Xavier Postgame Thread

[Topdawg]

Good win.

Great defense! Slowed down at the very end, though good enough.

Dorka was great down low. Aubrey was excellent driving to the basket and drawing fouls. Nika and Lou had strong performances. Aaliyah did well for the time she was on court. Hope her injury is minor. The others benefited from extra playing time and will keep getting better. Loved the 3 from Ines!

Turnovers need to be managed down. Cannot have more turnovers than assists. That will hurt us against better teams.

Hope Geno, Azzi, and Caroline will be back soon.

 

[Conndog]

Palindrome victory score?

Fun e nuf! (At least for me)

 

[Centerstream]

Some SNY director must be reading the BY and decided not to show the ball for the last 10 seconds or so of the game.

 

[huskeynut]

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. CD now 17 - 0 as head coach.

It's a win against a league opponent. Dorka was a beast tonight. Xavier had no answers for her. Aubrey was just amazing again. I have yet to see a team who can contain her. Steady floor leadership by Nika. Ines was great. That 3 from the corner at the end of the 3rd was a killer. Amari and Yanna getting good experience with significant minutes.

The bad. Turnovers. Some of it is mental some of it because of fatigue and unfamiliar combinations on the court.

The ugly: Aaliyah with a foot injury.

 

[HopJim]

A few pro, con, and mixed comments:
Pro:
-Loving seeing Dorka getting physical. Best I have ever seen her moving out the defender and using her body to get position and score. Many rebounds are a result of or her intensity and physical effort to go for the ball.
-Chris Dailey does a lot of coaching and limited yelling. In today's world, this is the best combination for a coach.
-Aubrey is making so much improvement in multiple ways, examples being her outside shots and ability to drive around defenders while UConn in half-court offense. While I expect the top teams will reduce her full court drives, these other offensive efforts will be difficult to defense.
Con:
-How can Cincinnati, a town I love but one with limited things to do, not draw more than about 1200 to this game? Indicative of the lack of support for women's basketball.
-I am losing patience with Patterson. She is a human offensive and defensive foul machine and constantly gets blocked by much shorter players. May be good next year but not sure she should play a significant role in the big games coming up.
-Frustrated at the number of times UConn players drive to the basket and get hacked and nothing is called. Concerned that Aubrey in particular is undercut and driven to the floor. numerous times and refs just look in.
Mixed:
-Bentancourt is becoming much more comfortable, and her defense has improved. Her tendency to only dribble with her right hand and make soft passes for turnovers is troubling. Against the Top 10 teams, both would be killers.

 

[mhshuskies]

Geno could learn a bit about rotation of players from CD.

 

[HopJim]

First and foremost, I hope Geno gets well soon. Also, I hope that Aaliyah's injury is minor. Good grief - I'm waiting to hear about the team managers needing to suit up to play - so many ridiculous injuries to these poor kids.

Anyway...to me, this seemed to be a great game to work on stuff. Against an overmatched opponent, a great chance to try new things, work on old things, and give confidence to everyone. For the most part this was true. But, while we have become accustomed to fast starts by UCONN out the gate, this game was NOT that. For either team. Close to 5 minutes in the score was 4-2 with teams a combined 2-19. During that stretch, Nika and Dorka were particularly off - Nika with turnovers (bad passes) and Dorka with butterfingers unable to corral, or hold on to, rebounds. But they found their sea legs and went on to finish Q1 strong.

While Q1 was the Aubrey show, Q2 was the Dorka show. She had a double double about 5 minutes or so into Q2. And how nice seeing Ayanna, Ines, AND Amari in the game early? Anyway, fairly early in Q2, it was clear the rout was officially on.

So... a few player observations:

• Dorka - 13 points, 12 rebounds at half time. 18/17 for the game. Not many players get a double double midway thru the 2nd quarter. Oh, and 4 blocks at halftime. One thing that was great to see for her (and Aaliyah) was the ability to block without doing a tomahawk chop causing the refs to call a foul. A few of the blocks were even done keeping the ball in play and giving the TO back to UCONN.
• Aubrey is the do-everything player for the team. While Nika is the engine that runs the team, Aubrey is the energizer bunny who seems to be everywhere on offense AND defense- involved in almost every play.
• Nika had a solid game at time - 9 assists, 6 rebounds, 5 points, but a slew of unforced turnovers on just bad passes to no one. Loss of focus? Unsure, but 6 turnovers is way to many for a player of her caliber.
• Lou - the silent assassin. Missed a few shots coming out the gate, but found her rhythm and hit some much needed 3's for UCONN.

Ayanna, Ines, and Amari - some GREAT minutes for them. All 3 did some "bad" things, but also some very good things. The assist from Ines to Amari streaking the floor. The double block by Amari and Ayanna. Ines Q3 buzzer beater. Meg said several times that Chris substitutes much more liberally than Geno. IMHO, this is a weakness for Geno and he needs to be more like Chris with the lower end of the bench.

Overall a great game given how many people were out (coaches and players). But 22 turnovers? No bueno. Anyway... Please get well soon EVERYONE!

Lou has been blowing her nose when on the bench the past few games. Not the look I want to see.

 

[JBK]

As messy as the first quarter was, UConn did have 7 offensive rebounds.

After CD’s first solo effort this year, she told the media that she was going to use the bench more in the future. She wasn’t kidding.

Is Ines getting more comfortable or just wishful thinking on my part? I do wish she would move more without the ball.

I can’t wait to watch the replay so I can rewatch the reaction of Ines’ third quarter buzzer beater.

Tonight’s cheap shot of the game: Aubrey getting undercut on her first half driving layup.

I think a lot of Amari’s rough edges would be smoothed out with regular minutes. Decision-making is still her biggest issue.

With a huge lead, in my opinion not playing AE was precautionary. She still had game shoes on.

It is too bad Butler and Xavier were back to back. Those are the type of teams that allow the Huskies to catch their breath.

Get well Geno. As great as CD is, this team needs you.

 

[JBK]

I was a big fan of Amati getting playing time, but I have been disappointed in her ability to thrive in mediocre competition.

 

[Carnac]

First and foremost, I hope Geno gets well soon. Also, I hope that Aaliyah's injury is minor. Good grief - I'm waiting to hear about the team managers needing to suit up to play - so many ridiculous injuries to these poor kids.

Anyway...to me, this seemed to be a great game to work on stuff. Against an overmatched opponent, a great chance to try new things, work on old things, and give confidence to everyone. For the most part this was true. But, while we have become accustomed to fast starts by UCONN out the gate, this game was NOT that. For either team. Close to 5 minutes in the score was 4-2 with teams a combined 2-19. During that stretch, Nika and Dorka were particularly off - Nika with turnovers (bad passes) and Dorka with butterfingers unable to corral, or hold on to, rebounds. But they found their sea legs and went on to finish Q1 strong.

While Q1 was the Aubrey show, Q2 was the Dorka show. She had a double double about 5 minutes or so into Q2. And how nice seeing Ayanna, Ines, AND Amari in the game early? Anyway, fairly early in Q2, it was clear the rout was officially on.

So... a few player observations:

• Dorka - 13 points, 12 rebounds at half time. 18/17 for the game. Not many players get a double double midway thru the 2nd quarter. Oh, and 4 blocks at halftime. One thing that was great to see for her (and Aaliyah) was the ability to block without doing a tomahawk chop causing the refs to call a foul. A few of the blocks were even done keeping the ball in play and giving the TO back to UCONN.
• Aubrey is the do-everything player for the team. While Nika is the engine that runs the team, Aubrey is the energizer bunny who seems to be everywhere on offense AND defense- involved in almost every play.
• Nika had a solid game at time - 9 assists, 6 rebounds, 5 points, but a slew of unforced turnovers on just bad passes to no one. Loss of focus? Unsure, but 6 turnovers is way to many for a player of her caliber.
• Lou - the silent assassin. Missed a few shots coming out the gate, but found her rhythm and hit some much needed 3's for UCONN.

Ayanna, Ines, and Amari - some GREAT minutes for them. All 3 did some "bad" things, but also some very good things. The assist from Ines to Amari streaking the floor. The double block by Amari and Ayanna. Ines Q3 buzzer beater. Meg said several times that Chris substitutes much more liberally than Geno. IMHO, this is a weakness for Geno and he needs to be more like Chris with the lower end of the bench.

Overall a great game given how many people were out (coaches and players). But 22 turnovers? No bueno. Anyway... Please get well soon EVERYONE!

As usual, great post Eric.

 

[Bigboote]

After the first five minutes, this was really a pretty good performance by UConn. I said before the season that this team had the potential to be elite defensively. I'm not sure they're quite there, but that statement looks not unreasonable at this point.

I think there should be some sort of enhancement for reckless fouls, or possibly reckless should replace intentional. That undercut of Aubrey by Calhoun was really dangerous. There was obviously no intention, but there needs to be some disincentive to do things like that.

I loved the play of Inês this evening. She's another in a short UConn tradition of tough-as-nails European point guards.

Glad to see a second straight game with contributions from all (three) of the bench players.

 

[and one]

If Ines keeps getting a decent amount of PT for the rest of this year I think she has a good chance of being a regular rotation player at some point next year.

Geno's penchant for not giving the deep bench much PT has been endlessly debated among Boneyarders with, I think, a majority thinking that certain players should play more in blow-outs, thus giving more rest to the starters and more experience to the bench. And, however, a majority also thinking Geno knows what he is doing. Since Megan twice mentioned CD's substitution patterns as opposed to Geno's during the telecast, it may well be a congenial topic of discussion between them when they next meet. I'll be curious to see what kind of minutes Ayanna, Amari and Ines get once Geno gets back.

 

[bantamlaker]

Lou and Dorka were on the postgame with CD. I was not a fan of the transfer portal but then I think about where this team would be without those two and give thanks for our transfers,

 

[LoboDays]

I know there’s nothing that can be done about it but when you have 20 turnovers and win by 36 points against a team that couldn’t score 50 points if they were the only team on the court, nobody learns nuthin.

 

[funkraider]

This is a bugaboo of mine, the chop or swat blocks that tempt the refs to blow that whistle. For Dorka and Amari, they're each tall enough and have long enough arms not to need to do that. The goal doesn't have to be to smash the ball down like it's a volleyball. Just nudging it or poking it up is better, requires no swatting (or leaving their feet in many cases) and makes it easier to recover the ball. This is something Brink and Boston understand well.

Full disclosure: this complaint brought to you by a short guy who may not know what he's talking about.

Brink is a walking personal foul

 

[darrell]

 

[bkart1978]

Can’t take much from a game where there are long stretches with the whole bench in; it’s nothing new - throw in a combo with no previous game time together and things won’t run smoothly. But they actually had some good minutes with Amari, Ines and Ayanna in together.

One play that stood out to me was a Husky turnover that looked like an easy Xavier lay-up. Ayanna sprinted her butt off and recovered to prevent the shot. Great, great hustle for a big.

 

[wingsfan055]

Great games by Dorka and Aubrey. Lou's off night was still productive! She is a machine! That's all that was needed tonight against a bad Xavier team that showed little energy.

Looks like we're shaping up to be a 7-person rotation when the games really count, god willing we're all healthy. I'm losing hope that AP will contribute in meaningful games this year. She hasn't developed any kind of offensive game to speak of and she's not a force on the boards. I had my hopes up after the fall pre-season with Geno's glowing comments, but it just hasn't translated in real games.

 

[HuskyNan]

Great games by Dorka and Aubrey. Lou's off night was still productive! She is a machine! That's all that was needed tonight against a bad Xavier team that showed little energy.

Looks like we're shaping up to be a 7-person rotation when the games really count, god willing we're all healthy. I'm losing hope that AP will contribute in meaningful games this year. She hasn't developed any kind of offensive game to speak of and she's not a force on the boards. I had my hopes up after the fall pre-season with Geno's glowing comments, but it just hasn't translated in real games.

From comments made by Meg Culmo and others, my impression is that Ayanna is as frustrated as everyone else with her play. She may be thinking too hard. Remember Asjha Jones as a freshman? Geno said she was “too freaking smart” and overthought everything. It wasn’t until she relaxed and just played that she began to excel. Ayanna may also be feeling additional pressure when Dorka was out, them Aaliyah, and trying too hard to fill in for them.

 

[todbo]

21 assists (7 from the bench) on 25 made field goals is pretty nice.

 

[billnaples]

I didn't get the palindrome victory prediction to come through for me for the Butler game but one game later...bingo! Palindrome victory 73 to 37. I won't be scoring too many points this game for the prognosticators thread but...missing predicting a palindrome victory by one game is a victory of sorts... lol

~Dorka was a beast in this game.
~Aubrey is really a do it all type of player...I love watching her play....how about 10-11 from the line.
~Nika missed her double digit assist stat by one...
~Hopefully, AE's injury is minor and will not aversely effect her future play.
~As far as the bench is concerned Ines seems to have the most promise.
~I think we get both Geno, Caroline and Azzi back for the DePaul game.
~Lou knocked down three 3s tonight.
~I can't believe we got 22 turnovers against Xavier tonight...we really have to do something about all those turnovers.

I love to nit pick...how do we say "we get both" and then list three? Just wondering and funning. LOL

 

[MD#12Fan]

I know there’s nothing that can be done about it but when you have 20 turnovers and win by 36 points against a team that couldn’t score 50 points if they were the only team on the court, nobody learns nuthin.

Agree from a team standpoint but we get much from these games from an individual standpoint. Players got minutes. As Culmo said, we are watching Aubrey emerge. Even when she was a contributor 2 years ago, it was not like this. She’s becoming a top caliber WCBB player. What scares us about SC and maybe Stanford is not so much their stars, but their other starters and contributors. Regarding Boston, Cooke, Jones, and Brink, as Dennis Green famously said, “They were who we thought they were.” Aubrey is becoming another huge factor UConn has when the games get serious. She’s quickly becoming a legit WNBA prospect. She’s certainly got the DNA.
Yes, games like this help players like her. Even Dorka, Nika, Amari, and Ayanna.

 

[Next 12]

The Uconn team that is available right now is just biding it'a time until all the healthy players are back and then , watch out. Thank God the players playing now are doing enough to win games and hold the fort until Azzi and Caroline are back and hoping nothing is wrong with Aaliyah and her ankle. Also hoping Lou doesn't get any worse. I have been around for a looooong time and never seen a team with so many players being sidelined by endless injuries. Once we heal and nothing else happens we will be able to finish out the season in Uconn style. Another Conference Championship and on to the NC. Great coaching CD! GO HUSKIES!!!

 

[oldhusky]

If Ines keeps getting a decent amount of PT for the rest of this year I think she has a good chance of being a regular rotation player at some point next year.

Geno's penchant for not giving the deep bench much PT has been endlessly debated among Boneyarders with, I think, a majority thinking that certain players should play more in blow-outs, thus giving more rest to the starters and more experience to the bench. And, however, a majority also thinking Geno knows what he is doing. Since Megan twice mentioned CD's substitution patterns as opposed to Geno's during the telecast, it may well be a congenial topic of discussion between them when they next meet. I'll be curious to see what kind of minutes Ayanna, Amari and Ines get once Geno gets back.

I think your comments regarding Geno's use of the deep bench are spot on and it is an area of constant debate among us, but I think Ines is in a difficult position regarding playing time beyond this year despite her development. Ines could improve dramatically and still be the last guard used in what could be a much much deeper guard rotation next year.

Lou will depart, Aubrey as a part time guard may or may not, but we have three major additions to the guard group next year. Paige comes back, and KK and Ashlyn are major recruits. I don't see Ines getting playing time over any of those three, or the returnees, although the one year of experience might give her the possibility of getting more minutes than KK or Ashlyn, but I don't expect it.

The hard reality is that Ines was a last second emergency pick up, when the portal and incoming freshmen in the US were no longer options. She was needed mostly for this year, with the possibility of playing time in future years, but even more players potentially ahead of her on the depth chart. Hope she does great, and we need her now, but I just don't see a big role in subsequent years, just the reality of increased competition.

 

[uconnfan68]

Lou was making liberal use of Kleenex while sitting on the bench. She might have the same head cold I have - it’s not debilitating but it makes my nose run constantly and I’m always pretty tired. Lou looked tired. The short balls and front-rim shots could indicate she’s dragging a bit

It’s going around CT too. Took me almost a month to shake it.