Monday, November 20, 2023

Doggy's UConn/UCLA Pregame Report Cayman Island Classic

                                     

                        
                         No. 8 UCONN                                    No. 3 UCLA
                      3-1                                                           4-0   

Friday, November 24th
7:30 PM EST
George Town
Cayman Island Classic
TV: Flohoops


Matchup History

UCLA | UCONN LEADS 7-0 
H: 1-0 | A: 2-0 | N: 4-0 

11/17/98 #2 UConn 113, UCLA 102 Los Angeles, Calif. 
12/23/99 #1 UConn 106, UCLA 64 Storrs, Conn. 
12/21/14 #2 UConn 86, UCLA 50 Uncasville, Conn. 
03/25/17 #1 UConn 86, #15 UCLA 71 Bridgeport, Conn. 
11/21/17 #1 UConn 78, #5 UCLA 60 Los Angeles, Calif. 
03/29/19 #2 UConn 69, #20 UCLA 61 Albany, N.Y
12/11/21 #3 UConn 71, UCLA 61 Newark, N.J.

UCLA Season to Date

The Bruins have gotten off to a great start, cementing their position in the Top 3. 

They beat up on Purdue 92-49, and then hammered UC Riverside 90-52 and Bellamine 113-64

They finally played a good team and is was a battle. Princeton gave UCLA all it could handle before winning 77-74.
                                        
 *******************************************************************



************************************************

UCLA




UCLA Starters





  
UCLA Bench

  

  


Game Analysis

Just some random thoughts on the game. I don't have time for a full in depth analysis before we go on our cruise. 

The fear of Betts is just an overwhelming for many UConn fans. She's good. But she can't play more than 25 minutes without tiring out. That's 15 minutes for someone else to play the middle. That appears to be 6'2" sophomore Christeen Iwuala.  Angela Dugalic starts at forward. 6'4" but doesn't play big. Against Princeton she had 4 points and 5 rebounds. 

Kiki Rice is a very good player. An improving sophomore, she runs the team. 

Charisma Osborn is a terrific player but I like UConn's chances of slowing her down with Nika. Muhl just totally took out of her game the best player for Minnesota. It's what she does. 

Angela Dugalić is a 6'4" senior forward. She is tall but doesn't play big.  

Danielle Jaquez is a 6' Sophomore forward who plays bigger than she is. A terrific rebounder and defender, UConn will have to box her out on rebounds.

6'4" Senior Emily Bessoir was counted on for big minutes. She played against Purdue, went overseas to play for Germany and received a bed injury and has missed the last 3 games. I can't find anywhere with information more than that. I don't expect her to be playing.

Did you see who UCLA played the first three games? A terrible Big 10 team in Purdue and two really bad teams in UC Riverside and Bellarmine. 

Then they met a real team in Princeton and almost lost.

I will give Betts credit. She is a very good player. But she is no Cardoso.

UCLA is a good team. They are really going to miss Senior Emily Bessoir. She was in their regular rotation.

Betts, Rice and Osbourne. Very good players. Not yet great.   

UCLA was  2-9 on threes against Princeton. Their stats were built up in three blowout wins. 

It's best to look at their career stats to rate their three point shooting.

Osbourne - 33%, 34%, 33%,  29% her first 4 seasons. 50% so far this year.
Jones - 35% her first season. 41% so far this year.
Rice - 21% her first season. 40% so far this year.

No, they are not a great shooting three point team. They are just shooting great so far this year against inferior competition.

UConn will have to hit a higher percentage of threes on Friday against UCLA. They might not have the horses to do that.

And they will have to do their best to prevent the offensive rebounding success that teams have had against them. 

Final Prediction


It just feels like this will be a a low scoring game. UConn is not all there offensively but they are really improving defensively. 

They won't be able to stop Betts completely but they will prevent her from dominating the game.

I'm hopefuly that the four days of practice will really help with their offensive execution. 

UConn by 4+

No comments:

Post a Comment