Game Highlights
******************************************************************************
Game Quotes From Geno
"Katie Lou's toughness is never something I am very concerned with, on one side of the floor at least. You don't have the type of high school career she had if you didn't believe in yourself and have a certain level of toughness."
"People get enamored over things that are unusual like this winning streak. It's pretty unusual to win 99 games in a row. Most people have treated us throughout this whole streak like it's not a big deal they should win every game. Now that we are approaching a significant number more people are paying attention and are more interested."
''We're not where I want to be right now. A game like Monday night comes at a perfect time for us. Maybe it's exactly the game we need at exactly the right time.''
''We're not where I want to be right now. A game like Monday night comes at a perfect time for us. Maybe it's exactly the game we need at exactly the right time.''
"We are going to lose at some point. It's not an if, it's a when. Who is it that never loses? Even the sand at the beach loses to the ocean."
Game Quotes from Coach Travis Mays
"No. 1 we wanted to see if we could be better in our transition defense against one of the best, if not the best, transition teams in the country. Did I get that accomplished? Absolutely not. I think we gave up 30 fast break points, and a lot of those were off of some of our turnovers. The way to test and gauge how good you can be or how good you are, you go against the best team like that and it shows up. It shows our habits and we definitely didn't get that accomplished."
"Well you have to have a short memory. If you look at the facts and you look at the statistics, not many people come in and win here in Storrs. The thing is, you want to use this, I don't want to say as a practice game because you always want to give your best showing, but we had so many habits be exposed today. You want to learn from it, but a game like this you do have to put in the rearview mirror because it will be a different opponent. Even though it is another road game, you have to put it in the rearview mirror and be the best team you can be when you play Temple."
"What impresses me most about UConn and their streak is their consistency. The thing is, and Geno might not agree with this, but you look at a team and they don't get complacent. When you win a certain amount of games and you know you've conquered probably a conference title, they don't get complacent. They still challenge themselves to try to play the perfect game. They try not to make mistakes. Sure they didn't play their A game against us, but we didn't challenge them enough to expose that. That's what impresses me the most, their consistency."
Player Evaluations
Katie Lou Samuelson
So much for being sick. Lou is just one tough cookie. She looked like the old Katie Lou in this game, scoring 19 of her 22 points in the first half. It's just what UConn needed. After playing 20 minutes in the first half she only played 5 in the second half giving her plenty of rest before the South Carolina game.
"There was some concern about if it was smart for me to sit out today or whatever. I knew that I definitely wanted to play and when coached asked me and I told him that I wanted to play today and he said okay."
"I think a little bit of rest was needed for me. You don't get much as the season goes on. Everyone's kind of feeling tired here and there, so it was nice for me to be able to get those."
"I think just having such a great game against South Carolina and such a great atmosphere. Coach was saying he knows he's not going to have to worry about us being ready to go or excited for this game it's something that will come."
Napheesa Collier
Quite the unusual game for Napheesa. In her 28 minutes she only scored 10 points and did that on an unimpressive 4-11 from the field. She just didn't make shots she usually makes. As Geno says, sometimes the shots don't drop. But she still added 13 rebounds, 1 block and 2 steals. 6 of those rebounds were on the offensive end. She worked really hard on that in this game.
"I think that we realized that you know that it is a big deal that that we won that many games in a row so far, but I think we aren't really focusing on 100 for the next game we are focusing on South Carolina as a team, their strengths, and stopping them."
"I think that I hope to see our toughness come out because it is going to be a grind, South Carolina is a really good team so it is going to be a good game. I hope to see us fight through and hopefully come out."
Gabby Williams
I love the play depicted in this picture. She is SO high in the air on the offensive rebound and then put back. Incredibly athletic play by Gabby. She only played 23 minutes but was very effective in her minutes. She scored 11 points and added 9 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals. But she too struggled from the field, going 5-12 from the field. The fact remains that when she is in the game, UConn is a better team by a lot!
Williams' nine rebounds give her 201 this season. She joins Maya Moore and Breanna Stewart as the only players in program history with at least 200 rebounds, 100 assists, 50 steals and 25 blocked shots in a season.
Kia Nurse
Kia had another solid game, playing 30 minutes and scoring 14 points. She added 4 assists. Her on the ball defense was outstanding. Geno has said she is the true leader of this team. You sure can see that on the court.
"To do that is a testament to Lou's mental toughness and who she is as a character and a teammate and that's something that we need."
"Obviously every single time we step out on the floor we understand that past players are watching from a far. You see Stewie watching on her laptop occasionally from China. You know that they put so much effort into this program and they built it to what it is today. We have to go out and play Connecticut basketball to thank them for what they've done. "
"Obviously every single time we step out on the floor we understand that past players are watching from a far. You see Stewie watching on her laptop occasionally from China. You know that they put so much effort into this program and they built it to what it is today. We have to go out and play Connecticut basketball to thank them for what they've done. "
Sanyia Chong
Another terrific game from Sanyia. In a team leading 35 minutes, Chong scored 13 points, handed out 7 assists and had ZERO turnovers. She was 3-7 on threes but one of those was from just over the half court line at the end of a quarter. She is an important part of this starting lineup. No longer a role player in my mind.
Crystal Dangerfield
It was a mixed bag for Natalie. While she score 9 points and 4 rebounds in her 17 minutes she also had 4 personal fouls and 5 turnovers. I'm really not sure what she will contribute on Monday night.
Molly Bent
Kyla got in the game early as the first sub off the bench. Geno was clearly rewarding her play in practice. I've always been a big fan of her (and her parents) and she is going to surprise her naysayers. She played a solid 15 minutes, scoring 4 points and adding 3 rebounds.
No game picture of Tierney anywhere! She played 4 minutes with zeros across the board.
Final Thoughts
A good warmup for UConn prior to the South Carolina game. It was good experience going against a team with three big players in 6'3", 6'5" and 6'6". While UConn did have a few shots blocked, it will only help them against the two bigs of South Carolina.
No comments:
Post a Comment