Doggydaddy's Den: DoggyDaddy's Dailies 2/10/17

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Logan is ready to root for UConn with his new Huskie jammies!!!!!

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I'm working on the UConn/South Carolina Pre Game Report and trying to pack it with as much information as I can. Because of that, I won't be writing the Post Game report for the UConn/Cincinnati game and the Pre Game Report for the UConn/SMU game.

But here is my write up for the Post Game report from the first SMU game. Hopefully that will give you some info on how Saturday's game will go.

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South Carolina played their warm-up game Thursday night for the UConn game against a pretty weak Auburn team, 60-41.

The scoring was dominated by the starting lineup with Wilson scoring 17 points and Coates scoring 16. The bench got plenty of time, but was only able to score 4 points and had 9 turnovers.

Based on this and other games I looked at, South Carolina starters are going to have to play 35-40 minutes to have a chance against the Huskies.

Looks like the benching of Cuevas-Moore was intentional - "South Carolina coach Dawn Staley wanted to take more time on offense, perhaps with an eye toward shortening a game against UConn, an opponent which can overwhelm opponents in transition. Staley mostly liked what she saw, saying when the Gamecocks broke ranks, Auburn made them pay with a fast-break basket or two. To that end, South Carolina backup point guard Bianca Cuevas-Moore played only five minutes and didn't get a shot off. Cuevas-Moore's specialty is fast-paced, high-impact scoring."

Wow....changing her tactics to try to slow down UConn? I suppose it makes some sense.

But...scoring 60 points against Auburn won't cut it against UConn.

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By David in Naples!!!!!

Kia Nurse has been the model of consistency for her 2 1/2 years at Uconn. Her first two years, she scored 399 and 354 points, as well as handing out 108 and 104 assists. In 23 games this season, she has 305 points and 98 assists. Clearly, she should improve both her point and assists totals by the season's conclusion. As the team's iron man, she is averaging 32.4 minutes of playing time every game. That is up from last year, when she played 28.3 minutes per game.

With a record of 99-1 in her two and a half seasons, Kia is used to success on the court. She is contributing to this year's 23-0 record by being 1st in free throw % (86.1%), 2nd in made threes (47), 2nd in assists (98), 3rd in scoring (305) points and 4th in steals (27). Her 13.3 point per game average is 3rd on the team and the highest in her career. She is the perfect compliment to three point gunner Katie Lou, down low post wizard Napheesa, high flying Gabby and "steady eddy" Saniya.

As the only 3 year starter, Kia has taken over the leadership role left by the departure of the Big Three. According to Geno, Kia had "the most difficult job on the team and she has handled it beautifully." High praise from the boss...