UCONN vs Duke
Day: Saturday
Date: March 24th, 2018
Time: 1:30
Location: Times Union Center
Albany New York
TV: ESPN
Albany New York
TV: ESPN
1 Seed UConn Huskies 5 Seed Duke Blue Devils
34-0 24-8
Prior Meetings
UConn leads the series 11-3
H: 3-1; A: 5-0; N: 3-2
1/11/80 W 81-69 A
12/9/88 L 69-83 N
11/13/98 W 104-74 N
2/1/03 W 77-65 A
1/3/04 L 67-68 H
3/28/06 L 61-63 (ot) N
11/25/07 W 74-48 N
1/18/10 W 81-48 A
1/31/11 W 87-51 H
3/29/11 W 75-40 N
1/30/12 W 61-45 A
1/21/13 W 79-49 H
12/17/13 W 83-61 A
12/29/14 W 83-52 H
1/21/13 W 79-49 H
12/17/13 W 83-61 A
12/29/14 W 83-52 H
Team Overviews
Duke
(leader is bolded)
Duke
The Blue Devils have had a very up and down season. Their best wins were against Oregon State
64-55, Ohio State 69-60, Florida State 79-66 and in the NCAA against Georgia 66-40. They did have some pretty bad losses, North Carolina in OT 92-88, South Carolina 72-52, and Notre Dame 72-54. Only the UNC loss is to a bad team but it was a rivalry game. Losing to SC and ND are not bad things, but the margins are. They also had only the one ND loss at home. They were excellent at home only losing 2 games but not so great on the road and neutral courts going 7-6.
Duke won their first two games in the NCAA tournament, a 72-58 win over Belmont and a 66-40 win over Georgia. This is the 24th NCAA tournament appearance for the Blue Devils and they have made the Sweet Sixteen 17 times. Duke has certainly been a successful program over the years.
UConn
UConn had a great regular season and now has added to excellent wins in the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament. In their first game they set all sorts of records in hammering St. Francis 140-52. That game was a total track meet and then they had to play Quinnipiac in a very different style game. The Huskies prevailed in that one 71-46 playing a very efficient game in order to move on to Albany.
Team Stats(leader is bolded)
UCONN Duke
89.8 Points Per Game 69.1
51.7 Opp Points Per Game 55.8
.535 Field Goal % .459
.326 Opp Field Goal % .351
.396 3 Point Field Goal % .387
.269 Opp 3 Point Field Goal % .295
.775 Free Throw % .690
42.2 Rebounds Per Game 38.2
31.3 Opp Rebounds Per Game 33.0
22.9 Assists Per Game 14.9
12.3 Turnovers Per Game 15.4
1.9 Assists/Turnover Ratio 1.0
1.9 Assists/Turnover Ratio 1.0
10.5 Steals Per Game 10.3
5.2 Blocks Per Game 4.8
UCONN
UConn Starters
Geno cuts down his rotation so I will match that in my player list below. Seven deep!
24 Napheesa Collier
6'1" Junior Forward
MPG -28.4, FG% .582, 3PT% .344, FT% .804, 15.9 PPG, 7.4 RPG, 3.4 APG
15 Gabby Williams
5'11" Senior Forward
MPG - 26.1, FG% .603, 3PT% .000, FT% .716, 10.7 PPG, 7.4 RPG, 5.2 APG
11 Kia Nurse
6' Senior Guard
MPG - 32.4, FG% .529, 3PT% .451, FT% .810, 13.8 PPG, 3.5 RPG, 2.8 APG
5 Crystal Dangerfield
5'5" Sophomore Guard
MPG - 28.6, FG% .457, 3PT% .445, FT% .793, 9.3 PPG, 2.2 RPG, 4.0 APG
MPG - 28.6, FG% .536, 3PT% .469, FT% .838, 17.6 PPG, 4.6 RPG, 3.8 APG
UConn Bench
23 Azura Stevens
6'6" Junior Forward
MPG - 21.0, FG% .614, 3PT% .176, FT .807, 15.1 PPG, 7.4 RPG, 1.9 APG
3 Megan Walker
6'1" Freshman Guard/Forward
MPG - 15.8, FG% .446, 3PT% .382, FT% .755, 6.1 PPG, 3.3 RPG, .9 APG
*******************************************************************
Coach Joanne McCallie
The ACC Coach of the Year in 2010, 2012 and 2013, head coach Joanne P. McCallie enters her 11th season at the helm of the Blue Devils’ program.
In just 10 years, Coach P has guided the program to a 273-71 overall record, a 121-33 mark in ACC action and nine NCAA Tournament selections, including a No. 1 seed in 2009 and four straight Elite Eight appearances from 2010-13. She led Duke to four consecutive ACC regular season titles in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013 and three ACC Championships in 2010, 2011 and 2013.
In just 10 years, Coach P has guided the program to a 273-71 overall record, a 121-33 mark in ACC action and nine NCAA Tournament selections, including a No. 1 seed in 2009 and four straight Elite Eight appearances from 2010-13. She led Duke to four consecutive ACC regular season titles in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013 and three ACC Championships in 2010, 2011 and 2013.
Here is her full Bio
Duke Starters
4 Lexi Brown
5'9" RS Senior Guard
MPG 35.2, FG% .466, 3PT% .372, PPG 19.7, RPG 4.5 APG 4.4
6'1" RS Senior Guard
MPG 32.0, FG% .449, 3PT% .425, PPG 14.2, RPG 6.5 APG 1.6
5 Leaonna Odom
6'2" Sophomore Forward
MPG 29.7, FG% .528, 3PT% .000, PPG 9.3, RPG 6.2 APG 1.6
6'4" Senior Forward/Center
MPG 29.2, FG% .485, 3PT% .000, PPG 8.7, RPG 5.8 APG 1.8
14 Faith Suggs
6'1" Junior Forward
Duke Bench
6' Freshman Guard
I can't believe UConn is playing Duke again. After Coach McCallie ran for the hills after the Huskies beat her Blue Devil team seven consecutive times including one in the NCAA tournament, I was hoping for the programs to meet again. I don't know, I just like watching UConn beat up on Duke. I know David does!!
This version of the Duke team is just an average team by their standards. They have one great player in Lexi Brown, in her second year at Duke after transferring from Maryland and one very good player in Rebecca Greenwell, who is in her 5th year with the Blue Devils, even though is feels like 10 years. The rest of the roster? Some good players but clearly if you slow down Brown and Greenwell, you can keep Duke from scoring many points.
Brown is one heck of a player and I wouldn't be surprised to see her in the top 5 in the WNBA draft. She is a good long range shooter hitting threes at a 37.2% clip. And she has the full offensive package, hitting pull up jumpers and driving to the basket with either hand. But it's her defense that makes her the player she is. She is averaging almost 4 steals per game and many of those turn into layups. She is really quick and will get into UConn's passing lanes.
Greenwell at 6'1" is a big guard. Before their other terrific guard Gorecki was injured, she played the small forward position. She is a terrific three point shooter art 43% and is strong on the offensive boards. But she is slow on the defensive end and with a player in her face, she will struggle to score.
Duke plays three forwards to complete the starting lineup. Leaonna Odom has had a terrific NCAA tournament with 25 points against Belmont and 16 points against Georgia. The 6'2" forward is decent around the basket but is not consistent from the outside. Erin Mathias is a 6'4 forward/center. She is solid in the paint and a terrific offensive rebounder. 6'1" Faith Suggs is the other starting forward. She is getting more minutes since the Gorecki injury but doesn't bring much to the offense. She can hit the occasional three pointer, but only has averaged 10 mpg, so I'm not sure if she will contribute much to the Duke effort.
Off the bench is 6' freshman guard Jayda Adams, a former teammate of Katie Lou at her high school. She was also thrown into the fire more with the Gorecki injury and has struggled in the NCAA tournament. She will be a minutes eater just to rest the other players.
That's about it for who will see minutes.
For years Duke has played mostly a zone or match up zone, but I watched the Belmont game and I saw a man to man for most of the game. Then against Georgia they played zone for most of that game. It looks like it depends on the opponent. I would expect them to have to play zone against UConn. The Huskies would pick apart a zone. As mentioned, UConn will have to be careful with the ball around Brown. She is a ball hawk!
UConn will start the same starting five they have done all year when healthy. And thankfully everyone is good to go.
UConn will do what is always does on offense. They will move the ball around quickly until the best shot presents itself. I believe they will get the ball inside to Collier and then Stevens when she comes in. Duke does have a couple of good size players in Mathias and Odoms, but I don't believe they can handle UConn in the paint. And they can't afford any kind of foul trouble.
UConn's defense will be way to tough for Duke to penetrate. The Huskies are quicker than Duke at every position except maybe point guard. Duke has two three point shooters in Brown and Greenwell, and I would think that Nurse and Williams will totally neutralize Greenwell.
Final Prediction
UConn is just a much better team on both ends of the court. And McCallie is an overrated coach. I don't think she will have her team ready for what's coming her way. They are too slow and too one dimensional on offense.
I think this one could get away from the Blue Devils early and Brown and Greenwell's competitiveness will get the best of them and they will get away from any offensive game plan that McCallie will come up with.
UConn by 30+.
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