UNC Postgame (merged)

[Cornell Lt]

For being the first road game of the year I thought the Huskies did well against an above average UNC team. It wasn't the most artistic at times and some flaws were exposed for sure. You play these games for that reason. Now we know Ice can be counted on, we know Kaitlyn has some flaws, and we know Geno still relies on a short bench in close games. Getting a win when you don't play your best is a good sign.

 

[triaddukefan]

Burning question: why was that court so yellow?

We use that Southern yellow pine to make the courts down here in central NC.

 

[Zonepress]

Lots of interesting comments and takes on the game
Sometimes it’s easy to forget that the game is pretty simple
You need to put the ball in the basket
I thought the team generally played well, but other than Paige shot the ball poorly
To have a double digit win, shooting that poorly on the road against a decent(not good) team seems like fans should be very happy!

 

[Vowelguy]

We use that Southern yellow pine to make the courts down here in central NC.

Do the trees have jaundice?

 

[donalddoowop]

Lots of interesting comments and takes on the game
Sometimes it’s easy to forget that the game is pretty simple
You need to put the ball in the basket
I thought the team generally played well, but other than Paige shot the ball poorly
To have a double digit win, shooting that poorly on the road against a decent(not good) team seems like fans should be very happy!

NC is a good team. They played against a team that has a very good defense. NC will make a lot of noise this season.

 

[Rowdy831]

Last night was the first game I watched in its entirety. I was very impressed with Sarah, especially her ability to come down with the ball in traffic. It almost looked like she had magnets on her hands and the ball just shot into them. Her shooting was off but you can tell she is going to be a handful going forward. Paige was very good too. As usual she was very efficient in her scoring and played a great all around game.

One the other side you had Ash and Chen playing very hard and really bringing the hustle. Chen had a good night shooting the ball but didn't look comfortable when she was running the point. Ash plays hard but they really need Azzi to come back before the big teams to sure up the guard position.

Ice looked good on defense and rebounding but took a couple shots that I think would be better suited for others on the floor. Jana on the other hand looked like she needed a lot of floor time to catch up to where the others are right now. I do think if they could get Ice, Jana and Sarah on the floor with Paige and Azzi you have an amazing starting five with a lot of fire power coming off the bench.

By the end of the year this team will be tough to handle.

 

[oldude]

We use that Southern yellow pine to make the courts down here in central NC.

I used to work for Georgia-Pacific’s Distribution Division. I looked at a lot of southern yellow pine during those years.

Your remark may have been tongue in cheek, but it’s absolutely spot on. Southern yellow pine with a coat of clear or semi-clear lacquer on it, looks exactly like the court in Greensboro.

 

[Rowdy831]

I agree with you regarding KK
You and I must have watched different games
If you think Jana is a more effective player than ice right now

I agree with you. Jana needs a lot of time on the floor to catch up with Ice. The team as a whole has a long way to go but they are very talented and once they are full strength the starters will be different than last night.

 

[Rowdy831]

Anyone surprised only 7 players got double digit minutes?

Geno has been there for 40 years and he hasn't changed that much on playing patterns. Against good teams that is about as deep as he is going to go and last night they didn't have the shooting touch outside of Paige.

 

[Rowdy831]

Just watched the game, some thoughts:

1. Paige looked like her freshman self but better. She is likely head and shoulders better than anyone in the country this year. That said, if I'm going to nitpick, I thought she should've been even more aggressive in the 4th quarter leading up to the couple of late buckets she made late. She always makes the "correct pass" and would swing it to the open shooter in the corner, but those shots were usually missed, where if Paige just shot the ball herself or took a dribble inside the arc, it's a higher efficiency opportunity. Great game by her.

2. Sarah Strong was excellent. Passing, defense, rebounding and finishing inside all looked great. Perimeter shot was off but she'll hit those. She's going to be a nightmare for opponents the next 4 years and I think is pretty clearly UCONN's 2nd best player already.

3. Ice Brady looks improved. She looks like she's in better shape than a year ago and just more confident on the court. Good physical post player.

4. Aside from those 3, I didn't think anyone else stood out in particular. Shade's shot was off, El Alfy provides length and size fine but looked like a freshman out there, Chen was relatively quiet.

5. Based on playing time distribution, I'm guessing Geno sticks with his traditional smaller rotations in bigger games, though Fudd will definitely carve out playing time as well when she returns. She's going to get a lot of really good looks with how well UCONN is moving the ball early on.

6. UCONN's offense couldn't find rhythm against the 2/3 zone. I'm surprised NC didn't just stick with that going into the 2nd half. UCONN attacked it well but weren't putting up points against it.

7. Really solid win over a scrappy North Carolina team that played hard and refused to die.

That was my thought too. They had three that looked like players ready to compete at this level and they had about 5 that will be slugging it out for time once Azzi comes back. I do think to compete against the big guns they need to find a way to get Jana and Ice on the floor together. That will give them three good sized players that can stretch the floor on offense but more importantly defenders that can go up against the top teams out west.

 

[Rowdy831]

You do know that KK and Ash were major players on last year's team that went to the final four. To say they are not ready for prime goes against the facts.

They played with three All Americans last season. This year they are going to be counted on to carry a lot more of the weight if they are on the floor. The good news is they both hustle and they both have that experience to draw from.

 

[Dugway]

Anyone else notice that UConn did very little switching on defense? Seemed like UConn tried to fight over the top of every "loosely" set pick and wound up being a step or 2 behind the ball. Some open UNC shots were made that way. Switching on defense is in UConn's DNA, so I don't know what was going on in this game.

Could it be that going over the top leaves the defender a step behind the ball, but because the pick is "loose" the player defending the picker is a little too far away to switch. A couple of times it looked like UNC had this down to a science.

I’m 5”11, I can Switch

 

[Rb335]

Really? Ashlynn put up 45 points in the first 2 tournament games last season. KK scored in double digits and had solid all-around games vs both Duke & Iowa.

It’s worth pointing out that while Ashlynn was absolutely crucial to the win over Syracuse in round 2, she scored 10 points in the final 3 tournament games on 4/18 shooting combined. As has been the case with many players over the years, I’ll be watching to see how she performs against top competition this year. It’s great to be comfortable and confident against big east opponents, but how does that translate to the bigger stage. This year she asserted herself as the clear 3rd option in our first two games. Last night the lack of assertiveness and production made the team look more one/two dimensional at times.

If I’m making predictions, if Azzi can return somewhere near full strength, this team is centralized around Paige, Azzi and Sarah. Then Geno has a ton of complimentary players to surround them with different lineups and styles. What a luxury.

 

[Monte]

I was disappointed that Q did not get ANY playing time. This is the one thing that she DOES need.
Although not always consistent in making the proper moves, she has shown sparks of improvement this year. This is the time of the year to weave players such as her into the rotation.

 

[Zonepress]

NC is a good team. They played against a team that has a very good defense. NC will make a lot of noise

I guess we’ll find out as the season goes on

 

[Bone Dog]

We use that Southern yellow pine to make the courts down here in central NC.

Wow! What a next level joke about the meaning of 'tarheel.'

 

[Zonepress]

I was disappointed that Q did not get ANY playing time. This is the one thing that she DOES need.
Although not always consistent in making the proper moves, she has shown sparks of improvement this year. This is the time of the year to weave players such as her into the rotation.

Q is a very good college player
The players ahead of her are better, especially on the defensive end
Nine players played for the game last night
In a competitive game that would seem to be the maximum number of players that will play

 

[Zarathustra]

Beth Mowins talks about everything except the game. It is a constant drone. I think she mentioned 1216 one thousand times. Rarely tells you who the foul is on. Best to just ignore her like your least favorite teacher in grammar school.

I did not even know that Kaitlyn Chen had fouled out until well after the game was OVER! Maybe
it is time to listen to the UCONN radio broadcast and "watch" the TV.

 

[VA Huskie]

You posted your picture in the Getting Ready for NC thread which few people were checking during or after the game. Why not give us another chance by posting your pictures in this thread or start a new thread? I’d like to see them.

Ditto what they said!

 

[my2cents]

It's one thing to go from HS basketball playing in front of hundreds of people, vs. the jump to UConn where you are playing in front of 12k people and being nationally televised on a Friday night,
As a young player you are going to be amped up and maybe miss some shots. As the season goes our young players are going to get more comfortable.
Then we can maybe have some better opinions on their abilities. Three games is not enough time to evaluate.

 

[Monte]

Q is a very good college player
The players ahead of her are better, especially on the defensive end
Nine players played for the game last night
In a competitive game that would seem to be the maximum number of players that will play

Oh, I'm sorry; I didn't know that NINE was the magic number of players to use!

 

[yhun89]

KK was honestly pretty huge tonight with Chen being so shaky. KK was good on defense, stole the ball, and controlled it well under pressure.

Ash wasn’t great no, but she did have some decent looks. Whole team shooting was super off, abnormal for us to shoot multiple airballs in a game, especially by folks like Sarah, Paige, etc. They shot one airball each. Not normal.

 

[ME Husky Fan]

Paige played 37 minutes... sigh. Need Azzi back soon.
Sarah was awesome even when she couldn't buy a 3. If she'd merely hit 2 out of 7 the game wouldn't have been close. 3 out of 7 and we'd be calling it a blowout. I doubt she stays this cold for much longer.
Morgan played good D even though the stats don't really show it.
Allie couldn't get anything going -- @Zonepress is right, Geno put her in an impossible situation
Kaitlyn still has some work to do, though the stats (except PFs) suggest otherwise.
KK looked better than the stats show.
Ash couldn't hit anything, though she played decent defense
Jana was hamstrung by 2 early fouls, but held it together and was an intimidator for her 12 minutes.
I liked Ice's game. She faced a tough challenge and played good D and controlled the boards for her 24 minutes. Interestingly, Geno sat both of them for 4 minutes and played small ball with Sarah in the post. This is a workable model for him.

It was their first game against a ranked opponent and they learned something from it -- I hope. One thing they had to recognize is how much better than every player in D1 Paige is. They got a glimpse of greatness tonight and saw how much they need her.

Good overall assessment. Freshman (Sarah) bad from the 3 point line, many have been there before her so not too worried. Very surprised on Chen’s defense, I had anticipated much better. Keep your feet and don’t go for the up fake from 25+ feet out. Jana had her moments but still needs some foot skills, which can be developed with the right drills. Lack of offensive rebounds will catch-up with us down the line against better teams.

 

[Ralph]

as was already pointed out, players not named Paige were 3 for 21. You can't do that against a zone. You have to have more shooters. Shade was off tonight on 3's, hopefully a one game fluke. Sarah was 0 for 7, maybe she shot 40% in HS because defense was not as good, but on a lot of the 3's we appeared wide open, just needed to shoot it. Many seemed to be way off the mark. And one of the made's was off the backboard, and not called. But how does a player ever call that? Maybe they all just got tired for some reason. At the end of the first quarter they had a close up shot of Paige, and she looked like she was really breathing hard. Total shots we were 16 for 44, 36%,not good at all. But if you take out the 3 for 21 3's, we were 13 for 23 from inside the arc. Not great, but ok against a good defensive team. It was the 3's that let NC stay close. And Carolina's free throw defense was also good, as Geno likes to sarcastically point out once in a while. My favorite Geno-ism, he told the story at a convention I attended, we were on the plane flying to Minnesota for the 1995 games and I called the girls (Could he say that now?) up to the front of the plane and had them look out the window at Minneapolis/St. Paul down below, and I told them, someday if you work really, really hard, all of that can be mine.

 

[yhun89]

I was hoping for a 40+ point blowout, so I'm a bit disappointed in the result But I'll let yall slide this time

When does UNC play Duke at Cameron?