Villanova Postgame Thread

[PAHuskeyFan]

When the game started and I saw the Gray uniforms, I thought Oh Boy... what's that all about...hope they play well. And of course, they played exceptional... forty minutes of solid UCONN Basketball.
I guess the Coaches wanted to get some use out of the Gray unis since they didn't get to play any games in Hartford this season.

GO HUSKIES!!!

 

[huskeynut]

Nika has a lovely smile, but I don't think I like the idea of her smiling right before the game. It sends the wrong message.......

It sends the right message. I'm smiling now but come tip off, I'm going kick your butt!!

 

[Bama fan]

Really good game by the whole gang. So happy to see Nika moving well. She got screwed on that mysterious foul under the basket. Amazing play Westbrook to Griffin. Great FT shooting today.

 

[Ozimoto]

As close to a perfect game as they have played so far this year. Marquette has to look at that game and say "uh oh."

 

[Happydad745]

With UConn up by 40 plus and less that 2 minutes left, why is Christy Williams still playing? To pad her stats? Lots of players on bench who should get a little time on the floor.

 

[Woof 101]

At least once or more a game, Paige comes up with one of those “Pick 6” steals and layups. She reminds me of an NFL cornerback sitting on a pass route.

@oldude Excellent analogy! I was going to post something very similar. I have often praised Paige for her movement on offense without the ball knowing where to go, Larry Birds great trait. I have been watching her more on defense and she is simply masterful at baiting the opponent.
She often smothers her man to prevent them from receiving a pass. This when the ball handler is high and her man is along the base line or down low. If her man is along the side line and up with a less sharp angle from the ball handler she will back off setting the bait and she seems to get it to work at least once a game lately.
Her overall floor awareness and ability to see passing angles is amazing.

 

[LarryLegend]

remember what Red said

 

[Gurleyman]

With UConn up by 40 plus and less that 2 minutes left, why is Christy Williams still playing? To pad her stats? Lots of players on bench who should get a little time on the floor.

She was out there with Mir, Piath, Saylor and Aubrey. Autumn is hurt. Anna likely hit her minutes restriction (15 after 10 yesterday). There’s nobody left among bench players other than AE and trying to run plays without a guard.

What those minutes did do was give her some possessions running the offense without a point guard, so it’s helpful moving forward.

 

[pacific 44]

Did anyone notice that Meghan gardler's niece hit a three without any regard whatsoever about her hair placement. This tells me that the younger Gardler needs to see auntie for further coaching.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

 

[RockyMTblue2]

 

[UcMiami]

Did anyone notice that Meghan gardler's niece hit a three without any regard whatsoever about her hair placement. This tells me that the younger Gardler needs to see auntie for further coaching.

I had the exact thought - where is the fix-my-hair-before-I-drain-the-three move?!

Uconn defense in the second quarter 8:43 before Villanova scored their lone basket. Of course it helps when they are just hoisting bricks from 3 point land.

What people don't realize is that Uconn is the only team that plays man to man and switches every screen. Most offenses are predicated on players being wide open coming off a screen with their defender trailing or dodging behind the screen. It really disrupts an offense, and while it occasionally leads to Nika defending a post player on the block, they are also really adept at switching off assignments when that happens.

 

[UConnCat]

 

[UConnCat]

 

[UConnCat]

 

[VidNick]

Liv- I think Liv is really found her role and is excelling at it. Her offensive flow and shot/playmaking is making this offense so hard to stop. Her high low with AE is a thing of beauty and her out of bounds play with Paige was perfectly executed. Loving her confidence right now.

She is developing in leaps and bounds the past month or so. Uconn is way tougher to defend and score on when she plays in the framework she is now.

 

[UConnCat]

What people don't realize is that Uconn is the only team that plays man to man and switches every screen. Most offenses are predicated on players being wide open coming off a screen with their defender trailing or dodging behind the screen. It really disrupts an offense, and while it occasionally leads to Nika defending a post player on the block, they are also really adept at switching off assignments when that happens.

 

[CocoHusky]

The switching on defense was incredible today-entirely seamless. Within the first 3 quarters I only counted 1 missed switch which resulted in a layup for Villanova down the middle of the lane.

 

[huskyd]

Defense - Defense - Defense. Completely took Nova out of their game. Christyn did a great job defending Siegrist. The turn around from the Arkansas game has been impressive.

Nika starting and her smile made the game.

Bring on the Golden Eagles. Time to pluck some feathers.

Nika starting and her smile made the game.

Yes.

 

[Childhood]

Totally Agree. But I am surprised Geno still put CW on the floor for last few minutes to make the shoot. I would rather give the opportunity to the bench players to feel the games.

 

[UcMiami]

He had his bench in there and certainly wasn't running plays for Williams but the ball found her twice and she drain one as the shot clock expired and one on a kick out from an offensive rebound. She was the only starter on the floor cause there was no one else to put in at that point.

 

[Gurleyman]

I had the exact thought - where is the fix-my-hair-before-I-drain-the-three move?!

Uconn defense in the second quarter 8:43 before Villanova scored their lone basket. Of course it helps when they are just hoisting bricks from 3 point land.

What people don't realize is that Uconn is the only team that plays man to man and switches every screen. Most offenses are predicated on players being wide open coming off a screen with their defender trailing or dodging behind the screen. It really disrupts an offense, and while it occasionally leads to Nika defending a post player on the block, they are also really adept at switching off assignments when that happens.

That also is important when people try to question Paige’s defensive ability, which has been an area she has subtlety improved on this year. That switching system doesn’t work if you have a weak link - you just get the switch you want and attack the mismatch (ala Kemba 10 years ago this week). It happened twice against SJU when Paige switched onto Correa and she forced her into bad shots - one of those possessions was terrific D (a contested 18-foot fadeaway). She hasn’t been perfect - you can find a blow by here and there - and once today she let Siegrist catch it pretty deep and she missed a short one. But it’s increasingly difficult to expose her.

Earlier in the year, I think we were making an effort to hide her on defense, but now we are more comfortable with switching, which can take away a lot of what all the motion and spread offenses try to do (Butler was a little bit of a one-off in that we tried to trap them a lot to speed the game up and left them open). I feel like we are better able to handle offensive wrinkles than we were two months ago.

 

[jaydee602]

If UCONN plays Marquette, they will be favored by 16 points. If they play Creighton, the spread is 25 points! I didn't realize there was such a wide discrepancy between Marquette & Creighton.

 

[DEpup]

I don't understand why folks are so up in arms over Chrystin being out there at the end. The freshmen and the high schooler needed an upperclassman or starting guard out there to hold them together. Anna is on minute restriction. Nika just turned her ankle yesterday. Evina's body needs the rest.

If I was coach, the one thing I would say is Chrystin ended up taking those shots at the end of the clock because the freshman couldn't get enough guts to take a shot. That wasn't Chrystin's fault.

 

[HuskyNan]

When the game started and I saw the Gray uniforms, I thought Oh Boy... what's that all about...hope they play well. And of course, they played exceptional... forty minutes of solid UCONN Basketball.
I guess the Coaches wanted to get some use out of the Gray unis since they didn't get to play any games in Hartford this season.

GO HUSKIES!!!

The grey uniforms have been used at neutral sites for a while now