Where do you think we can get another 15 points?

[Dokey]

Irwin could be used as the designated 3 point shooter. Plug her in for a shot here and there if she proves she can shoot under real pressure.

She needs not to pass up shots. Geno should tell Anna and Aubrey they are required to take a certain number of shots a game or sit. That means fighting to get open. They can reduce number of shots required with assists.

 

[Tonyc]

Make foul shots and layups and give the fresh to adapt. Then we will be fine. Anna and Aubrey can score give it time. Design a couple of plays for them and open things up.

 

[EricLA]

Hard to have this discussion after just one game. Clearly Geno thinks he can get 6-10 from Anna. Aubrey will get more comfortable in the offense and we should get 2-4 from Adebayo. And I am still hoping (but not counting) on Evina giving us 12-16. Either way, I see very little chance that by Jan we can;t get 10 points out of the 4 position.

Exactly. Didn't Geno mention that Anna was so nervous before the game that she was actually pale? She played that way too. Aubrey showed her athleticism, but young freshmen decision making didn't allow her to contribute much. Give them time. UCONN has no choice BUT to rely on them. Trial by fire. Some games will be great for them, others not so much. The first game of the season falls under the "not so much" category...

 

[Kaizen]

This is the first college game for Anna and Aubrey. They should be better to share 15 pts after few more games.

 

[HuskylnSC]

Who says 80 points is a rule of thumb for a winning season?

The team has played one game that counts!!! And the BS is already started. It is going to be a very long season on the Boneyard.

its a question. chill a bit. I asked a simple question on a forum for discussion purposes. It's easy to see why some people have a long season.

 

[HuskylnSC]

I fully expect, 15 to 25 more points are not going to be a problem within a few games. Maybe faster than that. Anna and Aubrey got the first night jitters out of the way. Kayla had her first start and might have held herself back with an attempt to not make mistakes. I think @Carnac said on another thread that the game will now slow down pretty fast for them. Danger spent a lot of the night trying to run plays without cooperation. Once the offense flows normally we an expect "more better" shots. I also expect Ono to become more proficient at the rim. All in all, not a bad start for where we are.

 

[Charliebball]

I would have thought before the Cal game that a combination of Anna, Aubrey, Kyla, Molly could reliably get to 15 points but now I am not so confident First, CD + ONO will need to get 30 in total and the remaining 10 from a combination of Aubrey + Anna

I would think MW, CW and CD should average 55-60 points a game as they will be getting plenty of shots, ONO is certainly capable of scoring 10-12 points per game and Anna, Aubrey and Kyla should be able to contribute 10-15 points per game between them if they get decent court time............

 

[Charliebball]

Make foul shots and layups and give the fresh to adapt. Then we will be fine. Anna and Aubrey can score give it time. Design a couple of plays for them and open things up.

good point Tonyc....................how many foul shots did they miss against California? I know it was way too many.........

 

[PAHuskeyFan]

Who says 80 points is a rule of thumb for a winning season?

The team has played one game that counts!!! And the BS is already started. It is going to be a very long season on the Boneyard.

Concur with you @huskeynut . ONE game in the books and "the sky is falling"??????? The Team Cal Post game showed us exactly how they Top 4 felt about how they played. Although they won by 11, they looked like they felt as if they lost a blow out. They know what they need to do.... they will make improvements/adjustments. They do not want to be "that team"... They want to be remembered as another solid UCONN Team. Anna WILL break out in the very near future, Liv will score more, Kyla will put the ball in the hoop, as will Aubry... and hopefully we'll have Evina.

Please take a deep breath... and let the Team and the Coaches continue to work. A win is a win... whether it's by 1 or by 30...

 

[JavaMan]

Where do you think we can get another 15 points?

I suggest that maybe we're overthinking this.

How about:
3 from the 1
3 from the 2
3 from the 3
3 from the 4
3 from the 5

Done!

 

[CocoHusky]

The team has played one game that counts!!! And the BS is already started. It is going to be a very long season on the Boneyard.

Don't think it is BS at all. ALL the points that have been made here were also made by Geno or questions put to Geno in the post game presser.
One Geno quote I found striking was in response to a question of why Kyla started. Geno said he though Anna was going to cry if he started her and she had a rough couple of days. My answer to the question posed in this thread would have been: Anna was going to give you at least half those 15 points. Now I'm not so sure.

 

[Monte]

Make the close-up shots, and tighten the defense.

 

[MilfordHusky]

We missed shots we normally make, including layups and free throws, and had several shots spin out. I think those will resolve themselves. Anna and Aubrey were nervous, so they should do better. I think we are better than we showed yesterday, but still far from what Geno hopes for. Let's take this one game at a time. I expect to see some improvement on Wednesday.

 

[huskyblooz]

I think the 2 frosh can average 8 each. They both looked tentative in their debuts. Once they get more comfortable, they’ll atleast look for their shoot.

 

[BostonBay]

That's the problem. No easy points with this team. One of the benefits of Geno's system is it should lead to easy buckets & fast breaks. But, when the team is standing around on offense, you got to hope the shots fall. This team just doesnt seem to be comfortable with Geno's system.

 

[Biff]

 

[Longtime fan]

Earlier the discussion was that we lost 40 points per game when KLS and Precious graduated. It looks like those 40 guaranteed points will shift to Walker and Williams. If Crystal Dangerfield and Ono provide 20 to 25 regularly, that gets us to the 65 point range. If 80 points is a rule of thumb for a winning season, where do the other 15 points come from?

We can all do the math and speculate what has to occur to find those points. I have a different concern; usually a key strength of any good UCONN team is the defense. I wonder how this will develop? It wasn't there against Cal. We didn't stifle anyone. They hit open shots from three point range all day. Did we have any clean steals at all? Any fast breaks off of defensive moves? It will be fun to watch how things develop. I never liked those 100-20 games anyway.

 

[CocoHusky]

We can all do the math and speculate what has to occur to find those points. I have a different concern; usually a key strength of any good UCONN team is the defense. I wonder how this will develop? It wasn't there against Cal. We didn't stifle anyone. They hit open shots from three point range all day. Did we have any clean steals at all? Any fast breaks off of defensive moves? It will be fun to watch how things develop. I never liked those 100-20 games anyway.

I share your concern regarding the defense. Abrey shows great promise as that disruptive perimeter defender, however a more acute need is for an instinctive rebounder. An instinctive rebounder is that player that once the shot is launched has the instinct to know where the ball is coming off the rim, is the first to react, and instinctively positions her body to maximize their chances of getting the rebound. The UCONN roster has always had that type of player.
One other note regarding defense the staff quickly needs to correct Liv's wind up and swing down while attempting to block shots. Liv's weakside rotations are great but as I sure Geno has told her, they are going to miss more than half the shots you challenge, no sense sending them to the line or putting yourself out of position to rebound the miss.

 

[stamfordhusky]

Earlier the discussion was that we lost 40 points per game when KLS and Precious graduated. It looks like those 40 guaranteed points will shift to Walker and Williams. If Crystal Dangerfield and Ono provide 20 to 25 regularly, that gets us to the 65 point range. If 80 points is a rule of thumb for a winning season, where do the other 15 points come from?

I don't think 80 points is a rule of thumb for a winning season. If a team scores that many, they may be in the running, not just for a winning season, but for a championship - assuming that they are not playing at a very fast tempo. Last year UConn gave up more than 73 points exactly four times all year. And two of those were in blowout wins. They held Notre Dame, Baylor, and Louisville (tournament game) to an average of 70.7 ppg - all UConn wins. So if the defense is solid, a team can win almost all its games if it gets 75 ppg

More to the point, how many points a team scores isn't a very relevant stat - since it is very dependent on the pace of play. If a team scores 80 points in 65 possessions, that is great. If it scores 80 points in 80 possessions, that is below average. Last year UConn averaged 71 possessions per game. So 80 ppg means they would have scored 1.13 points per game - which is quite good but not great. In the men's game last year, average number of possessions per game ranged from a high of 77.6 to a low of 59.4. So if the team with the fewest possessions per game - which happened to be Virginia - averaged 72 ppg, that would be tremendous and make them one of the nation's top offensive teams. But if the team that averaged 77.6 possessions per game scored 72 ppg, that would be quite poor.

 

[HopJim]

Make the close-up shots, and tighten the defense.

To restate, ONO makes most of the 4-6 layups she misses/gets blocked a game and team gets to 80% foul shooting (likely will add 5-8 points a game.

 

[Huskygamble19]

I know that Griffin didn't have a game to write home about and shot 1-4 from the free throw line, but she did have 2 blocks and 2 steals in this contest. that is something to be excited for.

 

[Woof 101]

Not sure where anyone coach or player could get a guaranteed 80 points from. Defense wins championships, simply out score the opponent and you win the game.
Different years bring different talent or lack of, no set rules on how many points a team should score. This years team lacking in size is going to have to play a lot of pressure D and get good perimeter shooting along with finishing on fast breaks.

Way too early to tell as Geno's teams always get better as the season gets into late December, early January..... I hope our win over Cal only scoring 72 points still counts. That and Tenn only scoring 74 points to beat ND tonight ......

 

[DEpup]

This may seem crazy but after watching TN and ND tonight, I'm not sure Cal is such a bad team...... They may win more games this year than predicted...

 

[uconnfan68]

We could get another 6-8 points just not missing layups.

It was like watching girls play.