UCONN @ South Florida
Day: Monday
Date: March 2nd, 2015
Location: Tampa, Florida
Time: 7:00
TV: ESPN2
Records UConn 28-1 (17-0)
South Florida 24-5 (15-2)
Prior Meetings
12/28/02 W 72-56 A
12/1/04 W 75-65 (ot) H
1/24/06 W 77-47 H
2/20/07 W 81-67 A
3/4/07 W 74-54 N
1/30/08 W 71-48 H
1/6/09 W 83-37 A
3/8/09 W 79-42 H
1/4/10 W 84-42 H
12/2/10 W 80-54 A
1/28/12 W 77-62 H
3/2/13 W 85-51 A
1/26/14 W 81-53 H
2/16/14 W 63-38 A
1/18/15 W 92-50 H
Overview
UConn is now 14-0 against South Florida with their victory earlier this year. I'm sure that South Florida expected better results considering how well they had been playing coming into that game. To their credit, they have gone 10-1 since the UConn game, losing by one in a tough loss to East Carolina. They have won four straight since that loss.
In their last game, South Florida beat, and I mean beat Central Florida 99-71. They had 3 players scoring more than 20 points, including 28 points by the dynamic Cortney Williams.
In their last game, South Florida beat, and I mean beat Central Florida 99-71. They had 3 players scoring more than 20 points, including 28 points by the dynamic Cortney Williams.
In the first matchup, UConn's defense just took South Florida out of their offense. Williams scored her 23 points but it took 25 shots to do it. Stokes and Stewart dominated the paint and USF just couldn't stop UConn on the offensive end.
UConn Starters
11 Kia Nurse 6' Freshman Guard
Nurse had 8 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals in 25 minutes in the first game against USF.
Stats before the first matchup: MPG 24.8, FG% .563, 3PT% .491, PPG 12.8, RPG 3.4, APG 3.1, 28 steals, 0 blocks
Stats before the this matchup: MPG 24.9, FG% .507, 3PT% .419, PPG 10.9, RPG 3.4, APG 3.1, 46 steals, 1 block
Jefferson had 15 points, 6 rebounds, 7 assists and 2 steals in 31 minutes in the first matchup against South Florida. She was 6-6 from the field and 2-2 on threes.
Stats before the first matchup: MPG 27.3, FG% .541, 3PT% .489, PPG 11.7, RPG 1.9, APG 5.0, 40 steals, 3 blocks
Stats before the this matchup: MPG 26.8, FG% .572, 3PT% .487, PPG 11.8, RPG 2.8, APG 4.7, 76 steals, 5 blocks
23 Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis 5'11" Senior Forward
KML scored 18 points on 4-8 shooting from behind the arc in 23 minutes to lead the team in scoring in the last USF game.
Stats before the first matchup: MPG 29.9, FG% .514, 3PT% .495, PPG 13.6, RPG 4.8, APG 2.8, 21 steals, 2 blocks
Stats before the this matchup: MPG 27.9, FG% .537, 3PT% .517, PPG 14.4, RPG 4.2, APG 2.8, 32 steals, 5 blocks
3 Morgan Tuck 6'2" Sophomore Forward
Tuck scored 15 points, grabbed 6 rebounds and blocked two shots in 29 minutes against USF in the first matchup.
Stats before the first matchup: MPG 25.5, FG% .586, 3PT% .194, PPG 14.8, RPG 5.0, APG 2.8, 11 steals, 5 blocks
Stats before the last matchup: MPG 24.1, FG% .570, 3PT% .241, PPG 13.3, RPG 5.2, APG 2.7, 24 steals, 10 blocks
30 Breanna Stewart 6'4" Junior Forward
Stewart had a double-double when she scored 17 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in 25 minutes against South Florida in the first matchup. She also added 5 blocks.
Stats before the first matchup: MPG 29.5, FG% .520, 3PT% .340, PPG 16.8, RPG 7.2, APG 3.1, 26 steals, 32 blocks
Stats before the first matchup: MPG 26.7, FG% .537, 3PT% .289, PPG 17.0, RPG 6.8, APG 3.1, 46 steals, 68 blocks
UConn Bench
Stokes grabbed 4 rebounds and blocked 7 shots in 16 minutes against USF in the first matchup. She struggled to score, going only 1-5 from the field.
Stats before the first matchup: MPG 20.2, FG% .531, 3PT% .500, PPG 5.6, RPG 8.0, APG 1.1, 10 steals, 66 blocks
Stats before the this matchup: MPG 19.9, FG% .518, 3PT% .500, PPG 4.8, RPG 7.5, APG 1.0, 17 steals, 124 blocks
Chong was 2-3 on threes scoring 6 points in 17 minutes in the first game against USF.
Stats before the first matchup: MPG 20.3, FG% .436, 3PT% .313, PPG 5.6, RPG 2.0, APG 1.6, 9 steals, 5 blocks
Stats before the this matchup: MPG 20.3, FG% .496, 3PT% .415, PPG 6.4, RPG 2.1, APG 2.2, 18 steals, 7 blocks
15 Gabby Williams 5'11" Freshman Guard
Williams snared 8 rebounds along with scoring 9 points in the first matchup against USF in 20 minutes.
Stats before the first matchup: MPG 15.3, FG% .617, 3PT% .000, PPG 7.8, RPG 5.9, APG 1.2, 20 steals, 7 blocks
Stats before the this matchup: MPG 16.9, FG% .636, 3PT% .000, PPG 9.1, RPG 6.4, APG 1.4, 41 steals, 13 blocks
Ekmark only saw 7 minutes in the first matchup with USF scoring 2 points.
Stats before the first matchup: MPG 12.7, FG% .214, 3PT% .200, PPG 1.3, RPG 1.3, APG 1.0, 4 steals, 0 blocks
Stats before the last matchup: MPG 11.9, FG% .333, 3PT% .281, PPG 2.4, RPG 1.6, APG .7, 6 steals, 0 blocks
UConn Complete Stats
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South Florida Starters
10 Courtney Williams 5'8" Junior Guard
Williams scored 23 points on 8-25 from the field against UConn in the first matchup. she played 38 minutes and was 3-5 on threes with no assists and two turnovers.
2014-15: MPG 32.2, FG% .416, 3PT% .393, PPG 20.4, RPG 8.1, APG 3.3, 49 steals, 27 blocks
24 Alisia Jenkins 6'1" Junior Forward
Jenkins really struggled offensively in the first UConn game in her 36 minutes. She was 0-4 from the field. But she did grab 8 rebounds and had 3 blocks.
2014-15: MPG 32.1, FG% .531, 3PT% .000, PPG 12.3, RPG 11.6, APG .7, 44 steals, 66 blocks
20 Laura Ferreira 5'11" Junior Forward
Ferreira really struggled against UConn in the first matchup in her 29 minutes. She was 2-10 from the field and 1-6 from beyond the arc. She scored 7 points and handed out two assists.
2014-15: MPG 25.6, FG% .345 3PT% .323, PPG 7.7, RPG 4.5, APG 1.0, 14 steals, 20 blocks
45 Katelyn Weber 6'5" Sophomore Center
Weber played 29 minutes against UConn and had a nice game. She was 4-8 from the field scoring 8 points and grabbing 6 rebounds along with one steal and one block.
2014-15: MPG 16.8, FG% .472, 3PT% .000, PPG 3.2, RPG 3.6 APG 0.0, 5 steals, 12 blocks
13 Laura Marcos Canedo 5'8" Sophomore Guard
Marcos Canedo was just coming back from injury the first time these two teams met and she played 9 ineffective minutes.
2014-15: MPG 13.2, FG% .371, 3PT% .091, PPG 1.5, RPG 1.1, APG 1.8, 2 steals, 2 block
South Florida Bench
3 Tamara Taylor 5'10" Senior Guard
Taylor played 15 minutes in the fist matchup. She was second in shots with 13. She only made three with two of those three-pointers. She scored 8 points and had 5 rebounds.
2014-15: MPG 15.9, FG% .407, 3PT% .376, PPG 8.1, RPG 2.6, APG .9, 17 steals, 2 blocks
15 Shavantae Naylor 5'9" Junior Forward
Naylor played only 3 minutes in the first UConn game.
2014-15: MPG 13.1, FG% .612, 3PT% .000, PPG 3.4, RPG 2.9, APG 0.1, 9 steals, 5 blocks
23 Shaleth Stringfield 5'6 Guard
Stringfield started in the first UConn game, playing 30 minutes. She was 0-8 from the field. She did hand out 4 assists.
2014-15: MPG 19.8, FG% .404, 3PT% .412, PPG 5.5, RPG 2.0, APG 2.2, 19 steals, 0 blocks
11 Ariadna Pujol 6'1" Sophomore Guard/Forward
Pujol played only 2 minutes in the first UConn game.
2014-15: MPG 9.4, FG% .364, 3PT% .333, PPG 3.1, RPG 3.9, APG 1.1, 3 steals, 4 blocks
Game Analysis
South Florida was led in the first UConn game by Courtney Williams, all AAC guard and one of the best in the country. She scored 23 points and they depend on her for so much. She leads the team in scoring, assists, steals and is second in rebounds. She has taken over 300 more shots than any other player on the team, close to one third of all their shots. As UConn found out in the first matchup, you really can't shut her down, but you can make her work really hard for her points.
Another problem for USF is their top two point guards have injury issues. Stringfield and Canedo still seem to be limited in minutes. USF also relies on 6'1" forward, Alisia Jenkins to hit the boards and hit them hard as she averages over 11 rebounds a game. She did manage 8 against UConn, but she was held scoreless in the first matchup. Laura Ferreira had a great game against UCF going 5-6 on threes. UConn will need to pay attention to her more than last time.
South Florida doesn't handle the ball very well. But they had only 11 turnovers the first time these two teams met. Over the course of the season they have 90 more TO's than assists. We will see how they do this time against UConn's pressure defense.
What USF brings is a tough and tenacious man-to-man pressure defense. They have done a great job shutting down the opposing offenses. They struggled stopping UConn in the previous matchup. Can they do better this time against UConn?
UConn has the top offense in the country. And the best defense. Against Memphis, they played some of the best man-to-man and matchup zone defense I have seen any UConn team play.
At home, USF might be able to keep UConn's scoring in the 70's. Their defense can be that good. And home court might be a difference maker in this game.
Another problem for USF is their top two point guards have injury issues. Stringfield and Canedo still seem to be limited in minutes. USF also relies on 6'1" forward, Alisia Jenkins to hit the boards and hit them hard as she averages over 11 rebounds a game. She did manage 8 against UConn, but she was held scoreless in the first matchup. Laura Ferreira had a great game against UCF going 5-6 on threes. UConn will need to pay attention to her more than last time.
South Florida doesn't handle the ball very well. But they had only 11 turnovers the first time these two teams met. Over the course of the season they have 90 more TO's than assists. We will see how they do this time against UConn's pressure defense.
What USF brings is a tough and tenacious man-to-man pressure defense. They have done a great job shutting down the opposing offenses. They struggled stopping UConn in the previous matchup. Can they do better this time against UConn?
UConn has the top offense in the country. And the best defense. Against Memphis, they played some of the best man-to-man and matchup zone defense I have seen any UConn team play.
At home, USF might be able to keep UConn's scoring in the 70's. Their defense can be that good. And home court might be a difference maker in this game.
Final Prediction
South Florida is too good a team to not play better this time at home. They are coming off a great game against Central Florida and have to be feeling pretty good about themselves. Can they keep UConn's runs to a minimum? Can they shoot a better percentage?
I'm not sure that South Florida keep it very close, but I can't see them losing as badly as they did in Storrs.
UConn by 25+
I'm not sure that South Florida keep it very close, but I can't see them losing as badly as they did in Storrs.
UConn by 25+
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