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Message: [QUOTE="JoePgh, post: 2118421, member: 1131"] I watched the game in person and checked the box score afterwards. The box score gave me a completely different perspective on the game than the actual view of it did. Watching the game, I would have thought that both teams shot in the high 40% range, and shot well from the arc also. In fact, that was not the case: UConn shot 55% overall and 45% from 3, while UCLA shot 38% and 33% from 3. So, given that box scores don't lie, why was the game as close as it was? It was because UCLA took 68 shots and UConn took only 54. When you get that many more shots than your opponent, you can afford to miss quite a few and still have the game stay relatively close. UConn did get 26 free throws to UCLA's 14, so maybe that was one reason for the shortfall in field goal attempts Why else did UCLA get more shots? One big reason is that they only had 6 turnovers in the entire game (yup, that's what it says) while UConn had 14. Fourteen turnovers isn't bad, but when the defense can only force 6 turnovers by the opposition, that is a major shortcoming. Moreover, UCLA got 8 steals while UConn got only 2 -- also a cause for concern. The conclusion that I draw from the box score (which I wouldn't have drawn from watching the game) is that UConn's offense (particularly its half-court offense) was working just fine, and its half-court defense was not bad, but the failure to generate UCLA turnovers and get offense from defense was the sole reason why the game was not a blowout. I'm sure that the coaches have noticed this. I wonder what caused it, and how they will try to correct it. [/QUOTE]

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