UMass-Lowell Postgame Thread

[GG]

Bueckers, Edwards and Mir were all impressive. Westbrook was solid and I liked that Olivia was more aggressive. Would like to of see more of Aubrey and just curious if she worked on her outside shooting this summer

 

[sno-cat]

Edwards brings that Nurse hockey mentality. If someone is in her way, it is simply OVER, UNDER, AROUND or THROUGH; but you won't stand in her way!

 

[WBBSUperFan]

I wasn't impressed with Christyn and LIv's play today. They should dominate this level of competition. I thought Evina's play was good considering she hasn't played for two years. Paige was the best player on the court today. She played under control and should have had a double/double if not a triple double.

Agree, it’s like they overthink everything. There were some glimpses that Liv could be a factor but then she reverted back to fade always and missing layups. I was very impressed with Edwards despite the fouls. E played a steady game and didn’t try to do too much.

 

[psconn]

My initial impressions are:
Except maybe Piath, none of the freshmen looked overwhelmed or lost. All of them have justified continued minutes and seem ready to play at this level. Very mature group. They make this the deepest UConn team in a really long time.

I had hoped for more from Anna and CW. They were good, but not the big step up from last season that I anticipated. It's very early though. Not giving up on that yet.

Three players in particular caught my attention:
Paige - Just blended in as a natural leader by example, didn't force anything and still showed her skills and put up some good numbers. Great job.
Aaliyah - Welcome back Asjha Jones? All she needs is that little mid-range J. She looks totally ready to be a major contributor.
Mir - Active, disruptive and a finisher. Aubrey II? I know some here have touted her for a while. I'm a believer.

 

[MilfordHusky]

I'm glad you folks got to see Mir in action. She goes and gets rebounds and can finish among the trees. She also makes FTs.

Aubrey also makes things happen. Opposing players hate to be defended by her.

I think Paige is the best player on the team.

 

[cohenzone]

I am amazed by long range conclusions about anything after one game in a weird season against a team that has no player better than our 10th player. The next week will tell us much more. The best thing is they finally got to play in real game situations.

 

[hoopsfan22]

Speaking of defense, did you guys just hear what Nika said during the All-Access show? That she fights with coach because defense in America is so soft and they call everything a foul.

 

[EricLA]

I agree with much of what people have said - 1st game of the season. We will know much more after next week. to echo @Hayven , I'll not be overly critical but... my $.02...

Paige - as good as advertised. She will continue to get better and better. Seems like she could score at will. 1st game of her career, and the best player on the floor. Is she the best player on the team? Today she played like it. 17 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists, 5 steals. WOW.

Mir and Aubrey - both were like energizer bunnies. Aubrey picking up where she left off last season, and Mir much better than I anticipated. Both scored double figures, neither had over 12 minutes. EFFICIENT. Mir could easily lead the team in rebounding if she played more minutes. Kid has HOPS and a great eye for how the ball is going to come off the rim. As Geno said, she GOES after rebounds.

Aaliyah - showed flashes of what she's capable of. Incredibly strong and as Geno said, aggressive.

Evina - limited minutes but did some good things. About what I expected. But less fouls please.

Anna - glad to see her not start the season 0 for America. But she passed up too many open shots. Still, 8 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists - very solid.

Nika - did very little that was noticeably good while on the floor. 5 turnovers and only 1 assist not a good stat line for a kid who doesn't have an outside shot and is a pure PG.

Olivia (good first half) and Christyn - not sure I saw ANY improvement from last year. Not sure what Geno, or anyone else has been going on about. Did Liv work on FT's at ALL over the summer? Did Christyn work on 3 point shooting at all over the summer?

Piath - poor kid must have been nervous. Completely missed a pass from Paige that zipped behind her, and shanked a point blank layup from another nice Paige feed. But at least she had 2 boards and an assist. Good day for a low ranked kid coming out of HS in her very first UCONN game.

Bottom line is there were several players I was more than pleasantly surprised with and a few I was flat out disappointed with. BUT 1st game of the season. So gotta give them a chance. Doesn't take away from what I saw with my uneducated eyes tho.

Way too much passing up of open shots. It seemed like everyone was trying to be too unselfish. Pretty impressed with our defense. Lots to work on with offense. I knew we didn't have a great 3 point shooting team, but Christyn simply cannot pitch shutouts from beyond the arc. Paige needs to take a few IMHO. This team will just get better and better. Obviously some very good things, but also LOTS for the staff to focus on for each and every player.

 

[Cuango]

not wanting to be a downer but:
18 turnovers against UMass Lowell????? Better be first game jitters.
Once again the other team played great free throw defense against Liv. She got bailed out of one miss by a UConn lane violation. As Geno said, "I don't know why the other team doesn't foul her all the time." I kept hoping she could move from a 50% shooter to at least 60% or maybe 65%. Nope. Remember when we all said Charlie Collier's great games were against weak teams. But she did shoot 90%, averaged over 30 points, etc. Liv missed 4 or 5 shots on one possession. The type of sequence when Geno says she was building up her rebound numbers.
If Paige cannot overcome bias against a freshman AA, I don't see an AA on the floor today.
UMass Lowell got a number of wide open shots, defense just broke down.
Seemed like a lot of dribbling at times.
Some long stretches with no points.
UMass Lowell is a team that past UConn teams would score 110 points on. This team would not have won us free wings if we were allowed in the stands.
I think we need to see big improvement on Tuesday, and more on Thursday. But I will settle for just seeing us play.

but with all that, they all played better than I could, even Chassion.

I am fairly sure that we didn’t score 100+ by design. There is no way that Geno would allow a humiliating score line when they are playing Shea’s husband’s team. I’m sure Geno is extremely grateful that he accepted the game at all. I thank him as well! We finally got to see what we have been waiting for.

 

[Ralph]

concerns for Tuesday: Seton Hall lost by 3 last year to DePaul in the Big East Tournament, so they are a good team. Finished up 19-12 in the Big East. Beat St Peters in their opener, shot over 50% from 3, scored over 100. We need to step up, I think we will. Maybe Liv was just gassed in the second half, If so we will need to get Edwards in for more minutes, or maybe Griffin. Seton Hall does not look to have anyone over 6 foot 1.

 

[CTisballers]

How much better on defense can they get? The opponent had 7, 6, 2, and 8 points in the four quarters.

And tons of steals and blocks

 

[Bleed Blue-XY]

Finally the season is here!

Quick takes from the game: Paige was by far the best player on the court today. I loved Edwards aggressiveness/strength and how she attacked the basket (I wish she could give a little bit of that to Liv). Edwards is young so once she learn how to harness some of that aggression she will definitely be a force. Mir wants playing time and I’m here for it, she made the most of her minutes. Evian looked good but you can tell she is coming back from being out a while and I’m not sure if she is 100% back yet physically. As for the returning players Liv, CW and Mukurat they look pretty similar to last basketball season, good and bad.
Oh yeah, can’t forget about Aubrey, she is an instant firecracker off the bench, love watching her do her thing.

 

[Carnac]

After seeing Paige play today, I came away with a lot of thoughts. The main thought is.....you want the ball in her hands. We’re a better team when she has the ball, because when it’s in her hands, it will get where it needs to go.

 

[CTBballfan243]

I want to go back to the idea of a 9-player rotation, that’s heavy on long, quick guards & wings. UConn can press and trap teams all game long, and not worry about fatigue or foul trouble. Can’t wait to see how this team develops.

9 player

I am fairly sure that we didn’t score 100+ by design. There is no way that Geno would allow a humiliating score line when they are playing Shea’s husband’s team. I’m sure Geno is extremely grateful that he accepted the game at all. I thank him as well! We finally got to see what we have been waiting for.

this fake news. UConn didn’t pass up any scoring opportunities

 

[CTisballers]

I wasn't impressed with Christyn and LIv's play today. They should dominate this level of competition. I thought Evina's play was good considering she hasn't played for two years. Paige was the best player on the court today. She played under control and should have had a double/double if not a triple double.

Your right Liv missed far to many layups and free throws and CW still haven’t proved she can hit the 3. But I gave them the benefit of doubt because it was the first game and 2020 has been weird

 

[Boreifs]

My initial impressions are:
Except maybe Piath, none of the freshmen looked overwhelmed or lost. All of them have justified continued minutes and seem ready to play at this level. Very mature group. They make this the deepest UConn team in a really long time.

I had hoped for more from Anna and CW. They were good, but not the big step up from last season that I anticipated. It's very early though. Not giving up on that yet.

Three players in particular caught my attention:
Paige - Just blended in as a natural leader by example, didn't force anything and still showed her skills and put up some good numbers. Great job.
Aaliyah - Welcome back Asjha Jones? All she needs is that little mid-range J. She looks totally ready to be a major contributor.
Mir - Active, disruptive and a finisher. Aubrey II? I know some here have touted her for a while. I'm a believer.

Mir looks like Gabby2 to me, unless you think Aubrey is Gabby2. Then she becomes Gabby3. Nika showed the effects of her injury, but she is going to be a player. There is a reason why she was the first guard off the bench.

 

[MilfordHusky]

Mir winning the tip last season:

 

[Ralph]

Liv did not miss 4 layups on one sequence and a bunch of free throws to avoid running up the score. And Williams just does not look like a number 1 high school recruit. It took until Junior year for Walker, Wolters, and even Tina to hit their stride, but Williams is there now. She knows it is time for her to show up big time. Time will tell. Hoping like mad this is just Covid madness, all the interruptions, etc. which is maybe why S. Car. Baylor and others have had bad nights. A month from now we all hit our stride.

 

[Alydar]

I’m not talking about playing against UMass-Lowell. I am talking about playing legit D1 competition. Even today they had break downs where players were wide opened.

Agree, but most of the defensive mistakes were from over-aggression. It'll take most of the season to develop the communication necessary. They have the bricks and just need to build the wall.

 

[todbo]

UML had a bunch of open three opportunities early on. If they had hit a couple of them and gained some confidence, they might well have lost by a significantly smaller margin. Open threes have been a thorn in our paws for the last few years. Hoping that this team can cut down on them.

 

[JoePgh]

Re Nika:

I think the image that I will carry away from this game is her facial expression whenever the camera was able to capture it. Other players such as Paige and Aaliyah are very competitive, but their facial expressions during play look relaxed. Nika, on the other hand, had a facial expression that I associate with Jen Rizzotti or Jamelle Eliot when they were players -- like they were ready to start a fight if the opponent contested a rebound.

I also noticed her comment about how defense in America is soft, and everything that she is used to doing is called a foul. She seemed like a very good defender, getting a really good block near the basket in the third quarter, mostly because she was determined not to be beat.

During the "all access" segment at the end, did you catch the dialog where Geno was talking to Paige and (predictably) needling her:

"It's a good thing that you wear 5 and Nika wears 10, because she's twice the defender that you are. But that's OK -- other teams have lots of bad offensive players that you'll be able to guard."

 

[Boreifs]

I wasn't impressed with Christyn and LIv's play today. They should dominate this level of competition. I thought Evina's play was good considering she hasn't played for two years. Paige was the best player on the court today. She played under control and should have had a double/double if not a triple double.

Christyn and Olivia are who they are; fine basketball players but not all-Americans. Evina and Paige are the leaders of this team, at least at this juncture. What improvement we see from the sophomores and freshmen will determine how successful this team is, at least IMHO.

 

[Crossover]

not wanting to be a downer but:
18 turnovers against UMass Lowell????? Better be first game jitters.
Once again the other team played great free throw defense against Liv. She got bailed out of one miss by a UConn lane violation. As Geno said, "I don't know why the other team doesn't foul her all the time." I kept hoping she could move from a 50% shooter to at least 60% or maybe 65%. Nope. Remember when we all said Charlie Collier's great games were against weak teams. But she did shoot 90%, averaged over 30 points, etc. Liv missed 4 or 5 shots on one possession. The type of sequence when Geno says she was building up her rebound numbers.
If Paige cannot overcome bias against a freshman AA, I don't see an AA on the floor today.
UMass Lowell got a number of wide open shots, defense just broke down.
Seemed like a lot of dribbling at times.
Some long stretches with no points.
UMass Lowell is a team that past UConn teams would score 110 points on. This team would not have won us free wings if we were allowed in the stands.
I think we need to see big improvement on Tuesday, and more on Thursday. But I will settle for just seeing us play.

but with all that, they all played better than I could, even Chassion.

What would you post if you did want to be a downer? Re the total number of points, UCONN was grateful that UML was willing to schedule a game with them at the last minute. No way Geno was going to let his team run up the score. Also, UML is coached by Shea Ralph's husband. Another good reason to not run up the score.

 

[topogigio]

After watching the game, I took a long walk to digest the action, and waited to post, so here are a few thoughts; ( I keep in mind the opponent was who they were)
Paige is the real deal, this kid can score/assist at will!
I honestly believe Edwards will be pushing Olivia to be a better player, or O will be getting more pine time as the season progresses
Anna is solid.
Evina is going to make us forget that Walker left a year early.
Christyn is overthinking the game, and needs to just "let it go".
Aubry and Mir are terrific athletes who will contribute greatly this year.
Nika is Anna at the beginning of last season.
Piath is big
Why didn't Autumn play???