UConn - Villanova Post Game

[hoopsnloops32]

Disappointed that Ines did not see any court time. Considering Q and Ice still not performing and Aubrey's not coming back, we really need to find that best 6th man for those upcoming games against the top teams. Not sure why Geno is reluctant to use her as she is more experienced and has shown some skill and tenacity already this year. Not a great shooter, for sure, but who better to fill in for our tired starters. I think she should have been used in the ND game when Paige and then Nika were down. The starting five can win in the BE, but by March we will need more from the bench to go deep in the tournament.

Q and Ice are performing just fine. They just need to keep it going. Nothing I’ve seen from Ines make me thinks she’d do any better, in fact I think she might do significantly worse.

 

[huskeynut]

Out of it? Did you see how many top 25 teams lost recently? They won't be out of it unless they get beat in the NCAA Tourney.

That was my point!!

 

[Cuango]

I thought Q showed a spark here and there, as well as a boneheaded outlet pass to Ice out of nowhere. She had a great drive across the lane to score — vintage Caroline.

Actually, I thought that shot was reminiscent of Maya’s one handed finger rolls!

 

[Cuango]

Q and Ice are performing just fine. They just need to keep it going. Nothing I’ve seen from Ines make me thinks she’d do any better, in fact I think she might do significantly worse.

That may be true, probably is, but you would think getting Ines some minutes would be more of a priority with the potential of foul trouble looming over this team every time they step on the court!

 

[hoopsnloops32]

That may be true, probably is, but you would think getting Ines some minutes would be more of a priority with the potential of foul trouble looming over this team every time they step on the court!

I just think Ines is far away from not being net negative on the court. Ice and Q are so much closer. But I do wish we could add an eighth person to the rotation, Nika and Paige had to play far too much. Ideally Amari due to our lack of size but im not holding my breath on that one.

 

[boscolino]

How many minutes does Clark play for n. 3 Iowa?

 

[LGITB]

My husband and I saw the OrlandoPhilharmonic play the music for Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring while the movie played. It was awesome. So, I have LOTR on my mind.

Galadriel

"This is Nenya, the Ring of Adamant, and I am its keeper." —Galadriel to Frodo Baggins Galadriel was the "Lady" of the woods of Lothlórien, which she ruled with Celeborn, her husband. One of the greatest Elves in Middle-earth, she surpassed nearly all others in beauty, knowledge, and power. She...

lotr.fandom.com

Did the crowd yell "DEATH!" when they played 'Ride of the Rohirrim'?

 

[Zarathustra]

• The defensive intensity in the second half was the difference.
• Still somewhat concerning about how easy it was for the Nova guards to get into the lane
• AE played great
• It is key to keep Nika on the floor (see ND loss)
• Paige played well
• Teams appear to be giving Shade less space to shoot, but she never forces it
• Solid game by KK
• IMO Q still shoots a little too quick
• Ice seems to be regressing -- shooting 3's, questionable passed, lackluster D

I agree with most of the above, but except that ICE attempted those two threes, she
is making progress (IMO): fourteen minutes of playing time, two rebounds, FOUR assists (remember this
is 14 minutes!!) "only" two fouls, THREE blocks (in14 minutes, right?!) and a steal. I also believe that
one of her blocks was against LUCY OLSEN! I believe that one of ICE's turnovers was a bad pass to her
when she wasn't expecting it...it hit ICE so it was "her" turnover ... the pass was on a transition
play so it should have gone to a GUARD,) I'll have to rewatch the game to check these impressions.
One of the critical things about ICE's play in this game was the inside defense capability she is developing so as to be
effective when Aaliyah is not on the floor, and the offensive capability of those assists... So,
to repeat, no "regression" in my opinion.

 

[Zarathustra]

NIKA: " As he goes (GENO), we all go!" A very nice interview!

 

[BBallF]

Ice's defense looked good to me. Better than Aaliyah's in the first half at least and one of the best defensive games from her. She missed a couple of things for sure but so did everyone else.

When you watch her carefully live, you will see that she does not defend the offensive player on the switch, especially on the pick and roll, well at all. She doesn't get out to stop the dribbler or move her out. When the player comes off the pick she either has a short pull up or an open drive lane. Most of Hidalgo's points came that way.

 

[HuskyNan]

I didn't see the game, but the box score shows Ice with 4 assists, 1 steal, and 3 blocks. I like those numbers.

I thought she played well. She came in off the bench and did one of those tiptoe the sideline steals like she did before. Yeah, she makes a few mistakes but, as pointed out, so did everyone. There were at least two rebounds the Huskies lost because two UConn players were fighting for the ball and the ball went out of bounds. One of those nights, but they figured it out

 

[Zarathustra]

Ice's defense looked good to me. Better than Aaliyah's in the first half at least and one of the best defensive games from her. She missed a couple of things for sure but so did everyone else.

There is a slow, but steady, maturation of ICE's game: Blocks, Assists, Screens. She
has to learn about what shots need to be suppressed (beyond the arc!), but for
the 14 minutes that she played... it was a contribution, not a deficit. (IMO)

 

[HuskyNan]

Did the crowd yell "DEATH!" when they played 'Ride of the Rohirrim'?

it was the first move. They’ll do The Two Towers in August and we are definitely going

 

[Zarathustra]

When you watch her carefully live, you will see that she does not defend the offensive player on the switch, especially on the pick and roll, well at all. She doesn't get out to stop the dribbler or move her out. When the player comes off the pick she either has a short pull up or an open drive lane. Most of Hidalgo's points came that way.

Some good things, some bad... ICE is still a freshman player. She will have to
develop a quicker reaction time (anticipation, etc.) I loved her block on LUCY
OLSEN, and another one of DULCE ??.

 

[Zarathustra]

That may be true, probably is, but you would think getting Ines some minutes would be more of a priority with the potential of foul trouble looming over this team every time they step on the court!

I anticipate every one of our " bench " player will benefit from extra playing time
during the remainer of the BIG EAST schedule. Foul trouble is a big issue for
this team, now and in the NCAA tournament. I do like INES.

 

[meyers7]

A lot of years during the school vacation time, the team will kind of go through a malaise. Just not look very good. Have a few tough games. It would seem this year, the team made it through the school vacation ok, but the malaise is hitting now. Hopefully they shake it off soon.

 

[HuskyNan]

 

[veryolddog]

I am glad that they won. What I saw was UConn played the same for all 4 quarters and that Villanova broke down and completely deteriorated in the 3rd and 4th quarters. The way UConn plays disturbs me. The Team does not play with the same precision and snap as they did in past teams. This team does not overwelm as they did in the past. I was happy to see Amari and watch her make an easy 2 point uncontested shot. It is what it is.

 

[#12in21]

I thought Nika was at 569, which would be 7th. If I'm wrong, please feel free to correct my numbers.

Mo's record is 659. How far away is Nika?

You are correct, Nika is at 569 career assists and is presently in 7th place on the all time list. Ahead of her are Sue Bird (585), Crystal Dangerfield (599), Renee Montgomery (632), Jennifer Rizzotti (637), Diane Taurasi (648) and at number 1, Moriah Jefferson (659).

Of those above Nika - all were All-Americans and all but one Crystal, left UConn with atleast one national championship. A rarefied group indeed to be a part of!

 

[Ozimoto]

So, we have reached roughly the mid point of the season. To mix sports metaphors a bit, it looks to me like they may have hit the "runners wall." I think that the team will pick up a "second wind" moving into the latter third of the season and play will improve.

As for Ashlyn, it looks to me like other teams have realized that she is an offensive threat and are paying much more attention to her. She will have to work smarter and the team will have to run more screens for her to get open and make her available. She also needs more room to get her shot over taller guards.

 

[Huskee11]

It was nice to see Nika come up with an outstanding performance. She did a lot of impressive things but what she didn`t do - get into foul trouble against a tough matchup - was most significant.

Opponents have learned not to crossover to their left hand in front of her - she has an uncanny ability to poke it away (without fouling) and head for an easy layup. Olsen, who is very skilled, tried it and it did not turn out well for her.

This was a game where a lot of stuff in the box score surprised me:

I thought we were very sloppy at times but we only committed 13 turnovers.
The officials seemed to be calling it tight but there were only 28 total fouls called, 14 and 14.
I didn`t think we were doing a good job on the boards but we outrebounded Villanove 34-28.
Aaliyah seemed to be getting bottled up but scored 22 on 9 for 13 shooting.
Nika was passing the ball well but I didn`t think she was anywhere near 10 assists.
Thought Olsen was playing well but she ended up 6 for 17.

Particularly surprised that we shot 61%. Only 5 of 16 from three so 29 for 40 from inside the arc, or 72.5%. Now that`s pleasantly surprising.

This was another game where Aubrey would have made a huge difference. I think she could have changed the energy in the second quarter.

This could have been a trap game - on the road in a difficult environment against a disciplined team, UConn coming off a loss, and at a time of year when at all levels, college and professional, upsets abound. It is the last difficult road game on their conference schedule. They should handle the rest of their conference schedule without difficulty.

 

[Bald Husky]

I just don't get it. When one of our guards goes to the bench, Ice comes in. She is not a guard, neither is Q.
I know Geno is trying the new line-ups with AE and Ice in together, but what if we lose two guards. Injury, fouls, something can happen, and with our history, we need as many bodies as possible ready to go in and contribute. Ines can score, she has shown that. Geno just sticks to his top 7 as always, but we all know there will be a time when we need our eighth or ninth player to spend time on the floor, maybe in a critical part of a big game. Ines can contribute, we know that, and I just don't understand why he won't increase our playable bench by giving her the minutes to get better. God knows she deserves it, and looking at our recent past says we must be ready for the worst and something we should be prepared for.

 

[hoopsnloops32]

When you watch her carefully live, you will see that she does not defend the offensive player on the switch, especially on the pick and roll, well at all. She doesn't get out to stop the dribbler or move her out. When the player comes off the pick she either has a short pull up or an open drive lane. Most of Hidalgo's points came that way.

I see that but everyone I struggling with the pick and roll defense right now. Aaliyah made a bunch of mistakes with it as well.

 

[hoopsnloops32]

I just don't get it. When one of our guards goes to the bench, Ice comes in. She is not a guard, neither is Q.
I know Geno is trying the new line-ups with AE and Ice in together, but what if we lose two guards. Injury, fouls, something can happen, and with our history, we need as many bodies as possible ready to go in and contribute. Ines can score, she has shown that. Geno just sticks to his top 7 as always, but we all know there will be a time when we need our eighth or ninth player to spend time on the floor, maybe in a critical part of a big game. Ines can contribute, we know that, and I just don't understand why he won't increase our playable bench by giving her the minutes to get better. God knows she deserves it, and looking at our recent past says we must be ready for the worst and something we should be prepared for.

We have 4 guards in the starting line up. You don’t need 4 guards at all times, running 3 guards and two bigs is fine. Unclear what is confusing about that.

 

[HopJim]

Actually, I thought that shot was reminiscent of Maya’s one handed finger rolls!

While Q is naturally a great athlete and fast, as she gets more experience with the high Division 1 type of play, she will likely get more comfortable and become even quicker. As she gets stronger, Q likely will become a better rebounder and defender. In short, she is a typical freshman with upside for the future. While it would have been nice to have an All-American waiting on the bench, she has exceeded my expectations.