Post Game report
Here is a terrific post game report by A Lot of Sports Talk's Adesina O. Koiki. with a wonderful interview with Kia Nurse.
This was probably the most gutsy effort by a UConn team I've seen in a long while. With Sameulson throwing up on the bench, playing with a terrible stomach bug and a fever, and the rest of the team not feeling great in various ways.....the ladies continued their march towards another historic mark.
87 in a row and unless some crazy upset happens, they will blow by the mark of 90 set in 2011 by the Maya Moore led Huskies.
Maryland get's a ton of credit as well in this game. They are definitely a final four favorite. A typical Brenda Frese team. They play hard all the time and never give an inch. Even after UConn blew them away to start the third quarter, Maryland never gave up and got it as close as 5 points in the fourth quarter. I never felt the game was in jeopardy, but I'm sure Geno had some indigestion to go with his sore throat. How great was Destiny Slocum? I love her game. Fearless and tough. A great combination. How often do you see a freshman take and make three pointers under such difficult circumstances.
So, on to the AAC schedule with only the South Carolina game in between. It's all about working on getting even better for this Husky team. Can you imagine that happening? Look out WCBB!
This was probably the most gutsy effort by a UConn team I've seen in a long while. With Sameulson throwing up on the bench, playing with a terrible stomach bug and a fever, and the rest of the team not feeling great in various ways.....the ladies continued their march towards another historic mark.
87 in a row and unless some crazy upset happens, they will blow by the mark of 90 set in 2011 by the Maya Moore led Huskies.
Maryland get's a ton of credit as well in this game. They are definitely a final four favorite. A typical Brenda Frese team. They play hard all the time and never give an inch. Even after UConn blew them away to start the third quarter, Maryland never gave up and got it as close as 5 points in the fourth quarter. I never felt the game was in jeopardy, but I'm sure Geno had some indigestion to go with his sore throat. How great was Destiny Slocum? I love her game. Fearless and tough. A great combination. How often do you see a freshman take and make three pointers under such difficult circumstances.
So, on to the AAC schedule with only the South Carolina game in between. It's all about working on getting even better for this Husky team. Can you imagine that happening? Look out WCBB!
Game Highlights times three
Game Stats and Box Score
******************************************************************************
******************************************************************************
Game Quotes From Geno
“I set the schedule up so that this wouldn’t happen And it’s happened. I’m flabbergasted.”
“When the season began, somebody asked me, ‘Why did you set the schedule the way it is? You’re going to kill your streak.’ What does the streak have to do with anything we’re doing? It’s like when the polls come out and people ask how it feels. It’s nice and all that, but its not the focus of what we are trying to do. When we went through it last time it was nice and fun and everyone kept talking about it all the time. Our kids were aware of it and knew exactly what was going on. We had some older players on our team that have been through a lot and they felt entitled to it. This team is young enough and they have not been a part of that much of it. It is not something that we talk about and it is not something that I put any value on anymore. If it were to happen, I don’t know that it would have any significance in my life whatsoever. If it were to happen.”
“Sometimes when a player like Shatori Walker-Kimbrough has a sub-par game it is not only what the defense does. There are a lot of factors. I thought Kia Nurse did a great job on her for most of the game. I don’t think they went to her as much as they have in the past where she has a lot more opportunities. With their big kid touching the ball a little bit and Slocum I thought she played great so she had the ball a lot in her hands. In some ways they were much more difficult to play against because they didn’t just go towards Shatori. It was a combination of things. We guarded her a little bit differently than we did last year at the Garden, so that helped.”
"When we were up 19 (in the third quarter) all I kept thinking about is I got a feeling it is going to be 2. As the fouls kept piling up, I was really worried. We maybe won because in one way it is Connecticut and they are used to making some of the plays that they made, when we needed a shot we got one, when we needed a stop we got one, when we needed a play to be made we got one. It came from different spots and we needed every one of them. Given the circumstances, the way the game played out and all the issues that we had, this is probably the best win we've had up to this point of the season."
“If our trainer had said Samuelson wasn’t able to play tonight, I wouldn’t have been surprised, based on what the situation looked like. Lou grew up tonight. That wasn’t easy, to do what she did, and she was pretty spectacular, if you think about it, given the circumstances.”
“I mean, come watch film. I’ll show you why I think we should lose games. You saw what happened. All we needed was one of those kids to foul out earlier. All we needed was Lou not to play because she’s sick. We’re one thing away. I’m sure most teams are, but …”
“If our trainer had said Samuelson wasn’t able to play tonight, I wouldn’t have been surprised, based on what the situation looked like. Lou grew up tonight. That wasn’t easy, to do what she did, and she was pretty spectacular, if you think about it, given the circumstances.”
“I mean, come watch film. I’ll show you why I think we should lose games. You saw what happened. All we needed was one of those kids to foul out earlier. All we needed was Lou not to play because she’s sick. We’re one thing away. I’m sure most teams are, but …”
“I am really proud of the fact that we were playing for all the fans and that we were able to create that type of experience. The environment we had tonight was really special for Maryland and for women’s basketball fans. It was incredible to be able to see. Obviously, we have to give credit where credit is do. On UConn’s end, anytime they were getting any kind of runs, I thought they did a tremendous job. The big picture is, is that it is December 29th and we learned a lot about our team tonight, about our freshman, who were sensational. We don't even need to call them freshman because they were so confident. We will learn a lot from this and use it to help us move forward and be ready for March.”
“It is the most points they have given up to a team in years. So a lot of positive things we can build on. I think defensively, we saw a lot of breakdowns. This is an area that I am excited about, an area that we can really grow and improve on. “I just think that for us we are not afraid of the name on the jersey. I think that that is three-fourths of the battle. I felt like our team was extremely confident going into this game.”
“I thought fatigue was why we couldn't complete the comeback. I thought that when we came out in the third quarter and you spot UConn 19 points, then you have to fight and scratch and claw. I am proud because most teams would have quit. So it tells you about our team and they are so competitive and there is no quitting. We just cannot spot a team like UConn 19 points.”
“We went 0-for-4 out of halftime and they went 5-for-5. They hit three three-pointers in that stretch. It was a really difficult stretch. Defensively I think we got lax. I think that Katie Lou Samuelson continued to separate herself and show why she was the number one player of the year coming out of high school. I mean she was sick, throwing up in a trash can over on the side and then goes out and gives that kind of performance in the second half. I thought it was a gutsy performance for her.”
"We talked about the turnovers at halftime. We had a negative assist-to-turnover ratio. We wanted to be able to get shots at the basket. Again, I felt like we spent too much time through two quarters feeling our way versus trusting the system. We spent a lot of time on film seeing how they are exposed to dribble-drives and we didn't get to it until the fourth quarter and trusting the system offensively.”
“Slocum was terrific. Age is just a number and class means nothing. You see, and everybody got to witness tonight, what makes her so special. She is poised beyond her years. Her spirit and her energy are contagious. When you have that kind of energy you are able to feed off of it amongst your teammates. She has had a lot of experience and is just poised beyond her years.”
“It is the most points they have given up to a team in years. So a lot of positive things we can build on. I think defensively, we saw a lot of breakdowns. This is an area that I am excited about, an area that we can really grow and improve on. “I just think that for us we are not afraid of the name on the jersey. I think that that is three-fourths of the battle. I felt like our team was extremely confident going into this game.”
“I thought fatigue was why we couldn't complete the comeback. I thought that when we came out in the third quarter and you spot UConn 19 points, then you have to fight and scratch and claw. I am proud because most teams would have quit. So it tells you about our team and they are so competitive and there is no quitting. We just cannot spot a team like UConn 19 points.”
“We went 0-for-4 out of halftime and they went 5-for-5. They hit three three-pointers in that stretch. It was a really difficult stretch. Defensively I think we got lax. I think that Katie Lou Samuelson continued to separate herself and show why she was the number one player of the year coming out of high school. I mean she was sick, throwing up in a trash can over on the side and then goes out and gives that kind of performance in the second half. I thought it was a gutsy performance for her.”
"We talked about the turnovers at halftime. We had a negative assist-to-turnover ratio. We wanted to be able to get shots at the basket. Again, I felt like we spent too much time through two quarters feeling our way versus trusting the system. We spent a lot of time on film seeing how they are exposed to dribble-drives and we didn't get to it until the fourth quarter and trusting the system offensively.”
“Slocum was terrific. Age is just a number and class means nothing. You see, and everybody got to witness tonight, what makes her so special. She is poised beyond her years. Her spirit and her energy are contagious. When you have that kind of energy you are able to feed off of it amongst your teammates. She has had a lot of experience and is just poised beyond her years.”
Player Evaluations
CO-PLAYER OF THE GAME!
Katie Lou Samuelson
So, no more "Laid back California" girl? Wow....sick as a dog and not only did she play but she played 39 minutes scoring 17 points in the second half. She ended up with 23 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists. She was an inspiration to the rest of the team.
"Once you start, adrenaline gets you through anything that's going on. There were moments I was a little tired. But our team was doing really great stuff, so that got me excited and hyped up. This is a great game and a great atmosphere. I knew no matter what was happening, I was going to play today. It was really important to me to prove to myself that things aren't going to hold me back this year."
"Overall, I think we've kind of shown something to ourselves -- that we can be a great team. It just gives us that much more confidence, but we know we have a lot more we want to accomplish, so we can't get caught up in what we've done."
"Yeah, that's pretty much what we talked about in the locker room. Almost every close game we have, it's that first five minutes of the second half that kind of decides if we can take the game away or if they're going to keep their run going. So we know that going into those second halves that we have to just push it as hard as we can those five minutes and we really did that, and I thought that we started off great and we held on to it. There were times when they came back, but we kept our composure and we kept the game in our bags."
"Overall, I think we've kind of shown something to ourselves -- that we can be a great team. It just gives us that much more confidence, but we know we have a lot more we want to accomplish, so we can't get caught up in what we've done."
"Yeah, that's pretty much what we talked about in the locker room. Almost every close game we have, it's that first five minutes of the second half that kind of decides if we can take the game away or if they're going to keep their run going. So we know that going into those second halves that we have to just push it as hard as we can those five minutes and we really did that, and I thought that we started off great and we held on to it. There were times when they came back, but we kept our composure and we kept the game in our bags."
Napheesa Collier
Tough game for Napheessa. She never got into her rhythm until late in the game, but she did come up big in the fourth quarter as Maryland made their final run at the Huskies. She ended up with 12 points and 5 rebounds along with 2 blocks in her 26 foul-plagued minutes.
Gabby Williams
Gabby never ceases to amaze me. Her leaping ability exceeds any player I've seen, including Maya Moore. Yes, I went there! She had 16 points, 9 rebounds and of course, 5 assists. Some of those were just beautiful. She did the best she could on Jones, and I think she eventually wore her out in the fourth quarter. I just love her drives to the basket with her left hand and when she gets close to the hoop she just out-leaps the defender.
Kia Nurse
Saniya Chong
She easily could have been player of the game with her outstanding effort against Maryland. Her defense alone on Shatori Walker-Kimbrough would have been enough to win that honor. She added 19 points and 5 assists along with countless hustle plays. Her leadership is so important to this team. And the improvement in her three point shooting was critical in this tough matchup. She is up to 44.3%.
"Obviously, the defensive match up that I usually get is one of the better guards and Walker-Kimbrough is a hard match up, she does a lot of things extremely well. So it was a good team defense night for us, and I think we did a good job."
"Maryland is tough. They go! They're constant, and they put pressure on you no matter if you score or miss, they're up the floor. They move the ball really well and hit the outside shot, so that was something that down the stretch when they made their run, it was from quick transition secondary shots that got us."
"I was extremely fortunate to play in the Olympics this summer and just gain the extra confidence and play in a couple games in, and also play against the best in the world. I was able to understand what my strengths and weaknesses were there and then my role this year was more of a leadership role. So trying to take what I learned from the leaders there and applying it here. Same type of thing with Sophomore Guard/Froward Katie Lou Samuelson, Junior Forward Gabby Williams, Sophomore Forward Napheesa Collier, and Senior Guard Saniya Chong, we all had to step up and understand that our leaders gone now. We're trying to figure out what we each do really well, and put it together to become a unified leader in a sense and it's been coming along really well."
Saniya Chong
While those 16 points in the season opener were good, I thought that this was one of Chong's best performances of the season considering the circumstances. She was aggressive and confident from the start and still manage to have ZERO turnovers. Look at the picture above and see how she has transformed her body. She looks pretty cut in this shot. She played a terrific 32 minutes scoring 10 points hitting her only three and she handed out 5 sweet assists. Her block towards the end of the game was just icing on the cake. She is going to be a big contributor the rest of the season. I'm so happy for the senior.
Crystal Dangerfield
While not ready for a bigger role, the freshman did not look out of place under the bright lights of a sellout crowd on the road and an ESPN broadcast. She had 3 points and 2 really nice assists.
Natalie Butler
Don't discount the 14 minutes contributed by Natalie Butler. She played big out there and UConn needed her presence with Williams and Collier in foul trouble. She had 4 points, 4 rebounds and 1 steal. And lots of banging of bodies!!
What's next
University of Central Florida is next. I'll be in Florida but won't be able to make the 3 hour drive as we are just checking into our rental unit. First game in the relatively easy AAC schedule with only South Florida and Temple as teams that have a chance to even compete with the Huskies
Happy Happy Birthday!!!!
ReplyDelete