Worst Game

[connie]

Hard to argue with many of the observations being made here. And of course, you are all welcome to make your opinion known.

As for me? Not my place criticize. And even if it was, I would not and will not.

Take everything that didn't go right, take every decision that you would have made differently, take every pass that didn't quite find its proper destination, take every shot that didn't drop, every free throw that (supposedly) should have been made, every near steal, every block called a charge, every charge called a block ...

Take it all...

We lost by one shot, from well beyond the arc, with time expiring.

Not bad, all things considered.

 

[browns]

I am not going to quote or call out the OP as with a name like "browns" he already has enough misery in his life. This assuming he is a Cleveland fan.
One player is simply not why this game was lost. It was a lack of players and an opposing coach that recognized it. Had we much of a bench Geno would have subbed out a player having an off night. Had we much of a bench Geno would have pressed and not let them control tempo. He has said time and again he wants games in the 90s not the 60s.
Coach Vic drew up a game plan and his team executed it very well. Kudos to the victors. I hope they have as good a plan and execution for SC!

 

[DaddyChoc]

All season long, Geno has masked UConn's weaknesses, the primary one being that the team was playing with 2 pg's, a 2 guard (Gabby) & 2 wings with no true center or power forward. Last night Vic Schaefer & MS St exposed that weakness and UConn lost.

The idea that any particular player is more or less responsible for the loss is nonsense. If you want to blame someone, blame A'ja Wilson for deciding to go to SC. Next year with Z & Batouly, problem solved.

MState had a big post who wasn't going to let a 5'11 center embarrass her, something that Baylor should have done. UConn just ran out of "house money"

 

[SCGamecock]

All season long, Geno has masked UConn's weaknesses, the primary one being that the team was playing with 2 pg's, a 2 guard (Gabby) & 2 wings with no true center or power forward. Last night Vic Schaefer & MS St exposed that weakness and UConn lost.

The idea that any particular player is more or less responsible for the loss is nonsense. If you want to blame someone, blame A'ja Wilson for deciding to go to SC. Next year with Z & Batouly, problem solved.

LOL. The Boneyard is a remarkable place.

 

[browns]

Everything you say I agree with. I didn't mean to imply she cost them the game just as Miss Cong didn't either. It's just I've never seen her play that poorly,the others i have but not her. And yes I have been a Browns fan since the greatest football player of all time played for them. Fortunately being in New England I'm also a Pats fan and have been for about 20 years. Kind of having one end of the stick and the other.
Actually Geno reminds reminds me a lot of Bill Belichick

 

[Shenandoah]

Everything you say I agree with. I didn't mean to imply she cost them the game just as Miss Cong didn't either. It's just I've never seen her play that poorly,the others i have but not her. And yes I have been a Browns fan since the greatest football player of all time played for them. Forturnately being in New England I'm also a Pats fan and have been for about 20 years. Kind of having one end of the stick and the other.
Actually Geno reminds reminds me a lot of Bill Belichick

Lawrence Taylor played for the Browns?

 

[Ctpaul0825]

We didn't have a bad game, Mississippi state had a great one. Give them credit they are peaking at the right time and obviously worked very hard to get there.

 

[browns]

Lawrence Taylor played for the Browns?

That was good.Thinking about it LT and Jim Brown have a lot in common as far as off the field stuff

 

[DALTX]

Good point. I wonder what the difference was with this game versus say South Carolina last month with all the media attention, stands packed with former players, for win #100.

Some differences that either put more pressure on or negatively affected the Huskies:

1. Final Four
2. It was played in Dallas vs. Connecticut, in a court they've never played on
3. The crowd seemed tilted toward Miss St/underdogs/SEC fans
4. A loss against SC would not have ended the season
5. That Hoe-down in Dallas and whatever unusual Texas foods they might have eaten
6. The HBO series

 

[BroadwayVa]

Turnovers, assists, rebounds, steals. FTs. No complaints. Just the facts. Very un-UConn like.

Credit MSU, pressure, and the law of averages.

Mississippi State vs. Connecticut - Box Score - March 31, 2017 - ESPN

More facts--better in game like 3rd quarter--I said Offensive Rb's were terrible

Uconn 43.5 FG Miss 37.2
Uconn 46.7 3 pt Miss 27.3
Uconn 68 ft Miss 76.9
Uconn 11 A Miss 11
UConn 14 To Miss 17
Rebounds
Uconn off 6 def 25 tot 31
Miss off 14 def 24 tot 37

The above hardly shows great Miss prowess in stats---Uconn was beaten in 3 stats FT-s and Rebound and final score.

Uconn fouled less had fewer player and had to allow Miss to go by often without defending
Rebounds ---smaller players in the post vs 6 ft 5 post players for miss Uconn's only 6 ft 5 proved too less mobile

These stats are end of game stats---in the third quarter the shooting (except FT's ) were better stats.
Didn't track the To' or assists---

 

[HopJim]

Saniya, senior, played well for 99% of the game
Gabby, junior, amazing, stunning, fantastic, Gabulous
Kia, junior, played OK - ankle still bothering her?
Lou & Napheesa, sophomores, overwhelmed by the moment and the responsibility. Next year they're upperclassmen and it will be a different story
Crystal, freshman, seemed fearless, and good for her, but was also overwhelmed. She'll get mad and take it out on the field next year

Please, except for some otherworldly players that have come through the program (Diana, Maya, Stewie), tell me how sophomores have led the team in a game as big as a Final Four. Oh, sophs have played well, no doubt, but they weren't the Lead Dog.

I think people were just expecting too much from kids that have NEVER had this much responsibility in a game, especially on a stage as big as the Final Four.

Sorry for the contrary view. Agree with your statements on Napheesa and Crystal not playing as well as expected. Lou was ok. Suspect if they ran the offense through her, results would have been different. Also believe the entire team was exhausted with no subs for this and previous games. After coming back from 16 down, surprised at your negative comments.

 

[BroadwayVa]

The difficulty I have is, for 36 games, they didn't shy away from the responsibility or the burden. This was far from the first big game we've played, vs. Baylor, @ND, @Maryland, vs. SC they were an absolute rock -- especially Collier.

It was completely uncharacteristic for them to wilt under pressure like that.

Coming into the year, a game like yesterday wouldn't have been unexpected. But after what we saw all season, it was shocking and disappointing.

At least 4 of the first 17 games ---I would consider BIG---the one in ND --while not the same-rivaled this game --because it was ND.
Baylor, Tx, Fsu, USC---all big games ---Not NC's and not Dallas---
When Dr Phil shows up , or his ultra ego--Bull-shows up--we may know the answers--frankly I don't need an answer--it was a great season The ONLY TEAM in the USA that didn't lose a game all REGULAR season---and we were there to watch.

 

[Wally East]

"Worst game" and this thread isn't about the Tulane game? Seriously?

 

[Biff]

LOL. The Boneyard is a remarkable place.

When you paint with a broad brush all you get is smear. The Boneyard is blessed with being relatively large and active. That means that a large diversity of opinion is awaiting it's opportunity to offer it's points of emphasis as any situation presents itself.

I think you are observant enough and bright enough to see the boneyard canvas is covered with hundreds of little brush strokes. It's oversimplifying and unfair to claim it's represented by any one of those strokes. In fact, one can almost guarantee that for any situation, good or bad re: UConn, a spectrum of opinions are awaiting to express themselves on the canvas.

 

[cohenzone]

Saniya, senior, played well for 99% of the game
Gabby, junior, amazing, stunning, fantastic, Gabulous
Kia, junior, played OK - ankle still bothering her?
Lou & Napheesa, sophomores, overwhelmed by the moment and the responsibility. Next year they're upperclassmen and it will be a different story
Crystal, freshman, seemed fearless, and good for her, but was also overwhelmed. She'll get mad and take it out on the field next year

Please, except for some otherworldly players that have come through the program (Diana, Maya, Stewie), tell me how sophomores have led the team in a game as big as a Final Four. Oh, sophs have played well, no doubt, but they weren't the Lead Dog.

I think people were just expecting too much from kids that have NEVER had this much responsibility in a game, especially on a stage as big as the Final Four.

I didn't see Lou struggle all that much compared to a few of the others. She had to contend with a lot of pressure but overall performed ok. What was uncharacteristic was Pheesha missing enough layups she normally makes to have made the difference. And she missed two ft rather badly for her. But there were enough other things that led to the L. Mostly MSU matching and surpassing our usual edge in intensity, dictating pace, and disrupting our usual ball movement and ball sharing.

 

[NewCorn]

Honestly, you could tell things were not going to go well right from the first possession where we ran one of our usual sets and they easily intercepted the pass, as if they knew what was coming.

Bingo!

 

[Los24]

Saniya, senior, played well for 99% of the game
Gabby, junior, amazing, stunning, fantastic, Gabulous
Kia, junior, played OK - ankle still bothering her?
Lou & Napheesa, sophomores, overwhelmed by the moment and the responsibility. Next year they're upperclassmen and it will be a different story
Crystal, freshman, seemed fearless, and good for her, but was also overwhelmed. She'll get mad and take it out on the field next year

Please, except for some otherworldly players that have come through the program (Diana, Maya, Stewie), tell me how sophomores have led the team in a game as big as a Final Four. Oh, sophs have played well, no doubt, but they weren't the Lead Dog.
S
I think people were just expecting too much from kids that have NEVER had this much responsibility in a game, especially on a stage as big as the Final Four.

You know, Lou shot 50% and scored 15 points in a low scoring game. Some during critical spots. She had 5 rebounds and 2 blocks too. Not saying she played great but she seemed to want it in the second half and was having a hard time getting the ball, even when she was posting up a smaller player. Kia made 2 baskets on 8 shots, 0 rebounds and 0 blocks. Both had one assist. And you say she played ok but Lou was overwhelmed?

Gabby was the only one that had a good game, could have been great if she ht FTs towards end of game. Lou and Chong were okay. Kia was not good and Pheese was bad. Chrystal can make nice passes but she has not overwhelmed me in terms of floor general... It was one bad game but in the NCAA tourney it only takes one.

 

[osceola48]

Bingo!

Yup. I was uneasy watching the game from the beginning, and never felt good during the game. There was hope when we took a lead in Qtr 3, but then our momentum stopped and we missed chance after chance to build on that lead. From that point on, the missed free-throws and the turnovers were agonizing and frequent. After watching the team play such a near-perfect game against Oregon, I couldn't believe what I was seeing against MissSt.

This was not our only poor showing this year. There was of course the Tulane game, and I didn't think we dispatched UCLA as decisively as we could have. A couple of other examples were UCF toward the end of the season and Kansas earlier in the season. We won those games handily despite not playing our A game. But MissSt is a good team that brought their A game, and we did not play our A game. Yes, they played great defense and consistent offense, and all credit for that. But we helped by missing lots of easy shots in the first half and missing free-throws and committing turnovers in the second half.

It shows just how good our team really is, that even with MissSt playing a great game and our team sputtering, we still nearly won the game. And it shows how amazing it is to win so many games in a row, because let-downs happen. Alas, we finally had an ill-timed letdown against a very good team in the Final Four.

 

[Buzzyboy]

Saniya, senior, played well for 99% of the game
Gabby, junior, amazing, stunning, fantastic, Gabulous
Kia, junior, played OK - ankle still bothering her?
Lou & Napheesa, sophomores, overwhelmed by the moment and the responsibility. Next year they're upperclassmen and it will be a different story
Crystal, freshman, seemed fearless, and good for her, but was also overwhelmed. She'll get mad and take it out on the field next year

Please, except for some otherworldly players that have come through the program (Diana, Maya, Stewie), tell me how sophomores have led the team in a game as big as a Final Four. Oh, sophs have played well, no doubt, but they weren't the Lead Dog.

I think people were just expecting too much from kids that have NEVER had this much responsibility in a game, especially on a stage as big as the Final Four.

I really don't think that KLS played badly at all except for that five or six minute stretch where she and THE REST of the team were overwhelmed (including Gabby) turning the ball over a number of times. She was an essential ball handler and made key shots including foul shots to tie the game seconds before the game was lost while also getting a number of defensive rebounds. I do agree with the rest of your impressions.

 

[Buzzyboy]

You know, Lou shot 50% and scored 15 points in a low scoring game. Some during critical spots. She had 5 rebounds and 2 blocks too. Not saying she played great but she seemed to want it in the second half and was having a hard time getting the ball, even when she was posting up a smaller player. Kia made 2 baskets on 8 shots, 0 rebounds and 0 blocks. Both had one assist. And you say she played ok but Lou was overwhelmed?

Gabby was the only one that had a good game, could have been great if she ht FTs towards end of game. Lou and Chong were okay. Kia was not good and Pheese was bad. Chrystal can make nice passes but she has not overwhelmed me in terms of floor general... It was one bad game but in the NCAA tourney it only takes one.

I just posted, saying essentially the same thing you did, though you came with statistics. I think if everyone on the team had played to the level that KLS did, we would have won the game by a reasonable margin. Unfortunately, that didn't happen.

 

[Tufkas]

Williams' game was rather difficult to characterize - spectacular to the point of being indescribable in spots, puzzling in others. Stats bear it out - 21 points, 4 blocks led the team, 8 rebounds tied for the team lead. 2 steals accounted for half of the team's total.

5 turnovers led the team - 2 in the OT. 4 missed free throws, 2 in OT with the score tied at 60. 2 offensive rebounds, as the team was outrebounded offensively 14-6. Perhaps most tellingly, only 2 assists for the team's assists leader, as the high post driven offensive flow frequently broke down.

All-in-all a heroic, drain-the-tank effort, (reminiscent perhaps of Barbara Turner vs Duke in Bridgeport a lifetime ago and Maya Moore's semi-final loss to ND) that was unfortunately every bit critical in a game where others struggled. The last second questionable choices (I agree with Kara Lawson - my shot must absolutely be the last shot in a tie game, rebounds notwithstanding). The wasted give-a-foul with 17 seconds left.

For me, Samuelson stepped up extraordinarily late 4th and OT with clutch jumpers, rebounds and 2 massive nothing-but-net free throws tying the game with 27 seconds left in OT, giving her team the winning possession, against a hostile, screaming crowd, an empty key, and an apoplectic opposing coach. She was there when it mattered most, which portends well for continued development over her final 2 years.

I reckon Coach's post-game perspective, as always, was bang on, "“Maybe we’re just not ready for this. Maybe we were ready for everything else, but maybe we’re just not mature enough for this. Maybe all our young kids needed to experience this so that we can come back and really be ready for this.”

Times like these emphasize just how blessed this team and its fans are to have this man and his staff as stewards over this once-in-a-lifetime program.

Clearly, the saying all along has been, "We have Geno and they don't!"

 

[JustinesGuy]

Yup. I was uneasy watching the game from the beginning, and never felt good during the game. There was hope when we took a lead in Qtr 3, but then our momentum stopped and we missed chance after chance to build on that lead. From that point on, the missed free-throws and the turnovers were agonizing and frequent. After watching the team play such a near-perfect game against Oregon, I couldn't believe what I was seeing against MissSt.

This was not our only poor showing this year. There was of course the Tulane game, and I didn't think we dispatched UCLA as decisively as we could have. A couple of other examples were UCF toward the end of the season and Kansas earlier in the season. We won those games handily despite not playing our A game. But MissSt is a good team that brought their A game, and we did not play our A game. Yes, they played great defense and consistent offense, and all credit for that. But we helped by missing lots of easy shots in the first half and missing free-throws and committing turnovers in the second half.

It shows just how good our team really is, that even with MissSt playing a great game and our team sputtering, we still nearly won the game. And it shows how amazing it is to win so many games in a row, because let-downs happen. Alas, we finally had an ill-timed letdown against a very good team in the Final Four.

This

 

[DaddyChoc]

Honestly, you could tell things were not going to go well right from the first possession where we ran one of our usual sets and they easily intercepted the pass, as if they knew what was coming.

Surprised more teams don't intercept UConn passes, they run the same basic plays every game. Double screen, roll out for a 3... If that don't work a screener (collier) roll to the basket and get a lob pass from Gabby.

 

[Shenandoah]

That was good.Thinking about it LT and Jim Brown have a lot in common as far as off the field stuff

I remember watching Jim Brown play as a kid. An amazing running back. Almost like a man among boys at times.

 

[Replicant]

Teams win and teams lose, not players. It's just wrong to pin the loss on any one player.

This TEAM had been playing with 'house money' all season long, beginning with the squeaker with FSU. Every game from then forward was a net-win and a joy to watch!

To your point - MSU won as a team! They had a great game plan and they executed it to near perfection. Part of UConn's legendary dominance has always been that 99.99% of teams can't/won't/don't give 100% effort for the full 40 mins against us. Well MSU did just that for the full 45 mins on Friday night.

And on the losing side, the TEAM shot 10% below our season average (68% vs. 78%) on FT's. That's an add'l 3 points on the 25 FT attempts we had Friday and would have been the difference in regulation time. 3 of our 5 starters scored below their season averages. The TEAM also had only 11 assists for the night, compared to our season average of 23.

All credit to MSU. We got beat.

 

[browns]

I remember watching Jim Brown play as a kid. An amazing running back. Almost like a man among boys at times.

One of the few "superstars" to retire when they were still the best ie: Barry Sanders,Sandy Koufax

 

[warbler1055]

If you do not feel a bit of sadness and letdown at the end of an era you are not a UConn fan. I root and love this team and I am disappointed that they lost!!!

 

[connie]

Williams' game was rather difficult to characterize - spectacular to the point of being indescribable in spots, puzzling in others. Stats bear it out - 21 points, 4 blocks led the team, 8 rebounds tied for the team lead. 2 steals accounted for half of the team's total.

5 turnovers led the team - 2 in the OT. 4 missed free throws, 2 in OT with the score tied at 60. 2 offensive rebounds, as the team was outrebounded offensively 14-6. Perhaps most tellingly, only 2 assists for the team's assists leader, as the high post driven offensive flow frequently broke down.

All-in-all a heroic, drain-the-tank effort, (reminiscent perhaps of Barbara Turner vs Duke in Bridgeport a lifetime ago and Maya Moore's semi-final loss to ND) that was unfortunately every bit critical in a game where others struggled. The last second questionable choices (I agree with Kara Lawson - my shot must absolutely be the last shot in a tie game, rebounds notwithstanding). The wasted give-a-foul with 17 seconds left.

For me, Samuelson stepped up extraordinarily late 4th and OT with clutch jumpers, rebounds and 2 massive nothing-but-net free throws tying the game with 27 seconds left in OT, giving her team the winning possession, against a hostile, screaming crowd, an empty key, and an apoplectic opposing coach. She was there when it mattered most, which portends well for continued development over her final 2 years.

I reckon Coach's post-game perspective, as always, was bang on, "“Maybe we’re just not ready for this. Maybe we were ready for everything else, but maybe we’re just not mature enough for this. Maybe all our young kids needed to experience this so that we can come back and really be ready for this.”

Times like these emphasize just how blessed this team and its fans are to have this man and his staff as stewards over this once-in-a-lifetime program.

Clearly, the saying all along has been, "We have Geno and they don't!"

Nice summary, especially the balanced overview of Gabby's game. I do love her so, notwithstanding.

 

[Aluminny69]

Good point. I wonder what the difference was with this game versus say South Carolina last month with all the media attention, stands packed with former players, for win #100.

The SC game was on UConn's home court? (Just a wild guess.)

 

[warbler1055]

Truth be told I agree with the OP, UConn did not play our regular excellent game, but maybe due to the pressure of the FF and MS game plan which is to punch them in the mouth
.