UCONN vs Tulsa
Day: Saturday
Date: February 21st, 2015
Location: Tulsa, Oklahoma
Time: 3:00
TV: SNY
UConn 25-1 (14-0)
Tulsa 14-11 (9-5)
Overview
Last time I wrote the Tulsa preview I was nice and warm in Florida. Quite the difference now being in Connecticut in the coldest morning on record in some parts of the state. BRRRRRRRRR!!!!!
Tulsa is coming off a blowout at the hands of South Florida. Now, South Florida was really pissed off after losing to East Carolina in heartbreaking fashion, so I'm sure they played with fire in their eyes. But Tulsa was just awful in that game, losing 79-46. Good for USF, not so good for Tulsa. Their performance was so bad, they were honorable mention for an UGGY award for this game.
Prior to the USF game, Tulsa had won six consecutive conference games, mostly against the bottom dwellers of the AAC. They did beat both East Carolina and Temple, two decent AAC teams in that winning streak.
UConn is coming off a solid game against a pretty bad Houston team, winning 85-26. The only blemish for UConn in that game was their worst three point shooting game of the season. The defense has been the one constant (minus the Stanford Game) this season and they were great at that end in the Houston game.
In the first game this season between the two teams, UConn defeated Tulsa 98-60. Moriah Jefferson scored 22 points and Morgan Tuck added 21 points. This was the game where KML made three 3-point shots to tie Diana Taurasi with 318. Kia Nurse and Gabby Williams each added 15 points. Jordyn Holmes led Tulsa with 17 points and Ashley Clark scored 15. UConn were leading 80-32 when Geno subbed in the 4 bench players with 15 minutes left. From that point on, Tulsa outscored UConn 28-18.
UConn StartersTulsa is coming off a blowout at the hands of South Florida. Now, South Florida was really pissed off after losing to East Carolina in heartbreaking fashion, so I'm sure they played with fire in their eyes. But Tulsa was just awful in that game, losing 79-46. Good for USF, not so good for Tulsa. Their performance was so bad, they were honorable mention for an UGGY award for this game.
Prior to the USF game, Tulsa had won six consecutive conference games, mostly against the bottom dwellers of the AAC. They did beat both East Carolina and Temple, two decent AAC teams in that winning streak.
UConn is coming off a solid game against a pretty bad Houston team, winning 85-26. The only blemish for UConn in that game was their worst three point shooting game of the season. The defense has been the one constant (minus the Stanford Game) this season and they were great at that end in the Houston game.
In the first game this season between the two teams, UConn defeated Tulsa 98-60. Moriah Jefferson scored 22 points and Morgan Tuck added 21 points. This was the game where KML made three 3-point shots to tie Diana Taurasi with 318. Kia Nurse and Gabby Williams each added 15 points. Jordyn Holmes led Tulsa with 17 points and Ashley Clark scored 15. UConn were leading 80-32 when Geno subbed in the 4 bench players with 15 minutes left. From that point on, Tulsa outscored UConn 28-18.
11 Kia Nurse 6' Freshman Guard
Nurse had one of her best games against Tulsa. In 24 minutes, she was 5-7 from the field, 3-3 on three point shots, had 4 assists and only one turnover.
2014-15: MPG 24.9, FG% .510, 3PT% .451, PPG 11.3, RPG 3.3, APG 3.3, 44 steals, 0 blocks
Jefferson was amazing in this game. She scored 22 points on 8-9 from the field. She was 4-4 on three's. She added 4 assists and zero turnovers. All this in only 20 minutes.
2014-15: MPG 26.7, FG% .564, 3PT% .507, PPG 11.7, RPG 2.7, APG 4.5, 62 steals, 3 block
23 Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis 5'11" Senior Forward
KML had one of her quiet games against Tulsa last time out. She was 4-11 from the field and 3-8 on three's scoring 11 points. She only had 1 rebound and 1 assists.
2014-15: MPG 28.2, FG% .521, 3PT% .500, PPG 13.8, RPG 4.3, APG 2.8, 28 steals, 5 blocks
3 Morgan Tuck 6'2" Sophomore Forward
Steady Morgan had a terrific game against Tulsa in their first meeting. She as 10-12 from the field and 1-2 on three's scoring 21 points. She also grabbed 5 rebounds.
2014-15: MPG 24.9, FG% .578, 3PT% .213, PPG 13.8, RPG 5.4, APG 2.8, 22 steals, 10 blocks
30 Breanna Stewart 6'4" Junior Forward
Stewie the point guard? In the last Tulsa game, she only took 3 shots hitting them all. She only scored 6 points, but she had a career high 8 assists.
UConn Bench
Stokes started her streak of four out of five games with 7 blocks in the last outing against Tulsa. She didn't score and grabbed 5 rebounds.
2014-15: MPG 19.7, FG% .535, 3PT% .500, PPG 5.1, RPG 7.7, APG .8, 14 steals, 118 blocks
Not a good outing for Chong in her last effort against Tulsa. In 21 minutes she was 1-4 from the field for 2 points and 2 assists. She also had 3 turnovers.
2014-15: MPG 20.1, FG% .492, 3PT% .417, PPG 6.3, RPG 2.2, APG 1.9, 16 steals, 6 blocks
15 Gabby Williams 5'11" Freshman Guard
Williams broke a streak of 6 points, 8 rebounds in 25 minutes over 3 games with a 15 point, 9 rebound effort against Tulsa in their last matchup. She struggled with 4 turnovers.
2014-15: MPG 17.0 FG% .635, 3PT% .000, PPG 9.1, RPG 6.4, APG 1.4, 34 steals, 12 blocks
Tulsa was her third game back from her foot injury and her first extended minutes with 19. She responded with 6 points on 2-3 shooting from beyond the arc. She is coming off a career high 8 points against Houston.
2014-15: MPG 12.2 FG% .313, 3PT% .222, PPG 2.3, RPG 1.6, APG .8, 6 steals, 0 blocks
UConn Complete Stats
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Tulsa Starters
32 Mariah Turner 6'2" Senior Forward
Turner played 20 minutes in the first UConn game this season, scoring 3 points and grabbing 1 rebound. Tulsa needs her to be much more effective this game as she is their main size in the starting lineup. She did only play 15 minutes in the last game, leaving the game with an injury. I do not know her status for today.
00 Kelsee Grovey 5'8" Junior Guard
35 Kadan Brady 5'9" Senior Guard
As I said in the first Tulsa game preview, the Golden Hurricane is one of the smallest teams UConn will play. They have only ONE player 6' or more that gets minutes in 6'2" Mariah Turner, the second leading scorer on the team. Tulsa might have a "big" problem as Turner left her last game after 15 minutes with an injury. There has been no word if she will be available Saturday. They did play 6'2" Auturo Campbell for 21 minutes in the first game, much more than her average of 7 and her only game over 10 minutes. Geno has said this was an unusual style team to play. That they will play 4 or 5 guard at the same time.
As you can imagine, they do take a lot of 3 pointers. They are still averaging around 18 taken per game and make 7. Not a bad team percentage. They are led by Teanna Reid (46%) and Kadan Brady (42%), so look for them to fire away. They also do a pretty good job defensively. They are 42nd in the country in steals and forced the UConn bench players into 10 of the 14 turnovers that UConn had in the first matchup.
Not only is it possible that Turner will be out, but their leading scorer in the last UConn/Tulsa game, Freshman Jordyn Holmes hasn't played a game in February, missing the last 6 games. I have not been able to find out if she is injured or if there is another issue. (On edit, I spoke with the Director of Operations at Tulsa and she informed me that Holmes is day-to-day with an injury).
UConn had poor shooting game against Memphis in their last outing. It would be hard to imagine they would repeat that. They have a dominant size advantage against Tulsa and will use that again to their advantage.
I'm sure Geno will remind the bench that when they all went in at the 15 minute mark in the second half UConn was ahead 80-32 and were then outscored 28-18 for the rest of the game. Stokes, Chong, Williams and Ekmark will remember if he doesn't remind them. They are playing much better as a unit since that game. They will want to show that to everyone.
Turner played 20 minutes in the first UConn game this season, scoring 3 points and grabbing 1 rebound. Tulsa needs her to be much more effective this game as she is their main size in the starting lineup. She did only play 15 minutes in the last game, leaving the game with an injury. I do not know her status for today.
MPG 29.6, FG% .520, 3PT% .000, PPG 12.3, RPG 5.3, APG 1.0, 27 steals, 6 blocks
Grovey played 19 minutes, scoring 3 points on 1-5 shooting from the field and 1-3 on three's in the previous game against UConn.
MPG 29.8, FG% .394, 3PT% .320, PPG 9.9, RPG 2.2, APG 2.6, 36 steals, 2 blocks
4 Teanna Reid 5'6" Sophomore Guard
Reid only played 9 minutes against UConn and was scoreless.
MPG 26.3, FG% .416 3PT% .465, PPG 8.0, RPG 3.5, APG 3.4, 40 steals, 1 block
Brady played 23 minutes in the previous UConn game. She was 3-8 from the field, 0-5 on three's, Scoring 6 points with 2 rebounds and 1 assist.
MPG 28.3, FG% .387, 3PT% .365, PPG 7.9, RPG 3.1, APG 2.2, 44 steals, 1 block
13 Ashley Hughes 5'7" Sophomore Guard
Hughes played 17 minutes against UConn in the last game, going 1-5 from the field, 1-4 on three pointers, scoring 3 points and handing out an assist.
MPG 15.3, FG% .451, 3PT% .429, PPG 4.7, RPG 1.9, APG 1.1, 17 steals, 1 block
Tulsa Bench
23 Ashley Clark 5'11" Junior Guard
Clark had a terrific game against UConn in the earlier outing. She played 24 minutes going 5-12 from the field, 3-5 on three pointers, scoring 15 points and grabbing 7 rebounds.
MPG 27.4, FG% .462, 3PT% .250, PPG 14.0, RPG 7.4, APG 2.2, 33 steals, 13 blocks
15 Antoinet Webster 5'9" Junior Guard
Webster started in the last UConn game playing 17 minutes. She scored 4 points on 2-8 from the field and 0-3 on the pointers. She added 2 assists.
MPG 15.0, FG% .354, 3PT% .265, PPG 4.2, RPG 1.8, APG 0.6, 12 steals, 0 blocks
3 Erika Wakefield 5'4" Freshman Guard
Wakefield played 27 minutes scoring 6 points on 3-8 shooting. She had 3 assists, and a team leading 5 turnovers. She also added 3 steals.
MPG 16.2, FG% .398, 3PT% .200, PPG 3.6, RPG 1.7, APG 1.8, 31 steals, 0 blocks
24 Autura Campbell 6'2" Sophomore Center
Campbell played 21 minutes scoring 3 points. She was 1-7 from the field and snagged 5 rebounds. If Turner is out, she will need to play more minutes.
MPG 7.0, FG% .273, 3PT% .000, PPG 1.0, RPG 1.7, APG 0.0, 3 steals, 2 blocks
Game Analysis
As I said in the first Tulsa game preview, the Golden Hurricane is one of the smallest teams UConn will play. They have only ONE player 6' or more that gets minutes in 6'2" Mariah Turner, the second leading scorer on the team. Tulsa might have a "big" problem as Turner left her last game after 15 minutes with an injury. There has been no word if she will be available Saturday. They did play 6'2" Auturo Campbell for 21 minutes in the first game, much more than her average of 7 and her only game over 10 minutes. Geno has said this was an unusual style team to play. That they will play 4 or 5 guard at the same time.
As you can imagine, they do take a lot of 3 pointers. They are still averaging around 18 taken per game and make 7. Not a bad team percentage. They are led by Teanna Reid (46%) and Kadan Brady (42%), so look for them to fire away. They also do a pretty good job defensively. They are 42nd in the country in steals and forced the UConn bench players into 10 of the 14 turnovers that UConn had in the first matchup.
Not only is it possible that Turner will be out, but their leading scorer in the last UConn/Tulsa game, Freshman Jordyn Holmes hasn't played a game in February, missing the last 6 games. I have not been able to find out if she is injured or if there is another issue. (On edit, I spoke with the Director of Operations at Tulsa and she informed me that Holmes is day-to-day with an injury).
UConn had poor shooting game against Memphis in their last outing. It would be hard to imagine they would repeat that. They have a dominant size advantage against Tulsa and will use that again to their advantage.
I'm sure Geno will remind the bench that when they all went in at the 15 minute mark in the second half UConn was ahead 80-32 and were then outscored 28-18 for the rest of the game. Stokes, Chong, Williams and Ekmark will remember if he doesn't remind them. They are playing much better as a unit since that game. They will want to show that to everyone.
Final Prediction
Yeah, I know. Not much of an analysis for this game. Second games are always tough. But the prediction is easy.
UConn will want to continue their momentum with a great effort and this should translate into a big win.
Last Tulane game was a 38 point margin. You can add 20 to that. UConn by 58+.
UConn will want to continue their momentum with a great effort and this should translate into a big win.
Last Tulane game was a 38 point margin. You can add 20 to that. UConn by 58+.
Thank you, DD!!
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