I was at the game. The place was filled and it was a great crowd. Lots of energy. I got to campus around 10:45 and it was still a long line to get into the garage. It was so great to be back there for a game for the first time since early 2020.
The halftime show honoring the Olympians was very well done. There was also a well produced video honoring the Olympians. Rebecca Lobo and Sue Bird got the loudest ovations, but the crowd honored everyone. Classy all the way around.
Overall I was pleased with what I saw from UConn, except for the ending of course.
The Notre Dame 2-3 zone gave us loads of trouble. ND is not a very athletic team, but they are smart and they play the passing lanes well. We did a lot of passing around the perimeter. And a lot of ill advised passes. I have never thought that even the best UConn teams feed the post well, but this was something else again. Inexplicable passes. We should have been ahead by more going into the fourth quarter.
On the other hand, Olivia was tremendous, she fought inside tooth and nail all game long. Played like a warrior. Paige was Paige, wonderful. And of course the coming out party for Caroline. She runs the floor well in the half court offense and did not hesitate to shoot. Her first one one or two were long, that is her tendency, but she settled in. Nika hit two big threes in the first half, great to see.
It was weird that a timeout was called by UConn, I think, at 5:02 of the third and then the TV timeout was called one play later at just under the 5 minute mark. So one play was run on about an 8-10 minute time span. The energy left the building during that period and I was concerned that it might not return. But it did.
Azzi Fudd would have made a big difference today from the corners, which seemed to be open against the zone. Christyn is a slasher and that style didn`t seem to work today against the zone.
Paige was in a very awkward position around the foul line when Dodson leveled her. Slow to get up. We got called for a lot of ticky tack fouls in the third period, while the Notre Dame fouls were definitely not ticky tack.
Notre Dame is good but not great. Not much of an inside game. Miles is good but I think that Citron is their best player by quite a bit. She moves well and seems to have that knack some players have of getting open. They will be a tough duo to play against going forward. Notre Dame switched to man-to-man defense at some point early in the fourth quarter but I was very surprised that with 5 or so minutes to go, with Notre Dame down about 17, that ND didn`t press the ball more and at least try to extend the game. It looked like they had conceded at that point.
I thought our defense was good and we rebounded well but I was also surprised at how many open shots Notre Dame missed.
I remember feeling anxious at the beginning of the fourth quarter but then behind Paige and Caroline, and great team defense, the victory was secured. People we reaching for their coats and getting ready to head for the exits when Paige went down. It was a shock to the collective Gampel system and the place suddenly became silent, but also still, like we were all frozen. It was a quiet crowd leaving the building.
Prayers up for Paige.
Lot’s of positives in today's game. I liked the way our team played for the full 40 minutes. We held a top 25 team to 54 points. When you can hold any team to 54 points, that is a very good overall team effort. We held ND to 10 points in the 4th qtr, and only one ND player scored in double figures. I’ll drink to that.
