UConn vs. Temple Game Thread

[DobbsRover2]

You have a point, but the "game-turns-around-difference" that has happened when Kiah and either Gabby or Saniya enters the lineup in big games is based on defense leading to quick offense. The half-court offense may or may not flow quite as well, but the blocks and errant shots leading to breakaways and a sudden surge in points off the transitions leads to a quick boost in points. But Geno will keep throwing different lineups out there to keep the opponent off balance.

 

[Hope]

83-49 final. Shot 50%. But too many TOs and defensive lapses. Looked like our B- game. Ok, we're spoiled.

I think the team became confused and disoriented by the swirling designs on the court floor. I know I got dizzy at least twice.

 

[Geno-ista]

Lots of things not so great about today's performance, but it sure is nice to see Saniya apparently picking up a little more confidence. Hope this continues!

BigP- exactly right! Saniya really looked great again! And Gabby, who made some not so great passes, continues to impress.

 

[Geno-ista]

I thought the starters were lackluster today but it was nice the bench did well. The starters played 23% more than last game and they weren't nearly as efficient as they were last time vs Temple. And the rebounds were near even. It happens though- can't play super every game. Apparently neither is USC.

The defense of leaving Stewie and Tuck wide open on the outside while the other big remained in the paint seemed to work as much as could be expected for the undermanned Owls.

Tanya C had a defensive game plan and Temple executed it as well as they could. They didn't even hardly guard Morgan from the elbow! And we had wide open shots and couldn't hit them!

 

[Geno-ista]

Our 'big' lineup with Morgan-Kiah-Stewie across the back has easily been our best defensive lineup this year against the better teams, by a lot. As in night and day, game-turns-around kind of difference, in several cases. Also, we have this year still been able to generate transition scoring with the big lineup.

We can go with KML or, in certain situations, Nurse alongside Moriah, but regardless, the substitution of Kiah in the middle has negated much of the advantage that other teams might have with quick, penetrating guards. The big lineup has been lights out on the defensive end.

If the half court offense flowed as well with Kiah in the 'big' lineup as it did with the usual starting lineup, Geno would use it more often, but it doesn't and Kiah is not a consistent scoring threat, so he doesn't.

Great analysis!!!!

 

[Geno-ista]

FWIW I tend to agree with WBB fan - Morgan is shooting about 16% from beyond the arc for the entire year. she's made something like 7 out of 43. It's not like she has had a shooting slump for a few games - it's basically been the entire season.

Having said that, it would appear that Geno agrees with you, and his is the only opinion that matters. The fact that she took 5 attempts today with no reprimand from Geno indicates he approves of her doing so. I am thinking she must be shooting better in practice - but the trajectory on her 3 point shot is SO flat - I can see why she misses so many.

Side note - one of the announcers said that the staff was working with Gabby to stop with the "moonballs" (I think that's what they said). I think they should give some of Gabby's arc on her shots to Morgan - split the difference and both would be better off!!!

Eric- if you didn't notice- I thought almost every miss by Morgan was a basket- it seemed every shot was going through and rattled back up and out. There was one shot in particular that she seamed to take real early and looked I'll advised. She was wide open on most of her shots - by design. Hard to ever fault Morgan.

 

[VAMike23]

You have a point, but the "game-turns-around-difference" that has happened when Kiah and either Gabby or Saniya enters the lineup in big games is based on defense leading to quick offense. The half-court offense may or may not flow quite as well, but the blocks and errant shots leading to breakaways and a sudden surge in points off the transitions leads to a quick boost in points. But Geno will keep throwing different lineups out there to keep the opponent off balance.

The 'game-turns-around' difference that I'm talking about is when Kiah Stokes enters the game and we go big. I didn't mention Gabby or Saniya, although like everyone they have made their contributions. In the games against better competition, Kiah has stood tall as the difference-maker writ large.

Also, I did say that this year with the big lineup we have still been able to generate transition scoring, so we're on the same page there. I mentioned that as part of my disagreement with the earlier poster. One less speedy guard makes outlets a bit less explosive and limits the 'push' up the floor at times, but precisely for the reasons you state, we still get plenty of transition 'O' anyway with the big lineup. Lots of tips, swats, steals and boards at the back for sure.

I'd sure like to see Kiah win DPOY honors like Dolson did last year. Not sure who her competition is this year. There are a few teams with good defensive stats out there but I don't know of any single standout of Kiah's caliber in that end of the floor.

 

[MilfordHusky]

Our 'big' lineup with Morgan-Kiah-Stewie across the back has easily been our best defensive lineup this year against the better teams, by a lot. As in night and day, game-turns-around kind of difference, in several cases. Also, we have this year still been able to generate transition scoring with the big lineup.

We can go with KML or, in certain situations, Nurse alongside Moriah, but regardless, the substitution of Kiah in the middle has negated much of the advantage that other teams might have with quick, penetrating guards. The big lineup has been lights out on the defensive end.

If the half court offense flowed as well with Kiah in the 'big' lineup as it did with the usual starting lineup, Geno would use it more often, but it doesn't and Kiah is not a consistent scoring threat, so he doesn't.

I agree, but I think it's important to have Kaleena on the floor for offense. She opens the passing lanes for the bigs with her outside shooting threat. If she lets a quicker guard get by her, no problem. We have Kiah the Kanceler to stop the shot.

 

[hoophuskee]

Doesn't anyone think Temple deserves a little credit. I thought they played tough and never gave up.

Why did you reply to my post? The post you replied to had to do with UCONN's big lineup.

 

[hoophuskee]

Our 'big' lineup with Morgan-Kiah-Stewie across the back has easily been our best defensive lineup this year against the better teams, by a lot. As in night and day, game-turns-around kind of difference, in several cases. Also, we have this year still been able to generate transition scoring with the big lineup.

We can go with KML or, in certain situations, Nurse alongside Moriah, but regardless, the substitution of Kiah in the middle has negated much of the advantage that other teams might have with quick, penetrating guards. The big lineup has been lights out on the defensive end.

If the half court offense flowed as well with Kiah in the 'big' lineup as it did with the usual starting lineup, Geno would use it more often, but it doesn't and Kiah is not a consistent scoring threat, so he doesn't.

I agree. Stokes is a beast. I love watching her play. I just don't like the big lineup as much. I like it when she comes in for either Tuck or Stewie, or she comes in for KML and they put Stewie or Tuck on the wing.

 

[DobbsRover2]

Not sure that the "if UConn plays like they did against today against yada-yada U., they will lose to\beat by 60 the next yada-yada U." line of post-game statements ever have more than 13 IQ points of worth to them. UConn goes out and plays one opponent at a time, and each one is different, and how they play against a Temple at the end of January has about as much relation to how they will go out and play against South Carolina in earlyish February as a turnip does to a baobob tree.

 

[EricSD]

Not sure that the "if UConn plays like they did against today against yada-yada U., they will lose to\beat by 60 the next yada-yada U." line of post-game statements ever have more than 13 IQ points of worth to them. UConn goes out and plays one opponent at a time, and each one is different, and how they play against a Temple at the end of January has about as much relation to how they will go out and play against South Carolina in earlyish February as a turnip does to a baobob tree.

Dobbs, you are a breath of fresh air. Thank you!

 

[Buzzyboy]

Who in that lineup is slow? Kiah and Breanna often lead a fast break up the floor, Morgan and Kaleena are going to be on the floor regardless of the lineup, and there's no one quicker with the ball than Moriah.

I agree that the only one whose foot speed I consider slow is KML. Breanna is okay and Morgan, Moriah and Kiah run the floor very well, in my opinion.

 

[Buzzyboy]

The 'game-turns-around' difference that I'm talking about is when Kiah Stokes enters the game and we go big. I didn't mention Gabby or Saniya, although like everyone they have made their contributions. In the games against better competition, Kiah has stood tall as the difference-maker writ large.

Also, I did say that this year with the big lineup we have still been able to generate transition scoring, so we're on the same page there. I mentioned that as part of my disagreement with the earlier poster. One less speedy guard makes outlets a bit less explosive and limits the 'push' up the floor at times, but precisely for the reasons you state, we still get plenty of transition 'O' anyway with the big lineup. Lots of tips, swats, steals and boards at the back for sure.

I'd sure like to see Kiah win DPOY honors like Dolson did last year. Not sure who her competition is this year. There are a few teams with good defensive stats out there but I don't know of any single standout of Kiah's caliber in that end of the floor.

It's hard for me to believe that even last year, Kiah wasn't considered a better defensive player than was Stef. She's always been amazing on the defensive side and only limited in playing time by her offense which is starting to improve, though not as much as many of us would like to see. I think she'll continue to evolve and be a really outstanding WNBA player.

 

[Sonny44]

Why did you reply to my post? The post you replied to had to do with UCONN's big lineup.

Sorry, just general incompetence, make nothing of it.

 

[EricSD]

Here's the thing about the game. And it's the last thing I'll say about it. Well a few things...

UCONN fans are so incredibly lucky that they can bask in the glow of a 34 point win and still be prognosticators of doom and gloom. I guarantee you that literally any other team out there - if they were to play Temple and beat them by over 30, their fan base would be somewhere between satisfied and thrilled.

I recall back to the RU vs. UCONN games... they were almost always grind out wins that were so ugly and hard to watch as UCONN fans - and the scores were usually in the 50's for UCONN. It seems that this year the games vs. Temple and Cinci are somewhat similar (not exactly), but my point is - how about giving Temple some credit for playing hard for 40 minutes and causing disruption in UCONN's well oiled machine? ECU played that way for about the first 6 minutes of their last game vs. UCONN.

Did UCONN play its' A-game? No. Were they sloppy at times - for stretches of the game (from what I saw several 3-4 minute stretches were particularly sloppy)? Yes. But on the bright side, Temple scored 58 points last time vs. UCONN. Recently also Tulsa scored 60 Aside from SJU (54), no team has scored over 52 against UCONN since Dec 21. I'm actually looking forward to the 2 Tulane games as well as the last Tulsa and USF games, and of course SC. At any rate, Temple scored 9 less than the last time they met and UCONN held them to 19 2nd half points. And the 2nd bright spot was the play of the bench. So productive, Gabby continues to get better every game, Kiah is just a monster on defense, and Saniya is much more productive offensively. Ek is still working hard and these games give her invaluable playing time but she still has a ways to go to catch up after her injuries...

To use the Temple game solely as a measuring stick as to how they will potentially play the next time out is anyone's right, of course, but flawed to the core. Just like using the Stanford game as a predictor of how UCONN would do against Duke, ND, Depaul or UCLA was also flawed. If we've learned anything this year, it's that this team will work really hard at correcting deficiencies, and it's nice that at this time in the season, Geno can still go to game tape and say "see - that was awful. we need to clean that up". It's something that if we just had all 60 point blowout games he'd be unable to address with the team.

Finally, UCONN has won the last 2 NC's. They are the odds on favorite to win this year for sure, and probably next year too. I'm not saying we all should be cheerleaders with no room for critical analysis, but these kids are not machines and they have Geno riding and guiding them all season long. They will be just fine, no matter what the final outcome! Just my $.02...

 

[NewCorn]

It is natural that we fans feel frustrated when we see five minutes of utter perfection followed by three minutes or amazing errors. But when we stop and realize that we are watching 18 and 20-year-olds who are asked to focus, not only on basketball, but also on academics and play with intensity every minute, game after game, against teams they know they will easily beat, we come to understand just how exceptional each one of these young women is.