Doggydaddy's Den: December 2016

Friday, December 30, 2016

DoggyDaddy's UConn/UCF Pre Game Report

UCONN @ UCF

Day: Sunday

Date: January 1st, 2017

Location: CFE Arena, Orlando, Fla.

Time: 1:00 PM

TV: SNY/ESPN3

No. 1 UConn 12-0 (0-0) Central Florida 4-13 (1-5)

Head to Head games

1/1/14 W 77-49 A

2/19/14 W 83-35 H
1/21/15 W 100-45 A
1/20/16 W 106-51 H

Here are last year's game highlights

From my post game report of last years game

Morgan who? Just kidding!!! But UConn didn't miss a beat without their Ms. Steady. Gabby Williams started and was just incredible. She was just dominating the game before leaving with an injury. I'll be honest, my mind raced to the rest of the season without Williams, Tuck not coming back, Chong struggling game to game, and on and on. When Gabby limped to the locker room and slammed her hand against the wall in the hallway, I'm thinking she hurt her knee. I mean, she knows what it feels like to hurt that knee and that this was it.

Thankfully, my paranoia was just that. A minor ankle sprain that she had hurt in practice and tweaked again was all it was. Whew!!! It was great to see her back in the game after getting re-taped.

I don't think anyone wants to read a quarter by quarter review in this one. UConn dominated having a 60 point lead with 4 minutes left. I felt for sure my 65+ point prediction was right on. Then Central Florida decided to make every shot they took for the final 55 point margin.

Overview

UCF has a new coach and it seems to have them playing a better brand of basketball. Last year they were 7-23 for the season and lost to UConn by 55. This year they are 10-3 coming into the matchup with the Huskies. Their schedule has not been against many tough teams. But they did play No. 19 Virginia Tech in a close game, where they lost 67-64.

UConn comes into this game a little beat up after their win over No. 4 Maryland. The big question will be how healthy they are. Did anyone else catch what Samuelson had?

Stat by Stat Comparison

Leader is bolded

UCONN Central Florida

80.6 Points Per Game 66.4

58.5 Opp Points Per Game 52.3

.492 Field Goal % .420

.370 Opp Field Goal % .367

.419 3 Point Field Goal % .274

.268 Opp 3 Point Field Goal % .290

.768 Free Throw % .606

37.8 Rebounds Per Game 42.9

34.2 Opp Rebounds Per Game 31.1

20.8 Assists Per Game 12.2

13.6 Turnovers Per Game 18.1
1.5 Assists/Turnover Ratio .7

9.3 Steals Per Game 13.5

3.8 Blocks Per Game 1.2

UCONN

UConn Starters

33 Katie Lou Samuelson

6'3" Sophomore Guard/Forward

Games - 12, MPG 33.2, FG% .478, 3PT% .461, FT% .822, PPG 20.8, RPG 4.0, APG 2.8

24 Napheesa Collier

6'1" Sophomore Forward/Guard

Games - 12, MPG 31.3, FG% .624, 3PT% .375, FT% .818, PPG 19.0, RPG 7.8, APG 1.8

15 Gabby Williams

5'11" Junior Forward

Games - 12, MPG 29.1, FG% .500, 3PT% .250, FT% .680, PPG 10.8, RPG 8.3, APG 4.7

11 Kia Nurse

6' Junior Guard

Games - 12, MPG 35.5, FG% .447, 3PT% .443, FT% .867, PPG 14.0, RPG 2.3, APG 4.3

12 Saniya Chong

5'8" Senior Guard

Games - 10, MPG 22.9, FG% .500, 3PT% .385, FT% .632, PPG 5.5, RPG 1.9, APG 3.0

UConn Bench

5 Crystal Dangerfield

5'5" Freshman Guard

Games - 11, MPG 23.2, FG% .415, 3PT% .370, FT% .625, PPG 6.3, RPG 2.6, APG 3.2

51 Natalie Butler

6'5" RS Sophomore Center

Games - 12, MPG 16.8, FG% .413, 3PT% .000, FT% .667, PPG 3.7, RPG 4.7, APG 1.1

10 Molly Bent

5'9" Freshman Guard

Games - 10, MPG 8.3, FG% .500, 3PT% .600, FT% .500, PPG 1.6, RPG 1.0, APG .5

25 Kyla Irwin

6'2" Freshman Forward

Games - 9, MPG 6.7, FG% .182, 3PT% .000, FT% .500, PPG .8, RPG 1.0, APG .4

20 Tierney Lawlor

5'7" Senior Guard

Games - 8, MPG 2.9, FG% .000, 3PT% .000, FT% .000, PPG 0.0, RPG .4, APG .1

UCONN TEAM STATS

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Katie Abrahamson-Henderson

Head Coach

On April 1, 2016, Katie Abrahamson-Henderson was announced as UCF's head women's basketball coach.

Abrahamson-Henderson comes to UCF after six seasons at Albany, where she led the Great Danes to a combined nine America East Conference tournament and regular season titles. Her Albany teams recorded five 20-win seasons en route to five-straight NCAA Tournament appearances, including the program’s first bid in 2011 and its first NCAA Tournament victory in 2016.

“We’re proud to welcome Coach Abrahamson-Henderson and her family to UCF,” White said. “I’m confident in Katie’s ability to be a wonderful leader for our women’s basketball student-athletes. She quickly stood out as we were going through the search process. After reviewing her credentials and speaking to her, it became very clear to me that Coach Abrahamson-Henderson is the right leader at the right time for UCF women’s basketball. That feeling was further confirmed after speaking to numerous people about her. She has been a winner as a player and as a coach. We look forward to her bringing that experience to our program. “This was a quick, but thorough search,” White added. “I have the members of my executive team and our search committee to thank for that. Their expertise was crucial to helping us bring Coach Abrahamson-Henderson to Orlando.”

Albany’s first NCAA Division I All-America performer came during Abrahamson-Henderson’s tenure. Numerous Great Dane players have been recognized with America East accolades, including: four Players of the Year awards, four Defensive Players of the Year awards, one Scholar-Athlete of the Year, one Rookie of the Year, nine first-team all-conference selections, 17 total all-conference honors, 12 all-defensive team picks and five all-academic team awards.

Also known as Coach Abe, she was chosen as the America East Coach of the Year three times and guided Albany to a combined 83-13 record in league play. Moreover, Albany won 38-consecutive America East regular season contests from Feb. 1, 2012 through Feb. 26, 2014, setting a new league record and setting what was then the longest conference winning streak in all of Division I. That streak surpassed the old record of 37, set by Maine from 1995-97 under coach Joanne P. McCallie, Coach Abe’s mentor at both Maine and Michigan State.

Abrahamson-Henderson was previously the associate head coach at Indiana prior to moving to Albany and also held that title at Michigan State (2000-02). She served as Missouri State University’s head coach from 2002-07. During her coaching career, she has helped three different teams reach the NCAA Tournament and five programs reach postseason play.

Coach Abe has two decades of experience on the Division I level. She guided Missouri State’s program to three Missouri Valley Conference tournament championships, two MVC regular-season titles and three NCAA berths. The Bears, who also won the 2005 WNIT championship, posted a 95-61 record during her five seasons.

In addition, she coached a pair of MVC players of the year, 11 all-conference honorees, two of the program’s all-time leading scorers, three players who went on to professional careers, and 13 MVC scholar-athletes.

Following her stay at Missouri State, Abrahamson-Henderson worked at Washington in the Pacific-10 Conference as assistant coach and co-recruiting coordinator in 2007-08. Prior to that, she served as associate head coach for Indiana on Felisha Legette-Jack’s staff. The Hoosiers advanced to the 2009 WNIT quarterfinals and finished with a 21-11 record.

At one of her most successful stops as an assistant, Abrahamson-Henderson helped Iowa State (1994-00) clinch four-consecutive NCAA appearances, including runs to the 1999 Elite Eight and 2000 Sweet 16. The Cyclones won the Big 12 regular season and tournament title in 2000 and saw two of their own selected in the WNBA Draft that year.

An accomplished student-athlete and a Parade Magazine and USA Today High School All-American, Abrahamson-Henderson played two seasons at Georgia for Andy Landers before transferring to Iowa to compete for Basketball Hall of Famer C. Vivian Stringer. At Iowa, she was a member of two Big Ten Conference championship teams and played in the NCAA Sweet Sixteen. As a freshman at Georgia, she helped the Bulldogs capture the 1986 Southeastern Conference title.

23 Zykira Lewis

5'8" Senior Guard

-Became 21st 1,000-point scorer in UCF history

-Moved up in UCF's record book to #2 for career 3-pointers (191); #5 for career points (1,356); #6 for career field goals (497); and #8 for career steals (156)

-Joined UCF's single-season 3-pointer top 10 for second straight season, finishing with 68 (7th)

-Averaged team best 14.2 points, 4.0 rebounds and 2.3 assists

-Her team-high 34.6 minutes per game ranked fifth in the American's standings

-Started in 27 of 29 appearances and registered eight 20-point performances

MPG 30.0, FG% .435, 3PT% .300, PPG 16.5, RPG 2.9, APG 2.8

12 Nyala Shuler
6' RS Sophomore Forward

-Averaged 4.8 points, 6.0 rebounds, and 1.1 assists in 23.5 minutes per game
-Earned 21 starting nods and was only one of two Knights to appear in all 30 games

MPG 22.3, FG% .338, 3PT% .125, PPG 4.1, RPG 5.7, APG .7

22 Aliya Gregory
5'10" Junior Guard

-Averaged 10.1 points, 3.7 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 30 minutes per game
-Started in 24 of 29 appearances
-Averaged 12.1 points per game in conference play, which ranked among the top 20 leading scorers in the American

MPG 29.5, FG% .434, 3PT% .375, PPG 12.0, RPG 3.5, APG 2.3

2 Korneila Wright

5'7" Freshman Guard

- ESPN four-star recruit and ranked 61st overall in her class
- Rated 17th in her position by ESPN
- Called up for 2016 Florida Prospects All Star game

MPG 30.3, FG% .299, 3PT% .400, PPG 4.9, RPG 3.6, APG 4.0

25 Tolulope Omokore

5'11" Sophomore Forward

-Averaged 4.1 points and 3.8 rebounds in 11.7 minutes per game
-Worked her way into starting lineup for 6 of last 7 games of the season
-In the games she started, averaged 10 points, 9.5 rebounds and 24.3 minutes per game

MPG 19.1, FG% .500, 3PT% .000, PPG 7.8, RPG 6.3, APG .1

Central Florida Bench

32 Joclyn Massey

6' RS Senior Forward

-Averaged 8.4 points and 7.4 rebounds in 27.8 minutes per game
-Started in 19 of 29 appearances
-Finished the year with a team-best five double-doubles
-Ranked 6th in the league for field goal percentage (.495; 90-182) and 7th for rebounding

MPG 27.4, FG% .561, 3PT% .500, PPG 8.3, RPG 7.9, APG .7

24 Fifi Nadour

6'1" Junior Forward

Averaged 6.9 points and 6.2 rebounds in 20 minutes per game
-Started in 17 of 29 appearances and was the team's leader for blocked shots (21)
-Ranked 9th among the American's top rebounders during conference play (6.9 per game)

MPG 22.5, FG% .448, 3PT% .000, PPG 9.0, RPG 5.7 APG .5

11 Kayla Thigpen
5'9" Senior Guard

-Averaged 6.5 points and 1.9 rebounds in 17.4 minutes per game
-Started twice and was one of two Knights to appear in all 30 games
-American Athletic Conference's Freshman of the Week (11/30)

MPG 13.8, FG% .333, 3PT% .333, PPG 4.6, RPG 1.5, APG .4

Central Florida Stats

Game Analysis

UCF plays a little bigger than some of the smaller teams UConn will play in the AAC. They grab 42.9 rebounds per game, more than UConn does. But UCF's problem is not rebounding or height as much as it is their shooting and handling the ball. They have a terrible shooting percentage of 42% and they are a terrible three point shooting team at 27.4%.

5'8" guard Zykira Lewis is the leading scorer and best player on the team. The senior guard is a dynamic player in the mold of the other tough guards in the conference. She is a volume shooter and takes around eight three-pointers per game. Look for her to shoot often.

6' forward Joclyn Massey averages close to a double-double and is their best frontcourt player. She is good at finishing around the basket shooting 54% from the field. The problem is only ONE other player, 6'1" Fifi Ndoir is shooting over 40%. They are just a terrible shooting team.

I'm not sure what the strategy will be for UCF both offensively and defensively. I haven't been able to scout much of their play. But the matchups are not good for them against UConn.

Final Prediction

The final margin will depend a lot on the bench for UConn. They will be seeing a ton of time.

UConn by 45+

DoggyDaddy's Dailies 12/31/16

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It was a great week with my granddaughter Noa and she got to spend some quality time with her cousin Logan.

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Heading to Florida Saturday morning and I'm not sure if I will get a blog in New Years eve. And tonight's blog will be brief.

So, Happy New Year fellow UConn fans and enjoy the rest of the upcoming 2017 games.

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In case you haven't seen it, here is my full UConn/Maryland Post Game Report.

And here is the UConn/Central Florida Pre Game Report.

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From my friend Swash -

Quick, name the games where Saniya played the best...

<pause while you think>

I propose these three (in no particular order):
- Florida State, first game this year - a stellar final 10 minutes with the game on the line
- Maggie Dixon Classic last year with some nice defensive plays and, of course, that dagger-to-the-heart three to bury Maryland's hopes
- That Stanford loss where despite some defensive lapses, she put up a strong stat-line: 20 points, 4 boards (one offensive), two assists, a steal, and only one turnover in 35 minutes

When her senior day highlight reel is made, these three games will be featured prominently.

Notice any similarities? These are all games where the team most needed help. The tightest, most closely contested games the huskies have played in her whole tenure at UCONN.
Other players might have gotten the Yips, but as the pressure rose, Saniya locked in. That is a different kind of leadership.

All that and a none-to-shabby career record of 127 and one! I'm glad she has recovered from her concussion and will be playing tonight and beyond.

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By David in Naples!!!!!

There were certainly lots of highlights to enjoy about last night's victory over Maryland. For example, UConn scoring 87 points to win their 87th game in a row. There were also some things you don't see too often at a Huskies' game. Napheesa Collier had 5 rebounds, ALL offensive..! Strange...

How about a 4 point play, after Nurse was fouled on a successful 3 pt shot. Strange... Well, how about another one, in the same game, by Katie Lou. Even stranger... In the 1st half, UConn had 7 assists and 6 turnovers. Don't see that often. Of course, in the 2nd half that improved to 13 assists vs 4 turnovers. How about a defense that was giving up 56 pts per game getting burned for a season high 81..? Rare and unusual.

After the game, Geno said this team's performance over the first 12 games has left him "flabbergasted"...!! When was the last time Geno admitted he was so confused by his team..? Be prepared for more of the unexpected from this current group of Huskies..!

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UCONN LINKS

Huskies surpassing Auriemma's expectations Carl Adamec
UConn finishes up 2016 surprisingly undefeated USA Today
No. 1 UConn's trademark blitz staves off Maryland FXC News
Latest UConn women’s basketball winning streak carries a little less hoopla Middletown Press
With Maryland out of way, Huskies marching toward another record NCAA
Women's Hoops: UCF Knights prepare for No.1 UConn on Sunday Baynews 9
Geno Auriemma tried to teach UConn a lesson — and it backfired because they won't stop winning Business Insider
UConn's Women's Basketball Still Hasn't Lost A Game Since 2014 Dead Spin
UConn women just passed their biggest test on the road to 100 straight wins Fox Sports

Upsets in Red

Late games in Green

Plum's 44 leads No. 9 Washington past Oregon USA Today

Canada helps No. 10 UCLA hand Utah its first loss of season USA Today

McCall, No. 13 Stanford women beat No. 18 Arizona St 64-57 USA Today

No. 19 Virginia Tech beats Delaware State 88-48 USA Today

Trojan women knock off 20th-ranked Colorado 79-54 in Pac-12 USA Today

Gulich, No. 22 Oregon St. women past Washington State, 80-58 USA Today

No. 23 South Florida women pull away from Stetson, 74-60 USA Today

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Statistical Sites

National Statistics

Rankings and RPI Sites

Realtime Daily RPI

Massey Rankings and Matchups

Jeff Sagarin Basketball Ratings

NCAA D1Women's RPI

ESPN AP and Coaches Poll

ESPN Conference Standings

Warren Nolan RPI and SOS

Message Boards

UConn Territory - The best UConn women's message board ever!!!

College Fans Only - WCBB board where no holds are barred

Vol Nation - Tennessee women's basketball board

CockyTalk - The upstart South Carolina women's basketball board

ND Nation - Notre Dame women's basketball board

Rebkell - WCBB for everyone that thinks they are smarter than everyone else

Videos

BBallnut's Games from the 90's/00's

UConn Women replays

UCONN Information

2016-17 Online Media Guide

UConn 2016-2017 Roster

UConn 2016-2017 Statistics

UConn 2016-2017 Schedule

I'm always open for suggestions. Just please reply to this blog or email me at:

doggydaddy.UConn@gmail.com

DoggyDaddy's UConn/Maryland Post Game Report

UCONN 87 Maryland 81

Post Game report

Here is a terrific post game report by A Lot of Sports Talk's Adesina O. Koiki. with a wonderful interview with Kia Nurse.

This was probably the most gutsy effort by a UConn team I've seen in a long while. With Sameulson throwing up on the bench, playing with a terrible stomach bug and a fever, and the rest of the team not feeling great in various ways.....the ladies continued their march towards another historic mark.

87 in a row and unless some crazy upset happens, they will blow by the mark of 90 set in 2011 by the Maya Moore led Huskies.

Maryland get's a ton of credit as well in this game. They are definitely a final four favorite. A typical Brenda Frese team. They play hard all the time and never give an inch. Even after UConn blew them away to start the third quarter, Maryland never gave up and got it as close as 5 points in the fourth quarter. I never felt the game was in jeopardy, but I'm sure Geno had some indigestion to go with his sore throat. How great was Destiny Slocum? I love her game. Fearless and tough. A great combination. How often do you see a freshman take and make three pointers under such difficult circumstances.

So, on to the AAC schedule with only the South Carolina game in between. It's all about working on getting even better for this Husky team. Can you imagine that happening? Look out WCBB!

Game Highlights times three

Game Stats and Box Score

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Game Quotes From Geno

“I set the schedule up so that this wouldn’t happen And it’s happened. I’m flabbergasted.”

“When the season began, somebody asked me, ‘Why did you set the schedule the way it is? You’re going to kill your streak.’ What does the streak have to do with anything we’re doing? It’s like when the polls come out and people ask how it feels. It’s nice and all that, but its not the focus of what we are trying to do. When we went through it last time it was nice and fun and everyone kept talking about it all the time. Our kids were aware of it and knew exactly what was going on. We had some older players on our team that have been through a lot and they felt entitled to it. This team is young enough and they have not been a part of that much of it. It is not something that we talk about and it is not something that I put any value on anymore. If it were to happen, I don’t know that it would have any significance in my life whatsoever. If it were to happen.”

“Sometimes when a player like Shatori Walker-Kimbrough has a sub-par game it is not only what the defense does. There are a lot of factors. I thought Kia Nurse did a great job on her for most of the game. I don’t think they went to her as much as they have in the past where she has a lot more opportunities. With their big kid touching the ball a little bit and Slocum I thought she played great so she had the ball a lot in her hands. In some ways they were much more difficult to play against because they didn’t just go towards Shatori. It was a combination of things. We guarded her a little bit differently than we did last year at the Garden, so that helped.”

"When we were up 19 (in the third quarter) all I kept thinking about is I got a feeling it is going to be 2. As the fouls kept piling up, I was really worried. We maybe won because in one way it is Connecticut and they are used to making some of the plays that they made, when we needed a shot we got one, when we needed a stop we got one, when we needed a play to be made we got one. It came from different spots and we needed every one of them. Given the circumstances, the way the game played out and all the issues that we had, this is probably the best win we've had up to this point of the season."

“If our trainer had said Samuelson wasn’t able to play tonight, I wouldn’t have been surprised, based on what the situation looked like. Lou grew up tonight. That wasn’t easy, to do what she did, and she was pretty spectacular, if you think about it, given the circumstances.”

“I mean, come watch film. I’ll show you why I think we should lose games. You saw what happened. All we needed was one of those kids to foul out earlier. All we needed was Lou not to play because she’s sick. We’re one thing away. I’m sure most teams are, but …”

“I am really proud of the fact that we were playing for all the fans and that we were able to create that type of experience. The environment we had tonight was really special for Maryland and for women’s basketball fans. It was incredible to be able to see. Obviously, we have to give credit where credit is do. On UConn’s end, anytime they were getting any kind of runs, I thought they did a tremendous job. The big picture is, is that it is December 29th and we learned a lot about our team tonight, about our freshman, who were sensational. We don't even need to call them freshman because they were so confident. We will learn a lot from this and use it to help us move forward and be ready for March.”

“It is the most points they have given up to a team in years. So a lot of positive things we can build on. I think defensively, we saw a lot of breakdowns. This is an area that I am excited about, an area that we can really grow and improve on. “I just think that for us we are not afraid of the name on the jersey. I think that that is three-fourths of the battle. I felt like our team was extremely confident going into this game.”

“I thought fatigue was why we couldn't complete the comeback. I thought that when we came out in the third quarter and you spot UConn 19 points, then you have to fight and scratch and claw. I am proud because most teams would have quit. So it tells you about our team and they are so competitive and there is no quitting. We just cannot spot a team like UConn 19 points.”

“We went 0-for-4 out of halftime and they went 5-for-5. They hit three three-pointers in that stretch. It was a really difficult stretch. Defensively I think we got lax. I think that Katie Lou Samuelson continued to separate herself and show why she was the number one player of the year coming out of high school. I mean she was sick, throwing up in a trash can over on the side and then goes out and gives that kind of performance in the second half. I thought it was a gutsy performance for her.”
"We talked about the turnovers at halftime. We had a negative assist-to-turnover ratio. We wanted to be able to get shots at the basket. Again, I felt like we spent too much time through two quarters feeling our way versus trusting the system. We spent a lot of time on film seeing how they are exposed to dribble-drives and we didn't get to it until the fourth quarter and trusting the system offensively.”

“Slocum was terrific. Age is just a number and class means nothing. You see, and everybody got to witness tonight, what makes her so special. She is poised beyond her years. Her spirit and her energy are contagious. When you have that kind of energy you are able to feed off of it amongst your teammates. She has had a lot of experience and is just poised beyond her years.”

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Player Evaluations

CO-PLAYER OF THE GAME!

Katie Lou Samuelson

So, no more "Laid back California" girl? Wow....sick as a dog and not only did she play but she played 39 minutes scoring 17 points in the second half. She ended up with 23 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists. She was an inspiration to the rest of the team.

"Once you start, adrenaline gets you through anything that's going on. There were moments I was a little tired. But our team was doing really great stuff, so that got me excited and hyped up. This is a great game and a great atmosphere. I knew no matter what was happening, I was going to play today. It was really important to me to prove to myself that things aren't going to hold me back this year."

"Overall, I think we've kind of shown something to ourselves -- that we can be a great team. It just gives us that much more confidence, but we know we have a lot more we want to accomplish, so we can't get caught up in what we've done."

"Yeah, that's pretty much what we talked about in the locker room. Almost every close game we have, it's that first five minutes of the second half that kind of decides if we can take the game away or if they're going to keep their run going. So we know that going into those second halves that we have to just push it as hard as we can those five minutes and we really did that, and I thought that we started off great and we held on to it. There were times when they came back, but we kept our composure and we kept the game in our bags."

Napheesa Collier

Tough game for Napheessa. She never got into her rhythm until late in the game, but she did come up big in the fourth quarter as Maryland made their final run at the Huskies. She ended up with 12 points and 5 rebounds along with 2 blocks in her 26 foul-plagued minutes.

Gabby Williams

Gabby never ceases to amaze me. Her leaping ability exceeds any player I've seen, including Maya Moore. Yes, I went there! She had 16 points, 9 rebounds and of course, 5 assists. Some of those were just beautiful. She did the best she could on Jones, and I think she eventually wore her out in the fourth quarter. I just love her drives to the basket with her left hand and when she gets close to the hoop she just out-leaps the defender.

Kia Nurse

She easily could have been player of the game with her outstanding effort against Maryland. Her defense alone on Shatori Walker-Kimbrough would have been enough to win that honor. She added 19 points and 5 assists along with countless hustle plays. Her leadership is so important to this team. And the improvement in her three point shooting was critical in this tough matchup. She is up to 44.3%.

"Obviously, the defensive match up that I usually get is one of the better guards and Walker-Kimbrough is a hard match up, she does a lot of things extremely well. So it was a good team defense night for us, and I think we did a good job."

"Maryland is tough. They go! They're constant, and they put pressure on you no matter if you score or miss, they're up the floor. They move the ball really well and hit the outside shot, so that was something that down the stretch when they made their run, it was from quick transition secondary shots that got us."

"I was extremely fortunate to play in the Olympics this summer and just gain the extra confidence and play in a couple games in, and also play against the best in the world. I was able to understand what my strengths and weaknesses were there and then my role this year was more of a leadership role. So trying to take what I learned from the leaders there and applying it here. Same type of thing with Sophomore Guard/Froward Katie Lou Samuelson, Junior Forward Gabby Williams, Sophomore Forward Napheesa Collier, and Senior Guard Saniya Chong, we all had to step up and understand that our leaders gone now. We're trying to figure out what we each do really well, and put it together to become a unified leader in a sense and it's been coming along really well."

Saniya Chong

While those 16 points in the season opener were good, I thought that this was one of Chong's best performances of the season considering the circumstances. She was aggressive and confident from the start and still manage to have ZERO turnovers. Look at the picture above and see how she has transformed her body. She looks pretty cut in this shot. She played a terrific 32 minutes scoring 10 points hitting her only three and she handed out 5 sweet assists. Her block towards the end of the game was just icing on the cake. She is going to be a big contributor the rest of the season. I'm so happy for the senior.

Crystal Dangerfield

While not ready for a bigger role, the freshman did not look out of place under the bright lights of a sellout crowd on the road and an ESPN broadcast. She had 3 points and 2 really nice assists.

Natalie Butler

Don't discount the 14 minutes contributed by Natalie Butler. She played big out there and UConn needed her presence with Williams and Collier in foul trouble. She had 4 points, 4 rebounds and 1 steal. And lots of banging of bodies!!

What's next

University of Central Florida is next. I'll be in Florida but won't be able to make the 3 hour drive as we are just checking into our rental unit. First game in the relatively easy AAC schedule with only South Florida and Temple as teams that have a chance to even compete with the Huskies