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Great win for UConn over Central Florida, taking a physical beating from the Knights but prevailing 78-41.
UCF would foul on almost every possession and the refs only called half of them. Maybe less than half. Katie Lou got fouled on two three point shots, with the UCF player basically smacking her in the face. She caught a deliberate elbow from another player. It was a frustrating game to watch and I can't imagine how Geno felt about it.
UConn at times looked really sloppy with 23 turnovers, well over their season average. I believe that the constant hacking gets players out of the game a little mentally and that causes turnovers.
But overall, I was happy with how the team kept their cool and just played through the roughness.
The best news for me was the continued improvement from Olivia Nelson-Ododa. Geno game her 21 minutes in this game and she had 9 points and 3 blocks. She looked so much better in this game.
Up next is Memphis on Wednesday. A quick home game for the Huskies before another mini road trip to Tulsa and Wichita State.
Up next is Memphis on Wednesday. A quick home game for the Huskies before another mini road trip to Tulsa and Wichita State.
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It was a crazy Sunday in the Top 25. Four upsets and three near upsets.
No. 20 Miami took down No. 2 Louisville 79-73 with a big second half. Down by 14 points at one point in the first half, the Hurricanes used a big second half to beat the Cardinals. 6'3" center Emese Hof had 25 points to lead Miami. Asia Durr led Louisville with 16 points but she was only 5-17 from the field. Charlie Crème said that this loss will not cost Louisville their No. 1 seed. But will another loss do that? They still have a tough North Carolina State team to play on 2/28 and the ACC tournament won't be easy.
No. 14 Iowa beat No. 7 Maryland 86-73 behind a 31 point effort by their big center Megan Gustafson. It was only the third loss on the season for the Terrapins but I think their rankings have been made by an easy schedule so far. I am always happy when Brenda loses.
No. 15 Texas had trouble with unranked Kansas State and lost for the second time this season to the Wildcats 69-60. Texas has only beaten one Top 25 teams in Iowa State losing to the other three top 25 teams they have played. Their ranking is a product of their east schedule. I believe they will have a quick exit from the NCAA tournament this season.
No. 24 Michigan State decided to say goodbye to the top 25 for good this season with two losses to unranked teams this week. They lost to unranked Nebraska Sunday 82-71. They were flying high after beating No. 3 Oregon, using that win to propel themselves into the Top 25. I guess that was a real fluke as MSU is now 6-7 in their last 13 games.
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The three near upsets were the most fun games of the day.
No. 10 Stanford shook off a terrible start to beat USC 69-67 on a basket with 3 seconds left in the game. The Cardinal were down 30-15 in the first half. Slowly but surely they got themselves back into the game before the game winning basket. Not a great game for Stanford but at this time of the season any win is a good win.
No. 17 Kentucky duplicated Stanford's ending with their own game winning basket with 1.3 seconds left in the game. This game was pretty close throughout but the Wildcats were able to prevail 61-59 over Arkansas.
In the craziest game of the day, No. 19 Arizona State was able to come back from a HUGE deficit to beat Utah 60-58. ASU scored the final 20 points of the game to overcome being down 58-40. Utah his a three pointer with 8 minutes left in the game to take that lead and then boom. Nothing. No points. No baskets. No foul shots. No nothing. They were 0-6 from the field with seven turnovers in the quarter. Wow. They deserve an UGGY award for just those 8 minutes.
In the craziest game of the day, No. 19 Arizona State was able to come back from a HUGE deficit to beat Utah 60-58. ASU scored the final 20 points of the game to overcome being down 58-40. Utah his a three pointer with 8 minutes left in the game to take that lead and then boom. Nothing. No points. No baskets. No foul shots. No nothing. They were 0-6 from the field with seven turnovers in the quarter. Wow. They deserve an UGGY award for just those 8 minutes.