UCONN @ Texas
UCONN @ Texas
Day: Monday
Date: Jan. 15th, 2018
Frank Erwin Center
Austin, Texas
Time:7:00
Austin, Texas
Time:7:00
TV: ESPN2
No. 1 UConn Huskies No. 8 Texas
15-0 14-2
Overview
Prior Meetings
UConn - 7-0
H: 1-0; A: 1-0; N: 5-0
4/6/03 W 71-69 N
1/17/05 W 73-57 H2/12/06 W 71-58 A
3/25/08 W 89-55 N
11/17/09 W 83-58 N
3/28/15 W 105-54 N
3/18/16 W 86-65 N
1/4/17 W 72-54 H
Overview
Texas has had a pretty good season so far. They won their first seven games reaching the 100 point mark in two of them. But the competition was not the strongest. In their first game against a ranked team, they lost to Tennessee 82-75 in a game that their coach Karen Aston said after the game that "we didn't look very well coached and that bothers me." I think that Coach Aston had a good heart to heart with her players as they went on a six game winning streak with three of those against ranked teams. They beat Florida State 87-72, West Virginia 79-58 and Oklahoma State 84-79. It looked like the Longhorns were going to jump back into the top five. But they had a shocking loss to unranked TCU 79-77. I have no idea what happened there, but the team bounced back with a win against Kansas.
UConn beat up on Houston 95-35 in their last game and looked like a defensive juggernaut in dismantling the Cougars. After a tough physical game against Central Florida the Huskies showed that they learned something from that encounter. This is one of three out-of-conference games that UConn has against a top ten team.
Comparative Team Statistic
Leader in Bold
Leader in Bold
UConn Texas
90.8 PPG 75.2
54.6 Defensive PPG 63.9
54.6 Defensive PPG 63.9
36.2 Scoring Margin 21.3
53.1 Field Goal % 47.2
32.8 Defensive FG% 40.3
32.8 Defensive FG% 40.3
39.2 Three Point % 31.9
27.6 Defensive 3PT% 31.7
72.8 Free Throw % 71.027.6 Defensive 3PT% 31.7
43.9 Rebounds/game 45.3
10.5 Rebounding Margin 14.4
22.9 Assists per game 17.6
13.5 Turnover per game 15.9
1.7 Assists/TO ratio 1.1
10.8 Steals per game 9.3
5.7 Blocks per game 4.0
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UCONN
UConn Starters
24 Napheesa Collier
6'1" Junior Forward
MPG -29.5, FG% .539, 3PT% .273, FT% .735, 15.1 PPG, 7.9 RPG, 3.3 APG
15 Gabby Williams
5'11" Senior Forward
MPG - 26.7, FG% .592, 3PT% .000, FT% .710, 10.9 PPG, 7.9 RPG, 4.2 APG
11 Kia Nurse
6' Senior Guard
MPG - 32.6, FG% .568%, 3PT% .487, FT .762, 15.1 PPG, 3.3 RPG, 2.8 APG
5 Crystal Dangerfield
5'5" Sophomore Guard
MPG - 31.6, FG% .475, 3PT% .478, FT% .722%, 11.9 PPG, 2.6 RPG, 4.9 APG
33 Katie Lou Samuelson
6'3" Junior Guard/Forward
MPG - 27.9, FG% .519, 3PT% .492, FT% .800, 17.9 PPG, 4.6 RPG, 3.6 APG
UConn Bench
23 Azura Stevens
6'6" Junior Forward
MPG - 22.8, FG% .583, 3PT% .147, FT .778, 14.3 PPG, 9.0 RPG, 2.7 APG
3 Megan Walker
6'1" Freshman Guard/Forward
MPG - 15.6, FG% .462, 3PT% .294, FT% .625, 5.8 PPG, 3.3 RPG, .9 APG
32 Batouly Camara
6'2" Sophomore Forward
MPG - 2.7, FG% .000, 3PT% .000, FT% .750, 0.5 PPG, 1.3 RPG, 0.5 APG
10 Molly Bent
5'9" Sophomore Guard
MPG - 6.2, FG% .455, 3PT% .500, FT% .000, .9 PPG, .8 RPG, .6 APG
25 Kyla Irwin
6'2" Sophomore Forward
MPG - 8.0, FG% .577, 3PT% .273, FT% .333, 2.6 PPG, 1.3 RPG, .5 APG
4 Mikayla Coombs
5'8" Freshman Guard
MPG - 5.9, FG% .333, 3PT% .167, FT% .000, .8 PPG, .6 RPG, .3 APG
34 Alexi Gordon
6' Freshman Guard
MPG - 2.4, FG% .333, 3PT% .167, FT% .000, .8 PPG, .7 RPG, 1 APG
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Head Coach Karen Aston
Karen Aston returned to the institution where she originally carved her reputation as an energetic leader and relentless recruiter in 2012, becoming just the fourth Texas Women's Basketball head coach in program history.
Since arriving at The University of Texas, Aston has made steps to lay the foundation for the Longhorns’ return to national prominence, which she experienced as an eight-year assistant to Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame coach Jody Conradt. Aston was instrumental in the Longhorns’ trip to the 2003 NCAA Final Four and a pair of Sweet 16 appearances in 2002 and 2004.
A native of Benton, Ark., Aston was a two-time first-team all-state selection at Bryant High School. She capped her high school career by leading Bryant to the 1982 Arkansas Class 4A State Championship. Aston earned a Bachelors of Arts degree in physical education from Arkansas-Little Rock in 1987. She played two seasons of basketball at UALR after transferring from Ouachita Baptist.
Texas Starters
11 Brooke McCarty
5'4" Senior Guard
MPG - 30.5, FG% .433, 3PT% .324, FT .931, 13.1 PPG, 4.5 RPG, 5.1 APG
24 Arial Adkins
5'11" Senior Guard
MPG - 26.6, FG% .550, 3PT% .431, FT .878, 14.6 PPG, 6.0 RPG, 3.5 APG
10 Lashann Higgs
5'9" Junior Guard
MPG - 22.8, FG% .605, 3PT% .400, FT .797, 15.1 PPG, 2.8 RPG, 2.4 APG
31 Audrey-Ann Caron-Goudreau
6'4" Senior Forward
MPG - 20.6, FG% .486, 3PT% .357, FT .647, 5.6 PPG, 5.1 RPG, .7 APG
6'4" Junior Forward/Center
MPG - 21.8, FG% .497, 3PT% .000, FT .629, 10.6 PPG, 6.1 RPG, .5 APG
Texas Bench
6'3" Sophomore Guard/Forward
MPG - 10.0, FG% .267, 3PT% .000, FT .400, 3.0 PPG, 3.5 RPG, .8 APG
5 Jordan Hosey
6'1" Sophomore Forward
MPG - 11.5, FG% .456, 3PT% .143, FT .571, 3.8 PPG, 2.4 RPG, .3 APG
1 Alecia Sutton
5'8" Sophomore Guard
MPG - 22.3, FG% .405, 3PT% .342, FT .571, 7.2 PPG, 2.8 RPG, 2.4 APG
Game Analysis
UConn and Texas are meeting for the fourth time in four years with each game closer than the last. UConn has won 105-54, 86-65 and 72-54 the last three years. I had the pleasure of watching UConn win that Sweet Sixteen game by 51 points in person. I also got to see two freshman for Texas that would have a huge impact on the program over the next few years in Brooke McCarty and Ariel Atkins.
With the graduation of Kelsey Lang and the regression of Joyner Holmes, the offense is all about the guards for Texas with the solid backcourt of McCarty, Lashann Higgs and Atkins. These three guards are the top three scorers on the team.
McCarty, the 5'4" guard, has had a tough senior season. She was just awful against Tennessee and her overall numbers are down from her Junior season. McCarty was over 40% on threes last year and has dropped to 32%. She has really struggled in the Big 12 so far this year.
Atkins loves to take the ball to the rim, but has really improved with her three pointer this season, shooting 43%. But she only takes around 3 per game, so you know it's not a big part of her offense. A lefty, she is a tough matchup for anyone.
Higgs has made a big jump in this, her junior season. She is leading the team in scoring in only 23 minutes per game. She has had some big games this season and is also hitting threes at a nice clip of 40%. But like Atkins, she only shoots around 2 per game. A strong player, she loves to get to the free throw line where she hits a solid 80%.
The two bigs in the lineup in 6'4" Jatari White, who is a South Carolina transfer and 6'4" senior Audrey-Ann Caron-Goudreau. Neither are big impact players but fill their roll for the Longhorns. Rebounding and defending.
Off the bench, it looks like Joyner Holmes might be rounding into shape. She was a total non-factor in her first 5 games back from a school instituted suspension but was better in her last game. It's hard to know what she will bring to this game. Alecia Sutton, a 5'8" guard is the only other real contributor off the bench and has a nice all-around game. She will let Coach Alston so small at times.
Texas plays exclusively man-to-man defense and I don't think they match up well with UConn's diverse offense. UConn will screen them like crazy and use there terrific motion offense to get plenty of open looks.
Like UConn, Texas like to screen and then dribble drive to the basket. UConn will have to watch out for that as it has forced the opponents to foul. They can't afford to have their best players sitting.
It looked to me that Texas doesn't do a good job of getting to the three point shooters. If they can't close and Nurse remains hot, KLS and Kia will hurt them badly. White can play big but is a little slow, so Williams, Collier and Stevens should be able to succeed in the paint.
A fun matchup to watch will be McCarty and Dangerfield. Quick on Quick. Keep you eye on that....if you can.
Final Prediction
Texas is a tough team to figure. They have looked really good at times but really really bad at times too. The game against Tennessee is sticking in my craw. They were just so off in that game. Tennessee put a lot of pressure on the ball and it worked. I'm pretty sure that UConn can apply more pressure than the Lady Vols did.
Last season Texas was only able to score 54 points against the Huskies. Maybe at home they score a little more and break 60. But it will be tough to hold UConn to under 80.
I'm betting on 20+ point win for Connecticut.
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