UCONN vs Florida State
Day: Monday
Date: November 14th, 2016
Location: Tucker Center, Tallahassee, Fla.
Time: 6:00
TV: ESPN2
No. 3 UConn Huskies No. 12 Florida State
0-0 1-0
Prior Meetings
UConn leads 8-0
H: 2-0; A: 2-0; N: 4-0
12/30/02 W 74-55 A
11/25/03 W 81-53 H3/22/05 W 70-52 N
12/21/08 W 83-71 N
12/28/09 W 78-59 A
3/30/10 W 90-50 N
12/21/10 W 93-62 H
12/11/15 W 73-49 N
12/11/15 W 73-49 N
Team Overviews
Florida State opened their season with a home win against Jacksonville State 73-62. The Seminoles used a 20-9 run in the third quarter pull away from the Gamecocks (no, not the South Carolina team) and hold on as Jacksonville State played hard until the end. They were led by Shakayla Thomas, who scored 16 points. Transfers Imani Wright and Chatrice White contributed to the win. Wright started and played 30 minutes, scoring 13 points and snaring 9 rebounds. White added 8 points and 8 rebounds. Senior Ivy Slaughter was very active as well with 10 points and 9 rebounds.
This will be UConn's first game of the season. They played well in their two exhibition games, beating Indiana University 111-39 and Pace University 95-32.
Last year, these two teams met in the Hall of Fame Showcase at the Mohegan Sun with UConn winning 73-49.
The big three of Tuck, Stewart and Jefferson led the team. Nurse had a good game with 14 points and Williams played the only significant minutes off the bench with 18 minutes. It was a 6 player rotation. Samuelson only played 3 minutes and Chong and Butler were out for that game.
Florida State was led by the then freshman Shakayla Thomas with 16 points. She was the only Seminole in double figures scoring. FSU also only played six players in their rotation. Emiah Bingley (9 points) and Adut Bulgak (11 rebounds) have graduated.
This game was never really close as UConn's pressure defense forced Florida State into 26 turnovers. Stewart dominated the paint with six blocks.
This will be UConn's first game of the season. They played well in their two exhibition games, beating Indiana University 111-39 and Pace University 95-32.
Last year, these two teams met in the Hall of Fame Showcase at the Mohegan Sun with UConn winning 73-49.
The big three of Tuck, Stewart and Jefferson led the team. Nurse had a good game with 14 points and Williams played the only significant minutes off the bench with 18 minutes. It was a 6 player rotation. Samuelson only played 3 minutes and Chong and Butler were out for that game.
Florida State was led by the then freshman Shakayla Thomas with 16 points. She was the only Seminole in double figures scoring. FSU also only played six players in their rotation. Emiah Bingley (9 points) and Adut Bulgak (11 rebounds) have graduated.
This game was never really close as UConn's pressure defense forced Florida State into 26 turnovers. Stewart dominated the paint with six blocks.
UConn Starters
11 Kia Nurse
6' Junior Guard
The leader. She looks like she stepped right into the role with the graduation of the big three. She was aggressive on both offense and defense. Kia had a solid two exhibition games with 28 points, 8 assists and only 3 turnovers. She was all over the court on defense, adding 7 steals.
15 Gabby Williams
5'11" Junior Forward
Gabby was just dominating in the two exhibition games. It looks like the off season work is paying off again. She scored 46 points and grabbed 19 rebounds. On top of that she handed out 8 assists and had only 2 turnovers. She also had 7 steals. Boy, can she fill up a box score.
12 Saniya Chong
5'8" Senior Guard
33 Katie Lou Samuelson
6'3" Sophomore Guard/Forward
As I'm sure you all noticed and read about, Geno sent a little message to Katie Lou in the second exhibition game by sitting her for the first half and half way through the third quarter. It's what makes Geno a great coach and will make Samuelson a great player. She was explosive in the first exhibition game with 24 points and 4 assists. I thought she should have let the game come to her more, but she was dynamic. In her 12 minutes in the second exhibition game she scored 6 points and missed her only two three-pointers. Look for more production against FSU.
24 Napheesa Collier
6'1 Freshman Forward/Guard
Napheesa had a nice couple of exhibition games. She scored 24 points on 9-12 shooting and grabbed 18 rebounds with a double-double in the second game. Her knack of snaring rebounds in and out of her area will make her average close to 10 per game. She just needs to take care of the ball a little better with 6 turnovers in the two games.
UConn Bench
20 Tierney Lawlor
5'7" Junior Guard
Toughest player on the team bar none. It's not mentioned very often but she has really improved since first walking on. I'm shocked when she misses a shot! In the two exhibition games, she just played the way she always does. Full out. Her defense it terrific, even if undersized and she never hesitates with the ball. She knows how to play. I hope UConn has a big enough lead where she gets some minutes in this game.
51 Natalie Butler
6'5" RS Sophomore Center
One of the keys to this season, Natalie understands what she has to do this season to help this team succeed. Play big, rebound big, score when she gets the ball in the paint and defend, defend, defend without fouling. Her confidence is coming back and she was terrific in the exhibition games with 24 points and 14 rebounds. She even added 3 steals and 4 assists. Hoping she can carry this forward against the two bigs on FSU.
5 Crystal Dangerfield
5'5" Freshman Guard
Well, it looks like Geno has found his latest project. You know, where he hammers and hammers until he forges a great player. He knows exactly how talented Crystal is and won't let her not reach her potential. Her stats were weak in the two exhibition games but her skills were there. Just watch her progress in this game. She will be by far the quickest player on the court against FSU.
10 Molly Bent
5'9" Freshman Guard
Having met Molly and her father last year, I admit to having a bias about her. She is a delightful young woman and she has really impressed me so far. She hasn't shot particularly well, but that is a bi-product of her freshmanitis. Hesitation is a shooters worst enemy and once she just lets it fly, she will start making them. I loved the six assists in the second exhibition game and her defense (because of her defensive stance and quickness) has been outstanding.
25 Kyla Irwin
6'2" Freshman Forward
6'2" Freshman Forward
You can always tell a coaches kid. And Kyla shows that every time she takes the court. Her inside positioning is textbook and she has a quick release with either hand around the basket. I know she has a nice outside shot and like Bent, we will see more of that as the season progresses. She should see some time against the FSU bigs. She had 20 points and 9 rebounds in the two exhibition games.
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FLORDA STATE SEMINOLES
Semrau is now in her 20th season as the head women's basketball coach at Florida State. She is a four-time winner of the ACC Coach of the Year award.
Semrau has coached FSU to 12 NCAA Tournaments, including two Elite Eight appearances in 2010 and 2015. Here is an interesting tidbit. Over the last seven years, Florida State has averaged over 24 wins per season and had 14 players sign professional contracts either in the WNBA or with a European club team. Semrau was named president of the Women's Basketball Coaches Association in the summer 2013 after serving as the vice president since 2010. Semrau finished up her tenure as WBCA President following the 2014-15 season.
Semrau had her best season last year. Florida State finished with a 32-5 overall record, breaking the school record for wins while also setting new records for ACC wins (14), Top 25 wins (6) and regular-season victories (27). For the first time ever, the Seminoles finished undefeated at the Donald L. Tucker Center, going 16-0.
Florida State Starters
12 Brittany Brown
5'8" Junior Guard
-AllState Good Works Team Nominee (2016)
-All-ACC Academic Team (2016)
-Alicia Gladden Defensive Player of the Year.
-All-ACC Academic Team (2014-15)
-All Sports Association Female Collegiate Award (2014-15)
-Alicia Gladden Defensive Player of the Year Award (2013-14)
Brown was rated the No. 64 prospect in the country by All-Star Girls Report and No. 85 by ESPN HoopGurlz.
23 Ivey Slaughter
6'1" Senior Forward
- All-ACC Academic Team
- Ronalda Pierce Heart Award
Slaughter was ranked the No. 21 forward in the 2013 signing class and the No. 79 overall player by ESPN HoopGurlz. She was rated the 69th-best player in her class by All-Star Girls Report and No. 86 by National Basketball Insider.
20 Shakayla Thomas
5'11" Junior Forward
-WBCA Honorable Mention All-American (2016)
-Sue Galkantas Offensive Player of the Year (2016)
-WBCA All-Region Honoree (2016)
-All-ACC First Team (BR Panel & ACC Coaches) (2016)
-ACC Sixth Player of the Year (BR Panel) (2016)
-NCAA National Player of the Week (Jan. 12, 2016)
-ACC Player of the Week (Jan. 11, 2016).
-ACC Sixth Player of the Year (Blue Ribbon & ACC Coaches) (2015)
-All-ACC Freshman Team (2015)
-ACC All-Tournament First Team (2015)
Rated as the No. 12 overall player in the 2014 recruiting class according to Dan Olson Collegiate Girls Basketball Report, as well as the third-ranked small forward...Ranked 15th overall and the second-ranked small forward by All-Star Girls Report
11 Maria Conde
6'1" Sophomore Forward
Following Romero from Spain she has great international experience. Conde earned valuable playing time as a first-year player, playing in all 33 games and averaged 3.9 points, 2.1 rebounds and shot 39.3 percent (44-of-112) from the floor off the bench. She averaged 17.6 minutes, the second-most of any FSU bench player.
Imani Wright
5'9" RS Junior Guard
Wright had two productive seasons at Baylor before transferring to Florida State. She sat out last season as a red shirt transfer. She had 24 double-figure point totals in her time at Baylor. Her career numbers in two seasons with the Bears include averaging 7.4 points, 2.4 rebounds and 1.6 assists her freshman season. She earned All-Big 12 Honorable Mention honors following her sophomore campaign when she averaged 9.4 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.5 assists.
Wright was ranked 31st by Hoopgurlz in the 2013 class.
Florida State Bench
Chatrice White
6'3" Junior Center
White was given the chance to play this season after transferring from Illinois. Chatrice was the primary offensive force with the Illini in her first two seasons. She earned several All-Big Ten honors, including second team (2016), all-freshman team (2015) and honorable mention (2015). White was ranked in the Top 10 of the Big Ten in five categories as a sophomore, including scoring (18.7 points – ninth), rebounding (9.3 – third), steals (1.6 – tied for 10th), blocked shots (2.1 – tied for third) and defensive rebounds (6.9 – second).
White was ranked 27th by Hoopgurlz in the 2014 class.
42 Kia James
6'5" Senior Center
Ranked the No. 22 overall player in her class by ESPN HoopGurlz, No. 12 by All-Star Girls Report, No. 19 by Full Court and No. 23 by Blue Star Basketball Report
24 Nicole Ekhomu
5'9" Freshman Guard
• Fourth-rated guard and No. 21 overall according to the ESPNW 2016 recruiting class rankings.
• Five-star player from Joliet Catholic Academy in Bolingbrook, Ill.• Referred to as one of the “elite guards” of the 2016 recruiting class.
• Named the 2015-16 Daily Southtown Girls Basketball Player of the Year, averaging 22 points, 6.1 rebounds, 4.9 assists and 3.1 steals.
1 A'Tyanna Gaulden
5'7" Freshman Guard
• Ranked sixth among all guards in the ESPNW 2016 recruiting class and No. 23 overall.
• Described as an “ultra-athletic floor leader with superb playmaking skills.”• Five-star player from Americus Sumter High School and a native of Ocilla, Ga.
• Florida State’s first commit in its fourth-ranked recruiting class who has exuded tremendous enthusiasm about being a Seminole.
• Named the Atlanta Journal Constitution Player of the Year in 2016 following a senior season where she averaged 20.9 points and 7.5 assists.
Florida State
Out with Injury
10 Leticia Romero
5'8" Senior Guard
- 2016 WBCA Honorable Mention All-American
- WBCA All-Region honoree
- Matthew Schmauch Leadership Award winner
- All-ACC Academic Team
- 2016 USBWA National Player of the Year Watch List
- 2016 Naismith Trophy Watch List
- John R. Wooden Preseason Top 30
- 2015-16 Preseason All-ACC Team
Shouldered a bit more of the scoring load as a junior, emerging as one of three double-figure scorers with 11.6 points per game. She was one of the most accurate shooters from 3-point range in the country, shooting 44.7 percent (38-of-85) from beyond the arc. Her 3-point field goal percentage is the third-highest mark in program history and the best by a Seminole since Courtney Ward shot a school-record 50 percent (37-of-74) in 2008-09.
Romero became eligible her sophomore season after the first session. She recorded nine or more assists three times and joined Notre Dame’s Lindsay Allen as the two players who were in the Top 10 in FG % (50.4) and assists (5.4) in ACC play. She recorded a triple-double against Boston College.
She transferred from Kansas after a great freshman season where she averaged 14.2 points, 5.8 rebounds, five assists.
She has great international playing experience. Romero joined former Seminole Leonor Rodriguez in becoming the first two Seminoles to play in the Summer Olympic Games. She averaged 5.8 points off the bench to help Spain win its first Olympic medal ever, earning the silver in Rio. She had her breakthrough moment against China, scoring 16 points (6-of-6) in just 14 minutesShe was named MVP of the FIBA U20 European Tournament in 2015 when she led Spain to a 66-47 win over France. She also played in her second stint with the Spanish Women’s National Team in the EuroBasket 2015, helping Spain to a bronze medal.
Game Analysis
Offensively, FSU looks to create a lot of their offense from their defense. They use a trapping press. They play both what looked like a matchup zone that they trap off of and a man to man similar to UConn with lots of help/switching. They just like to create chaos.
When they are not running and have to play half court, you would have seen a lot of Leticia Romero bringing up the ball and dribble left looking for a screen. If that is not there, she will typically dribble back across the lane off another screen looking for either a drive to the basket, a kick out to someone or pull up for a short jumper. But if she can't play, it will be up to Brown to initiate the offense and they will not be nearly as effective as they would be with Romero in the lineup. The word out of FSU is that Romero will sadly miss this game. It will be tough for them to compete without her.
Shakayla Thomas, their 5'11" forward, is their best natural scorer. She run the court well, has a variety of moves to get to the basket and has a nice midrange game. Thomas plays so much bigger than her height, similar to UConn's Williams. That is one matchup I am really looking forward to.
The two transfers bring an additional dimension to the Seminoles.
Imani Wright is a solid guard that comes from a big time program in Baylor. For some reason, she has a reputation of a three-point shooter, but that doesn't appear to be backed up by statistics. In her freshman year at Baylor she was 37-134. That is only 27.6%. She didn't improve in her sophomore season when she was 42-142, 31.6%. She does take a lot of threes, but doesn't make enough. She does bring some confidence to FSU and did hit 2-4 in her first game this season. Maybe a change of scenery will improve her outside shot. UConn will have to account for her. She is not afraid to shoot.
Chatrice White is a big 6'3" center transfer from Illinois. The NCAA waived the one year rule for her so she is available immediately this season. She brings some real size to Florida State. I watched her for the first time in the game this past Friday. She reminded me of former UConn player Liz Sherwood. She posts up strong and knows how to score around the basket. She holds her positioning for rebounds. White is one tough customer to move out of the paint. UConn's smaller lineup will have to do a lot of double teaming when she gets the ball. I didn't see a great ability to find the open player off the double. I expect Butler to see serious minutes when White is in the game. What I did see was the FSU coach really manage White's minutes. She only played 17 and I don't think she stayed on the floor for more than 3-4 minutes at a time. Conditioning is not her strong point. UConn will run at every chance when White is on the floor.
FSU has some size in addition to White with the 6'5" James, 6'1" Conde and 6'1" Ivy. But none of them have much offensive game.
There are a lot of fun matchups. Thomas and Gabby Williams matchup will be fun to watch. Thomas is really the best offensive player on their team and it's not really close. She will need to score 20+ in this one, but UConn's defense will make it hard to do that.
I'm looking forward to the two big guards for FSU, Romero (if she plays) and Brown go up against a bigger guard in Nurse. If the refs don't go whistle crazy, there will be some big time physicality going on.
Ivy for FSU is a solid player for them and will defend the heck out of whoever she is guarding. She is especially tough in the trapping defense with her long arms.
After watching the two exhibition games, UConn will run even more this season. The smaller lineup is so quick that other teams, including FSU, will be forced to matchup with the Huskies. To tell you the truth, I think we will all see how this UConn team evolves and I'm just not sure how Geno will approach this game. They only played 6 players in last years matchup. Will Geno go deeper? I think so. I think he needs to.
Final Prediction
This could be a close game for a while. I can't imagine some of these UConn players not getting a little nervous in their first game without the big three. How will they handle it if FSU jumps out to an early lead?
It's a totally different lineup with Romero out for the game. But they can definitely defend. I'm pretty sure they don't have enough offensive game win. UConn does need to take care of the ball or FSU will take advantage of the turnovers.
UConn just has too much offensive firepower for FSU. They let Jacksonville State score too easily in their first game and just don't have the outside game to open up the middle for their bigs to work.
I'm guessing a 14 points win for UConn.
GO HUSKIES!!!
why no write up on soniya
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