Doggydaddy's Den: UConn/Maryland Final Four Semi-Final Post game report

Final Four Semi-Final Game

UCONN 81 MARYLAND 58

Post game report

It's not easy to write about this game with the Notre Dame game on the horizon. It seemed like it was just a formality that had to be done before you can move on to the main course.

It was a typical start for this UConn team after a week off. A slowish on both ends of the court. There was a lot of back and forth early in this game, but the fact is Maryland had one lead, 7-6 at the three minute mark and eventually it was just like every other game (sans Stanford) that UConn has played.

UConn stretched out the lead to six but Maryland kept it close and it was a three point lead for UConn 22-19 with 9 minutes left in the half. UConn went on another mini-run, moving the lead to 10 points. Maryland got as close as six points. They played hard and it paid off in preventing UConn from blowing them out early. Tuck scored the last five points of the half to put UConn's lead to 11 points.

The big three of Jefferson, Tuck and Stewart carried the day as KML was way off on her long distance shooting in the first half. As Doris Burke said multiple times, Tuck should have been an all-American. There is no doubt she is one of the best ten players in WCBB.

UConn scored the first nine points of the second half, pushing the lead to 20. Again Maryland battled hard and cut the lead to 14 with 11 minutes left in the game. But it never got any closer, as UConn ground out the rest of the game, slowly building the lead up to 25 before wining by the final margin of 23 points. My 30 point prediction wasn't that far off considering the cold shooting by KML.

This game was not UConn's best. They seemed a little off. They didn't have a ton of turnovers, but the kind of turnovers they did have were just ugly giveaways. Mental mistakes that I'm sure Geno will point out to them between now and the championship game. UConn can't afford those against a team as good as Notre Dame.

Looks like Tuck and Stewart are building their resume for MOP if UConn can get by Notre Dame on Tuesday. They both had terrific games.

I'll have my UConn/Notre Dame Pregame Report out as soon as I can.

Box Score Link

Game Quotes

Coach Geno Auriemma

"Every time we play Notre Dame, it's something. I just have a lot of respect for what they've been able to do. They've got a heck of a team and their team has gotten a lot better as the season has gone on. Jewell's a great player, obviously, but all their other players have gotten significantly better since the beginning of the season."

"I think the biggest thing against Maryland is they can break you down with their guard play, and then they're so big inside. If you make a mistake on their guards, you've got the big guys to deal with. We needed to try and make sure that we only gave up one thing, that we didn't give up both. So we tried to concentrate on taking away their 3s, which they're really good at. And then try to create some mismatches on this end with Tuck and Stewie because I thought that's where we had the advantage."

"These guys are great to coach. You give them a game plan and they followed it."

Coach Brenda Freese

"Tuck was a big time X-factor for them tonight. The stat line of Kaleena, she hits one three but gives seven assists. goes into facilitator, get everyone else going."

"I'm proud of our fight , Like I told the team in the locker room, look at a season and go 34-3 and look two of the three losses coming from teams playing for the national championship. That's a heck of a season."

"The next progression is where Notre Dame's gotten themselves to. That's the next step for us. Consistency factor was the key to getting back to back. I'm really excited when you talk about our future. We're graduating one senior and to have the sophomore class come back, I'm really excited."

"I'm speechless when I talk about Laurin. Everything she's contributed over the years. ... It's the last game for her and hurts my heart."

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Player evaluations

Co-Player of the Game

Morgan Tuck

It's hard to believe but Morgan is getting better and better as the tournament progresses. A few of her drives to the basket were quicker than she has been all season. I loved the hard drive between two Maryland players (see the above picture). One had their hand on the ball, but Morgan is so strong she just plowed through the defense. She now has the complete game. Amazing in the post, ability to drive the lane and finish and now, she is almost 50% on threes over the last 11 games. That is not a fluke, my friends. Here is my first prediction for 2015-16. Tuck will shoot over 40% on threes next season.

Co-Player of the Game

Breanna Stewart

Ho hum, another 25 point game for Stewart. I love how she is getting to the line so often. It's clear that fouling her is the only way to stop her once she gets the ball near the basket. The problem for the opponents is she is hitting 85% going 22-26 in the last 3 games. That is almost 9 FT's per game. For the tournament, she is shooting over 40% on threes. And she has 15 blocks. It's her time of year and I'm sure she is priming herself for a big game in the championship game.

Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis

Well, you can't be great every game. As least when if comes to shooting the ball. KML had a tough outing, going 1-5 on three's and 1-8 overall. But you can look at the numbers and know that she knew she was off so she focused on other things. Her passing was out of this world. It wasn't just that she had 7 assists. They were all really nice assists. She has a great feel for the game and even if she struggles at times keeping the player with the ball in front of her when she is playing defense, she is not nearly as bad as some like to point out. She did a great job covering Walker-Kimbrough for most of the game, holding her to six points on 3-8 shooting. I have a feeling she will shoot a little better against Notre Dame.

Moriah Jefferson

What a terrific first half. In the first two minutes she had three assists and a steal. She had nine points in 8 minutes to start the game. In doing so, she set up the inside game by keeping the guards away from double teaming Stewart and Tuck in the paint. She had five assists and only one turnover while scoring 14 points. Her defense on Mincy was critical in UConn's win. Another great game for the best point guard in the country.

Kia Nurse

Nurse hit her first three again. I just find it amazing how she has done that so many times this season. But it wasn't her offense that was her main contribution to this game. She did a really nice job defending Brown, holding her to 12 points. She played her usual intense game and those were important 26 minutes. She is going to need to carry that to the championship game when she starts out guarding Loyd.

Kiah Stokes

Stokes had a terrific 18 minutes. She finished when she got the ball in the paint, going 3-3 from the field. She was able to grab six rebounds and she had two blocks and intimidated a few other shots. She is finishing her senior season in fine fashion.

Gabby Williams

It was a quick 6 minutes and at least it got her feet wet in the final four. You never know when you need her to play more minutes. She looked more confident out there in a tough environment.

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(pictures from the Hartford Courant, UConnhuskies.com)