Doggydaddy's Den: DoggyDaddy's Dailies 1/9/16

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Crazy game Friday night against Houston for our UConn Huskies. Morgan Tuck sat with soreness in her surgically repaired knee. I'm sure Geno was just being cautious with the South Florida game in two days. She was in street clothes and looking great. Good thing because with the slow start I'm sure he would have called her number.

They were down 15-14 in the 1st quarter, the first time UConn has been down at the end of the 1st quarter all season. They really struggled with the three-ball the first half but they picked up their defense in the second quarter holding Houston to 5 points.

The second half started out with Houston cutting UConn's 11 point halftime lead to seven points. UConn and Houston exchanged a few baskets the last time with 6:32 remaining in the third quarter. At that time, the real Huskies showed up. They went on a 19-2 run to end the quarter.

The 4th quarter started like the 3rd quarter ended with UConn controlling the play. They outscored Houston 16-0 over the first 5:30 of the quarter making it a 35-2 run. This is what everyone (including me) expected for the entire game. It's hard to explain the poor early play. I'm sure Geno will have something to say, but at least the last 3 quarters will give them something to remember going into Sunday's game against AAC rival South Florida.

Four players were tied for team high with 13 points with Katie Lou scoring 12.

I loved Butler's play in this game. She only took 3 shots but she made two of them. She grabbed 8 rebounds and had 4 steals. She was really active. I really liked her two handed outlet passes. Very reminiscent of Dolson.

Nurse was horrible early, but great late. Hopefully we will see more of the great and less of the horrible. She is really experiencing the sophomore slump. But it's never too late to turn that around.

Gabby was excellent in this game with her 13 points and 7 rebounds. She was aggressive and was 1-1 on free throws. What a great improvement she made since last year.

Katie Lou struggled like everyone else did early, but was terrific late with her 12 points and she was strong on the boards with 6.

This is instead of my post game report. Long weekend working for my catering friend on a job in Norwalk. Staying over so I can help again tomorrow morning and afternoon. Not much time to put a post game report together.

Hopefully, I can put together a South Florida pre-game report, but it probably won't be until late Saturday.

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From David in Naples

Double-doubles so far this season:
Stewie has 4, Gabby has 3, Morgan & Napheesa each have 1.

For their careers, Stewie has 29, Gabby has 8, Morgan has 2 and Collier just the one. In addition, Moriah and Saniya each have one career double-double.

Look for more double-doubles now that UConn is in the AAC conference play.

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Before the season started a SC fan said this -

"Imovbioh is only a one-year fix for the loss of former team captain Aleigsha Welch, but she's a great fix. She is athletic and tough like Welch was, and is a great rebounder like Welch was as well. As long as there isn't any huge difference in philosophies and schemes between UVA and USC, Sarah should acclimate quickly and should be a huge contributor next season"

So, what has happened. Is she not as good as folks thought?

In the Vanderbilt game she only played 5 minutes. Injury? Bad matchup for her?

She is only playing 15 mpg and scoring 6 points and adding 6 rebounds. It can't be what SC fans thought she would contribute.

How about Jatarie White? They played her against Vandy and she didn't take a shot and was 2-4 from the line. She managed 2 rebounds but no assists, steals or blocks. Basically added nothing to the game.

For the season, she is averaging 15.9 minutes, 3.4 points, 4.1 rebounds. She is shooting 30.8% from the field. What's going on with her?

Lastly, a Cuevas question.

She is playing 18 mpg, shooting 41% from the field, 7-37 on threes, and her assist/to ratio is just around 1. She only played 12 minutes against Vandy. Is she any better than last season? Worse?

Didn't this same South Carolin fan say that Staley is better than Geno at improving players?

Wow...what happened???

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So, without further ado!!!

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