Doggydaddy's Den: DoggyDaddy's Dailies 11/28/16

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UConn's next opponent, UT Chattanooga played Sunday in the Basketball Hall of Fame Classic in Springfield, Ma. against the Maine Bears. Maine came into this game 2-4 with a win against a Big Ten opponent in Purdue. But they lost to Hampton and Harvard.

Well, Maine easily handled Chattanooga 49-39. The Mocs really struggled offensively in this game and defensively they allowed Maine to shoot 45%.

This is not how Jim Foster wants his team to be playing when they visit UConn. I see a lot of pain for the Mocs. A lot!

Here is my UConn/Chattanooga Pre Game Report.

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Former UConn Big East rival Rutgers won their first game of the season, moving to 1-5. They beat Bryant College 50-42 at home. Boy, how far has this program fallen since the move to the Big Ten. Their football team is as bad as UConn's and C Vivian Springer is probably going to retire soon. This has to be making her crazy. It's a pretty sad situation.

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As painful as it was, I watched much of the Tennessee game today. The No. 17 (and dropping) Lady Vols lost to Virginia Tech 67-63. It was not as bad as the home loss the Hokies put on Tennessee last season, but this game was just more of the same from the 14 loss team from last season.

Diva Diamond Deshields was one rebound short of a triple double, but it wasn't the good kind. She had 15 points 9 rebounds and 10 turnovers. You really have to work at it to have that many TOs.

In looking at the box scores, there is an entire "Fun with Numbers" article right there! I'll take a stab at it.

Tennessee is only going 6 deep in the rotation with Meme Jackson the only bench player getting rotation minutes. They only have 9 available players. The freshman Harris, the only HS recruit in the class of 2016, didn't get off the bench. Shaquilla Nunn played only 3 minutes. She must be thrilled to be spending her extra season that she had available on this dysfunctional team. Dunbar played only 3 minutes as well. Similar to Ekmark of UConn, she would be better off moving to a team where she could get minutes, but with being a junior, she will probably stay.

Tennessee held VT to 36% from the field, 2-20 on threes, 13-23 from the FT line, outrebounded them by 10 and blocked 10 shots. And lost.

Tennessee had 10 assists and 21 turnovers. They were 3-12 from threes.

Three players had double-doubles, Mercedes Russell had 17 points and 14 rebounds, Jamie Nared had 11 points 10 rebounds. Diva Diamond Deshields was one rebound short of a triple double, but it wasn't the good kind. She had 15 points 9 rebounds and 10 turnovers. You really have to work at it to have that many TOs.

After a reprieve from their tough OOC schedule with a home game against Tennessee State, they play Baylor at home and on the road against Texas. They very well could be 4-4 after 8 games.

I'm not sure why anyone would think this Tennessee team would be better than last year's team. They lost their starting point guard, and their starting power forward and didn't replace them. They are definitely less talented than last year.

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No. 3 South Carolina showed today that they are one of the top teams in the country by dismantling No. 4 Louisville 83-59.

The Gamecocks have 4 really really good players in Coates, Wilson, Gray and Davis. Any one of those four players could score 20+ points in any game they play. The are big, long, strong and are starting to play better and better together every game.

Cuevas-Moore (did she get married) is still the same player that plays too fast and tried to do too much. She only played 17 minutes and was 1-7 from the field. The point guard slack was picked up by freshman Tyasha Harris, who had 6 assists and only one turnover in 29 minutes. She didn't score and was 0-3 from the field and 0-2 on threes. She doesn't need to score to help this team, but it wouldn't hurt.

Mikiah Herbert Harrigan, their 6'2" freshman forward had a nice game with 11 points in 17 minutes.

I'm sure that in closer games the rotation will shrink, but other than Harrigan's contributions, there is not much help coming off the bench.

The Gamecocks defense is terrific. They use their size to make it really tough to score inside so if you don't hit a high percentage of threes and get to the foul line, you won't score enough to beat this talented South Carolina team.

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One of my favorite coaches took on one of my least favorite coaches Sunday when Doug Bruno of No. 18 DePaul took on Quentin Hillsman's No. 11 Syracuse Orange.

Both teams like the three point shot, but DePaul was just much better at that in this game. The Blue Demons were 19-39. That is just a crazy amount of attempts. Basically that is taking one three pointer ever minute.

NINE different players made a three pointer. The starters were 12-28 on threes. More amazing, the bench was 7-11.

UConn will have it's hands full, just like last season, with DePaul. I'm sure Geno is NOT looking forward to this game.

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By David in Naples!!!!!

Free throw shooting is apparently all about technique and repetition. The shooter can stand calmly, not bothered by the defense and shoot from 12 feet away. During the many months of the season, free throws can be practiced for hours and hours. Why then, is UConn always so much better than opponents at shooting free throws?

For the season, the Huskies have made 60 of their 76 free throws, or 78.9%. Opponents have only made 41 of 61 attempts, or 67.2%. That is a huge difference for identical shots, taken from the exact same spot. Last season, UConn made 80.0% of their shots from the charity stripe and opponents only 67.5%. Two seasons ago, UConn's accuracy was 72.6% vs opponents 68.7%. In 2013-14, opponents had their lowest free throw accuracy rate at 65.9%. UConn is not just better, they are way better..!!

The answer is probably due mainly to three reasons. First, better shooters make more of their shots, whether from the field or the free throw line. Katie Lou Samuelson (13-16) has made 81.3% of her free throws and is regarded as the best shooter on the team. But, Kia Nurse leads the team with a 91.7% rate, (11-12), and she is only making 28.6% from the field. So maybe the key is to practice until every free throw is exactly the same motion. Practice, practice, practice. A third factor is fatigue. Teams that play UConn probably run more than in other games, more than in practice and more than they thought possible. Players with tired legs, out of breath and losing big just don't make as many shots from the charity stripe.

What ever the reason, UConn wins the free throw battle every year. Last season, the Huskies scored 281 more points from the free throw line than the other teams. This year, UConn already has 19 more points after four games. Probably not a good plan to give the Huskies extra tries from the free throw line.

Go Huskies..!!

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