DoggyDaddy's UConn/Dayton Post Game Report

  Post Game report

Game Highlights

There was so much good in this game, it's hard to even comment on any bad. Sure there was some lazy defense, bad shots taken, balls thrown away. But the good outweighed the bad by so much, the scale tipped over!!!

The games by Samuelson, Willams and Collier were all just terrific. I'm just so proud with how they are showing the fans how good they can be. And they will only get better as the season progresses.

After another slow start, UConn was down 10-5 but before you could blink UConn went on a 15-0 run and the rout was on.

Defense turned to offense quickly and UConn just ran the Flyers into the ground.

Enjoy the highlights and my player by player evaluation.

 Game Stats and Box Score

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 Game Quotes From Geno

“We just ran a couple of sets for Lou just to get her more involved. We would force her to get into the lane and throw it to her so she could get something in the lane. I think once she touched the ball and scored that got her off and running. Sometimes you just need one touch or one bucket to get you going. It was the most aggressive I’ve seen her, with the combination inside and outside, in the first four games.”

“We’re trying to just play to our strengths. We mentioned this to our players, we’re not going to get any bigger as the season goes one. I never remember a year when our post players got taller. This is what we’ve got and we just have to constantly play to our strengths. Certainly, Gabby played to all of her strengths today, she did all the things that she knows she’s good at and it was really good to see her get involved in so many different ways, she’s been so much more versatile defensively than in the previous two years.”

“If you could tell every team how to defend you it would be great, but each game is different and each team tries to do something completely different defensively. They put a lot of pressure on you with your dribble, so they put a lot of people in the lane on you. So, when they miss there’s not a lot of people back on defense a lot of times. What ended up happening is we were able to get out in transition. We rebounded the ball a little better and we got out in transition a little better. We got some easy buckets, which we didn’t get against LSU or Baylor. That really helped.”

"You are born with that stuff," Auriemma said. "We used to talk all the time that you can tell a kid to look inside and they have no idea what they are looking at. She sees everything and the key is throwing the right pass at the right time and she does that and that is not from coaching, that is from an innate ability that she has, nine assists today and that particular sequence (in the third quarter) was probably her showcasing all the little things that she can to help your team. She only made one bucket today and she dominated the game for long stretches at a time."

"You are not going to get everything. After the (Baylor) game everybody was ready to anoint her the next Chris Paul and against LSU she looked like Les Paul. God bless him, he is no longer with us but he is a great guitar player."

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Game Quotes from Coach Shauna Green

"I thought we did some things we wanted to do. We came out strong. We talked about coming out and having a good start and really attacking them from the tip. I thought we had a great first quarter, and we had a really good third quarter. But against a team like that, your downs can't be as down as what we were. We just had some self-inflicted wounds with our transition and our fouling. We've got to learn from it. They're (Connecticut) physical, they're tough and that's exactly how they win. We play Georgia Tech on Friday and they are the exact same way so hopefully this will prepare us for them."

"The team had a lot of fight despite the score and that's huge and that's what I told them. I don't care about the score. I don't look at the scoreboard, it's what we are doing. We've got to keep getting better. I played some different people to see what we are made of. That's all we've been preaching - you have to fight. It doesn't matter, just continue to play hard and with some energy and some passion."

"I think we're coming together fine. Systematically, most of it is the same so that wasn't a big change for them. They're all great. They're together. Like I said, this is a great team so you have to be on point and you can't have a lot of unforced turnovers and the fouling. We'll be ok."

"The games in Bimini are two great opportunities, playing Georgia Tech and either Missouri or Creighton. That's three great teams from Power Five conferences. It's just another opportunity for us to play good teams and get better. If we can get two wins down there, that just builds your resume for later on in March. I really want to see how we respond to this and see our mental toughness, see how we take this and use it to get better."

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Player Evaluations

PLAYER OF THE GAME!

Katie Lou Samuelson

I love the comments below from Lou. She gets it. The importance of her diversifying her game. She can't be just a stand up three point shooter. And she is not. My favorite play was her left handed scoop shot pictured above. She showed a little bit of every part of her game in this outing against Dayton. Another career high with 29 points, she added 6 rebounds, 6 assists and only 1 turnover.   

"I just wanted to come out today and play as hard as I could and do different things. I know I had a lot of threes against LSU and I'm not going to get that every game so I try to do more than just stand on the three-point line."

"I think there is definitely a correlation to rebounding and making baskets. My biggest key is getting the highest amount of points while standing on defense. When I was focusing on that, things started to fall better and we were all playing well together which made it easier to make those shots."

" I think we have made a statement not falling off at the start of the season. I think we just prove that every game we are going to put up a fight and we are not just going to give the game to anybody. We're not going to go down without a fight and I think we have shown that in the past few games, but we have a long road ahead of us and good competition coming up so we're going to have to keep that up."

Kia Nurse

I love this picture of Kia. She has a look of pure joy. She really shows so much emotion on the court that sometimes that gets to her. She had a slow shooting start again but hit her last two three pointers and ended up with 10 points and 4 assists and only 1 turnover. A good but not great offensive game for Nurse. But it's her defense that was as important as ever.

Napheesa Collier  

Collier was dominating in the paint. She ended up with 22 points, most of those on great post up moves and short jumpers. Her long arms made her a terrific target for entry passes and she knows how to finish. She also had two blocks, two steals and a few intimidation plays. She added 7 rebounds. Her only issue is her turnovers, as she added 3 with only one assist.    

Gabby Williams

This was absolutely the best game of the season for Gabby. She used her quickness and leaping ability to her full advantage. As she said, the quick pace allowed her to get easy shots. She was able to stay in the game by not fouling and scored 19 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. She added 5 first half assists and 2 steals.   

"We wanted to make it a goal to get out in transition because we really haven't been running the ball
the way we used to and I think we did that well and it was encouraging. We wanted to play at a quicker pace and I hope we can execute a little better. That is way we like to play, we want to make it a track meet for everyone and it was good that we finally got to do that."

Saniya Chong

I think that except for the occasional offensive outburst like the game against FSU, this is the Saniya we will see in most games. 18 minutes, 4 points, 2 assists and zero turnovers. She lack of defensive lateral quickness is going to limit her minutes along with the emergence of Dangerfield. But as long as she plays to her strength, solid decision making and making the open shot, she will continue to be in the starting and help UConn win games. 

Crystal Dangerfield

I love this Geno quote "She only made one bucket today and she dominated the game for long stretches at a time."

Yes she did. Those 9 assists were almost all special. Threading the needle with a bounce pass on the break, finding the open post player with another bounce pass. Faking right and passing left on another break. She is so deceptive because she rarely looks at the player she is passing to. It really throws off the defender. Some think she will be in the starting lineup soon. It just might happen if she continues to "dominated the game for long stretches at a time."



  

 

Natalie Butler

It was a lessons learned kinda game for Natalie. Geno put her in and on the first play she let a player driving score easily on a drive to the basket. He immediately called a time out and let her know how unhappy he was in typical Geno style. She also hit the floor a few times, one after tripping over the foul line. She was also played very physically by the Dayton defenders, clearly fouling her a few times even thought the refs didn't call it. That would have put any player off of her game.

But I was impressed with how she still made plays. She scored 9 points and grabbed 9 rebounds in 16 productive minutes. She also added two blocks (one pictured above).  I'll take this game from her every time.

Molly Bent

Molly hit her first three pointer of the year. She played solid defense. Only 9 minutes in this one, hopefully she can earn more playing time. I love watching her play. 

Kyla Irwin

Her big body will continue to get her minutes. She really works hard defending the post and with only Butler off the bench with any size, UConn will need her to do exactly what she did in this game in her 9 minutes. 

Tierney Lawlor

  

Lawlor only played 4 minutes but it was great to see her on the court. Hopefully she will get an open shot soon. You just know it will go in!

 Final Thoughts

A week off for the Huskies before playing Chattanooga in Hartford on Tuesday, November 29th at 7:00. I hope to get to that game.

I hope everyone has a safe and happy Thanksgiving holiday. I'll keep the Dailies going as long as there is something to write about!!!