UConn 98 Vanguard 18
Post Game report
I didn't make it to the game, but I did spring for the $9.99 to watch the game so I can bring you my post game report. Donations would be appreciated!!
It was great to see the 2015 banner up in the Gampel rafters!
This is the game that had several rule changes as an experiment for WCBB to see how these changes impact the game. In case you didn't know what they were, here they are:
1st Quarter
Geno made the change that most fans thought he would. Gabby Williams started and Katie Lou was moved to the bench. After Williams great game in the first exhibition, it made a lot of sense. The rest of the starting lineup stayed the same. And as I suggested, Tuck was wearing her knee brace again.
The first thing that stood out early was Gabby William's improved play. She took two early free throws that just tickled the net as they went through. What a difference a year makes.
Terrific interior passing early pushed UConn to a 12-2 lead early. Vanguard struggled with UConn's pressure and the Huskies took advantage of the Lion mistakes.
The first sub in was Katie Lou but it was interesting that Geno subbed her in for Jefferson, giving UConn a very big backcourt with the 6'3 Samuelson and 6' Nurse. Lou didn't waste time in putting up two threes in the first 30 seconds she was in. Unfortunately, she missed them both.
Jefferson quickly came back in for Williams, who had a great 1st quarter with 8 points. And Collier made her first appearance in subbing for Tuck. Geno made changes quickly in this game. He also switched to a 1-2-2 zone late in the quarter. Ekmark made a late appearance in replacing Nurse.
UConn was just dominant in the first quarter, taking a 30-4 lead after 10 minutes of play. The only downer was the 0-7 from three point land, Lou going 0-4.
2nd Quarter
There was a nice sequence to start the 2nd quarter where Tuck missed a free throw and Samuelson worked hard for the rebound. She found Ekmark behind the arc who made a terrific long chest pass to Collier who grabbed the pass and made a tough layup. Excellent! And if once wasn't enough, a few minutes later Ekmark found Collier under the basket with a bullet one-handed pass.
Lou finally his a three pointer one minute into the quarter. Her quick release is a thing of beauty. And she showed her dexterity after receiving a nice pass from Jefferson on the break, she quickly dribbled with her left hand and put up a nice off-handed layup.
Geno called off the break the most of the second quarter. There were several opportunities for easy baskets, but there would not be much to learn from that so UConn ran it's half court offense every time down the court. UConn only had one turnover in the half.
The difference in ability was obvious and it showed in the score and half time stats.
UConn went into the half with a 52-6 lead, they shot 45.9% from the field and went 18-21 from the foul line. The Huskies dominated the boards 27-14 and had 14 steals off the overmatched Lions. The downside was the horrid three point shooting going 1-11. Vanguard was only able to make 3 of 26 baskets. UConn gave them little room to get off their shots. It was a performance you would expect from UConn against an NAIA team, even one as good as Vanguard.
3rd Quarter
As you might imagine, after a dominating first half, UConn came out a little slow to start the 3rd quarter. Three second call, a turnover, missed shots, led to a scoreless first two minutes for the Huskies. Vanguard actually scored first in the quarter, but it didn't take long for UConn to find it's groove.
Stewart started the scoring with a nice drive from the left along the baseline. It seems to be one of her favorite moves. Williams followed with a steal and layup. And Nurse then stole the ball from behind and drove the length of the court for two. It was off to the races for UConn.
UConn continued to play a slower paced game, working on the half court. Several passes around the perimeter led to a nice three by Nurse. Jefferson followed with a "Sue Bird" pull up jumper in the lane. That shot will be a big weapon for MoJet this year. And right after that Jefferson hit a long three off a Stewart screen. I hope she takes more threes than she has so far. She is the best shooter on the team.
I loved the high low from Tuck to Collier. Napheesha never brought the ball down to let the defense get to it and put up a nice short bank shot. Big to big!
After missing another three, Samuelson hit a long step back three to give UConn a 74-13 lead at the end of the 3rd quarter.
4th Quarter
Tuck started the final quarter with a three from the right side. Collier finishes with a layup after some more great passing by UConn, whipping the ball around the perimeter. Just wonderful ball movement. And what would a UConn game be without a Jefferson tricky dribble drive through several defenders to beat the shot clock.
Stewart hit another baseline drive, hitting the reverse layup. Did I mention she loves to drive from the left baseline?? Ekmark continues to contribute with a nice offensive rebound and putback for two.
Jefferson hit another nice three-ball from the left side after some more nice UConn ball movement and then steals the ball for another full court dash for a layup.
At this point Geno put in Pulido and Lawlor with 3 minutes left in the game. Collier continued the scoring with two free throws. Ekmark finally hit a three from the right corner and Collier grabbed an offensive rebound and putback to give her a double double. That ended the scoring with UConn winning the game by the final margin of 98-17.
On reflection, I'd have to say that the larger ball might have contributed to the off shooting night from beyond the arc in the early going. UConn improved from going 1-11 in the first half to 6-13 in the second half, a solid 46%. A few of the 3 second violations might have been because of the wider lane. The new rules made a small difference in the play.
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Game Quotes From Geno
On the new rule - "All I really noticed is that the new rules allowed us all to move the ball up the floor a lot quicker. You have to move it quicker."
On the 1-11 three point shooting first half - "Maybe it was a combination of the longer line and the bigger basketball. But maybe we just had a bad shooting half. I don't know."
On the rule changes in general - "I'm just trying to challenge our kids and help the game grow a little bit. I don't know that we accomplished anything today, but at least people got to see the game go (up and down the floor) a little more."
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Vanguard Coach Russ Davis
Davis, Katie Lou Samuelson and Courtney Ekmark's AAU coach and a long time friend of Geno related this story that further illustrates how down to earth Stewart is thanks to her actions when a recruit came in for a visit and stayed with Stewart.
"She stayed at her apartment and somebody asked 'where did you sleep?' She said, 'I slept in Breanna's bed. Where did Breanna sleep? On the couch.'
"This is the national player of the year, I shared that story with my team. I saw her warming up and said 'you are the perfect example of a servant leader, that is servant leadership at its finest. Not only is she the best player, she is one of the best people so I just want people to know that from an opposing coach."
"She stayed at her apartment and somebody asked 'where did you sleep?' She said, 'I slept in Breanna's bed. Where did Breanna sleep? On the couch.'
"This is the national player of the year, I shared that story with my team. I saw her warming up and said 'you are the perfect example of a servant leader, that is servant leadership at its finest. Not only is she the best player, she is one of the best people so I just want people to know that from an opposing coach."
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Player Evaluations
Moriah Jefferson
Moriah was everything you expect from a 1st team AA. She scored 20 points on 9/12 shooting, went 2 for 3 from behind the line, 4 assists and she was all over the court with her 6 steals. Her tricky dribble drive for a layup around the entire Vanguard team was amazing. I know she will shoot more from deep when it counts, but it's frustrating to see her open and not take the shot. She is clearly the best long range shooter on the team. I can't wait to see her against Ohio State.
Interesting take on the 24 second clock and the clock resetting to 14 seconds after an offensive rebound on impacting the way UConn played - "it got the pace up and we had to think faster because of it. It made us get into our plays [offense quicker]. At some points, we didn't start our plays until 12 seconds were gone and we need to get better at that."
Breanna Stewart
Stewie had a solid game in 30 minutes. I was surprised Geno had her play that much. She finished with 15 points, 6 rebounds, 6 blocks, 4 assists and 2 steals. Her shot was off and I think the men's ball got in her head a littles. I love her drives from the left baseline and clearly so does she. It seems to be a big go-to move for her. She had a tough time from deep, but her overall play and demeanor just screams "I'm the best and you can't stop me".
Stewart's take on the new rules they tried - "This was the pace we want to play at during the season. We've been practicing with the 24-second clock for the game. But we also know that we need to get our offense moving quicker at the start [of the process]."
And on the bigger ball - "Obviously you have to use your legs more because it's farther and it's a heavier ball. They just weren't going in. We made them in practice."
Sorry Breanna, I hit the ball great on the driving range....weak....lol.
Morgan Tuck
It was great to see Morgan on the court and playing 27 minutes. She had her knee brace back on and I'm sure it gives her more confidence on her weaker knee. She played her usual solid game with 10 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals along with a block. I liked that she took a couple of threes and made 1 of 2 from long range. Got to love the 5 assists and several of those were high-low passes. It's great to have a point forward like Tuck!
Kia had a solid but quiet game with 11 points and one of each in rebounds, assists, blocks and steals. But her usual strong on the body defense disrupted Vanguard many times. So many great players.....can't all have great games. I did like her going 1-2 on threes. Just one more weapon for the Huskies.
Gabby Williams
Gabby started in this game. It might be the start of her staying there. Certainly her play in the last game earned her that spot and she did nothing in this game to change that. 11 points on 4-7 shooting and going 3-4 from the line was great. The five turnovers? Not so great. But most were plays of aggression. Hopefully she will get better at controlling those.
The stat that stood out in the box score was her 7 steals. She is just so strong, and surprisingly quick to the ball. She is going to terrorize opposing offenses.
In the post game interview Coach Dailey said "Geno and I were talking, and we don't think we have ever had a player in the program as athletic as Gabby. Yes, Moriah is athletic, but at her size, no one has ever been more athletic than Gabby." She was then asked, "What about Maya?" CD immediately and emphatically said, "No, not Maya. Maya had slow feet. Gabby does not have slow feet. Maya was the most relentless player we have ever had -- she went all out in every game, every scrimmage, and every practice. We use her as an example of that. But she was not as athletic as Gabby."
Wow.
Katie Lou Samuelson
Katie Lou had a tough shooting game, going 2-10 from the behind the arc. She struggled in the first game as well. I'm sure some is still freshman nerves. And for today, I'd give her a break based on the greater distance with the international 3 point line and using the men's ball. But I thought she played a decent game in spite of her shooting woes. She did score 9 points, grab 7 rebounds and had 3 assists. I'll take that very game this year. And I promise you this. KLS will shoot over 40% for the season on 3's when all is said and done.
Napheesha Collier
Courtney Ekmark
Courtney was terrific in her 13 minutes. She had 7 points, 3 assists and 2 rebounds. She hit a beauty of a three pointer from the right corner that was picture perfect. But it was her 2 passes from outside the arc to Collier under the basket that got my attention. Perfectly thrown, one was a hard two handed pass to a place only Collier could catch it. The second was a hard one handed passes that wizzed by the head of the defender into the hands of Collier for a basket.
Her defense was also solid, although the weak opponent doesn't give us the best indication of her defensive prowess. Ekmark will give UConn some backcourt depth during the season. Take a good look at the picture above and you will see the difference in her body. Stronger, lean and more solid. You go Courtney!
Final Thoughts
After the game, Auriemma said Boykin would miss the Ohio State game and likely would be out for at least two more weeks because of her ailment. It's a tough start for the freshman and I'm hoping she can just catch up quickly. It won't be easy.
Great interview with Coach Dailey after the game with some good news about Butler. In the interview she was asked about injured players would return and she thinks Natalie Butler could be back before the date previously mentioned. Dailey said "The doctors said 4-6 weeks and we hope it's closer to 4 than 6." So do we, CD, so do we. That would mean a possible return in mid-November. Ohio State would be nice on November 16th, but that is just 28 days from her surgery. I'm hoping for the second game of the season against Kansas State at the XL center. Good news!!
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