Doggydaddy's Den: Doggy's Doghouse 2/5/18

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Days until Florida!!!!

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Great time at the game with my lovely wife!!!!

Let's start with the crowd! I'm so happy with how UConn nation has turned out to watch this team. There were 12,000+ loud UConn fans in attendance bringing their average up to 10,190 for the season. I believe this is the first time over 10K in 5 years? Not sure...I'll check. It was some kind of white-out game and they handed out white towels to twirl. We must have missed it, as we never got a towel!! Sad.

Games always look different in person. I'll try to watch my recording before I write the Post Game report.

UConn was once again off their game early on. They weren't aggressive and because of that Cincinnati was able to get open shots and they hit them. UConn was down 11-9 when they reviewed a Kia Nurse shot and made it a three pointer. At that point the switch went off. UConn got real aggressive on defense and before you knew it the Huskies were on a 21-0 run to take a 30-11 lead. Crazy.

I'll have more in the post game report but there were some things that stood out that I want to touch on.

First for Cincinnati. No. 21 Shanice Johnson is one tough player. Yeah she overreacted after blocking Molly Bents layup attempt (really, Molly?) but she was 3-5 on threes, played really tough with the ball and scored 17 points. No. 12 Antoinette Miller was on fire from the outside. She was 5-8 on threes. And a pest on defense with 4 steals. She ended up with 20 points.

Lastly for the Bearcats, I want to say something about Coach Jamelle Elliott. I love her. She was a real hero for UConn's first Championship team. And she brings that competitive edge to her players. But in this game, I was a little disappointed in her behavior. She was constantly on the court in the first half. Not only on the court but there was one play where Samuelson was shooting a three point shot. From my angle it looked like she was right behind Katie Lou and one the court...and Elliott screamed at her trying to distract her from shooting. Very unsportsman-like for Jamelle. Not Cool.

All five starters scored in double digits, but the numbers that stood out to me was 5-5-5. That was the box score line of Kyla Irwin. She had 5 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists. When she was on the court with 4 starters, she looked like she belonged. She just knows how to play UConn basketball.

In her starting effort, Azura Stevens had a double-double of 20 points and 10 rebounds. I guess maybe some fans aren't disappointed in her anymore? Sigh.

A shout out to UConn Danny and Phil. It's always great to see them at games. No one sees more UConn games than these two guys no matter where the Huskies are playing.

I'm glad I was able to see the game in person. Can't wait to see it in replay.

Ok.....watched it again on replay and as promised, here is my Post Game Report.

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Image result for top 25

Plenty of Top 25 Games. I mentioned a few yesterday.

The first one that caught my eye was the No. 4 Louisville team playing at Syracuse. For one thing, UConn is playing Louisville on ESPN Monday the 12th. Louisville is a talented team but had that terrible 50-49 loss to Florida State a week ago. And Syracuse can be tough at home where they beat Florida State and gave Mississippi State a tough time. I smell an upset here.

Well, I smelled wrong...lol. The Orange gave it a good go for a little while and came back late but Louisville was able to hang on for an 84-77 win. Asia Durr was good as usual with 27 points and Hines-Allen had 19 points and 11 rebounds. Those two will be a challenge for UConn.

No. 5 Notre Dame is dominating again since that devastating loss to Louisville beating two ranked teams in the process. They roll into Durham to play the No. 19 Duke Blue Devils. Since their six point loss to Louisville, Duke has won seven of eight games only losing to rival North Carolina. Lexie Brown is a heck of a player for Duke, but she can't get them past the Irish. Probably a 10+ win for Notre Dame.

This one I got right. Notre Dame pulled away late for a 72-54 win over Duke. It was under 10 points for much of the game when Duke's offense deserted them in the fourth quarter. They only scored 8 points while Notre Dame put up 18 points. Notre Dame only played 6 players and Mabrey, Ogunbowale, and Young played 40 minutes. They can't keep up this pace....can they???

No. 12 Tennessee heads into that weird elevated court in Vanderbilt. The Commodores are terrible this year and even though they always give Tennessee a tough time at home, I don't think this will be a pretty game. Tennessee will try to build off of their nice win against Texas A&M. I just have a feeling that the Lady Vols do that bullying thing and run Vanderbilt into the ground. Holly will probably have them press and run the entire game.

You have to understand how bad a team Vanderbilt is. After this loss they are now 6-18. They lost to Middle Tennessee, Central Michigan, Ball State, Memphis, and by 37 to Belmont. But in this game the supposed No. 12 team in the country, Tennessee w78-as only able to pull away late for a ten point win 74-64. It took Jamie Nared going 15-17 from the foul line to pull this one out. The incredible 4 player freshman class for the Lady Vols scored 15 points and went 5-21 from the field and 2-6 on threes, 11 assists and 10 turnovers. Hey....a win is a win....I guess.

No. 6 Oregon is playing No. 24 Stanford. Both are coming off nice wins on Friday night. Stanford has had a crazy season. They are in the top 25 with eight losses. They slide in and out of the top 25 like a trombone. But they are like a vampire and I think Oregon at home drives that stake into their heart. Another triple double coming up for Ionescu?

Well, no stake for No. 24 Stanford this weekend as they beat both Oregon teams including a terrific 78-65 win at No. 6 Oregon. Ionescu for Oregon almost did have that triple double with 22 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists. Stanford was led by Britainny McPhee, who is having a terrific season once she got healthy.

In other games, No. 10 Florida State was able to squeak by Pittsburgh 66-59 in a game that the Panthers had the lead going into the fourth quarter. And unranked Rutgers beat No. 13 Michigan 63-56 dealing the Wolverines their second consecutive loss.

Looks like another tough time for the Pollsters.

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By David in Naples!!!!!

Lots of a Fun Numbers in today’s victory over Cincinnati. Start w/ 106, the total points scored by the Huskies. UConn poured in 32 and 34 points in the 1st and 3rd periods & 20 in both the 2nd & 4th. Other highlights included:

1. Napheesa leading the scoring w/ 25 on just 14 shots & 5 free throws.
2. Gabby and Lou with 7 assists each.
3. Kyla Irwin w/ 18 great minutes, 5 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists.
4. Three Huskies with 20 or more points. Joining Pheesa (25) were Kia (23) and Z (20).
5. UConn with 32 assists on 39 baskets.
6. Gabby and Z with double-doubles.
7. Defense creating 19 turnovers & stealing 10 balls.
8. Kia & Katie Lou with 4 threes each. Pheesa adding 2.

Great win & Crystal got some rest. Next up is UCF on Wednesday.

Go Huskies..!!

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