Monday, November 30, 2015

DoggyDaddy's Dailies 12/1/15


  • Links to everything about UConn women
  • Links to every top 25 score and game recap
  • Links to every AAC score and game recap
  • A list of top performers (Either 20+ points, a double/double or whatever I feel like) 
  • Links to everything you need to find out about a team, a player, every statistic you can think 
  • Links to every relevant WCBB message boards
  • Links to every ranking, rating, SOS, RPI sites 
  • Links to other great Blogs 
*******************************************************************************
Great game by UConn Monday Night. They destroyed Chattanooga 79-31.

 Here is my Post Game Report  

*********************************************************************************
My friend Cat put this together from the Chris Daily post game interview.

We really played well defensively.  We did a great job of limiting touches.  Chattanooga plays like old Villanova teams, only more aggressive, running the shot clock down, want to shorten the game make us defend.  In the first half we got caught with some back-cuts but made some great adjustments.
 
Napheesa is like a magnet, ball just goes to her.  Sometimes it's a conscious effort and she's in the right place, but sometimes she doesn't have any idea where she is but just gets the ball. She did a great job on the backboard as did Gabby.  
 
Other bench players put points on the board, got some good shots and understood what we were trying to do.  Lou played well, didn't shoot well.   Making shots is not a sign of playing well.  With each game we're getting a better sense what we'll get from each player.
 
On Lou's rebound in 3rd quarter to get Stewie a basket, we've seen that in spurts but we need to see more battling like that.  We're a smaller team and we need to be able to battle on the backboards.  .
 
Moriah's turnovers -- Moriah said 2 walks weren't travels,  but she needs to be careful where she puts the ball.  I don't expect many 6-turnover games.
 
Will eat at a good Chicago steak place.
 
A great crowd tonight.  A good environment to play in; with crowd like that we don't need to create own energy.   Some players' family at the game, Gabby's father, Moriah's family, Napheesa's Mom.
 
Expect a good crowd in Chicago, including some family.  Lou's mother and sister (assume Bonnie) will be there.

     *********************************************************************************

More stats from my buddie David in Naples.

The Lady Mocs from Chattanooga almost beat Tennessee last week, finally losing by 2 pts. They are a decent team. But tonight was a beat down for the ages. Here's just some of the evidence.
1. UConn held Chattanooga to 11 pts in he first period. It got worse. The Mocs scored 5 pts in the third and were absolutely smothered in the last 10 minutes, scoring just 3 points. It was a defensive clinic..!!
2. Just Gabby, Katie Lou, Napheesa and Saniya out scored Chattanooga 32-31. They didn't need the other 4 starters' 47 pts.
3. Chattanooga had more turnovers (20) than baskets (13). They missed 40 of their 53 shots. Their 13 baskets were less than UConn's 14 steals.
4. UConn went 2-11 from three pt range and still shot 55.4% from the field. UConn had 23 assists on 31 baskets. The Mocs had 4 assists.
5. MoJeff went 5-5 from the field and 4-4 from free throw line to lead the scoring with 15 pts. Chattanooga's leading scorer had 8 pts on 13 shots. UConn had six players score 8 or more points.
6. Napheesa Collier had 6 steals, while the Lady MocS team had 4. Collier also had 12 rebounds, 8 pts, 1 block and 1 assist.
7. Gabby had her 8th double-double with 14 pts and 12 rebounds. She also had 4 assists, a steal and a block.
8. UConn out scored Chattanooga 42-8 in the 2nd half with the starters playing very limited minutes.
9. UConn had more offensive rebounds (12) than personal fouls (8). UConn made 15-18 free throws, the Mocs made 1 free throw.
10. Stewie was Stewie with 14 pts, 4 rebounds, 4 blocks, 3 assists, 2 steals, 1 turnover and a partridge in a pear tree.

*********************************************************************************
 
So, without further ado!!!  

      
Ladies and Gents, DD looks at the news........

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
  

Upsets in Red

Only the UConn game







 Only the UConn game
 
Thanks to Johnny C for sending me many of these numbers!!! 
 

 
 *******************************************  









Rankings and RPI Sites
 







 

 



Message Boards
 

UConn Territory - The best UConn women's message board ever!!! 

College Fans Only - WCBB board where no holds are barred

Vol Nation - Tennessee women's basketball board     

ND Nation - Notre Dame women's basketball board

Rebkell - WCBB for everyone that thinks they are smarter than everyone else

 

Videos
 





 

Interesting Blogs and Links

 Women's Hoops Blog By ThisJustIn
 

John Altavilla's blog, Hartford Courant
 
Jim Fuller's blog, New Haven Register

A Dime Back - A great web site for all UConn Sports, Including UConn Women
 

 

I'm always open for suggestions. Just please reply to this blog or email me at:

DoggyDaddy's UConn@Chattanooga Post Game Report

 



 
 

 





No. 1 UConn Huskies                                             Chattanooga

79                                                                       31 
 
 Post Game report


As a fan, sometimes I tend to get fixated on offense. We love to see fast breaks, three pointers, great passes. The team was averaging ninety five ppg coming into this game, so we know they can score. Tonight they reminded us that they are not only the best offense in the country, they are the best defense in the country.
 
UConn turned the ball over on their first possession (is it a possession?) when Stewart slapped the opening tip out of bounds. As with every game so far, UConn got off to a slow start. The defense was not tight, allowing a couple of UTC drives to the basket. They also had a couple of sloppy turnovers in the first three minutes. After UConn took a 10-6 lead with four minutes left, the turnover bug bit two more times. Gilbert hit a jumper at the buzzer after one TO to close the gap to two. UConn closed the first quarter on an 8-3 run to take a 19-11 lead.
 
UConn started out quickly in the 2nd quarter, outscoring the Mocs 10-2. Jefferson hit the exclamation three pointer to end that run forcing Foster to call a timeout. In the middle of that run was a great left handed layup by Collier, starting her drive from behind the three point line. She is special. Over the next two minutes neither team could by a basket until UTC's Payne his a jumper at the four minute mark. At that point, UConn went on another run taking a twenty point lead 37-17 on a nice drive to the basket by Jefferson.  UConn then went cold over the last two minutes of the half, missing three shots and turning the ball over once. Chattanooga took advantage of that play to hit two three-pointers to close the gap to 37-23 at the half.
 
Not the best half by UConn offensively with nine turnovers, three by Jefferson. But outside of the two three-pointers to end the half, they played really good defense. That was only the beginning.
 
To start the third quarter, Chattanooga's Queen Alford hit a three to make it a 9-0 and close the gap to eleven at 37-26. And then it happened. It seems I type that phrase every game. UConn went on a 16-0 run, scoring in every way imaginable. And at the same time, playing ferocious shutdown defense. Sydney Vanlandingham made a layup to stop the run, but UConn finished the third quarter 7-0 and a 60-28 lead. UConn won that quarter 23-5. 
 
And then it happened. Yes, I'm saying that twice. UConn went on a 19-1 run to start the second half to take a 79-29 lead with 3:16 left in the half. And all scored by the bench. UConn then went scoreless while Chattanooga scored a basket with 1:29 left for the final margin of 79-31. 
 
The numbers are mind boggling. Chattanooga is not a bad team. But they were just dismantled in the second half. They only managed one three pointer, one layup, one jumper and one free throw over the last ten minutes. After Alfords three pointer, UConn outscored them 42-5 the rest of the game.  And there was one point where UConn outscored them 26-1. 
 
I'll say it now. This is the best UConn defense I have ever seen. Their pressure on the ball is tremendous, their switching is so well done, you would swear there was seven players for UConn guarding five. They held Chattanooga to 2-23 shooting in the second half and 24.5% overall. They forced the Lady Mocs into a 1-12 three point shooting performance in the second half.     
 
As much as defense was the story, the offense still shot 55% and assisted on 23 of the 31 baskets. All very good numbers. This team has some of the best chemistry on both offense and defense that I have ever seen in a UConn uniform. And they showed that in this game.  
               
 
******************************************************************************
  Game Quotes From Geno
 
"We had a pretty good idea this wasn't going to be a run-up-the floor game and score 100 easy. That's not how Jim plays. We knew it was going to be a different game, grind it out one possession at a time. And the first 20 minutes it was exactly that. But in the second half, we just have so much more depth and we wore them down."

''I remember when I was early in my career at Connecticut and Jim was at Vanderbilt. 'Honest to God, it crossed my mind (that) we were in a game like this with them, but it was reversed. We couldn't get any offense going, and they pretty much did whatever they wanted. I do remember it kind of flashed across my mind. I've been there. It's not a fun place to be.''

On strong defensive performance."Our players knew what we were in for coming here. We knew that we were going to have to defend it for 30 seconds, not 10. There's a lot of different styles of play. You play Ohio State and you run back on defense and you hope you get back in time before they shoot it. You don't even have to get in your stance sometimes because those shots are going up and already here. We knew that we needed to get in our stance, and we needed to guard them.

"This team responds well to different types of challenges, and tonight was really, really good. I told them I was really proud of them tonight."

Was it your defense that made such an impact in the game?
"That first half it seemed like every time we made a mistake, every time we were a little bit late getting where we were supposed to get to, they knocked in a shot. When the one kid banked the one in, you come to expect that. They were able to keep their composure for much of the first half, and that's a big thing.

"When we play teams we have a tendency to take them out of their comfort zone and that happened in the third quarter. It happened more by how quickly we were scoring. Because we were scoring so quickly, that puts pressure on the other team to have to hurry up and come down and score. I don't know if it was our defense but certainly our offense made the game quicker."

On team's strengths.
"We've always prided ourselves on No. 1 conditioning. We want to be the best conditioned team in the country. No. 2 we want to play a game where it's difficult to know what we're going to do because we do it so quickly. We're trying to play quick enough that we're going to do things that aren't on the scouting report and our two guards are really good at that."


 *****************************************************************

Game Quotes from Chattanooga Coach Jim Foster 
 
''The intensity and attention to detail that they play with, as a coach, it's refreshing to watch,'' Foster said. ''In this day and age of dribble-drive and `I want to get my own,' it's kind of refreshing, whether it's the Golden State Warriors or Connecticut women's basketball, there are some teams playing basketball the way you'd like to see it played.''  

Did UConn's pressure push you all out farther in the court than you would have like?"Not really. We like the be farther out in the court, it's the attentiveness of handling the ball that we didn't like or the not moving to bring them out in the space of the floor. If you move the ball you're going to get some opportunities. I thought we did a fair job in the first half. In the second half we just stopped."

What was the goal for the second half?
"I was talking more about how we can get a little bit better not goals at that point."

"We stopped moving the ball. We were very tentative. We threw the ball ahead of one of our players three times and being guarded by a post player we had numbers and she didn't attack that wasn't aggressive. We talk over and over again about some things."

"When you play a team at this level you practice every day and you talk about what you need to do to be successful against a team at this level. But then when you get into the game we regressed. Our point guard, she has a great pull up jump shot but she wants to shoot a floater or she wants to attack the basket."

"You're not going to attack the basket against this team from the side. It's just not going to happen. They rotate, their disciplined, they're very good defensively. But there's a space in between where you have the opportunity to pull up and make a shot. Talk about it and it think the reality of it, I would think that she would be smart enough that she would be in the gym the next time we get in the gym and I'll walk in and she's working on it, that concept. Because now there's a vivid picture that's painted."

"I'm going to put these guys over here and say their the exception. They're  the best basketball program that Women's basketball has ever seen.  That's a team that has the chance to win four national championships and they take great pride in it. At the end of the game, I'm watching some things, our little guard who's getting some shots off of AC, and they have a kid number  22 , doesn't play a whole lot."

"But AC gets open and that kid closed down and came as hard as you can, their up fifty, and she put a hand, she got there.  A hand in the face. Players shoot a lot lower percentage when a hand is in their face. In the NBA, and in college. An when you're up fifty and it's important to you to get a hand in their face, that's impressive."

On their defense in the second half…
"It's going to take an effort that no one has yet in their game. Now in the involvement of a team through the months of December, January, February, and March maybe someone will evolve. The intensity and the intention to detail that they play with, as a coach, it's refreshing to watch."

"In this day in age of dribble drive I want to get my own. It's kind of refreshing when it's the Golden State Warriors or Connecticut Women's Basketball or some teams that are playing basketball the way I like to see it play. Not only Geno but just the players and the understanding of what being on a team really means."

What did you see from your team tonight?
"I thought they played hard, I don't think we played necessarily smart but I thought we played hard. First half especially."


*****************************************************************

Player Evaluations 
 
 Breanna Stewart 
  
 Geno wanted the team to get Stewart the ball more, but she did well with the touches she had. She missed her only three but was 5-7 on her other shots. She ended up with a terrific line with 14 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists 2 steals and 4 blocks. That gave put her in the 300 block club for UConn. With more to come.

''We were able to keep running - and they got tired. I think that just has to do with our stamina and endurance throughout the game.''
 
Moriah Jefferson
 
Jefferson played a great game, well....until you look at the turnover column in the box score. While she had 15 points, 4 assists and 4 steals, the six turnovers are probably really grating on her. She showed her usual quickness to the basket and defensively was a PITA for the Lady Mocs. She didn't miss a shot going 5-5 from the field, 1-1 on threes and 4-4 from the foul line.      
 
"The defensive effort was extra special. We were really playing at a fast pace, getting up into [their faces]. And in the start, before our offense got moving, it was a defensive game. Everyone was trying to get stops."
 
"Every time someone got beat on defense, someone else was there [to cover]".
 
 Morgan Tuck
 
I thought Tuck looked great in this game. She was moving quickly around the basket especially on a great baseline drive she took. She missed her two three point shots. She scored 10 points and added 4 rebounds and 2 assists. She really clogged the lane on defense. She is due for one of her paint dominating performances soon. Look for it.

  
Kia Nurse
It was another kinda quiet offensive game for Nurse. Only 8 points, but mostly on her usual tough drives to the basket. Her defense was not quiet. She has mastered the UConn switching defense. She sprints to the open player, getting there more often than not as the pass is arriving to that player. Defensive effort never takes a night off for this young woman.

 
  Gabby Williams
 
Gabby had another double-double but what I loved was her mid-range jumper that was nothing but net midway though the fourth quarter. She did her usual damage on the boards and was a menace on defense. And after a scoreless first half she scored 14 points in the second half to add to her 12 rebounds for the game for her three double-doubles in four games. I guess my jinx from my last blog has worn off. It took a game and a half but she played like a superstar in the second half.  
 
"It was also a point of taking time to find our offense. Usually we run our offense first and the defense follows."
 
On her double-doubles - "I'm going to keep trying to get them,".   
 

Katie Lou Samuelson
 
First of all, just take a look at her upper body in this shot. I had heard that she was thin and had to get in the weight room. Looks like she has.

While this game wasn't as impressive for KLS as the Nebraska game, I loved how she played. She was aggressive on offense and played some really tough defense. She was quick to switch and her long arms made it difficult for the UTC players. She only went 1-5 on threes, but they were great looks. She added 4 rebounds and 4 assists to her 5 points and several of those passes were terrific. A nice follow up game that should continue to add to her confidence.      

 
Napheesa Collier
  
This young woman has the game of a much experienced player. Her rebounding is impressive but it's her smarts that get your attention. In this game she made her mark on the defensive end with six steals. She scored 8 points and grabbed 12 rebounds.     
 
Sanyia Chong
 
Chong played a solid 21 minutes scoring 5 points while handing out an assists. While her offense numbers were not impressive, she played excellent defense and terrific team ball. It's great to have her back. 
 
 
Courtney Ekmark
 
Courtney had a quiet 11 minutes, but she continues to play within the offense, makes excellent decisions and looks like she belongs out there. I believe that is what Geno is telling her here.
  
 
 
I found this picture after I used the other picture. She looks better in this one! 
 
 
 
Final Thoughts
 
UConn has a game Wednesday at No. 23 DePaul with another old friend, Doug Bruno and then another game on Saturday in their Gample opener against No. 3 Notre Dame.  
 
DePaul just entered the top twenty five but have played UConn tough in the past, especially at home.
 
Notre Dame might be without Briana Turner,  their star sophomore forward, who reinjured her shoulder, the same one that kept her out several games last season.
 
More on both of these games later this week.   

DoggyDaddy's Dailies 11/30/15


  • Links to everything about UConn women
  • Links to every top 25 score and game recap
  • Links to every AAC score and game recap
  • A list of top performers (Either 20+ points, a double/double or whatever I feel like) 
  • Links to everything you need to find out about a team, a player, every statistic you can think 
  • Links to every relevant WCBB message boards
  • Links to every ranking, rating, SOS, RPI sites 
  • Links to other great Blogs 
*******************************************************************************
If you haven't seen it, here is my UConn - Nebraska Post Game Report


*********************************************************************************

What an interesting game Sunday between the Tennessee Lady Vols and the Texas Longhorn. I'm pretty sure that this game proved what Geno said at the open practice I attended.
 
"The difference between the men and women's game is that the men make layups"

Now, I've seen plenty of guys miss layups in the college game. But....never like this game. To tell you the truth, for much of the game, it looked like a CYO or JCC game in Anytown, USA.

A few observations:

-Texas looks pretty much like the team UConn beat by 50 last year.

-Mercedes Russell can only post up much shorter players. She really struggled against the Boyette, Lang duo, going 2-8 from the field and 2-4 from the line scoring 6 points and grabbing 7 rebounds and 5 turnovers. I hope Tennessee fans aren't thinking she is the answer. I was a little shocked by her post game comment "I thought we played great". Huh?

-Deshields is still a little hobbled but she doesn't let it impact her showboating. She will always make the fancy pass when an easy one would do. Deshields took 22 shots for the game. That is almost one third of the 69 for the team. Tennessee was fortunate that she hit a higher percentage than she usually does.

-Warlick is clueless. I mean really clueless. And her players know it. You can see the looks on their faces as she tells them "it's a great opportunity for us, there is a big crowd, they expect you to give everything, I expect you to give everything, you should expect that, you should expect it.....it's time we go....we step up and fight"....Blank, disinterested and uninspired. Maybe she should have told them to make some baskets.

-The Texas freshman Lashaan Higgs is quick and dangerous.

-There were more shots that missed the rim entirely that I have seen in a long time.

-Linnae Harper, Kentucky transfer, was there to visit Tennessee. Do you think she went right home after the game without saying goodbye? Maybe ran????

-Terrible head to head collision between Jones and Cooper for Tennessee with Jones getting the worst of it. She was out for most of last season with concussion symptoms. Don't expect her back soon.

-Texas hit only 59% of their foul shots. The game should have been a blowout if they hit a reasonable amount of free throws.

-Did I mention that Warlick is clueless? In her post game she said "they weren't ballin'" What the hell does that mean? Then she said after talking about big shots by Texas "it kinda inflated our bubble". Oy.

I can't talk about this game without mentioning what a dummy Carolyn Peck is.
    
*********************************************************************************

Tough day for the AAC. No. 18 South Florida was beaten by St. Johns 74-70. St. Johns is always a tough team but this was not a good loss for USF. AAC was 1-4 on the day.

*********************************************************************************

In a rematch of the sweet 16 game I watched in Albany, Dayton beat No. Louisville again 79-66. Louisville is now 1-4 on the season. They should have been out of the top 25 last week but they will definitely be gone after the next polls are released.
 
 *********************************************************************************

In another uninspired performance, No. 2 South Carolina defeated Hawaii 67-51. They were led by A'ja Wilson, who scored 18 points, Tiffany Mitchell with 14, Bianca Cuevas with 13 and Khadijah Sessions with 11. That's 56 points for those 4 players. The other six players were 3-13 from the field, 0-4 on threes, scoring 11 points with 10 rebounds. You can play a lot of players, but if they don't produce, they are just hurting the team.
 
What has happened to Sarah Imovbioh, the senior transfer from Virginia. She was expected to fill the void left with the graduation of Welch. But she is only playing 16 mpg and averaging 6.3 points and 7.3 rebounds.
 
Their other preseason front line impact player was supposed to be Jatari White, the highly rated player from the 2014 HS class who suffered though an injury filled freshman season. She was supposed to bring an inside outside presence even hitting a three in preseason. But she is only playing 13.5 mpg and is shooting 29% from the field. Her scoring average is a paltry 2.7 ppg. I'm sure Staley was expecting more.          


*********************************************************************************
 
So, without further ado!!!  

      
Ladies and Gents, DD looks at the news........

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  

Upsets in Red


2 South Carolina Hawaii

No. 4 Lady Vols lose 64-53 to No. 8 Texas, ending streak USA Today
Women's college basketball: No. 8 Texas upsets No. 4 Tennessee Dallas News
No. 8 Women's Basketball knocks off No. 4 Tennessee, 64-53 Texas Team Site
Postgame Notes: #8 Texas 64, #4/5 Lady Vols 53 UT Sports

No. 8 Mississippi St. Beats Savannah St. 92-25 ABC News

No. 12 Kentucky Women Cruise Past Jackson State 92-24 ABC News

Purdue drops tournament championship to No. 13 Stanford The Exponent

Dornstauder Leads No. 16 Arizona St. Past Bakersfield 60-47 ABC News

Grant Leads St. John's to 74-70 Win Over South Florida NY Times

Dayton Upsets No. 22 Louisville at Gulf Coast Showcase 79-66 ABC News





Tulsa women lose by one to George Mason in Las Vegas Tulsa World

Comeback Comes Up Short as Southern Illinois women fall to Memphis, 61-58 Salikis

UCF Bows to Butler UCF Team Site

Late Saint Joseph's Surge Dooms Temple Women's Basketball Owl Sports

Grant Leads St. John's to 74-70 Win Over South Florida NY Times
 
 
Thanks to Johnny C for sending me many of these numbers!!! 
 
 Diamond Deshields Tennessee 24 points 11 rebounds
 Victoria Vivians Mississippi State 27 points
Evelyn Akhator Kentucky 20 points 13 rebounds
Courtney Williams USF 28 points
Danaejah Grant St. Johns 27 points
Aliyyah Handford St. Johns 23 points
Amber Deane Dayton 29 points
Mariya Moore Louisville 23 points
Myisha Hines-Allen Louisville 20 points
Joanna Smith Buffalo 26 points
Micahya Owens LaSalle 23 points
Jasmine Nwajei Wagner 20 points
Michelle Holmes American 22 points
Shelby Cheslek Gonzaga 16 points 11 rebounds
Nicole Bauman Wisconsin 24 points
Cheyenne Hendrington Grand Canyon 26 points
Sam Lapszynski Niagara 27 points
Taylor Williams Manhattan 25 points
Ciara Andrews St. Joseph's 27 points
TaQuandra Mike Wichita St. 28 points
Morgan William Miss St. 11 assists
Sajanna Betheae St. Peter's 20 points 10 rebounds
Makala Roper UC Santa Barbara 27 points
 
 *******************************************  









Rankings and RPI Sites
 







 

 



Message Boards
 

UConn Territory - The best UConn women's message board ever!!! 

College Fans Only - WCBB board where no holds are barred

Vol Nation - Tennessee women's basketball board     

ND Nation - Notre Dame women's basketball board

Rebkell - WCBB for everyone that thinks they are smarter than everyone else

 

Videos
 





 

Interesting Blogs and Links

 Women's Hoops Blog By ThisJustIn
 

John Altavilla's blog, Hartford Courant
 
Jim Fuller's blog, New Haven Register

A Dime Back - A great web site for all UConn Sports, Including UConn Women
 

 

I'm always open for suggestions. Just please reply to this blog or email me at: