Doggydaddy's Den: DoggyDaddy's Dailies 2/15/16

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Fun game at Temple Sunday where UConn defeated The Owls 85-60. The game was close for a period with Temple taking an early 8-6 lead. UConn pulled away with a 13-0 run for a 19-8 lead, but Temple never folded as most teams do, closing to 23-16 after one quarter.

Temple played really tough defense, forcing UConn into 9 first half turnovers. Playing five guard, the Owls out-quicked UConn on several possessions eventually taking a 28-27 lead with 6:39 left in second quarter. Over the next few minutes, the game was pretty frenetic with the score 30-30 with under four minutes left in the half. UConn then went on another run, this time 10-0 to end the half with a 40-30 lead.

In spite of being outplayed for several minutes, UConn had a ten point lead. The main two culprits for UConn's spotty play was Morgan Tuck and Kia Nurse. Nurse was pretty sloppy with the ball and just seemed out of sorts. Tuck was 1-8 for the half and missed many shots that she usually makes.

UConn quickly jumped out to a 12 points lead but again, Temple would NOT go away. They played UConn even for a few minutes in the third quarter. They were down 49-37 before going on a 6-0 run to close to six points about half way through the quarter. Once again UConn went on another run, this time 13-4 before finally settling in on a 64-50 lead after three quarters.

The fourth quarter was all UConn. I'm sure that the Temple players were quite tired and it showed in their play. UConn held them to three points in the first six minutes of the quarter while scoring ten points to take a 21 points lead. They finished on an 11-7 run to win 85-60. A game that felt much closer than the final score.

Stewart and Jefferson were just fantastic in this game. Stewie had 24 points on 11-18 shooting. She added 8 rebounds, 7 assists, 6 blocks and 4 steals. Impressive! And Jefferson almost had a triple double with 25 points, 8 assists and 8 steals. The mighty mite added two blocks! Check out the definition in her upper body!!!!

And a shout out goes to Gabby Williams, who added 19 points and 11 rebounds. She was 9-9 from the field and added 3 assists and 2 steals. Great game.

You don't see UConn's Stewart have a shot blocked but that is exactly what Donnaizha Fountain did in the first half. You get to celebrate like this after doing it!!!!

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Here is my Temple plug for the NCAA tournament plug. Great game by Temple. I don't think any other team has played UConn this tough for as many minutes. I hope some of the selection committee feels the same way as I do. Temple deserves a spot. GO OWLS!!!

Let me add a plug for Tulane as well. They won their 17th game of the season and are 8-5 in the conference. The have five games left, with back-to-back games against Temple and UConn. Tulane will have to split those games, but beating Temple will hurt the Owls chances.

What to do, what to do...!!!

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No. 6 Texas was upset by No. 21 Oklahoma in Norman 74-56. It was a close game throughout as Texas looked like they had the upper hand. After a three pointer, the Aggies went up by 6, 49-43 with on a three pointer with 1 minute left in the third quarter. After that is was all Sooners, as they outscored Texas 31-7 to finish the game.

Texas had a tough game shooting 29% from the field and 4-13 on threes. They were also outrebounded by the smaller and guard oriented Sooners.

What I found amazing is that Texas fouled Oklahoma to try to get back into the game. Why is that amazing? Well, they were down 14 when they committed the first foul with only one minute left in the game. They foul a total of 5 more times. That's 6 fouls in one minute. I really don't get it. I suppose they have the chance to practice end of game situations, but I think they took it to the extreme.

Any way you look at it, Texas lost badly and looked really bad doing it.

Big win for Oklahoma after a bad loss to Kansas State by 16. Right now for them it's all about seeding. This win really helps.

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A few upsets in the top twenty-five Sunday besides Texas losing to Oklahoma.

No. 17 Michigan State lost to unranked Nebraska, who is making a late push for the NCAA's. The Cornhuskers beat the Spartans 73-66 behind 26 points from Jessica Sheppard and 25 points from Natalie Romeo. Rachel Theriot added 12 assists, no doubt from passing to Sheppard and Romeo. I'm sure most UConn fans remember the Nebraska team. It's good to see them play well.

No. 16 Florida lost to unranked Auburn 80-58, who is also making a late push for the NCAA's. Florida, in my opinion, is a little overranked at No. 16. But I don't want to downplay them that much with them being one of Temple's good wins. The 22 point loss was pretty darn ugly.

Both of these games show the continued parity in WCBB below the top two teams (top two in my mind) UConn and ND.

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HUGE game with NCAA implications Monday night with No. 2 South Carolina visiting No. 23 Tennessee. South Carolina needs this win to solidify a No. 1 seed and Tennessee just needs this win.

This will be a huge test for Tennessee's 6'6" Mercedes Russell going against South Carolina's two bigs A'ja Wilson and Alaina Coates. I have a feeling the game will be decided in the paint.

For me, it's easy to root for South Carolina in this game. Tennessee can't lose enough for my taste.

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From David in Naples

After today's victory over Temple, 85-60, UConn has five regular season games remaining. All five are against AAC opponents the Huskies have already faced. In winning all five games, UConn scored 460 points, an average of 92 points per game. Opponents scored just 225 points for an average of 45 points per contest. That comes out to an average margin of victory of 47 points. Impressive...

But today, Temple, in their second game against the Huskies, reduced the margin of victory to 25 points from 55 previously. They did this by holding UConn to 19 less points than in the first contest and scoring 11 more. Geno played Stewie and Moriah 37 and 38 minutes respectively to secure the victory. Look for tighter scores as Geno mixes and matches to fine tune his lineup for the AAC tournament and hopefully, the big dance.

Four of the five remaining games are home, on campus at Gampel Pavilion, for the Huskies. After today's rugby match, a little home cookin' might just be the right recipe. Go Huskies..!!

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I suppose I should get used to it. If you read the message boards, you have to have a thick skin if you are a UConn fan. And most of the comments are by UConn fans!!!!

Yes, UConn had some poor stretches against Temple. But games are 40 minutes. The ups and downs inside of a game are just that. The better teams just have more ups.

Maybe it's just me, but it's hard to complain about a 25 point win when you hold the opponent to 31% from the field and 27% on threes. They also forced 20 turnovers.

Yes, you can point to the 18 turnovers and a couple of struggling players in Tuck and Nurse. But for the game, UConn shot 58% from the field and had 27 assists on 38 baskets. Not too shabby.

Some folks just need to lighten up and enjoy this incredible team without complaining about every bad sequence of plays. We won't see a UConn team this talented for a while.

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So, without further ado!!!

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