Post Game report
What a great team game for the Huskies. Everyone did their part. They did have 2 bad minutes at the end of the 1st and 2nd quarters allowing Ohio State back into the game. I've watched the game twice and while many Husky fans were calling it fatigue, all I saw was some great offensive moves by a great offensive player in Mitchell. Sometimes you just can't stop a player like that when they get on a roll.
UConn did change up the defensive scheme in the second half, working harder to keep the ball out of Mitchell's hands and it work. She score 19 points in the first half and only 4 points in the second half.
I did call a few things correct in my pre game report. I said that UConn's defense would be the difference as OSU hadn't see a defense like UConn can slap on you this season. I also said that Calhoun and Harper would be wild cards. Well, they were non-existent in the game. Calhoun now has two games against UConn (freshman year at Duke the other) and has yet to score. Harper was never an offensive threat but I thought she might be able to something. She didn't.
Mavunga is a terrific player in the post, but still very sloppy with the ball. Her strength is rebounding and she did a great job on the boards with 15. And Cooper seems to always score against UConn. But that was it. The rest of the team was in over their heads at this level of play.
It was just a great third quarter for UConn, outscoring OSU 30-14. Maybe their best of the season. The fourth quarter? Meh. Even I will admit they looked tired. Both teams struggled on the offensive end. But hanging on for the 19 point win was good enough for me!
UConn did change up the defensive scheme in the second half, working harder to keep the ball out of Mitchell's hands and it work. She score 19 points in the first half and only 4 points in the second half.
I did call a few things correct in my pre game report. I said that UConn's defense would be the difference as OSU hadn't see a defense like UConn can slap on you this season. I also said that Calhoun and Harper would be wild cards. Well, they were non-existent in the game. Calhoun now has two games against UConn (freshman year at Duke the other) and has yet to score. Harper was never an offensive threat but I thought she might be able to something. She didn't.
Mavunga is a terrific player in the post, but still very sloppy with the ball. Her strength is rebounding and she did a great job on the boards with 15. And Cooper seems to always score against UConn. But that was it. The rest of the team was in over their heads at this level of play.
It was just a great third quarter for UConn, outscoring OSU 30-14. Maybe their best of the season. The fourth quarter? Meh. Even I will admit they looked tired. Both teams struggled on the offensive end. But hanging on for the 19 point win was good enough for me!
Game Highlights
Game Stats and Box Score
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"I need to take some happy pills to see the offense that everyone else sees. I’m not exactly happy. It gets a little hairy out there at times, but what we do which I like is we go in these stretches where everything we do is really good and we capitalize on maybe six or seven things in a row and that's just enough to get some separation between us and the other team."
"We knew she was difficult to guard [Kelsey], we knew we could not stay the same the whole game and think we were going to be able to do it. We had to change things up a little bit...once we got that under control we talked about it at half how the game was going to be won by offensive possessions. Once we got Napheesa going, Lou was already going, it was fun to watch."
"We knew she was difficult to guard [Kelsey], we knew we could not stay the same the whole game and think we were going to be able to do it. We had to change things up a little bit...once we got that under control we talked about it at half how the game was going to be won by offensive possessions. Once we got Napheesa going, Lou was already going, it was fun to watch."
"The guys Mitchell had to play against last year were much better so she got in foul trouble right away. Some of the guys she was guarding were not as hard to guard as the ones she was matched up with last year. The toughest thing for a great offensive player is supposed to be a smart player and not foul. We spend a lot of time talking about how to defend someone like that, you don’t."
Game Quotes from Coach Kevin McGuff
Here is the full post game with Coach McGuff and Kelsey Mitchell
Selected quotes below
“To their credit, we came out of the locker room flat, but they took control of the game, but in general they got 28 points off of turnovers, and that was the difference. I thought our defense was actually ok, our kids played hard, but we just did not execute well enough offensively, and they are the best team in college basketball taking those turnovers and converting them into points.”
“Mitchell was terrific tonight, really attacking with great balance and creating shots for herself. She stayed within the offense and got other people involved. I thought she was outstanding tonight.”
“You know, I thought we might use more full court pressure, but I didn't want them to get easy shots but if I had to do it again, I might have tried it a little more because they didn't have a lot of depth coming into the game."
**********************************************************************************“Mitchell was terrific tonight, really attacking with great balance and creating shots for herself. She stayed within the offense and got other people involved. I thought she was outstanding tonight.”
“You know, I thought we might use more full court pressure, but I didn't want them to get easy shots but if I had to do it again, I might have tried it a little more because they didn't have a lot of depth coming into the game."
Player Evaluations
Player Post Game interview
Selected quotes below
Player Post Game interview
Selected quotes below
CO-PLAYER OF THE GAME!
Katie Lou Samuelson
Katie Lou's range in this game was ridiculous. She had to be a good 3 feet behind the arc with many of her threes. But I really loved her aggressiveness going to the basket. She has even started to post up her defender with great success. The combination of her game with Collier's game makes UConn impossible to defend when they are one. Lou is also showing more and more leadership on the court. Another double digit scoring game (every game this season) with 26 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists in a 39 minutes effort. Some players take a few years to mature physically, but check out the pictures of her compared to then she entered UConn. Amazing difference.
"Yeah it was really important for Crystal to play the way she did and she makes plays like that in practice. She's got a lot of ups and downs like every freshman, but today was a really good day and I think just the fact that her confidence is staying up and she knows that she can make those plays in these games. It's going to be really good for her moving forward."
"Yeah the third quarter was really key for us in this game. I think we kind of blew it open and we knew that they were going to go on runs, but we knew that we were going to go on runs too and once we got that run in the third quarter we decided we wanted to keep it. We weren't going to let them back into the game."
Napheesa Collier
CO-PLAYER OF THE GAME!
Not the most efficient game for Napheesa, but I love that she took so many shots. She is over 60% for the season, so why not. She did hit a big three pointer to start the third quarter blowout. Another big scoring game with 27 points and she added 11 rebounds. For all the worry about post play, she is holding her own against bigger players defensively and is overwhelming every post player she meets offensively. With her excellent footwork and ability to use either hand, she is pretty much unstoppable.
"We came out of half time really emphasizing that Mitchell had 19 points and we knew she was going to do that. We tried to stay up on her and not let her shoot open threes like she was in the first half."
"Yeah I definitely feel a lot more confident than last year. As a freshman you are just getting used to stuff and it's so much different than high school and just having that year under my belt has helped me a lot."
"Yeah I am really proud of this team because we came in with people thinking one way, but I knew we had a good team and I know the girls on the team and I really proud on what we are doing so far."
Gabby Williams
CO-PLAYER OF THE GAME!
I feel like I'm in the movie Ground Hog Day. Every game it's the same thing for Gabby. She just fills up the box score like nobody else. 7 points, 12 rebounds, 7 assists, 6 steals, 2 blocks and unfortunately 4 turnovers. She is now averaging 5 assists per game from the forward position. Amazing. I noted how often Ohio State left her unguarded for open jumpers from beyond the foul line. She seemed disinclined to take them. I'd love to see her improve that part of her game. She has had games that she takes and makes them and it adds a huge dimension to the UConn offense.
Kia Nurse
Kia had another solid game. When Dangerfield plays so many minutes, she tends to slide more into the shooting guard position. With 11 points and 4 rebounds, she did what she had to do. But with only one assists, well, I'd like games with that bring higher. She is still the emotional leader of the team and did a great job helping on Mitchell in the second half.
Crystal Dangerfield
It wasn't her highest scoring game, it wasn't her highest assist game, but I just loved how Crystal played in this game. She scored 8 points, 5 assists and 3 rebounds with only 2 TO's. All in 34 minutes. She did a much better job covering Mitchell in the second half, although it wasn't just her in shutting down the high scoring guard.
"I think it went well. Just being able to know that they were going to go on runs and that they had such a deep bench and just not letting that overwhelm me and then just stay in the game."
"I think it went well. Just being able to know that they were going to go on runs and that they had such a deep bench and just not letting that overwhelm me and then just stay in the game."
"You just have to give Mitchell credit for her skill in the offensive end and just know that she is going to make plays, but you can't let that get you down. You have to go back down on the defensive end and just try to get a stop."
Natalie Butler
Natalie only played 12 minutes, but it allowed the starters to get a little rest without hurting the team with her play. She had soft hands in receiving a great pass from Williams for an "and 1" three point play and grabbed an offensive rebound that led to a three pointer by Samuelson. Nice job Nat.
Tierney Lawlor, Kyla Irwin, Molly Bent, Saniya Chong
Another game that there was only one minute of play for the end of the bench, and Chong sat with the concussion. There were no pictures of them at the game, but I did find this one from a prior game with all four players.
Final Thoughts
Nebraska is next. They are not very good although they have one very good player in Shepard. It might be an opportunity for the bench to get some nice minutes.
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