UConn stats.. 7 facts about the St. Francis game...

[DavidinNaples]

The Huskies had not yet finished the handshake line, after the St. Francis victory, when the criticism of Geno started... "He ran up the score." "UConn is bad for the game." "He played the starters too long."

The only evidence for the complaints and charges was the score, 140-52. Many of the critics had not even seen the whole game or analyzed the action. The Geno haters and UConn detractors had a field day with tweets, news articles, and posts on team websites. They were all wrong, of course, but this group never lets facts get in the way of their narrative. So here are 7 facts to set the record straight, not that it will matter to some.

1. St. Francis took 57 three point shots because that is how they play, every game. In fact, this season, St. Francis took 1,152 threes. By comparison, UConn took 678. Jessica Kovatch, for St. Francis, was the 2nd leading scorer in the nation and took 372 threes all by herself. That is 200 more threes than Katie Lou tried this year. (176).

2. St. Francis runs a fast-paced offense. and has all season. This season, they averaged 72 shots per game and ranked 3rd in the country for the fastest pace on offense. Against UConn, they took 81 shots and over 70% were taken with less than 15 seconds gone on the shot clock. Their game plan was to run and shoot threes, quickly.

3. Azura led Uconn in scoring with 26 points and played only 15 minutes. Napheesa was 2nd in scoring with 25 points and saw only 17 minutes of action. You don't run up the score with the two leading scorers playing less than half the game each. Of the other starters, Gabby had 22 minutes, Katie Lou played 24 and Crystal was on the court for 21 minutes. Kia played 29 minutes, but scored 0 points in the 3rd or 4th periods.

4. In this game, UConn's bench played more minutes (87), took more shots (45) and scored more points (62) than in any other game this season. Geno maximized his use of the bench, despite the starters not having played in 10 days and having another game Monday.

5. With the fast pace of St. Francis, UConn was able to take 91 shots. (Against UCF, which slowed the game down, the Huskies took 54 shots.) Of the 91 shots, starters took 46 and the bench took 45.

6. St. Francis lost 9 games this season and gave up 2,455 points. Those losses include Southeast Missouri State (who scored 82 pts), Columbia (who scored 94 pts) and William & Mary ( who scored 92 pts). Is anyone surprised UConn scored 140..??

7. St. Francis took 81 shots, but only made 18 baskets. On their 63 misses, they only had 8 offensive rebounds. UConn grabbed 54 defensive rebounds. More scoring and better rebounding by St. Francis would have slowed UConn's offensive and held the score down a bit.

Geno called off the full court press, stopped running the fast break and had the ball walked up the court in the 2nd half. None of that will stop the critics from complaining. Haters gonna hate..!!

The final words on the results from this game are best summed up by the St. Francis coach, who said, "UConn did not “run the score up”. They played the game the way it should be played. They competed every possession, no matter the situation, opponent, or the score. They respected us & the game by doing that. And our team did the same. Competed every possession."

Go Huskies..!!

 

[CMC'72]

Thank you for your well-spoken stats!

The final words on the results from this game are best summed up by the St. Francis coach, who said, "UConn did not “run the score up”. They played the game the way it should be played. They competed every possession, no matter the situation, opponent, or the score. They respected us & the game by doing that. And our team did the same. Competed every possession."

This, indeed, has to be the final word, uttered by the opposing coach no less! Truly.

 

[warbler1055]

Wow, great set of statistics to prove that UConn and Geno run up the score and were bad for the games!!!! As I posted elsewhere, the SF coach and players were gracious, honest and admirable in their loss. I have nothing but respect for them and hope the best for their future.

 

[Huskee11]

Numbers can lie, but those numbers do truly tell the story. By the way, very impressed with the one about 70 percent of their shots within 15 seconds. Must have worn out the replay button figuring that out!

Being there, it just felt like UConn was getting a lot of possessions and making their shots. Theoretically, it would have looked a lot different if they shot it better and we were missing. But they didn't show much interest on the defensive end. It brought back memories of Bo Kimble, Hank Gathers and those crazy Loyola Marymount teams. Except, those guys could shoot the lights out, unlike Saint Francis.

Saint Francis continued pressing full court the entire game, much like DePaul did against UConn earlier this season. That is how they roll, more power to them.

Saint Francis, to their credit, played the way they wanted to and can live with the result. End of story.

 

[Wilderness]

And... no reason for any to be a bit defensive about how the game played out. This isn't middle school rec basketball. These are elite players with aspirations of professional hoops careers. Yeah - it would be more fun for this fan if all games were more competitive and I hope we'll have some deeper in the tourney. But when there are blowouts, Geno understands his responsibility to make the best use of every opportunity to develop UConn athletes for subsequent challenges.

 

[SVCBeercats]

Great job! Superior post.

 

[EricLA]

Fantastic post David. I guess that's the nature of being on top - the complainers come out fairly often with the drivel about "UCONN being bad for the game". I'm not sure if they are uneducated, stupid, or just ignorant in general with regards to WCBB.

I also was stunned at the number of UCONN fans who had so many complaints about the coach of SF and their preparation and game play. Your stats point out that it's how they played all season long. This is NOT a Villanova team who runs 25 seconds off the shot clock before jacking up a 3. They generally launch in 5-15 seconds.

I guess everyone is entitled to their opinions. Not surprised at the so called "sports journalists" being clueless, but to hear some UCONN fans take SF to task was disappointing.

 

[Carnac]

View attachment 29556

The Huskies had not yet finished the handshake line, after the St. Francis victory, when the criticism of Geno started... "He ran up the score." "UConn is bad for the game." "He played the starters too long."

The only evidence for the complaints and charges was the score, 140-52. Many of the critics had not even seen the whole game or analyzed the action. The Geno haters and UConn detractors had a field day with tweets, news articles, and posts on team websites. They were all wrong, of course, but this group never lets facts get in the way of their narrative. So here are 7 facts to set the record straight, not that it will matter to some.

1. St. Francis took 57 three point shots because that is how they play, every game. In fact, this season, St. Francis took 1,152 threes. By comparison, UConn took 678. Jessica Kovatch, for St. Francis, was the 2nd leading scorer in the nation and took 372 threes all by herself. That is 200 more threes than Katie Lou tried this year. (176).

2. St. Francis runs a fast-paced offense. and has all season. This season, they averaged 72 shots per game and ranked 3rd in the country for the fastest pace on offense. Against UConn, they took 81 shots and over 70% were taken with less than 15 seconds gone on the shot clock. Their game plan was to run and shoot threes, quickly.

3. Azura led Uconn in scoring with 26 points and played only 15 minutes. Napheesa was 2nd in scoring with 25 points and saw only 17 minutes of action. You don't run up the score with the two leading scorers playing less than half the game each. Of the other starters, Gabby had 22 minutes, Katie Lou played 24 and Crystal was on the court for 21 minutes. Kia played 29 minutes, but scored 0 points in the 3rd or 4th periods.

4. In this game, UConn's bench played more minutes (87), took more shots (45) and scored more points (62) than in any other game this season. Geno maximized his use of the bench, despite the starters not having played in 10 days and having another game Monday.

5. With the fast pace of St. Francis, UConn was able to take 91 shots. (Against UCF, which slowed the game down, the Huskies took 54 shots.) Of the 91 shots, starters took 46 and the bench took 45.

6. St. Francis lost 9 games this season and gave up 2,455 points. Those losses include Southeast Missouri State (who scored 82 pts), Columbia (who scored 94 pts) and William & Mary ( who scored 92 pts). Is anyone surprised UConn scored 140..??

7. St. Francis took 81 shots, but only made 18 baskets. On their 63 misses, they only had 8 offensive rebounds. UConn grabbed 54 defensive rebounds. More scoring and better rebounding by St. Francis would have slowed UConn's offensive and held the score down a bit.

Geno called off the full court press, stopped running the fast break and had the ball walked up the court in the 2nd half. None of that will stop the critics from complaining. Haters gonna hate..!!

The final words on the results from this game are best summed up by the St. Francis coach, who said, "UConn did not “run the score up”. They played the game the way it should be played. They competed every possession, no matter the situation, opponent, or the score. They respected us & the game by doing that. And our team did the same. Competed every possession."

Go Huskies..!!

Excellent post!!! A very accurate observation. To your point, I would remind everyone that no man can serve two masters (the fans and the critics). The stats speak for themselves. What do the critics expect Geno to do? Tell the reserves not to try and score? Whenever they can get on the floor, they are eager to show the coaching staff where they're at, and what they can do. They're athletes, they want to play and compete. They sat on the bench and cheered for the starters for 3 quarters. Now it was their turn.

Geno put then in, and took the muzzle and leash off. What coach would send their bench players into the game, and tell them not to try and score? SMH.

 

[lne001]

While I generally agree with all the above comments, there were three with which I might quarrel.

Like Geno said, brought back memories of Bo Kimble, Hank Gathers and those crazy Loyola Marymount teams. Except, those guys could shoot the lights out, unlike Saint Francis.

In his post-game presser he stated "I have never seen anything like that" while shaking his head. Has he since admitted that yes, he has seen that before with Paul Westhead? If so, I'm glad his memory has returned.

These are elite players with aspirations of professional hoops careers.

While true for UConn, not at all accurate with regards to the St. Francis players. It was a total mismatch and a rout was preordained.

What coach would send their bench players into the game, and tell them not to try and score? SMH.

That very thing has been done by coaches at every level (excluding professional) to manage the margin of victory. That strategy has been used with both starters and subs. You just work the ball around and let the shot clock expire. Some team has already done that in this tournament (or so I read).

 

[Patty Bailey]

That very thing has been done by coaches at every level (excluding professional) to manage the margin of victory. That strategy has been used with both starters and subs. You just work the ball around and let the shot clock expire. Some team has already done that in this tournament (or so I read).

To me, letting the shot clock expire would be incredibly insulting to the other team, no matter what the score is.

 

[wallman]

First of all, kudos to the St Francis guy who tweeted that they felt no way that Uconn ran up the score and took full responsibility with the way the game was played by their own game plan.

The problem with constantly getting down on Uconn is, that THAT is bad for women basketball, NOT the score of the game. If you watched the game and you know basketball, you would come to the conclusion that the game was completely accelerated as a result of the St Francis game plan. In order to be successful in the tournament your players have to get a good run in a game, especially after a lay off. Geno played his subs a good amount and more than he probably has done in other games. No offense, but the subs are not even close to the starters. Other than Geno playing the water cooler attendants, the score was inevitable.

If you want to keep harping on something that is not there, then you are part of those who always want to crap on womens basketball.

 

[dcdon]

With 140 points, UConn averaged 3.5 points a minute. What do you suppose were the most points scored in any of those moments? Was there any one minute in which we did not score?

 

[CajunHusky]

Put in perspective .... the run and shoot was the equivalent of two games ... it played to UConn's fluid offensive style. For every offensive possession UConn had, St Francis also had one. St Francis took low percentage shots hoping they could hit a higher percentage than normal (they didn't) .... UConn forsook the three point shot for the hi percentage and hit almost 3 out of 4 shots in the first half.

UConn dominated boards - of course they had a lot more defensive opportunities than St Francis did, a function of shot percentage. Both teams had a surprisingly low number of turnovers.

Taken one possession at a time, St Francis played well, worked quickly to get open shots and didn't turn the ball over. I wonder what the score would have been if UConn had shot their usual 53% and St Francis shot 38%
Something like 110 to 82 ??

Reminded me of Louisville with the Schimmel sisters.

 

[MSGRET]

Numbers can lie, but those numbers do truly tell the story. By the way, very impressed with the one about 70 percent of their shots within 15 seconds. Must have worn out the replay button figuring that out!

Being there, it just felt like UConn was getting a lot of possessions and making their shots. Theoretically, it would have looked a lot different if they shot it better and we were missing. But they didn't show much interest on the defensive end. It brought back memories of Bo Kimble, Hank Gathers and those crazy Loyola Marymount teams. Except, those guys could shoot the lights out, unlike Saint Francis.

Saint Francis continued pressing full court the entire game, much like DePaul did against UConn earlier this season. That is how they roll, more power to them.

Saint Francis, to their credit, played the way they wanted to and can live with the result. End of story.

Used to love watching the UNLV Running Rebels and Loyola Marymount play basketball, they would have both teams over 100 points. I remember the 90-91 season in the West Regional final where UNLV won 131 to 101, that was one fast paced game.

 

[chrissaran]

I forget who the columnist is, but what he said was what's wrong with women's basketball is that nobody reports on it except for the negative stories about how UConn is bad for women's basketball. He mentioned a men's college basketball team that won a lot of championships and of course the men's game collapsed. Men's college basketball is more popular than ever, in no small part to UCLA dominating and shining a spotlight on the sport. Let the haters hate. If it wasn't for UConn, women's basketball would hardly get a mention at all.