Doggydaddy's Den: DoggyDaddy's Dailies 1/8/16

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Here is my UConn/Houston Pregame Report.

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Ok, I know that I said that using comparative scores to say who is better is a silly thing to do. Well, I'm about to get really silly.

Temple beat Florida 97-91.

Florida beat Tennessee 74-66.

Temple would beat Tennessee by 14.

There. I said it.

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Ok...the cat is out of the bag. No. 12 Tennessee lost to unranked Florida AT HOME 74-66. From the time that Tennessee had a 20-11 lead with 2:30 left in the 1st quarter, Florida outscored the Lady Vols 63-44. That is an unbelievable run for Florida and Tennessee should take a big hit in the polls next week.

TN was just awful on both sides of the ball. Time after time they would double in the post and then leave someone open for a three pointer. While Florida is usually not a very good three point shooting team (30% coming into this game) they were on fire, making 9-18. But I guess when you have open threes, it's easier to make them.

Tennessee's offense was offensive. They have been terrible all year but in this game, they took bad shooting to another level. They were 29.3% from the field and 4-22 on three's. Add to that 21 turnovers and it's a recipe for a loss. In an interesting tidbit, Courtney Dunbar, Tennessee's three point weapon took two threes and missed them both. What is interesting is that both were airballs. How often do you see that?

Individually, I can't talk about Tennessee without talking about the two players that the Tennessee fans were sure would take them to the final four.

Diamond Deshields found a way to put up 21 shots. She must be exhausted. She was 6-21 and 0-5 from behind the arc. She added seven turnovers. Not only is seven a lot of mistakes, her timing was awful. I can remember seeing her throw 3 passes in the last two minutes that were no where near the player she was passing it to. Like I have said before, she is a great physical talent that has no clue how to play. She is no better a player than she was in HS when she was the No. 1 player in some recruiting services.

Mercedes Russell, the other No. 1 HS player from that class is maybe the least effective 6'6" center in the country. She just doesn't make her presence felt in the post. She doesn't fight for position. She gets pushed out of rebounding position by smaller players. She doesn't make good passes out of the post when she is doubled. I don't see much difference in the Russell playing now and the one that was supposedly only slow because of bad feet. Now, she is fully recovered and she is still slow.

It should be interesting on the 18th when Tennessee visits Notre Dame. If the Lady Vols play like this, Notre Dame will tear them to pieces.

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Another ranked SEC team, No. 13 Texas A&M lost to unranked Arkansas 67-61. Ok, so at least Tennessee's loss was to a team with a decent record. Arkansas was 5-9 coming into this game and had lost to South Carolina 85-32 in their previous game. I'm just shaking my head.

As I said in another Dailies, there is a theme in these upsets. Either the upsetting team is hot from behind the arc or the upset team is horrible shooting long range. Texas A&M was only 2-17 on threes.

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No. 2 South Carolina had a battle with unranked Vanderbilt, but another upset was not on the table.

The Gamecocks put away Vanderbilt late in the 4th quarter after a close game. It was a three point game, 64-61 with a little over 2 minutes left in the game. Khadijah Sessions hit a three pointer to push the lead to six and Vanderbilt didn't score again for the final of 71-61. South Carolina tried to let them back in by going 2-6 from the line to end the game.

A pretty weak effort for the second best team in the country. They looked a little disinterested and lethargic. Their one and only All-American Tiffany Mitchell, was terrific in this game. She scored 22 points and had 5 assists. She played with a lot of energy, unlike A'ja Wilson, who scored four points on 1-3 from the field and 2-4 from the FT line.

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From David in Naples

Prior to the Houston game -

Last year, UConn blocked 309 shots. Kiah Stokes led the team with 147 or 47.5% of the total. With Stokes in the WNBA and Natalie Butler hurt, UConn has been averaging almost 3 fewer blocked shots per game. Even Geno commented the team might block 100 less shots than last year.

But, Butler is back, with 4 blocks in her first two games, and the rest of the Huskies are stepping up. Against Tulsa, UConn had 10 blocks by five different players to bring the season total to 72. In sharp contrast, opponents have 29 all year. At the current pace of 6 blocks per game, the deficit should be less than 75 blocks for the season. With the easier AAC schedule ahead, the drop could be less than 50.

Of note, Napheesa Collier has 17 blocks, 2nd on the team. Gabby & Morgan have 7 each and Saniya & Kia have 2 each.

Heading into tonight's game against Houston, UConn had 86 made threes on 238 attempts. That is 36.1% vs opponents 32.6% accuracy rate. The player with the most made threes is Katie Lou Samuelson with 16. Stewie is 2nd with 15, Moriah is 3rd at 14 and Nurse is 4th making 13 threes. Saniya has come on strong with 12 threes.

Katie Lou has made steady progress shooting from beyond the arc.
In her first 4 games, she was 4-18 or 22%.
In her next 4 games, Katie was 5-15 or 33%.
however, in the last 4 games, Lou is 7-25 or 35%.

Go Lou..!!

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Free Throw shooting. They are called free for a reason. I know, it's not that easy. But it can be the difference between winning and losing when you are in a close game.

UConn this year has been amazing. Right now they are shooting 76.5% from the line. That's tied for the best percentage in UConn history. This can be a huge advantage in games with as little as UConn fouls. They don't get to the line a lot but they do make them at a high rate.

Compare that to South Carolina, UConn's opponent on February 8th. In their win against Vanderbilt Thursday night they shot 11-23 from the line. And for the season they are 205-317. That's 64.6%.

Horrible.

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So, without further ado!!!

Ladies and Gents, DD looks at the news........