Saturday, January 20, 2018

Doggy's UConn/Temple Pre Game Report





UCONN @ Temple
Sunday, January 21, 2018
 McGonigle Hall
 Philadelphia PA.  
Time: 1:00
TV: ESPN2






No. 1 UConn 17-0 (6-0)                                 Temple 9-8 (1-4)
             
 Head to Head games
UConn 9-2

1/16/81 L 68-71 A
1/16/82 L 49-62 H
3/23/10 W 90-36 N
1/11/14 W 80-36 H
1/28/14 W 93-56 A
1/14/15 W 92-58 H
2/1/15 W 83-49 A
1/16/16 W 104-49 H
2/14/16 W 85-60 A
2/1/17 W 97-69 A
2/22/17 W 90-45 H

 Overview

Temple is having an off season, going 9-8 so far with some pretty bad losses. The main reason for that is they are missing their top three scorers from last season for various reasons. Their leading scorer from last season graduated. Feyonda Fitzgerald played a couple of games for the Connecticut Sun. They also lost their third leading scorer from last season, Donnaizha Fountain. She was a Second Team All-Conference performer in the American Athletic Conference as a junior in 2016-17 and averaged 14.1 points, 7.5 rebounds and 1.9 steals per game. She decided in her graduate Senior season to take her skills to Seton Hall. Their biggest loss was Alliya Butts. She was expected to be the big leader and leading scorer on this Temple team but tore her ACL in October and will miss the entire season.

These three loses have been a huge negative impact on the Owls this season. After a pretty good start, going 8-3 in their first 11 games, Temple has really struggled the last 6 games, going 1-5 over that stretch. It started with a loss against at the time No. 4 South Carolina 87-60. They beat SMU 55-52 but over the last three games, all losses, they have given up 89, 81 and 99 points. In their last game, they lost to Houston 99- 75 against a team that UConn beat by 60 points. This doesn't bode well for the Owls.    

UConn is coming off a 78-60 win over Tulsa and it wasn't pretty. Geno screwed around with the lineups, giving the bench the entire second quarter. When the starters came back in the third quarter, they were all out of sorts. Samuelson reinjured her ankle, Williams aggravated her hip flexor and Dangerfield is battling shin splints. It was just a game that was not up to UConn standards. What we found out is that the issues go back to practices that were not good. I don't think I've seen Geno that upset in a while in his post game interviews. Will the players respond positively to his words?  

Stat by Stat Comparison

 Leader is bolded

      UCONN                                          Temple

                                           89.1         Points Per Game                     68.1 
                                           55.9         Opp Points Per Game             69.2
                                           .524         Field Goal %                           .394
                                           .339         Opp Field Goal %                   .418
                                           .392         3 Point Field Goal %              .302
                                           .286         Opp 3 Point Field Goal %      .305
                                           .733         Free Throw %                         .673
                                            42.7         Rebounds Per Game               41.7
                                            33.6         Opp Rebounds Per Game       37.5
                                            21.8         Assists Per Game                   13.6
                                            13.2         Turnovers Per Game              15.6
                                              1.6         Assists/Turnover Ratio              .9
                                            10.6         Steals Per Game                      5.5
                                              5.5         Blocks Per Game                    2.0




*******************************************************************


UCONN 

               
Women's Basketball Team Photo


UConn Starters



Napheesa  Collier
24 Napheesa Collier
6'1" Junior Forward
MPG -29.5, FG% .535, 3PT% .294, FT% .700, 14.8 PPG, 7.7 RPG, 3.1 APG 





Gabby  Williams
15 Gabby Williams
5'11" Senior Forward
MPG - 27.2, FG% .574, 3PT% .000, FT% .706, 10.6 PPG, 7.9 RPG, 4.4 APG 



Kia  Nurse
11 Kia Nurse
6' Senior Guard
MPG - 32.8, FG% .564%, 3PT% .500, FT .792, 15.1 PPG, 3.2 RPG, 2.6 APG






Crystal  Dangerfield

5 Crystal Dangerfield

5'5" Sophomore Guard

MPG - 31.1, FG% .465, 3PT% .472, FT% .750%, 11.4 PPG, 2.3 RPG, 4.5 APG

Katie Lou  Samuelson
33 Katie Lou Samuelson
6'3" Junior Guard/Forward
MPG - 27.6, FG% .514, 3PT% .479, FT% .761, 16.8 PPG, 4.3 RPG, 3.3 APG 

UConn Bench
Azurá  Stevens
23 Azura Stevens
6'6" Junior Forward
MPG - 22.2, FG% .596, 3PT% .139, FT .783, 14.9 PPG, 8.4 RPG, 2.4 APG

Megan  Walker
3 Megan Walker
6'1" Freshman Guard/Forward
MPG - 15.6, FG% .448, 3PT% .294, FT% .700, 5.6 PPG, 3.3 RPG, .9 APG

Batouly  Camara
32 Batouly Camara
6'2" Sophomore Forward
MPG - 2.7, FG% .000, 3PT% .000, FT% .750, 0.5 PPG, 1.3 RPG, 0.5 APG

Molly  Bent
10 Molly Bent
5'9" Sophomore Guard
MPG - 7.1, FG% .429, 3PT% .400, FT% 1.000, 1.1 PPG, 1.0 RPG, .7 APG

Kyla  Irwin
25 Kyla Irwin
6'2" Sophomore Forward
MPG - 8.2, FG% .536, 3PT% .273, FT% .333, 2.4 PPG, 1.2 RPG, .4 APG

Mikayla  Coombs
4  Mikayla Coombs
5'8" Freshman Guard

MPG - 6.7, FG% .267, 3PT% .143, FT% .000, .7 PPG, .8 RPG, .5 APG




Alexis  Gordon
34 Alexi Gordon
6' Freshman Guard
MPG - 2.8, FG% .2503, 3PT% .125, FT% .000, .7 PPG, .7 RPG, .1 APG




*******************************************************************


TEMPLE

Team Photo


Tonya Cardoza
Head Coach

Temple's all-time winningest women's basketball coach, Tonya Cardoza, is in her 10th season at the helm of the nationally-recognized Owls.

Cardoza's most recent season was one of her best, as Temple went 24-8 overall, earned an NCAA bid, and finished second in the tough American Athletic Conference. The Owls' success garnered her several individual honors, among them being named one of 10 finalists for the WBCA National Coach of the Year Award. Cardoza shared American Athletic Conference Coach of the Year honors with UConn's Geno Auriemma and was also named the Philadelphia Big 5 Coach of the Year for the fourth time in her career.

Reaching 20 wins for the third-straight season, Cardoza's 2016-17 Owls notched the program's best-ever RPI of 18 (at the end of regular season play), and finished with a final RPI of 25. Temple was ranked nationally for five weeks of the season, and beat two nationally-ranked teams (#16/17 DePaul, #20/21 USF). Locally, the Owls swept through the Philadelphia Big 5, taking the title with a 4-0 record.

Cardoza guided senior guard Feyonda Fitzgerald to a WBCA All-America nod, just the fourth player in Temple history to earn such accolades. Fitzgerald was also a WBCA All-Region selection, a first team American Athletic Conference selection, and the Philadelphia Big 5 Player of the Year. Following the season, Fitzgerald was the 20th overall pick in the 2017 WNBA Draft.



Temple Starters

Tanaya Atkinson
22 Tatyana Atkinson
6' Senior Guard

 MPG 35.2, FG% .495, 3PT% .345, FT% .707, PPG 23.1, RPG 10.0, APG 2.9


Khadijah Berger
21 Khadijah Berger
5'10" Senior Guard

 MPG 25.6, FG% .316, 3PT% .271, FT% .500, PPG 4.7, RPG 2.3, APG 3 .2


Emani Mayo
12 Emani Mayo 
5'8" Freshman Guard

 MPG 30.3, FG% .342, 3PT% .300, FT% .944, PPG 8.6, RPG 3.1, APG 2.5




Mia Davis

25 Mia Davis
6' Freshman Forward 

 MPG 26.2, FG% .459, 3PT% .350, FT% .734, PPG 11.8, RPG 8.7, APG 1.0




Breanna Perry

2 Breanna Perry
6'1" Freshman Forward

 MPG 18.5, FG% .324, 3PT% .241, FT% .478, PPG 3.8, RPG 2.8, APG .8


Temple Bench

Mykia Jones
4 Mykia Jones
5'8" Grad Student Guard




 MPG 13.0, FG% .346, 3PT% .407, FT% .714, PPG 3.6, RPG .9, APG 1.2


Shantay Taylor
24 Shantay Taylor
6'3" Sophomore Forward



 MPG 9.2, FG% .429, 3PT% .000, FT% .692, PPG 2.8, RPG 2.3, APG .3


Lena Niang
1 Lena Niang
6'2" Junior Forward
 

 MPG 13.2, FG% .293, 3PT% .295, FT% 1.000, PPG 3.8, RPG 2.2, APG .2


 Game Analysis

Temple is really missing their top three players from last season. But for every bad situation, someone gets a chance to shine, and boy has Tatyana Atkinson taken advantage of her situation. The 6' senior guard is leading the AAC in scoring and rebounding at 23 PPG and 10 RPG. The New Haven Connecticut native has had a spectacular season. She scored 39 points against Cincinnati just two games ago. 6' Freshman forward Mia Davis has been a nice compliment to Atkinson's play and is the only other player scoring in double digits. She is a multiple winner of the AAC's FOW award.    

Temple loves to throw the ball around the perimeter until a drive opportunity shows up. They will either go to the basket or kick out for a three. But they generate most of their offense from their defense. You can see the "Geno" influence in their aggressive defensive play. They will run off misses and off turnovers.

But Atkinson is going to dominate the ball and usually UConn does a great job taking away the best option for the opponent. Temple will need other players to step up. They are a young team, starting 2 seniors and 3 freshmen. This doesn't bode well for the Owls.   

 I guess the question for UConn is who is going to play, and how will they play. I'm guessing that Samuelson will not play in this game but Dangerfield and Williams will play with Gabby getting limited minutes. That means that, in spite of Geno's threat to bench Stevens, Azura will be in the starting lineup. A lot of what happens will be determined in practice. Did they straighten out some of the issues? Will the bench see expanded time again?

I doubt Geno will put 5 bench players in at once in the second quarter again. I'm hoping he integrates them with starters and does some normal rotating of the players. But he was pretty upset after the Tulsa game so how he approaches this outing is unknown. And that is unusual.

What he won't do is compromise about how they should play. He will run the same offense with hard cuts and lots of movement, the same defense with lots of pressure and help defense. Hopefully the players do a better job of doing everything they are taught in practice. 

Final Prediction


I just have a feeling that there will be some residual issues from the last game that will keep UConn from playing their best in this one. The injuries and their mental approach could impact the score on both ends of the court.

Temple is hurting, but I think they play tough in this game. A poor shooting team, like Tulsa, they hit shot they normally don't make.

Tough game, but UConn takes this one by 20+

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