, two of which are coming back this year.

 

[BBallF]

Look, SC is a great rebounding team (loads of height, duh)…but I was amazed how many times UConn worked their butts off to get good rebounding position only to have a wacky bounce make it find its way into a SC players hand. Had to have been frustrating.

Boston sure can disguise that shoulder-in offensive foul well. Kudos to her.

The rest of the SC trees sure could travel their ways through our double teams. Lost track of how many times it happened.

Poor Lou got held more in this game than a baby bunny during a Kindergarten show & tell.

Ultimately, loved how we approached this game and fought to the end. Can’t wait for the rematch!

Why kudos to a player who is attempting to violate the rules of the game on every possession?

 

[01Neaggrad02]

Only one official missed the handoff - the official administering the inbound pass. The other two have other areas of responsibility to watch. If all three are watching the inbound pass, no one is paying attention to what is happening on the baseline, in the paint or at the 3pt line.

That being said, the inbounding official clearly missed it, and I guarantee he'll regret it when viewing the film. He and I worked high school games together back in the day. I had, and still have, great respect for his body of work. He's a class act, a stand-up guy, and will be haunted by it.

Make sure to point it out to him.... again and again, and again.....

 

[Rowdy831]

Look, SC is a great rebounding team (loads of height, duh)…but I was amazed how many times UConn worked their butts off to get good rebounding position only to have a wacky bounce make it find its way into a SC players hand. Had to have been frustrating.

Boston sure can disguise that shoulder-in offensive foul well. Kudos to her.

The rest of the SC trees sure could travel their ways through our double teams. Lost track of how many times it happened.

Poor Lou got held more in this game than a baby bunny during a Kindergarten show & tell.

Ultimately, loved how we approached this game and fought to the end. Can’t wait for the rematch!

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.

 

[Cornell Lt]

The game should have been an opportunity to showcase women's basketball at it's best, however the way the game was played and officiated made it less so in my mind as it reminded me of how the men's game is played.

 

[JSB60]

That would be great if he had unlimited timeouts!

Didn’t need them. The two times he should have done it were during their timeouts.

 

[Rowdy831]

Things observed today.
1. UCONN can really play defense when they are focused
2. They have one inside threat
3. Geno will NOT put DeBerry in the game even if all else has failed
4. A 5 player rotation is wearing down his team-2nd quarter has been tough
5. They can count on Lou to show up in the big games, AE also
6. They can still go a long way but will needs help with SC

This really was a battle of the heavyweights today. The starting 5 played their hearts out today but Geno didn't help them at all with his substitutes and he stupid Technical Foul. I think UCONN played as good as they could today but SC still won and only committed a handful of turnovers.