UConn @ Ohio State - Post Game Report






 

 

 

No. 1 UConn Huskies                           No. 7 Ohio State Buckeyes

100                                                                    56 

 

 Post Game report

When I was at the open practice Geno said "I keep hearing "how are we going to stop Ohio State?". They should be asking how are they going to stop us." Boy, was he ever right. My prediction of a 15-20 point win looks weak. I won't underestimate them again and I know their opponents won't either.

 

UConn shocked everyone, including the OSU coach, by starting out in a 3-2 zone. I'm pretty sure that the Buckeyes didn't practice against that defense much. UConn ran out to a quick 7-0 lead, fueled by a couple of Williams steals . After a Williams layup, UConn had a 14-4 lead and it looked to be the start of a runaway. OSU went on it's only run of the game, 9-0, to cut the lead to one, 14-13. UConn closed out the quarter on a 10-2 for a 24-13 lead.

 

The second quarter started innocently enough, with OSU outscoring UConn 3-2 after two minutes to close the gap to eight, 26-18. Then before you could blink, it was game over. UConn went on a 15-0 run to take a 41-18 lead and another 8-2 run to push the lead to 29. This 23-2 run was done over a five minute span. It was as devastating a 5 minutes against a top 10 team as you will ever see. At the half UConn had a 50-24 lead.

 

UConn started the 2nd half in their 1-2-2 zone again. The game got very physical in the third quarter with several hard fouls and lots of turnovers. Stewart committed a couple of fouls and had four with six minutes left in the quarter. She took a seat on the bench but it didn't matter. UConn went on a quick 7-0 and ended the quarter with a 74-45 lead. 

 

The fourth quarter was about UConn keeping the momentum going and not getting sloppy. They did a great job with that, with Stewart leading the way with nine points. UConn's defense stayed strong, holding the Buckeyes to 11 points for the quarter. It was great to see Chong make an appearance. Geno did say she was getting close to playing. Tierney Lawlor ended the scoring for UConn with a nice baseline jumper for the final 100-56 score.  

 

UConn hit 37 of 65 from the floor (56.9 percent). They outrebounded the Buckeyes 49-29. UConn held OSU to 33.8% on 23-69. They forced the Buckeyes an anemic 3-19 from beyond the arc. That is only 15.8%. Wow. It was total domination on both sides of the ball.

 

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 Game Quotes From Geno

 

 

On the final score of 100-56 - "We didn't expect the score to be that, I can tell you that. That never entered my mind." 

 

On Jefferson - "She's good, isn't she?"

 

"I thought we were amazing on defense. They might have made it (look) easy, but it isn't easy guarding those guys. I'm really happy and proud of them."

 

“We watch film just like everybody else watches film and we know South Carolina is a really good team and they are especially a good defensive team so when you see the score, when I saw it was 47-45 at halftime I shook my head and I said this is going to be hard. When we showed some of that stuff to our players, they got the message. They knew that these two guys could score a lot of points. Kelsey Mitchell getting those two fouls early probably put a little bit of a damper on her game.” 

 

  

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Game Quotes from Ohio State Coach Kevin McGuff

 

In losing their first two games to No. 1 UConn and No. 2 South Carolina - "One of two things is going to happen. We're going to sit around and sulk and pout about it, or we're going to say that's where we are and see where we need to get better and we're going to improve."

On Kelsey Mitchell being held to 8 points on 2-14 shooting - "She didn't have a great night but they did a great job defending her,".

"Some of the adversity we didn't react that well to. That's where we really need to get better."

"We got our (rear) kicked tonight. They were coached better. They played better. They were more prepared. They deserved to win by the margin they did."

“If you’re trying to be relevant, you have to play the best teams and get on TV. Even though it didn’t go our way, we had a great crowd and a lot of recruits here and we were on national TV against the best team in the country.”

 

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Player Evaluations 

Player of the Game - Moriah Jefferson

 

I don't know if it's possible that a player like Jefferson can be even faster and quicker but she sure looks it to me. It's almost like she disappears and rematerializes under the basket to make the layup. And if that isn't enough, she can hit the three and then drive for a quick pull-up jumper in the lane. It's almost unfair. Geno said Stewie will have to work hard for her POY award. Jefferson is going to give her a run for her money.

 

Jefferson impacted the game on both sides of the ball, with 2 steals and constant harassing of the ball. And her offensive output of 15 points in the first half led UConn. She ended up with 21 points, 4 assists, 2 steals and an unlikely 4 turnovers. If they had a category for tipped passes, Jefferson would be leading the NCAA's.   

 

If this is the Jefferson we will be seeing all year, UConn will be setting some records.  

 

"We just wanted to be more aggressive. We also knew those guys (Mitchell and Alston) were going to come out and want to take their shots. We just wanted to keep our hands up."

 

“It was a great team defense, everybody was switching onto those guys and were being active. I think if we can play like that all season, I think we will be fine. I don’t think people realize how much defense we do in practice, how hard our practices are so any time you can come out here and show what we have been doing in practice for however many weeks, I think it is good.”

 

 

 

 

Breanna Stewart

 



 After a slow start Stewie showed a national audience why she is the best player in the country. She was an intimidating force on defense, ran the court like a gazelle, and scored in a variety of ways. I loved her 7-8 from the free throw line. She had a complete line with 24 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 blocks. All in only 25 minutes.

 

She also looks like she is very vocal out there, directing the post players. You can see it in the picture I posted near the top of the blog.   

 

"We were extremely motivated this week about that. We knew exactly what we wanted to do. We wanted to make them uncomfortable and make them take really tough shots, and that's what happened."

 

"The fouls? Sometimes that's just way things get called,"  

 

 

 Morgan Tuck

 

 Diving on the floor, knee brace and all, Morgan looked great in this game. She did miss a few posts shots she normally makes,  missed a few free throws,  but her overall game was terrific. Tuck looked great making her two three point shots. I predicted she would shoot over 30% this year. She is capable of close to 40%. What a huge asset for UConn. She ended up with 15 points and 9 rebounds. Most encouraging was that she played 34 minutes.  

 

Kia Nurse

 I loved the Kia Nurse we saw tonight. SO strong to the basket, bringing her Canadian team moxie back to UConn. When she plays that hard, she is impossible to stop. Her aggressiveness went a long way in taking Mitchell and Alston out of the game early. She got to the line early and often. She was a little sloppy with the ball on occasion with four turnovers, but we can chalk that up to being early in the season. She went 2-4 from beyond the arc helping her score her 16 points.

 

  Gabby Williams

  

 I thought she was superstar in the making. I'm beginning to think she is already there. What a great game for Williams. Her four steals were important in setting an early pace for the Huskies. I loved the play where she ripped an offensive rebound (See picture above) from the Ohio State player like someone was stealing something from her.

One change I noticed was her ability to find the open player when she had the ball in the post. Much more aware of what is going on around her. Another was her terrific outlet passes after her strong offensive rebounds.  She also put up a left handed hook that missed, but I loved that she took it. Her 10 points and 11 rebounds is just the start for this double-double machine.

Williams - "It wasn't just about setting the tone for the game and the season. We know everyone is watching us right now. We wanted to give them a show."

Chris Dailey - "Gabby is in better shape this year and she's starting to understand things (a point I made) and she worked really hard. Putting her on the wing from defensively puts a lot of pressure on the other team and by end of year she has the chance to be one of our best defenders inside and out."

Katie Lou Samuelson

 

 Sorry, no pictures from her action in this game. Lou had a non-descript game. She missed her two three-pointers. They were wide open and eventually she will start hitting them. She did play good defense and her rebounding was solid. More good stuff to come for Katie Lou! 

 

Napheesha Collier

 Collier had a solid debut for UConn. In 16 minutes, she scored 8 points, grabbed 5 rebounds added 3 steals. She just seemed to be in the right place at the right time. She did misplay the ball after making a steal when she tried to lead the break, but other than that, she looked real comfortable. Her play allowed Geno to rest Stewart.

Courtney Ekmark

 

Ekmark looked pretty good in her 9 minutes. She still struggles with keeping quicker players in front of her when she is defending but she hustled the entire time she was in the game, grabbed a nice offensive rebound and putback for her only points and didn't look lost in the offense as she did some times last year. It was good to see her play more than just obligatory minutes in this game.  

 

 

Sanyia Chong

 

 I was surprised to see Geno standing in front of Chong when she was sitting on the bench. He was talking to her seriously, seemingly asking if she was ready to play. It was great to see her on the court, looking no worse for wear. I can't wait to see her get some extended minutes in the next game so we can judge how much she has progressed from last season. 

 

TIerney Lawlor

 

Tierney got her end of game play, and in no shock to anyone, buried a short open jumper to give UConn 100 points for the game. I have no doubt she could play for many Div I teams in the country.  

 

Final Thoughts

 

Chris Dailey - "It was a great start to the season. You never know what to expect in the first game especially in this environment against a ranked team.  They jumped on them early and kept their composure except for a few spots in the game. They played great defense on their guards and our guards were able to attack. We're most pleased with defensive job we did.  We didn't get caught up in their pace.  We did a great job defensively but were still able to play at our pace."

 

Hey, when Chris is happy, I'm happy!!

 

It's hard to put into perspective how dominating UConn was. Sure, they have beaten teams by bigger margins. But to beat the 7th ranked team in their house in UConn's first game of the season is a different story. The Buckeyes just came off a great effort on the road against the 2nd ranked team, so it's not like OSU was over-ranked.

 

The scary thing for the rest of WCBB is that this UConn team will get even better. They will add a 6'5" center, a 6'2" freshman forward and a solid backup combo guard to the mix. I really believe this could be the best WCBB team of all time. I know, crazy to say after one game, but it is what it is. An amazingly talented team coached by the best coaching staff in the country.

 

Enjoy the ride UConn fans. You won't see one like this again in a while.