I really enjoyed watching this game. I predicted a much closer game and was happily wrong on that account. It was a typical UConn domination of a high ranked opponent. With an 11-0 run to end the 1st quarter and a 16-2 run to end the 3rd quarter, UConn never let UCLA get into the game.
A message to the fans that complained about the last 7 minutes. Stop it. Just stop. This was the 3rd game in 5 days and the starters played a ton of minutes. They travelled 3000 miles and by the time the last 7 minutes were played, it was 12:15 AM for them.
Great quotes from Geno and the players. Enjoy the rest of the report!!!
Game Highlights
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Game Quotes from Geno
“We came in and the way the game played and the way the environment was and the team that we played and how good they are, we created a little bit of an identity for ourselves. Tonight was a big night for us. Really, really, really big.”
“Great environment. It was a lot of fun for the players, for us as coaches. We knew it was going to be like that. We grew up as a team a little bit today. Every team has to figure out its own identity, and if we had come in here and there was 1,000 or 2,000 people and the place and the place was dead. And it would be just another game, you wouldn’t really know that much.”
“We talked identity a lot. Each team, each season, has to carve out sort of who they are and what they are and they’re going to be. You’re going to be identified by what you put out on the floor. You need opportunities to prove it.”
“This was a perfect opportunity to prove that we’re not just going to roll out there and say, we’re entitled to winning. We’re willing to fight for it. That’s what happened.”
“Great environment. It was a lot of fun for the players, for us as coaches. We knew it was going to be like that. We grew up as a team a little bit today. Every team has to figure out its own identity, and if we had come in here and there was 1,000 or 2,000 people and the place and the place was dead. And it would be just another game, you wouldn’t really know that much.”
“We talked identity a lot. Each team, each season, has to carve out sort of who they are and what they are and they’re going to be. You’re going to be identified by what you put out on the floor. You need opportunities to prove it.”
“This was a perfect opportunity to prove that we’re not just going to roll out there and say, we’re entitled to winning. We’re willing to fight for it. That’s what happened.”
“Whatever the crowd that somebody draws at home, it’s going to be a lot different when we come in. We know that. It’s probably going to be the biggest crowd they’re going to draw. We’re OK with that. Contrary to what people might think, it actually helps us because we feed off the energy of the crowd. We certainly never get bored with playing in these environments. We kind of get charged up about it.’
“You play on a team and you’ve got to step up. Megan did so today.”
"Transition is a huge part of their offense. A lot of times transition buckets come when you take bad shots or you turn the ball over in bad spots. I thought, for the most part, we did a pretty good job of taking care of the ball and the fact that we have no transition points is probably why they only got 60."
"Without Gabby in the game in the first half (due to foul trouble), that was tough because now we have Z (Stevens) and Megan and they are - to say the least - defensively challenged. We were trying to figure out what the easiest thing we could do was the simpliest thing that we could do so we tried to keep it very simple. I could tell we had them thinking a little bit because they slowed down and weren't in any kind of flow. You could see that they were struggling to find where their offense were going to come from. I thought our guys were great defensively, they were just great."
UCLA Coach Cori Close and Players
Close - “They defend all over the floor so we were stuck with really hard shots"
Close - ''We're a good basketball team but there's no margin for error against a great basketball team. They executed their game plan the entire time and we couldn't respond."
Close - “UConn was a better team tonight. They have obviously set the standard of excellence and we wanted this to show us a barometer of our standard of excellence. We are a really good basketball team, but there is no margin for error with a great basketball team.”
Close - “They dared us to shoot outside shots. We couldn’t make them.”
Canada - “This teaches what excellence is. And that’s UConn.”
Canada - “When you come out and you play the No. 1 team in the country, they expose you and your weaknesses. It’s about the details and the inches and that’s something we need to focus on to get better as a team.”
Player Evaluations
Crystal Dangerfield
This is from my friend Eric O who attended the game:
UCLA is a tough, physical team. At times they disrupted UCONN's offense to the point where we would go a good 5-6 minutes and score 4-6 points. However, in general, in the first 3 quarters, UCLA kept it close for the first 5-6 minutes of the quarter, then UCONN went on a spurt.
- UCONN went on a 9-0 run at the end of the 1st quarter (led 12-11 prior)
- UCLA cut the lead to 5 in Q2 with 4 minutes left, then Walker took over and the lead was up to 11 at half time
- UCONN's lead was still 11 with 3 minutes left in Q3, then we went on another run of 13-0
UCONN got the lead up to 29 with 6 minutes left in the game but was outplayed by UCLA down the stretch. Geno was NOT happy. But give credit to UCLA for not packing it in. They fought hard and outplayed us at the end, and that was with all our starters in.
The game plan seemed to be 3-fold...
The game plan seemed to be 3-fold...
- Pack it in the paint - we didn't give Drummer, and more importantly Billings, any room to work in the paint
- Dare UCLA to make outside shots (for the most part they did not)
- Harrass Canada at every turn. Crystal was more than up for the challenge and the help defense on her was terrific
Collier - terrific all game. Definitely player of the game. 5 steals, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, and 23 points, played 40 minutes - I think we can safely say whatever was "ailing" her the first few games of the season is completely out of her system. She wasn't great with the high-low game (more on that later), but every time she got the ball in the post, she out-maneuvered her defender for a layup.
Walker - coming out party. Geno was clearly unhappy with Stevens. Put in Walker in the 2nd quarter, and she single handedly put the nail in the coffin. I think she got all of her 13 points over the 4 minute stretch at the end of Q2. Struggled to find the basket in the 2nd half, but no denying her impact on both ends of the floor.
Williams - unfortunately picked up fouls in bunches and had to sit, but boy is she terrific every second she's on the floor
Danger - kept one of the best PG's in the game in check. She was just tremendous. Assist goes to UCONN's help defense, as UCLA would set a lot of screes for Canada to get around, but UCONN was equal to the task.
Nurse - quiet in the first half (so it seemed), but really took over at times in the 2nd half. Such an all around solid game for her. 3 point shot was off. If not for that, she would have been a lot more noticeable
Stevens - It's just one game, but she has a ways to go. People who proclaimed she was the "best player on the team" before the season started were unfortunately wrong. I'd love it if she was an AA, but at this time, she is not. I get that she may make 3 point shots in the practices, but in the games, her shooting beyond the arc is abysmal. And I simply do not understand the high low game where she is on the perimeter lobbing the ball over the defender to a 6'1" Napheesa to try to get a layup. That play almost never worked. It should be the opposite - at 6'6", players should be lobbing the ball to her. I will say she is very mobile and her help defense was solid for the most part. But her weaknesses were on full display and she would have played even less had Gabby not been in foul trouble.
Walker - coming out party. Geno was clearly unhappy with Stevens. Put in Walker in the 2nd quarter, and she single handedly put the nail in the coffin. I think she got all of her 13 points over the 4 minute stretch at the end of Q2. Struggled to find the basket in the 2nd half, but no denying her impact on both ends of the floor.
Williams - unfortunately picked up fouls in bunches and had to sit, but boy is she terrific every second she's on the floor
Danger - kept one of the best PG's in the game in check. She was just tremendous. Assist goes to UCONN's help defense, as UCLA would set a lot of screes for Canada to get around, but UCONN was equal to the task.
Nurse - quiet in the first half (so it seemed), but really took over at times in the 2nd half. Such an all around solid game for her. 3 point shot was off. If not for that, she would have been a lot more noticeable
Stevens - It's just one game, but she has a ways to go. People who proclaimed she was the "best player on the team" before the season started were unfortunately wrong. I'd love it if she was an AA, but at this time, she is not. I get that she may make 3 point shots in the practices, but in the games, her shooting beyond the arc is abysmal. And I simply do not understand the high low game where she is on the perimeter lobbing the ball over the defender to a 6'1" Napheesa to try to get a layup. That play almost never worked. It should be the opposite - at 6'6", players should be lobbing the ball to her. I will say she is very mobile and her help defense was solid for the most part. But her weaknesses were on full display and she would have played even less had Gabby not been in foul trouble.
Crystal Dangerfield
After an off game in her last outing with her outside shot, Dangerfield was 3-4 with the only miss being a half court shot at the buzzer to end a period. One of three players to go 40 minutes, she was 5-9 from the field and ended up with 17 points and 4 assists. Her defense on Canada was terrific and I have to admit, a little surprising. She didn't allow Canada to get going at any point in the game. Yes, plenty of team defense, but she never let her get to her spots. Only a sophomore? She played big in a big game.
Kia Nurse
Kia was another 40 minutes player and her effort is supreme. She struggled with her shooting from both the three points line and the foul line. Quite unusual for her. But offensive struggles never impact her defense. She scored 11 points and added 4 assists a block and a steal.
Napheesa Collier
YES!! Napheesa is back! The third 40 minute player in this game, she impacted the game in every way. Her shot was solid, going 9-15 from the field and hitting her only three. She scored 23 points, grabbed 7 rebounds and added 4 assists. Her hands were all over the passing lanes, picking up 5 steals.
“We all knew that, especially since Kate Lou was out, that we all had to pick up a little extra slack. I think we all came in ready to be really aggressive. We knew they were a physical team, so I think we just all came to play today.”
Gabby Williams
Gabby slipped into the only flaw in her game with four personal fouls. When she does that she sits, and when she sits, UConn suffers. Geno had a long talk with her after the game and I'm sure that was at the top of the conversation. In her 30 minutes she had 8 points and a team leading 11 rebounds. She is so strong AND quick to the basket. Her defense was so important in slowing down the fast breaking Bruins with 3 steals.
“We’re going to see that [atmosphere] a lot this year,” Gabby Williams said. “Even if they’re not for the other team, a lot of times they’re going to be against us. So I think we embraced it and I think it’s fun to kind of quiet the crowd.”
Azura Stevens
I know some fans are disappointed in her performance to date, but I'm not. You can see her skills, her passion and she certainly will improve. In her 25 minutes she scored only 6 points on 2-5 shooting. She added 5 rebounds and more importantly 4 assists on some nice passes. What I liked was her impact in the paint defensively. She had 2 blocks and a few intimidations. More to come!
Megan Walker
A breakout game for Walker!!! In a two minute span she hit three 3 point shots and boy were they pretty. She came in with a reputation of a poor long range shooter but you can see she is really working on it. Her form was beautiful. Her overall game was solid and that is saying something for a freshman. In her 25 minutes she had 13 points, 3 rebounds an assists and a steal. I can see some great things from this young woman.
Final Thoughts
Next up is undefeated Michigan State. They now have ND transfer Taya Reimer, although she sat out the last two games with an injury. They have hammered their four opponents but those teams were not exactly the cream of the crop. College of Charleston, Detroit Mercy, Oakland and Robert Morris do not strike fear into anyone. But they have averaged 100 points and given up an average of only 56 points. That being said, UConn should have no trouble with the Spartans.
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