UCONN vs DaytonDate: November 22th, 2016
Day: Tuesday
Where: Gample Pavilion
TV: SNY/ESPN3
No. 3 UConn Huskies Dayton Flyers
Prior Meetings
3-0 2-1
Prior Meetings
UConn and Dayton have only met two times.
The first was in Storrs in 2011. It wasn't close as UConn crushed Dayton 78-38. UConn was led by then freshman Kaleena Mosqueda Lewis who score 23 points and hit 6-8 three point shots in what was a vision of what we would see for four years. This game was UConn's record setting 89th consecutive home win. They would extend that streak to 99 before losing to St. Johns in Gampel.
The first was in Storrs in 2011. It wasn't close as UConn crushed Dayton 78-38. UConn was led by then freshman Kaleena Mosqueda Lewis who score 23 points and hit 6-8 three point shots in what was a vision of what we would see for four years. This game was UConn's record setting 89th consecutive home win. They would extend that streak to 99 before losing to St. Johns in Gampel.
The second was in the Elite Eight in the 2014-15 championship season where UConn won 91-70 behind Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis scored 27 points making seven three pointers in this game. The Huskies were behind at the half in this game (I was in attendance and chewing on my fingernails) but played much better in the second half to move on to the Final Four.
Two Dayton players, then freshman Jenna Burdette and then sophomore Kelly Austria both played 30+ minutes in this game and then Sophomore 6'5" Center Saicha Grant-Allen came off the bench for 21 productive minutes. No one
Nurse played 29 minutes as a freshman in that game, only scoring 6 points and didn't have an assist although I remember her hitting a big three point shot. Both Williams and Chong played 5 quiet minutes.
Dayton comes into this game with a 2-1 record, losing their opener to Quinnipiac 63-60 before beating up on a weak Wisconsin team 83-64 and then winning in overtime against Princeton 62-56.
Their former coach, Jim Jabir, left after last season and the new coach, former assistant Shauna Green has taken over. They still play the same long range game, putting up a ton of three point shots every game. They do have some size with a 6'5" center and two 6'3" forwards.
UConn is now 3-0 after beating LSU by 23 in their last outing. Every game has had a different high scorer and there easily could be a fourth in this game.
Their former coach, Jim Jabir, left after last season and the new coach, former assistant Shauna Green has taken over. They still play the same long range game, putting up a ton of three point shots every game. They do have some size with a 6'5" center and two 6'3" forwards.
UConn is now 3-0 after beating LSU by 23 in their last outing. Every game has had a different high scorer and there easily could be a fourth in this game.
Comparative Team Statistics
UConn Dayton
75.3 PPG 68.3
63.3 Defensive PPG 61.0
63.3 Defensive PPG 61.0
12.0 Scoring Margin 7.3
48.1 Field Goal % 36.9
36.6 Defensive FG% 33.5
36.6 Defensive FG% 33.5
46.4 Three Point % 32.1
30.2 Defensive 3PT% 32.6
81.5 Free Throw % 60.330.2 Defensive 3PT% 32.6
35.3 Rebounds/game 48.7
-.7 Rebounding Margin 6.0
17.3 Assists per game 14.1
16.0 Turnover per game 19.3
1.1 Assists/TO ratio -1.6
5.2 Steals per game 8.7
3.7 Blocks per game 5.0
UConn Starters
11 Kia Nurse
6' Junior Guard
Kia, after a slow start against LSU, had a break out game and UConn will be looking for her to continue that momentum. She has started to hit her outside shot and has done a nice job in facilitating the offense.
15 Gabby Williams
5'11" Junior Forward
Gabby hasn't been Gabby yet. She has in spurts, but Geno will want her to sustain her play in a more positive way. She certainly has the skills. This would be a great game to start that.
12 Saniya Chong
5'8" Senior Guard
Still in the starting lineup. She had an ok game against LSU, but she seems to be a little confused on what her role is on the court. She had a wide open three in the LSU game and just passed the ball for no particular reason. She needs to play like she did in the first game of the season. Hopefully she will figure that part out.
33 Katie Lou Samuelson
6'3" Sophomore Guard/Forward
No doubt the star of the team. Her shot is just money and even when missing, she just keeps on shooting. I love the way she is diversifying her game with more drives to the basket and the occasion pull up jumper off of screens.
24 Napheesa Collier
6'1 Freshman Forward/Guard
Napheesa hasn't been consistent in her play. She was dynamite against FSU and the second half against Baylor was terrific as well. But she is committing way too many fouls and that has to stop. Disqualifications already? Not good.
UConn Bench
51 Natalie Butler
6'5" RS Sophomore Center
She had a tough outing against LSU and Geno quickly recognized it, limiting her playing time to only 9 minutes. I am hoping it was just a matchup problem. UConn will need her against the bigger Dayton players.
5 Crystal Dangerfield
5'5" Freshman Guard
Dangerfield had a terrific 1st half against LSU and I was thinking, here we go again. She hit two beautiful three pointers and scored 10 points at the half. Then she channeled her inner Jefferson, but not the good one. More like the freshman version of Jefferson, playing too fast and turning the ball over frequently. I have a feeling she learned a lesson in that game.
10 Molly Bent
5'9" Freshman Guard
I really love this kid. She plays hard, runs hard all the time, works so hard on defense, using her quick feet to play excellent defense. I'd love to see her shot some confidence and take the open shot once in a while.
25 Kyla Irwin
6'2" Freshman Forward
6'2" Freshman Forward
I love this kid too. She played a terrific 17 minutes against LSU and I would expect her to get some limited minutes against the bigger Dayton players.
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Dayton Flyers
Head Coach Shauna Greene
University of Dayton Vice President and Director of Athletics Neil Sullivan picked Shauna Green to be the Flyers' new head women's basketball coach replacing Jim Jabir.
Shauna was an important part of the women's basketball success since 2012 and is well-positioned to continue the program's strong momentum. She has coached many players on the roster, and seems to be the right person to lead the women's basketball program.
In her previous stint at Dayton from 2012-2015 as an assistant coach, Green contributed to the success of the Flyers and made an impact on the current state of the program. In 2012-13, Dayton won 28 games, tying the most wins in the modern era of the program. The Flyers followed that up in Green's final season, 2014-15, with another 28 wins, a sixth-consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance, and the program's first Regional Final. Two student-athletes from that team were drafted in the 2015 WNBA Draft – Ally Malott to the Washington Mystics and Andrea Hoover to the Los Angeles Sparks. Hoover ranks fourth all-time on Dayton's scoring list while Malott ranks seventh.
Dayton Starters
14 Jenna Burdette
5'8" Junior Guard
In the 2015-16 (Sophomore) season, Burdette played in 29 games for the Flyers starting all 29. She averaged 4.2 ppg while shooting 42% from the field, 41% from 3. She also led the team in assists with 140 averaging 4.8 per game. Burdette was named to the A10 All-Conference Third-Team, the Dayton All-Academic Roster and was a member of Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.
34 JavVonna Layfield
5'11" Junior Guard
In the 2015-16 (Sophomore) season Layfield made 28 appearances including 3 starts for the Flyers where she averaged 20.4 minutes per game along with 4.8 points per game she also led the team with 36 steals (which led the team) and added 10 blocks.
22 Kelly Austria
6' RS Senior Guard
In 2015-16 (Senior) she was medically redshirted for the season after playing in the first seven games. She was preseason All-Conference Second Team and preseason All-Conference Defensive Team.
In 2014-15 (Junior) she started all 35 games averaging 9.9 points while shooting 43.9% from the field. Austria led the team and finished 12th overall in the A10 with 1.6 steals per game. She was named to the A-10 All-Defensive Team and the A-10 All-Championship Team.
In 2014-15 (Junior) she started all 35 games averaging 9.9 points while shooting 43.9% from the field. Austria led the team and finished 12th overall in the A10 with 1.6 steals per game. She was named to the A-10 All-Defensive Team and the A-10 All-Championship Team.
00 Saicha Grant-Allen
6'5" Senior Center
In 2015-2016 (Junior) Grant-Allen started all 29 games for the Flyers. She averaged 28.8 minutes per game with 11.1 ppg shooting 49% from the field. She also the team in rebounds averaging 8.9 per game as well as contributed 33 blocks and 14 steals.
10 Andrijana Cvitkovic
6'3" Senior Forward
In the 2015-16 (Junior) Andrijana played in 27 games for the Flyers starting 1 where she averaged 13.3 minutes and 3.8 ppg while shooting 44% from the field.
Dayton Bench
42 Jayla Scaife
5'10" Freshman Guard
In High School SCaife was a 2016 Indiana All-Star and was named North Central Conference Player of the Year. She was also a McDonald's All-American nominee and was a ICGSA First Team All-State as a senior.
24 Lauren Cannatelli
5'8" Sophomore Guard
In 2015-2016 (Freshman) Cannatelli played in 29 games and started 21 where she averaged 10.4 ppg shooting 34% from the field and 36% from 3. She also averaged 1.8 rebounds per game and 1.7 assists per game. Cannatelli was named the Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Year and was a two time A10 player of the week (January 18th and February 8th).
11 Alex Harris
6'3" RS Junior Forward/Center
She sat out the 2015-2016 (Redshirt Sophomore) as a transfer from Penn State. In her 2014-15 season (Sophomore - Penn State) she appeared in 18 games and averaged 13.4 minutes per game. Alex averaged 3.0 points per game and 5.3 rebounds per game shooting .477 from the field.
Game Analysis
Dayton loves to run, run and run some more. They run, drive and kick to open shooters. Their half court offense is a lot of screening. They are capable of shooting a high percentage from behind the arc. They love to shot threes on the break. They have 6 players that have hit three pointers this year and Cannatelli (no. 24) has a particularly quick release. Dayton averages
On defense, Dayton is still a predominantly man-to-man defense. They play good help defense off the man-to-man and with three bigs (6'5", 6'3" and 6'3", two that start) they protect the basket well.
UConn is going to play man to man as well, but will have to be careful on ball screens where Dayton will take quick three point shots. They average close to 30 takes per game, firing them up from all over the court. The Huskies are going to have to play excellent help defense to defend the Dayton offense.
On offense, UConn will be looking to run as often as possible trying to get easy baskets. When they don't run, they will look to move the ball quickly around the perimeter, taking open threes. The long range shots appear to be a huge part of this version of the UConn team.
This is really a matchup of very similar teams. Only one has more talent.
Final Prediction
Dayton won't be intimidated by UConn with three players that return from the last matchup two years ago. UConn will have to play at the top of their game to dominate this game. And at home, I expect that to happen.
UConn by 20+.
geno mess chung confidence up again smh
ReplyDeleteshe is scared that if she shoot and miss geno is going to take her out which is what he did
ReplyDeleteNapheesa is now a sophmore
ReplyDelete