DoggyDaddy's UConn/Albany Pre Game Report





     
UCONN vs Albany
Day: Saturday
Date: March 18th, 2017
Time: 11:00 AM
Gampel Pavilion
TV: ESPN2

                                         

No. 1 UConn Huskies                                               Albany

           31-0 (16-0)                                                  22-11 (12-4)

Prior Meetings

UConn leads the series 1-0

12/29/05 W 78-44 H

Team Overviews

Albany comes into this matchup as one of the hottest teams in the country. After starting the season losing to at the time 19th ranked Kentucky 70-46 and at the time 14th ranked 77-53 they muddled along going 6-7 in their out of conference schedule. They were only 3-3 after their first three conference games, but boy, did they hit their stride after that. Over their last 10 conference games, they went 9-1, only losing to UMBC. With their three wins in their conference tournament, they come into this game against UConn on a 12-1 run and a six game winning streak. They are a dominant team in their conference as this was their SIXTH straight tournament championship. Very UConn like...!!

UConn looks to be 100% healthy for this game against Albany. Nurse is still "Nursing" her ankle a little, but I'm sure the week+ off has her ready to go. The Huskies won their conference tournament again with an exclamation  point win over South Florida.

      UCONN                                          Albany

                                           86.6         Points Per Game                     66.6

                                           53.8         Opp Points Per Game             62.3

                                           .522         Field Goal %                           .419

                                           .346         Opp Field Goal %                   .386

                                           .395         3 Point Field Goal %              .311

                                           .270         Opp 3 Point Field Goal %      .326

                                           .787         Free Throw %                         .686

                                            39.2         Rebounds Per Game               38.9

                                            32.7         Opp Rebounds Per Game       34.5

                                            23.3         Assists Per Game                   15.6

                                            12.1         Turnovers Per Game              19.7
                                              1.9         Assists/Turnover Ratio              .8

                                         10.3         Steals Per Game                      10.8                                              4.9         Blocks Per Game                    4.4

UCONN

UConn Starters

33 Katie Lou Samuelson

6'3" Sophomore Guard/Forward

MPG 31.3, FG% .494, 3PT% .437, FT% .845, PPG 21.0, RPG 3.8, APG 3.1

24 Napheesa Collier

6'1" Sophomore Forward/Guard

MPG 29.8, FG% .689, 3PT% .415, FT% .838, PPG 20.2, RPG 8.9, APG 2.2

15 Gabby Williams

5'11" Junior Forward

MPG 28.4, FG% .573, 3PT% .167, FT% .686, PPG 13.2, RPG 8.4, APG 5.3

11 Kia Nurse

6' Junior Guard

MPG 30.4, FG% .451, 3PT% .405, FT% .861, PPG 12.2, RPG 2.4, APG 4.0

12 Saniya Chong

5'8" Senior Guard

MPG 30.2, FG% .466, 3PT% .394, FT% .804, PPG 8.2, RPG 2.9, APG 3.9

UConn Bench

5 Crystal Dangerfield

5'5" Freshman Guard

PPG 24.8, FG% .403, 3PT% .314, FT% .625, PPG 6.3, RPG 2.3, APG 3.7

51 Natalie Butler

6'5" RS Junior Center

MPG 16.7, FG% .487, 3PT% .000, FT% .732, PPG 5.7, RPG 5.0, APG 1.1

10 Molly Bent

5'9" Freshman Guard

MPG 9.9 FG% .303, 3PT% .333, FT% .625, PPG 1.1, RPG 1.4, APG 1.3

25 Kyla Irwin

6'2" Freshman Forward

MPG 8.3, FG% .451, 3PT% .313, FT% .714, PPG 2.4, RPG 1.4, APG .5

20 Tierney Lawlor

5'7" Senior Guard

MPG 3.5, FG% .000, 3PT% .000, FT% .500, PPG 0.1, RPG .4, APG .1

UCONN TEAM STATS  

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Head Coach

Joanna Bernabei-McNamee

University at Albany Director of Athletics Mark Benson announced Friday, April 15th the hiring of Joanna Bernabei-McNamee as the 11th head women’s basketball coach in program history and fourth head coach in the Great Danes’ Division I era. Bernabei-McNamee (pronounced Bern-uh-BEE Mac-Na-MEE), a native of Weirton, W.Va., comes to UAlbany after three seasons as the head coach of the University of Pikeville in Pikeville, Ky. There, McNamee racked up 63 wins and led the program to back-to-back National Tournament berths, including a program-record 26 victories and an NAIA Final Four appearance in 2016.  McNamee was named the 2016 Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) NAIA Regional Coach of the Year, and was also named the 2015 Mid-South Conference Coach of the Year.

Prior to Pikeville, McNamee coached at the NCAA Division I level for 10 years. She served as assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at the University of Maryland for four seasons from 2003 to 2007, and helped pilot the Terrapins to the 2006 National Championship. Maryland beat Duke 78-75 in overtime for the title and finished with a record of 34-4. During her tenure, she brought in four straight nationally ranked recruiting classes, including three in the top 10.

Coach Mac takes over a UAlbany program that has won a combined nine America East Conference tournament and regular season titles in the last five seasons, and has made five consecutive appearances in the NCAA Tournament. In the 2015-16 season, UAlbany defeated No. 5 Florida for the program’s first-ever Division I NCAA Tournament victory. 

Albany Starters

12 Imani Tate
5'8" Senior Guard

MPG 30.9, FG% .458, 3PT% .289, FT% .769, PPG 19.1, RPG 4.9 APG 3.9

15 Jessica Fequiere 
5'11" Reshirt Junior Guard/Forward

  

MPG 30.8, FG% .407, 3PT% .315, FT% .802, PPG 12.4, RPG 7.2 APG 1.9 

10 Bailey Hixson

6'1" Senior Guard/Forward

MPG 27.9, FG% .431, 3PT% .376, FT% .607, PPG 8.9, RPG 4.1 APG 1.0

3 Khepera Stokes
5'6" Freshman Guard

MPG 20.4, FG% .341, 3PT% .077, FT% .364, PPG 3.0, RPG 1.8 APG 2.9

22 Heather Forster
6'2" Sophomore Forward

MPG 16.0, FG% .521, 3PT% .474, FT% .474, PPG 4.4, RPG 3.4 APG .3

Albany Bench

00 Mackenzie Trpcic
5'7" Freshman Guard

MPG 24.0, FG% .348, 3PT% .308, FT% .714 PPG 5.2, RPG 2.0 APG 4.0



13 Bose Aiyalogbe 
6'0" RS Junior Guard

MPG 23.6, FG% .358, 3PT% .244, FT% .658, PPG 4.8, RPG 4.0 APG 1.2



33 Tiana Jo-Carter
6'2" Junior Forward/Center

MPG 16.5, FG% .425, 3PT% .000, FT% .735 PPG 6.3, RPG 4.2 APG .7

 Albany Stats

 Game Analysis

It's impossible to do really insightful analysis of a 1 vs 16 game. The talent level is gap is just too huge to say much of anything.

Not only that but while Albany has been winning, their stats have been awful. They are not a very good shooting team. They only shoot 42% from the field and 31% on threes. And they turn the ball over at a 19.2 rate per game. All of this spells big time trouble for the Great Danes.

They don't have much height to combat the tough UConn inside trio of Samuelson, Williams and Collier.

I did watch some of their last game, the  championship game of the American East conference, against Maine.  They like to play a matchup zone defense, similar to UConn's switching defense and will have to quickly double team against this tough UConn offense to have a chance at slowing them down. But they really don't have the athletes. to do that.

Their best player is Imani Tate, who has the ball in her hands a lot. She is the quickest player on the team and maybe the only one that can create her own shot. She doesn't need a lot of room to get off her accurate mid-range jumper. But against UConn's defense, she will not see the same room she is used to getting.

UConn will want to build momentum so they will pressure Albany early and force the pace. Once in the half court game, the Huskies will look to get the ball to Collier or whip the ball around for an open three. No one on Albany cover Williams on the perimeter so expect Gabby to drive hard to the basket, especially from her left side.

Not much more to say on this game. The big talent gap will show itself early.

Final Prediction

This should be a typical early round game for UConn. Albany just can't compete. Hey, it's why they are a 16 seed.

Based on the previous 1 vs 16 games over the last few years, I can guess what the margin will be.

2015-16 UConn won over Robert Morris 101-49.
2014-15 UConn won over St. Francis 89-33.
2013-14 UConn won over Prairie View A&M 87-44.
2012-13 UConn won over Idaho 105-37.

So, I'll guess it will be around 100-40. 60+. Once again, the final margin will depend on the end of the bench performance in the fourth quarter.