No. 1 UConn Huskies Chattanooga
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Post Game report
As a fan, sometimes I tend to get fixated on offense. We love to see fast breaks, three pointers, great passes. The team was averaging ninety five ppg coming into this game, so we know they can score. Tonight they reminded us that they are not only the best offense in the country, they are the best defense in the country.
UConn turned the ball over on their first possession (is it a possession?) when Stewart slapped the opening tip out of bounds. As with every game so far, UConn got off to a slow start. The defense was not tight, allowing a couple of UTC drives to the basket. They also had a couple of sloppy turnovers in the first three minutes. After UConn took a 10-6 lead with four minutes left, the turnover bug bit two more times. Gilbert hit a jumper at the buzzer after one TO to close the gap to two. UConn closed the first quarter on an 8-3 run to take a 19-11 lead.
UConn started out quickly in the 2nd quarter, outscoring the Mocs 10-2. Jefferson hit the exclamation three pointer to end that run forcing Foster to call a timeout. In the middle of that run was a great left handed layup by Collier, starting her drive from behind the three point line. She is special. Over the next two minutes neither team could by a basket until UTC's Payne his a jumper at the four minute mark. At that point, UConn went on another run taking a twenty point lead 37-17 on a nice drive to the basket by Jefferson. UConn then went cold over the last two minutes of the half, missing three shots and turning the ball over once. Chattanooga took advantage of that play to hit two three-pointers to close the gap to 37-23 at the half.
Not the best half by UConn offensively with nine turnovers, three by Jefferson. But outside of the two three-pointers to end the half, they played really good defense. That was only the beginning.
To start the third quarter, Chattanooga's Queen Alford hit a three to make it a 9-0 and close the gap to eleven at 37-26. And then it happened. It seems I type that phrase every game. UConn went on a 16-0 run, scoring in every way imaginable. And at the same time, playing ferocious shutdown defense. Sydney Vanlandingham made a layup to stop the run, but UConn finished the third quarter 7-0 and a 60-28 lead. UConn won that quarter 23-5.
And then it happened. Yes, I'm saying that twice. UConn went on a 19-1 run to start the second half to take a 79-29 lead with 3:16 left in the half. And all scored by the bench. UConn then went scoreless while Chattanooga scored a basket with 1:29 left for the final margin of 79-31.
The numbers are mind boggling. Chattanooga is not a bad team. But they were just dismantled in the second half. They only managed one three pointer, one layup, one jumper and one free throw over the last ten minutes. After Alfords three pointer, UConn outscored them 42-5 the rest of the game. And there was one point where UConn outscored them 26-1.
I'll say it now. This is the best UConn defense I have ever seen. Their pressure on the ball is tremendous, their switching is so well done, you would swear there was seven players for UConn guarding five. They held Chattanooga to 2-23 shooting in the second half and 24.5% overall. They forced the Lady Mocs into a 1-12 three point shooting performance in the second half.
As much as defense was the story, the offense still shot 55% and assisted on 23 of the 31 baskets. All very good numbers. This team has some of the best chemistry on both offense and defense that I have ever seen in a UConn uniform. And they showed that in this game.
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"We had a pretty good idea this wasn't going to be a run-up-the floor game and score 100 easy. That's not how Jim plays. We knew it was going to be a different game, grind it out one possession at a time. And the first 20 minutes it was exactly that. But in the second half, we just have so much more depth and we wore them down."
''I remember when I was early in my career at Connecticut and Jim was at Vanderbilt. 'Honest to God, it crossed my mind (that) we were in a game like this with them, but it was reversed. We couldn't get any offense going, and they pretty much did whatever they wanted. I do remember it kind of flashed across my mind. I've been there. It's not a fun place to be.''
On strong defensive performance."Our players knew what we were in for coming here. We knew that we were going to have to defend it for 30 seconds, not 10. There's a lot of different styles of play. You play Ohio State and you run back on defense and you hope you get back in time before they shoot it. You don't even have to get in your stance sometimes because those shots are going up and already here. We knew that we needed to get in our stance, and we needed to guard them.
"This team responds well to different types of challenges, and tonight was really, really good. I told them I was really proud of them tonight."
Was it your defense that made such an impact in the game?
"That first half it seemed like every time we made a mistake, every time we were a little bit late getting where we were supposed to get to, they knocked in a shot. When the one kid banked the one in, you come to expect that. They were able to keep their composure for much of the first half, and that's a big thing.
"When we play teams we have a tendency to take them out of their comfort zone and that happened in the third quarter. It happened more by how quickly we were scoring. Because we were scoring so quickly, that puts pressure on the other team to have to hurry up and come down and score. I don't know if it was our defense but certainly our offense made the game quicker."
On team's strengths.
"We've always prided ourselves on No. 1 conditioning. We want to be the best conditioned team in the country. No. 2 we want to play a game where it's difficult to know what we're going to do because we do it so quickly. We're trying to play quick enough that we're going to do things that aren't on the scouting report and our two guards are really good at that."
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Game Quotes from Chattanooga Coach Jim Foster
''The intensity and attention to detail that they play with, as a coach, it's refreshing to watch,'' Foster said. ''In this day and age of dribble-drive and `I want to get my own,' it's kind of refreshing, whether it's the Golden State Warriors or Connecticut women's basketball, there are some teams playing basketball the way you'd like to see it played.''
Did UConn's pressure push you all out farther in the court than you would have like?"Not really. We like the be farther out in the court, it's the attentiveness of handling the ball that we didn't like or the not moving to bring them out in the space of the floor. If you move the ball you're going to get some opportunities. I thought we did a fair job in the first half. In the second half we just stopped."
What was the goal for the second half?
"I was talking more about how we can get a little bit better not goals at that point."
"We stopped moving the ball. We were very tentative. We threw the ball ahead of one of our players three times and being guarded by a post player we had numbers and she didn't attack that wasn't aggressive. We talk over and over again about some things."
"When you play a team at this level you practice every day and you talk about what you need to do to be successful against a team at this level. But then when you get into the game we regressed. Our point guard, she has a great pull up jump shot but she wants to shoot a floater or she wants to attack the basket."
"You're not going to attack the basket against this team from the side. It's just not going to happen. They rotate, their disciplined, they're very good defensively. But there's a space in between where you have the opportunity to pull up and make a shot. Talk about it and it think the reality of it, I would think that she would be smart enough that she would be in the gym the next time we get in the gym and I'll walk in and she's working on it, that concept. Because now there's a vivid picture that's painted."
"I'm going to put these guys over here and say their the exception. They're the best basketball program that Women's basketball has ever seen. That's a team that has the chance to win four national championships and they take great pride in it. At the end of the game, I'm watching some things, our little guard who's getting some shots off of AC, and they have a kid number 22 , doesn't play a whole lot."
"But AC gets open and that kid closed down and came as hard as you can, their up fifty, and she put a hand, she got there. A hand in the face. Players shoot a lot lower percentage when a hand is in their face. In the NBA, and in college. An when you're up fifty and it's important to you to get a hand in their face, that's impressive."
On their defense in the second half…
"It's going to take an effort that no one has yet in their game. Now in the involvement of a team through the months of December, January, February, and March maybe someone will evolve. The intensity and the intention to detail that they play with, as a coach, it's refreshing to watch."
"In this day in age of dribble drive I want to get my own. It's kind of refreshing when it's the Golden State Warriors or Connecticut Women's Basketball or some teams that are playing basketball the way I like to see it play. Not only Geno but just the players and the understanding of what being on a team really means."
What did you see from your team tonight?
"I thought they played hard, I don't think we played necessarily smart but I thought we played hard. First half especially."
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Player Evaluations
Breanna Stewart
Geno wanted the team to get Stewart the ball more, but she did well with the touches she had. She missed her only three but was 5-7 on her other shots. She ended up with a terrific line with 14 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists 2 steals and 4 blocks. That gave put her in the 300 block club for UConn. With more to come.
''We were able to keep running - and they got tired. I think that just has to do with our stamina and endurance throughout the game.''
Moriah Jefferson
Jefferson played a great game, well....until you look at the turnover column in the box score. While she had 15 points, 4 assists and 4 steals, the six turnovers are probably really grating on her. She showed her usual quickness to the basket and defensively was a PITA for the Lady Mocs. She didn't miss a shot going 5-5 from the field, 1-1 on threes and 4-4 from the foul line.
"The defensive effort was extra special. We were really playing at a fast pace, getting up into [their faces]. And in the start, before our offense got moving, it was a defensive game. Everyone was trying to get stops."
"Every time someone got beat on defense, someone else was there [to cover]".
Morgan Tuck
I thought Tuck looked great in this game. She was moving quickly around the basket especially on a great baseline drive she took. She missed her two three point shots. She scored 10 points and added 4 rebounds and 2 assists. She really clogged the lane on defense. She is due for one of her paint dominating performances soon. Look for it.
It was another kinda quiet offensive game for Nurse. Only 8 points, but mostly on her usual tough drives to the basket. Her defense was not quiet. She has mastered the UConn switching defense. She sprints to the open player, getting there more often than not as the pass is arriving to that player. Defensive effort never takes a night off for this young woman.
Gabby Williams
Gabby had another double-double but what I loved was her mid-range jumper that was nothing but net midway though the fourth quarter. She did her usual damage on the boards and was a menace on defense. And after a scoreless first half she scored 14 points in the second half to add to her 12 rebounds for the game for her three double-doubles in four games. I guess my jinx from my last blog has worn off. It took a game and a half but she played like a superstar in the second half.
"It was also a point of taking time to find our offense. Usually we run our offense first and the defense follows."
On her double-doubles - "I'm going to keep trying to get them,".
Katie Lou Samuelson
First of all, just take a look at her upper body in this shot. I had heard that she was thin and had to get in the weight room. Looks like she has.
While this game wasn't as impressive for KLS as the Nebraska game, I loved how she played. She was aggressive on offense and played some really tough defense. She was quick to switch and her long arms made it difficult for the UTC players. She only went 1-5 on threes, but they were great looks. She added 4 rebounds and 4 assists to her 5 points and several of those passes were terrific. A nice follow up game that should continue to add to her confidence.
Napheesa Collier
This young woman has the game of a much experienced player. Her rebounding is impressive but it's her smarts that get your attention. In this game she made her mark on the defensive end with six steals. She scored 8 points and grabbed 12 rebounds.
Sanyia Chong
Chong played a solid 21 minutes scoring 5 points while handing out an assists. While her offense numbers were not impressive, she played excellent defense and terrific team ball. It's great to have her back.
Courtney Ekmark
Courtney had a quiet 11 minutes, but she continues to play within the offense, makes excellent decisions and looks like she belongs out there. I believe that is what Geno is telling her here.
I found this picture after I used the other picture. She looks better in this one!
Final Thoughts
UConn has a game Wednesday at No. 23 DePaul with another old friend, Doug Bruno and then another game on Saturday in their Gample opener against No. 3 Notre Dame.
DePaul just entered the top twenty five but have played UConn tough in the past, especially at home.
Notre Dame might be without Briana Turner, their star sophomore forward, who reinjured her shoulder, the same one that kept her out several games last season.
More on both of these games later this week.
