UCONN VS. Houston
Day: Saturday
Date: January 13th, 2018
Location: Houston, Texas
Time: 3:00
TV: SNY/ESPN3
No. 1 UConn Huskies Houston Cougars
14-0 (4-0) 14-4 (3-1)
Prior Meetings
UConn leads the series 5-0
1/7/14 W 90-40 Home
2/22/14 W 92-41 Away
2/17/15 W 85-26 Home
1/8/16 W 76-37 Away
1/28/17 W 91-42 Home
Last Year's Game Highlights
Team Overviews
Houston is having a breakout season so far this year. After going 12-19 (4-12) last season and 6-24 (2-16) the year before, the Cougars are much improved in 2017-18. They are 14-4 (3-1), which is quite an improvement as you can see. They started the season with a 83-65 loss to then ranked No. 20 Texas A&M. They were only down 4 in the fourth quarter before Texas A&M pulled away for the win. They lost at Boston College in their third game of the season 79-74 and then went on a 12-1 streak losing to only now ranked Rutgers 75-57. In their most recent game they lost to Jamelle Elliot's Cincinnati 88-82.
UConn is coming off a hard fought 36 point win against UCF. I know, that sounds stupid, but it really was hard fought. It was a very physical game and I can imagine that teams going forward will try to implement some of the same game plan that Central Florida had. But if the second half of the UCF game is an indicator, the Huskies will have no problems dealing with it.
UConn is coming off a hard fought 36 point win against UCF. I know, that sounds stupid, but it really was hard fought. It was a very physical game and I can imagine that teams going forward will try to implement some of the same game plan that Central Florida had. But if the second half of the UCF game is an indicator, the Huskies will have no problems dealing with it.
Stat by Stat Comparison
Leader is bolded.
UConn Houston
90.5 Points Per Game 77.3
56.0 Opp Points Per Game 70.3
.531 Field Goal % .425
.337 Opp Field Goal % .406
.396 3 Point Field Goal % .344
.287 Opp 3 Point Field Goal % .262
.716 Free Throw % .651
43.6 Rebounds Per Game 37.8
33.0 Opp Rebounds Per Game 43.7
23.4 Assists Per Game 15.1
13.1 Turnovers Per Game 18.1
1.7 Assists/Turnover Ratio .8
10.1 Steals Per Game 12.4
5.6 Blocks Per Game 3.5
UCONN
UConn Starters
24 Napheesa Collier
6'1" Junior Forward
MPG -29.6, FG% .553, 3PT% .281, FT% .690, 15.5 ppg, 7.9 rpg, 3.3 apg, 28 blks, 23 stls
15 Gabby Williams
5'11" Senior Forward
MPG - 27.4, FG% .581, 3PT% .000, FT% .690, 11.1 ppg, 8.3 rpg, 4.5 apg, 7 blks, 36 stls
11 Kia Nurse
6' Senior Guard
MPG - 32.9, FG% .569%, 3PT% .486, FT .750, 15.2 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 2.9 apg, 7 blks, 14 stls
5 Crystal Dangerfield
5'5" Sophomore Guard
MPG - 32.3, FG% .470, 3PT% .484, FT% .722%, 12.0 ppg, 2.6 rpg, 5.1 apg, 0 blks, 23 stls
33 Katie Lou Samuelson
6'3" Junior Guard/Forward
MPG - 28.2, FG% .513, 3PT% .508, FT% .789, 18.0 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 3.5 apg, 2 blk, 16 stls
UConn Bench
23 Azura Stevens
6'6" Junior Forward
MPG - 22.6, FG% .579, 3PT% .152, FT .742, 14.0 ppg, 8.9 rpg, 2.9 apg, 29 blks, 12 stls
3 Megan Walker
6'1" Freshman Guard/Forward
MPG - 16.0, FG% .476, 3PT% .294, FT% .625, 6.3 ppg, 3.4 rpg, .9 apg, 3 blk, 4 stls
32 Batouly Camara
6'2" Sophomore Forward
MPG - 2.6, FG% .000, 3PT% .000, FT% .000, 0.0 ppg, 1.2 rpg, 0.6 apg, 0 blk, 1 stls
10 Molly Bent
5'9" Sophomore Guard
MPG - 6.1, FG% .556, 3PT% .500, FT% .000, 1.0 ppg, .9 rpg, .6 apg, 0 blk, 2 stls
25 Kyla Irwin
6'2" Sophomore Forward
MPG - 7.8, FG% .524, 3PT% .300, FT% .500, 2.2 ppg, 1.3 rpg, .5 apg, 0 blk, 2 stls
4 Mikayla Coombs
5'8" Freshman Guard
MPG - 4.9, FG% .364, 3PT% .200, FT% .000, .8 ppg, .5 rpg, .3 apg, 2 blk, 6 stls
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Houston Cougars
Ron Hughey Head Coach
Hughey accumulated a 163-154 (.514) career record in 10 seasons as an NCAA Division I assistant coach at South Carolina State, South Carolina, UCF, Rutgers, Texas and Florida State. He is a veteran of seven postseason tournaments (6 NCAA, 1 NIT) including two NCAA Second Rounds (2013, 2014), four NCAA First Rounds (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012) and one WNIT Second Round (2008).
Hughey has a good reputation as a recruiter and he put together multiple national top-15 recruiting classes at both Texas and Florida State. At Houston, he signed an eight-player recruiting class in 2014-15, including two NJCAA All-Americans and four players rated as 3-star recruits by ESPN Hoopgurlz.
Hughey brought five more highly regarded recruits into the Houston program in the early 2015 signing period. Included in the group is Lufkin, Texas, native Natasha Mack, the first ESPN Hoopgurlz national top-100 recruit of his head coaching tenure.
Here is Coach Hughey's full Bio.
Hughey has a good reputation as a recruiter and he put together multiple national top-15 recruiting classes at both Texas and Florida State. At Houston, he signed an eight-player recruiting class in 2014-15, including two NJCAA All-Americans and four players rated as 3-star recruits by ESPN Hoopgurlz.
Hughey brought five more highly regarded recruits into the Houston program in the early 2015 signing period. Included in the group is Lufkin, Texas, native Natasha Mack, the first ESPN Hoopgurlz national top-100 recruit of his head coaching tenure.
Here is Coach Hughey's full Bio.
Houston Starters
0 Angela Harris
5'6" Sophomore Guard
MPG - 32.2, FG% .415, 3PT% .353, FT% .577, 13.4 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 3.8 apg, 3 blk, 59 stls
4 Jasmyne Harris
5'8" Sophomore Guard
MPG - 32.0, FG% .444, 3PT% .362, FT% .641, 20.3 ppg, 6.1 rpg, 3.9 apg, 11 blk, 40 stls
23 Serithia Hawkins
5'11" Junior Guard
MPG - 33.4, FG% .438, 3PT% .271, FT% . 701, 12.3 ppg, 8.2 rpg, 1.5 apg, 16 blk, 34 stls
3 Dorian Branch
5'10" Sophomore Forward
MPG - 34.3, FG% .421, 3PT% .385, FT% .654, 11.3 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 2.7 apg, 5 blk, 35 stls
22 Myya West
6' Junior Forward
MPG - 20.1, FG% .419, 3PT% .000, FT% .717, 6.2 ppg, 4.7 rpg, .5 apg, 14 blk, 14 stls
Houston Bench
2 Octavia Barnes
5'10" Junior Forward
MPG - 25.6, FG% .429, 3PT% .000, FT% .696, 8.8 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 1.5 apg, 2 blk, 19 stls
Game Analysis
Coach Hughey has done a remarkable job with the Houston Cougars since he arrived on the scene. This years team is playing so much better than the past season. A lot of that is just an increase in talent.
Talking about a sophomore jump, the two Harris girls, Angela and Jasmyne, have made a HUGE impact. Last season, both young ladies were inserted into the starting lineup just before the UConn game. While it didn't make a difference in their wins and losses, they did get some valuable experience and it's paying off this season.
What is pretty amazing is that Houston has been doing this with a 6 player rotation with no one over 6' tall.
Jasmyne Harris, a 5'6" sophomore guard is leading the team in scoring at 20.6 PPG and was the ESPN player of the week last week based on her incredible performance against Tulane in Houston's overtime win. She scored 27 points in the second half and overtime for that win. Diminutive but strong, she has no fear. She will pull up for a three or take you off the dribble.
Angela Harris is the another sophomore, a 5'8" guard. She is the second leading scorer on the team and has taken the most three point shots. A good ball handler, she is also very quick and causes a lot of turnovers for the opponent as she leads the team in steals.
Well, someone has to lead the team in rebounds and 5'11" junior guard Serithia Hawkins fills that role. She grabs over 8 per game. She also leads the team in blocks but with only 16, less than 1 per game average. She will take the occasional three pointer to keep the defenses honest but doesn't hit them at a high percentage.
Dorian Branch is a 5'10" sophomore forward. Yes, she is listed as a forward. And she is the best three point shooter on the team at 38%.
The fifth starter is Octavia Barnes, another 5'10" forward. Barnes is a junior transfer from Hines CC.
The only player off the bench that will see minutes is Myyah West, the only 6' player in the rotation. She is another JC transfer and is a junior this season.
Every player will be back next season, so Houston should be even better.
The Cougars will not hesitate to take three pointers as they average 21 per game and hit around 8. It's a decent part of their game. But like UCF, they generate most of their offense from their defense where they lead the American Athletic Conference in steals (223), steals per game (12.4) and turnovers forced (23.06) and ranks third, eighth and 11th in the nation, respectively. They are on the small side, but they play a very aggressive game on both sides of the ball.
UConn has seen this movie before. An undersized opponent that is physical and relies on defense more than offense. And each time they face this kind of game, they should be able to deal with it in a more productive way.
The Huskies will use their height to their advantage, working the ball inside out for open looks. They will pressure Houston. The Cougars average 18 turnovers per game on offense and the Huskies will take advantage of that. I can see Williams, Collier and Stevens with big games. And UConn should get plenty of open threes when Houston collapses in the paint on defense and if Nurse, Samuelson and Dangerfield are hot, UConn will score a lot of points.
Final Prediction
Even though Houston is playing better than last year, it shouldn't make a difference in the outcome of the game. If the Cougars can hit their open threes at a high rate and turn UConn over on defense they could keep it reasonably close. Now, reasonably close is 25 points. But I see a larger margin than that. Certainly after how the first half was in the last game, UConn should play with some fire in their eyes.
UConn by 40+
UConn by 40+
A "gameday" with meat, potatoes and a veggie!
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