UConn-South Carolina postgame thread

[Bama fan]

I respect Dawn and Mulkey for their achievements but I will never respect their style of play for their teams. Yes they have had some success and while that is great for them, why do coaches not feel more inclined to play “beautiful” basketball? To each their own but I will never understand it.

It is easier to get kids to play bang bang basketball, harder to get them to work hard for artistic effect.

 

[HuskyNan]

Someone please explain Patterson to me. In a game where we had great difficulty scoring, she had at least three opportunities to shoot, and never did. On one occasion, she was driving from the edge and there was little time left on the clock shot. But, instead of taking a shot, she decided to dish it off to a well covered player and lost possession. You can't tell me she scored zero points every game in high school. What is wrong with her?

She’s a freshman playing the #1 team for the first time

 

[HuskyNan]

It has gotten closer, last yrs final SC got 22 more foul shots, today only 11 more,
guess that's what you call a home game advantage!-))

You need to let it go

 

[Wonder 12]

Sorry, no, they were fouling and not getting called for it. That game was winnable but not with those referees. Lou was fouled every time she tried to move, and I mean every offensive possession. The only time it stopped was after the Geno technical when her defender started to play legal defense on Lou and Lou came alive. That's because the defender knew it was being watched. That tells me it was a deliberate pregame strategy. Was there a single push/over the back call on SC the entire game? Not that I remember. I guess SC is just perfect in that regard. It was a very poorly officiated game and you can't mince words about it. That football handoff no call was one of the worst in a big game I have ever seen. The refs refused to call charges on SC and especially Boston. If you don't blow the whistle, the more physical and bigger team wins especially when your footballesque holding on our guards never gets called and prevents our outside shooting from the best 3 point shooter on the floor who was Lou. On the one foul on Lou they went to the tape to see if it was a Lou flagrant foul. It was almost comical. Forcibly restricting the motion of an offensive player with physical contact is a foul at every level. Otherwise it's some other sport which is what those referees were officiating today, not women's basketball..

Exactly right

 

[darrell]

 

[jaydee602]

All of UCONN's defeats this season have happened on a Sunday. I am a devout Catholic & I pray for my Huskies every Sunday Mass. But one more loss on a Sunday & I'll consider converting!!
Any suggestions?

 

[Huskee11]

I was in the house, huge crowd, mostly wearing white, very enthusiastic, joined by Napheesa and Sue Bird.

Caroline was warming up early with the team so hopefully she is not too far away.

I was concerned about how we would match up but our players stood strong and and did not back down one inch. I liked how they were able to take the ball to the hoop and score inside against a bigger opponent. Aubrey and Aaliyah had a definite quickness advantage, and Nika blew by as well a few times early. They were not intimidated at all. Could have won if a few things went the other way.

Lou showed why she is a pro, especially in the second half. She just keeps playing.

One thing obvious in person is SC getting low on Lou and leaning into her upper leg, restricting her ability to move on the perimeter. That seems like a foul to me. Apparently is does to others as well, including the head coach. I also don`t understand why what Boston does in the post, lowering her left shoulder and creating contact, is not called a foul. It is pretty evident she gets favored treatment. The refereeing left a lot to be desired.

The team played with a ton of energy today and hopefully they now have their energy back for the rest of the season. They should not in any way be discouraged by this loss - in fact, it should give them increased confidence. Need to regroup and avoid a letdown against Marquette.

Fortunately it appeared we came out of it with no injuries. Aubrey was down at one point and was favoring her right side a bit after but I don`t know what happened, maybe it was picked up on Fox. I cringe every time someone goes down on the baseline, which was a lot of times today. I would be in favor of keeping the photographers and other people further off the sideline than they currently are allowed to be.

 

[tomcat]

This was so much better than I expected that I find it hard to be very upset with the result. I look at it this way: If UConn had not bungled two inbounds plays -- not the one with the bad call, either, but two others -- it might well have been a different game. Truth is, the UConn players gave it everything they could. They made a number of mental ,mistakes that would never have happened to a mentally rested team.

We fans just have to move on to the rest of the season and hope we get two more players back by playoff time.

 

[JBK]

Someone please explain Patterson to me. In a game where we had great difficulty scoring, she had at least three opportunities to shoot, and never did. On one occasion, she was driving from the edge and there was little time left on the clock shot. But, instead of taking a shot, she decided to dish it off to a well covered player and lost possession. You can't tell me she scored zero points every game in high school. What is wrong with her?

Great point.
No confidence yet and her shot gets blocked most of the time. She will work it out - but maybe not this year.
It would be nice to get her a lot of time the next few weeks. The bench got out scored 37- 0 today and we can do better

 

[HuskyNan]

 

[freshler40]

A tough game and we played well as a team. Aubrey was amazing. Nika must develop a pull up; she's working on it. Lou needs to get used to being held, bumped, and accosted because that is what she will see in the WNBA all day. Still, she toughed it out. Dorka, needs to get stronger if she hope to play in the W. Use your height and weight. AE is on her way to greatness. Need a little more refinement and confidence with her jump shot. A great game by AE. Ayanna is not being handled properly. The staff should let her offense go. They're hurting her game. Refusal to use Amari against Cardoso is a travesty. How will she really improve if she not allowed to share in the action, i.e., the struggles of victory. Got to put her up against Cardoso...... Otherwise, a very good showing and we should win the NC with Azzi and Caroline.

It does look like Ayanna has been given the no shooting mode. That seemed to hurt us some with a then turnover happening. She did put in some good defensive minutes, but we need some offensive production from the bench.

Because we played a packed in zone for much of the game the blocking out of offensive players didn't work well. This is the bane of a zone. The individual defensive player loses direct responsibility. The two towers of SC had free rein inside and hurt us repeatedly. Dawn had a perfect game plan. This will have to be a key adjustment down the road. With two more starter type players back soon, this will provide some 3 pt offensive, more fouls to give and man to man defense. With these three factors covered, will then have more productive options. The short bench really hurt in a game like this.

 

[browns]

The game started to change in the 2nd quarter when Dawn went with Boston,Cardoso and Amihere all at the same time..still UConn battled with AE playing like an AA and Lou was simply amazing.. all the years I've watched Uconn this was Geno's worse T..down by 6 with the ball and he gets rung up and all of a sudden it's a 10 point game..really bad!!

Again, you obviously don't like Aubrey Griffin (so, I guess you will ask Geno to sit her on the bench for the rest of the season and see how the team performs without the Big East Defensive Player of the

 

[BRS24]

Someone please explain Patterson to me. In a game where we had great difficulty scoring, she had at least three opportunities to shoot, and never did. On one occasion, she was driving from the edge and there was little time left on the clock shot. But, instead of taking a shot, she decided to dish it off to a well covered player and lost possession. You can't tell me she scored zero points every game in high school. What is wrong with her?

Both times when she thought about driving in the lane, it was a bit of paralysis from analysis, as she started, thought about it, then stopped and attempted a pass out. She'll get better.

 

[Gabbyfan]

Remember Henderson’s beat down of Paige in the championship game last year? We saw it again on Lou today. I agree with those who dislike this aggressive defense that seems to not draw whistles. Geno’s strategy og packing the lane was a good one until it wasn’t. Those threes by SC late in the 4th quarter were tough to overcome

 

[jabstep]

A tough game and we played well as a team. Aubrey was amazing. Nika must develop a pull up; she's working on it. Lou needs to get used to being held, bumped, and accosted because that is what she will see in the WNBA all day. Still, she toughed it out. Dorka, needs to get stronger if she hope to play in the W. Use your height and weight. AE is on her way to greatness. Need a Cardosalittle more refinement and confidence with her jump shot. A great game by AE. Ayanna is not being handled properly. The staff should let her offense go. They're hurting her game. Refusal to use Amari against Cardoso is a travesty. How will she really improve if she not allowed to share in the action, i.e., the struggles of victory. Got to put her up against Cardoso...... Otherwise, a very good showing and we should win the NC with Azzi and Caroline.

 

[Padutch5]

It's gonna be hard for us to beat their bigs inside, should we meet SC again. Dawn's found a winning formula using Boston and Cordosa inside. Geno's got his work cut out to find a way to beat that all four quarters.

Dawn also needs to be sure she takes those refs with her as well.

 

[Bama fan]

Our Huskies were tough, inspired, outnumbered , but unbowed. Great effort, with a short roster and little help from the striped shirts. My only disappointment was the three times we could not get the ball inbounds. But this was a magnificent loss if such a thing exists.

 

[VA Huskie]

I think the technical was a good thing. It clearly inspired his team and stopped a possible blowout in the final minutes. If I had any criticism it might be hat he waited too long. The refereeing in the woman’s game has got to be addressed! It’s just terrible when their incompetence/bias affects the outcome of games and I must say, SC gets more help than anyone in that respect. They are a very good team. There is no denying that, for sure. If we can’t figure out a way to limit the offensive rebounding, it’s hard to see how we can win. Of course, a healthy Azzi & Caroline could have made the difference in this game but even so, when you give the other team 15-20 extra shots, it’s pretty hard to win. Very proud of our team! They played their hearts out!

I’ve read a number of comments that indicate that Geno got the T at the wrong time. The implication seems to be that he got it on purpose. I’m not too sure about at. I think he was really frustrated and lost it. I suspect he regrets his actions, but s…t happens. Personally I wasn’t upset by it. I was a legit reaction the the way the game was being called.

I’ll be very interested to see what Geno says about the reffing and the technical in the postgame presser. He doesn’t usually complain about the refs… suspect he might here.

 

[Urshurak]

Great effort by the huskies. So glad we never have to play Boston ever gain. We Should be blow them out next year with everyone back and healthy

You hoping SC gets beat in the tournament before they have to face UConn again?

Or

Do you expect UConn to get knocked out early?

 

[maple]

Big difference in SC guards driving to the basket, and UCONN guards getting hacked with no calls from the refs, you wonder how much more Lou can take before she gets injured!

So many times SC players drove in towards the basket and ran directly into UConn players with no attempt at making any sort of play, sometimes just plain out of control. I don’t remember a single offensive foul being called on SC for doing this either.

 

[maple]

I still don’t understand how this wasn’t reviewable.

 

[Longtime fan]

A bit surprising that nobody has mentioned the coaches leaving their best player in to pick up her 3rd foul in the first half. Sort of automatic to get that player out of there after the 2nd foul. Aaliyah got her 2nd with 5 min. left, her 3rd 2 minutes later. When she picked up her 4th in the 3rd quarter got to think this affected her defensive mind-set.

It wouldn't have mattered. Just like Geno's pointless " walk about" ( for a technical foul) didn't matter. We could only score by miraculous effort. SC controlled the boards, shut down the middle, shut down the fast break ( they are faster than we are), covered Lou really well, and played such tight defense that Nika had zero assists in the first half.

Despite these physical and mental errors ...(see Geno technical )...the team competed endlessly. They did very well with the limited ammunition in the UCONN gun. Speaking of which, I am shocked by how unhelpful Patterson is on offense. She did get an awful foul called on her, when she beautifully blocked a shot and never touched the SC player...But for a top recruit, she plays like a person programmed never to look to the basket. Never to shoot or attempt to shoot. He unwillingness to play basketball on the offensive end of the floor is killing us. And I notice that the Uconn players seem to (purposefully) avoid passing her the ball, even when she is wide open. They know it won't result in a shot, will eat more clock, and may result in a turnover. I think. In any case, who would have imagined a top recruit would be a statue on offense? Someone please explain. And don't tell me "she is a freshman." After this many games and practices, she has to be more than that.

 

[JBK]

SC won because of the rebounds leading to second chance points plus their depth (37-0) by bench.

It’s exactly what we expected. What was unexpected was how close UConn kept it. We certainly had our chances.

So, if we get to face them again, will that change? Short answer? Nope. The difference, however, is hopefully we have Azzi and Caroline to help Lou on perimeter. That will be the difference in evening it out a bit. If UConn hits their shots from the perimeter with 7-8 3’s, they win the next matchup. If we had Azzi, CD, Paige and Ice now? UConn by 15-20. I’m sure Dawn knows it too…..just sayin.

Do you think Dorka can work on body positioning in the next month. The other 4 starters attack the hoop off the dribble and was wondering if Dorka could do that as well
When her shot is off she is pretty much done vs SC.

 

[BRS24]

One thing obvious in person is SC getting low on Lou and leaning into her upper leg, restricting her ability to move on the perimeter. That seems like a foul to me. Apparently is does to others as well, including the head coach. I also don`t understand why what Boston does in the post, lowering her left shoulder and creating contact, is not called a foul. It is pretty evident she gets favored treatment. The refereeing left a lot to be desired.

Kept wondering why Lou was losing her balance on cuts and finally watched her and Cooke. It was a hip/thigh check that completely knocked her off stride. Maybe (maybe?) the refs will look at this game and see what's happing. So much for freedom of movement. DT all over again.

 

[MD#12Fan]

3 times Cooke beat her off the bounce and went in for an uncontested layup

Come on man! What are you watching. Cooke, arguably a possible 2nd team AA, goes 2-15 for 8 points. In tight D situations, players get beat off the dribble. It’s actually part of it. Next guy slides over and stops the ball or forces a contested J. Really, the concern in AG’s D. Ugh