UCONN Vs. South Florida
Day: Monday
Date: February 29th, 2016
Location: Storrs, Ct
Time: 7:00
TV: ESPN2
No. 1 UConn Huskies No. 21 South Florida Bulls
28-0 (17-0) 21-7 (14-3)
Prior MeetingsUConn leads the series 17-0
12/28/02 W 72-56 A
12/1/04 W 75-65 (ot) H
1/24/06 W 77-47 H
2/20/07 W 81-67 A
3/4/07 W 74-54 N1/30/08 W 71-48 H
1/6/09 W 83-37 A
3/8/09 W 79-42 H
1/4/10 W 84-42 H
12/2/10 W 80-54 A
1/28/12 W 77-62 H
3/2/13 W 85-51 A
1/26/14 W 81-53 H
2/16/14 W 63-38 A
1/18/15 W 92-50 H
3/2/15 W 88-65 N
3/9/15 W 84-70 N
1/10/16 W 75-59 A
Team Overviews
1/18/15 W 92-50 H
3/2/15 W 88-65 N
3/9/15 W 84-70 N
1/10/16 W 75-59 A
Team Overviews
The first time these two teams met, it was in Tampa and UConn won 75-59. It was another game that was a slow start for UConn. They took quite a few open threes as South Florida packed the paint to negate the inside advantage the Huskies held especially with USF's star front court player Alisa Jenkins out with an ankle injury. UConn really struggled early from the outside, missing their first 5 three pointers. And while that was going on, the Bulls took advantage of their open looks, especially their star Courtney Williams and the freshman from Latvia, Kitija Laska. South Florida was 4-5 on threes while UConn was 0-4 and the Bulls had a 14-6 lead. UConn put this one away early in the fourth quarter. Jefferson, Tuck and Samuelson hit consecutive threes and the UConn lead was 18. After Nurse hit a pair of free throws and a nice jumper, the lead was expanded to 21 with around four minutes left in the game. South Florida went on a quick 9-0 run of their own with 3 three pointers, two by Courtney Williams. But that was as close as the Bulls would get. UConn pushed the lead to 18 before Courtney Williams hit her final basket for the final score, 75-59.
South Florida is coming off a nice win against Temple Saturday and are 9-2 their last 11 games. They will have Jenkins back for this one. Jenkins is the leading rebounder in the AAC and second leading scorer for the Bulls. She is also the emotional leader of the team and should have an impact in this game.
UConn is coming off a senior day victory over Tulane 80-40 after their worst quarter of the season to start the game. They will have to put that behind them as USF would take advantage of that kind of slow start. Stewart comes into this game playing even better since the Team USA tryouts. Playing against and with the greatest players in the world seems to have brought her confidence to another level. Speaking of another level, Samuelson has certainly gone there! Over her last three games, she has scored 19, 21 and 21 points. She has shot 20-30 from the field and 15-25 on threes.
Stat by Stat Comparison
Leader is bolded.
Leader is bolded.
UConn South Florida
88.3 Points Per Game 75.4
47.7 Opp Points Per Game 61.8
.522 Field Goal % .421
.327 Opp Field Goal % .373
.358 3 Point Field Goal % .359
.301 Opp 3 Point Field Goal % .302
.799 Free Throw % .789
41.3 Rebounds Per Game 43.8
30.6 Opp Rebounds Per Game 35.0
21.8 Assists Per Game 13.9
12.0 Turnovers Per Game 13.1
1.8 Assists/Turnover Ratio 1.3
1.8 Assists/Turnover Ratio 1.3
12.6 Steals Per Game 6.1
6.6 Blocks Per Game 3.4
UConn Starters
30 Breanna Stewart
6'4" Senior Forward
6'4" Senior Forward
In the first matchup, Stewie hit a couple of huge threes in the first half, but she was clearly grabbed, held, pushed and harassed every possession. The refs just don't see enough of the off the ball fouls, in my opinion. In spite of that, I thought that Stewart had a solid game and her 12 points, 11 rebounds, 2 assists and 3 blocks were key in the victory.
2015-16 Stats
27 Games - MPG 28.7, FG% .583, 3PT% .421, PPG 19.3 RPG 8.4, APG 4.1, 48 steals, 93 blocks
27 Games - MPG 28.7, FG% .583, 3PT% .421, PPG 19.3 RPG 8.4, APG 4.1, 48 steals, 93 blocks
3 Morgan Tuck
6'2" RS Junior Forward
6'2" RS Junior Forward
In the first matchup, Morgan did it offensively in every way you can think of. She was 3-6 on threes. She handed out four assists. She scored 22 points. She drove to the basket, posted up. This was before her knee started acting up.
2015-16 Stats
23 Games - MPG 25.9, FG% .488, 3PT% .255, PPG 12.3, RPG 5.6, APG 3.0, 16 steals, 8 blocks
4 Moriah Jefferson
5'7" Senior Guard
5'7" Senior Guard
Jefferson played a tough 39 minutes in the first matchup. I'm pretty sure her focus on defense and ball distribution impacted her shooting some, as she went only 3-10 from the field and only 2-3 on threes. But she had six assists and only two turnovers and she played excellent defense as always.
2015-16 Stats
27 Games - MPG 30.8, FG% .566, 3PT% .391, PPG 13.2, RPG 2.6, APG 5.5, 75 steals, 6 blocks
11 Kia Nurse
6' Sophomore Guard
I remember watching the first matchup where she missed her first three and said, oh no, here we go again. But she sure turned that around for the rest of the game. In her 33 minutes she scored 16 points and went 4-8 on threes. Her hustle was as good as ever.
2015-16 Stats
28 Games - MPG 27.5, FG% .410, 3PT% .325, PPG 8.9, RPG 2.0, APG 2.9, 42 steals, 6 blocks
33 Katie Lou Samuelson
6'3" Freshman Guard/Forward
Playing off the bench in the first matchup, Katie hit a couple of big threes in the fourth quarter and overall played a nice game. She managed to snag four tough rebounds and played some nice defense. She played 22 minutes in scoring 8 points. She'll be starting in this game.
2015-16 Stats
28 Games - MPG 22.4, FG% .472, 3PT% .377, PPG 10.4, RPG 3.4, APG 2.3, 31 steals, 5 blocks
UConn Bench
Collier started but only played 14 minutes in the first matchup but she managed to tear down 6 rebounds. She looked lost out there on defense, something you don't see very often. But an overall solid performance.
51 Natalie Butler
6'5" RS Sophomore Center
12 Saniya Chong
5'8" Junior Guard
15 Gabby Williams
5'11" Sophomore Forward
5'11" Sophomore Forward
I thought in the first matchup Williams had a terrific 17 minutes. She scored 7 points, had 4 rebounds and 2 assists. As always, a pest on defense.
2015-16 Stats
28 Games - MPG 19.2, FG% .634, 3PT% .000, PPG 9.7 RPG 5.9, APG 1.3, 57 steals, 10 blocks
24 Napheesa Collier
6'1 Freshman Forward/Guard
Collier started but only played 14 minutes in the first matchup but she managed to tear down 6 rebounds. She looked lost out there on defense, something you don't see very often. But an overall solid performance.
2015-16 Stats
28 Games - MPG 18.2, FG% .531, 3PT% .167, PPG 6.8, RPG 5.6, APG .9, 42 steals, 40 blocks
6'5" RS Sophomore Center
Natalie only played one minute in the first matchup.
2015-16 Stats
17 Games - MPG 14.8, FG% .589, 3PT% .000, PPG 7.4, RPG 4.9, APG 1.1, 12 steals, 15 blocks
5'8" Junior Guard
Saniya did not play in the first matchup.
2015-16 Stats
23 Games - MPG 14.7, FG% .405, 3PT% .365, PPG 4.6, RPG 1.5, APG 1.3, 17 steals, 2 blocks
22 Courtney Ekmark
6' Sophomore Guard
Ekmark played one minute in the first matchup.
2015-16 Stats
24 Games - MPG 10.0, FG% .500, 3PT% .394, PPG 2.7, RPG 1.3, APG .8, 9 steals, 1 block
20 Tierney Lawlor
5'7" Junior Guard
Lawlor did not play in the first matchup.
2015-16 Stats
22 Briana Pulido
5'7" Senior Guard
Lawlor did not play in the first matchup.
2015-16 Stats
22 Games - MPG 3.2, FG% .429, 3PT% .400, PPG .4, RPG 0.1, APG 0.1, 1 steals, 0 blocks
5'7" Senior Guard
Pulido did not play in the first matchup.
2015-16 Stats
19 Games - MPG 2.8, FG% .188, 3PT% .111, PPG 0.4, RPG 0.1, APG 0.1, 1 steals, 0 blocks
*******************************************************************
South Florida Starters
10 Courtney Williams 5'8" Senior Guard
Courtney Williams played all 40 minutes in the first matchup. she scored 26 points and at 5'8" amazingly grabbed 13 rebounds. What a terrific player.
28 games - MPG 34.6, FG% .429, 3PT% .400, PPG 22.0, RPG 8.9, APG 2.9, 37 steals, 24 blocks
24 Alisia Jenkins 6'1" Senior Forward
Alisa Jenkins did not play in the first matchup
22 games - MPG 31.4, FG% .490, 3PT% .333, PPG 10.1, RPG 12.0, APG 1.2, 21 steals, 15 blocks
45 Katelyn Weber 6'5" Junior Center
Weber didn't score in 20 minutes in the first matchup. She didn't take a shot either. She grabbed 3 rebounds.
24 games - MPG 12.5, FG% .600, 3PT% .000, PPG 2.2, RPG 2.1 APG 0.3, 0 steals, 52 blocks
33 Kitija Laska 6' Freshman Forward
Laska was terrific in the first game against UConn. She was 5-7 on threes in scoring her 17 points and she also grabbed 6 rebounds in 39 minutes.
26 games - MPG 27.8, FG% .403, 3PT% .424, PPG 13.4, RPG 2.5 APG 1.4, 9 steals, 14 blocks
Flores only played 11 minutes against UConn the first time. She managed to put up 5 shots, but she didn't make any including two threes. She was scoreless but did manage a rebound.
28 games - MPG 14.5, FG% .301, 3PT% .206, PPG 2.1, RPG 1.6 APG 3.8, 59 steals, 16 blocks
South Florida Bench
20 Laura Ferreira 5'11" Sophomore Forward
Ferreira started in the first UConn game in place of Jenkins and played a tough 38 minutes. She used all four of the fouls she had very well. She only got caught 4 times...lol. She scored 7 points on 2-10 from the field but she was 2-5 on threes.
22 games - MPG 31.9, FG% .389 3PT% .326, PPG 10.8, RPG 4.9, APG 1.4, 21 steals, 9 blocks
23 Shaleth Stringfield 5'6 Senior Guard
Stringfield played 29 minutes and scored 7 points in the first matchup. She handed out 6 assists and only had one turnover.
28 games MPG 23.9, FG% .388, 3PT% .361, PPG 9.5, RPG 2.9, APG 3.7, 39 steals, 2 blocks
Jesperson played 14 minutes in the first matchup with UConn and was scoreless going 0-2 from the field. She grabbed 3 rebounds.
28 games - MPG 22.4, FG% .467, 3PT% .294, PPG 6.8, RPG 4.5 APG 0.5, 13 steals, 4 blocks
11 Ariadna Pujol 6'1" Junior Guard/Forward
Pujol did not play in the first matchup.
24 games - MPG 7.8, FG% .425, 3PT% .278, PPG 2.5, RPG 1.0, APG .5, 5 steal, 2 blocks
Game Analysis
Courtney Williams is still leading South Florida. The all-everything, all-AAC guard and one of the best in the country leads the team in scoring and steals, 2nd in rebounds. She has taken twice as many shots than any other player on the team. She put up 26, 25 and 22 shots last year against UConn. She put up another 25 in the first matchup.
In the first matchup, Alisia Jenkins was out with an injury. South Florida will welcome her back to hit the boards and hit them hard as she averages over 12 rebounds a game. But South Florida might have another important player out in this game. The Bull's new weapon, Kitija Laska, their 6' freshman forward from Latvia has missed her last two games with an ankle sprain. I have not heard if she will be available for Monday night's game. She had little mini-slump before getting injured but clearly she has the ability to make a lot of threes and changes how UConn has to defend USF.
South Florida handles the ball better than they did last year where they had 90 more TO's than assists. But UConn will still pressure them as much as possible, in the full court and half court.
What USF brings is a tough and tenacious man-to-man pressure defense. They have done a great job shutting down the opposing offenses and did a nice job holding UConn to 13 points under their scoring average.
As I said UConn will put a lot of pressure on the USF offense and they held them to 59 points in the first game. UConn's defense has only allowed 34, 41, 41, and 40 the last four games. I expect UConn to stifle USF as much as they did the first time they met back in early January.
Offensively, UConn dominated the paint in the first matchup. Stewart and Tuck took turns posting up but with Jenkins playing in this game USF will do better in that regard. But UConn has Katie Lou really turning it on and that is a big difference in this game shooting the three.
In the first matchup, Alisia Jenkins was out with an injury. South Florida will welcome her back to hit the boards and hit them hard as she averages over 12 rebounds a game. But South Florida might have another important player out in this game. The Bull's new weapon, Kitija Laska, their 6' freshman forward from Latvia has missed her last two games with an ankle sprain. I have not heard if she will be available for Monday night's game. She had little mini-slump before getting injured but clearly she has the ability to make a lot of threes and changes how UConn has to defend USF.
South Florida handles the ball better than they did last year where they had 90 more TO's than assists. But UConn will still pressure them as much as possible, in the full court and half court.
What USF brings is a tough and tenacious man-to-man pressure defense. They have done a great job shutting down the opposing offenses and did a nice job holding UConn to 13 points under their scoring average.
As I said UConn will put a lot of pressure on the USF offense and they held them to 59 points in the first game. UConn's defense has only allowed 34, 41, 41, and 40 the last four games. I expect UConn to stifle USF as much as they did the first time they met back in early January.
Offensively, UConn dominated the paint in the first matchup. Stewart and Tuck took turns posting up but with Jenkins playing in this game USF will do better in that regard. But UConn has Katie Lou really turning it on and that is a big difference in this game shooting the three.
Final Prediction
As I always say, it's about match ups. And even with Jenkins, USF just can't match up with UConn. I said before the first meeting that couldn't see USF scoring more than 60 points and that proved to be accurate. If Laska is out, it will be even tougher offensively for the Bulls. I thought that UConn and Jefferson would slow down Williams, but she is almost unstoppable. She will get her shots and hit plenty of them.
What USF has going for it is the confidence of playing UConn tough most times they play. They feel they can beat UConn especially with Jenkins back and if Laska plays. But it's just not to be. UConn's defense will again hold South Florida to under 60 and I believe UConn will crack 80 in this game.
UConn by 20+.
What USF has going for it is the confidence of playing UConn tough most times they play. They feel they can beat UConn especially with Jenkins back and if Laska plays. But it's just not to be. UConn's defense will again hold South Florida to under 60 and I believe UConn will crack 80 in this game.
UConn by 20+.
No comments:
Post a Comment