Doggy's UConn/Oklahoma Post Game Report

What a great game for out UConn Huskies. Never be it beyond me to steal directly from someone else's work. From the Courant - 

• The Huskies shot 67.4 percent after halftime, including 80 percent (16-for-20) in the fourth quarter.
• They scored 63 points in the second half, easily the most they’d tallied in any half this season. That total alone was 10 more than Oklahoma scored for the game.
• They scored more points in the fourth quarter (35) than they had in the entire first half (34) and as many as Oklahoma had over the first three quarters combined.
• They converted 29 second-half field goals, more than all but 15 Division I teams average per game.
• They had 17 second-half assists, more than all but 23 Division I teams average per whole game.
• They outrebounded Oklahoma 26-11, with nine offensive boards.
• Center Olivia Nelson-Ododa’s second-half stat line — 21 points, eight rebounds, four blocks, three assists — would have been something close to a career day even if not for her solid first half.

Amazing stats and it just shows how much UConn dominated the second half.  

Some folks are saying UConn doesn't deserve the No. 1 ranking. I say BULL.

UConn is ranked NO. 1 in all the sites that use calculations to determine the team rankings.

RealtimeRPI has UConn No. 1 with the No. 3 SOS and it's not even close.

Massey has UConn No. 1 with the No. 2 SOS.

Sagarin has UConn No. 1 with the No. 23 SOS.   

Enjoy the videos, intervews and my player evaluations.  

   

Here is the full game replay

Game Highlights (UConn Perspective)

Game Highlights (Oklahoma Perspective)

**So, I have to add a comment here. The Oklahoma highlight video was 4+ minutes of Oklahoma outscoring UConn 40-30. Hey, it's not reality, but whatever...lol.

   

Game Stats and Box Score

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Post Game Interviews

 Chris Dailey

Crystal Dangerfield

Megan Walker

Olivia Nelson-Ododa


Oklahoma Coach
Sherri Coale

Game Quotes from 
Chris Dailey

“We played as close to a good 40 minutes as we have all year. Having played DePaul the game before this helped us in terms of getting out on 3-point shooters.”

“We aren’t really worried if we’re number one now, what we want to do is give ourselves the chance to be in the best position in March,”

“It was good because they got a chance to see him [Auriemma] on FaceTime. Of course he had to make a few comments about things that went on, and he wished everyone Happy Holidays and a Merry Christmas. He was really proud of everyone,”

“Sometimes when it doesn’t work, [coaches] are so quick to move on and try something else instead of sticking with what should work. I thought the difference was, in the second half, we stuck with some things and we executed.”

“I think Kathy [Auriemma’s wife] said he was starting to be annoying, so he’s almost back to normal, or wise guy, something on those lines,” 

Game Quotes from

Oklahoma Coach Sherri Coale 

“I have the best shooter in the country. She’s terrific, I love her confidence. I have not yet seen a stage that’s too big for her to handle.”

“Connecticut played really well and we didn’t. Stage is too big for our young team. We didn’t handle the stage well at all. We did things uncharacteristic for our basketball team."

”Nelson/-Ododa is really tall. Really good. We didn’t have an answer for her."

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UConn Player Evaluations


Olivia Nelson-Ododa
STAR OF THE GAME

Wow...what more can be said about this rising star. I'm as optimistic as anyone when it comes to UConn, but even I'm blown away by the upgrade in Olivia's game. I bet even she and Geno are surprised. This was a no doubt career game for her. In 36 minutes, she had highs in points with 27, rebounds with 15, tied in blocks with 7 and while not a career high, she managed to add 3 assists. A few things stood out to me. She never, I mean never looked tired out there and she played all those minutes. More UConn conditioning. Just read the quote below from Olivia. They have been wearing out the opponents. She has also become really really efficient in her game. She gets post position, teammates find her, and she use one of several post moves to score. Rinse and repeat. After shooting 13-18  from the field, she is at 53% now on the season. And as bad as she has looked shooting the three, she will become a 30% long range shooter. It just might not be until next season.    


“I think we just took advantage of the fact that we noticed people were definitely fatigued on defense. So kind of cutting more, looking for the open person, setting those screens to get people open really helped.”

Megan Walker

You know someone is having a great season when they score 17 points, grab 15 rebounds, hand out 5 assists and block two shots and it's a down game. Well, maybe I exaggerate. Megan played 37 minutes and maybe she missed a few shots she had been making, but her presence was felt bigtime on the court. This picture shows the work she has done to get into the best shape of her life.

“We killed it today. Liv [Nelson-Ododa] did a great job of blocking shots, scoring in the lane and being efficient. She did great today.”

“Coach on FaceBook was making fun of us, basically. He was like ‘I almost fell out of my chair when I saw so and so do such and such,’ like me flying in for offensive rebounding. ‘Liv’s not going Hollywood after her big game.’ Just stuff like that. He was happy to see us go out there and have a big game.”

Crystal Dangerfield

Crystal looks to be over her ailments, or at least they are not impacting her play in any way. She is moving freely and in this game. She was up and down the court so quickly, Oklahoma appeared to not even see her. This might have been her best game this season. In her 36 minutes she had 19 points on 8-14 shooting, 3-7 on threes. She added 6 assists and only one turnover. In a weird stat, she didn't have one rebound. But Nelson-Ododa and Walker grabbed most of them. I remember thinking on one play, Dangerfield slipped past her defender and drove to the basket from the left side unimpeded for the layup and then sprinted back on defense like she was fresh as a daisy. More amazing conditioning.

“We’re doing well. As long as we can stay focused on the details each game, we will be in great shape,”

“Sometimes you have it; sometimes you don’t. In the second half, we were able to do it.”

“We were just moving the ball quickly. We were moving the ball well in the first half, but we were having balls slide through our hands, go out of bounds, sail out of bounds. But we were sharper with our passes, and we were finding the open person.”

"Olivia was a big force down there. She’s a big target, and she can stay physical and stay aggressive and calling for the ball, wanting the ball. She’s going to be able to do that night in and night out.”

Christyn Williams

Williams was once again in her mini-funk, and the stats show she is not breaking out of it yet. In 35 minutes she had 11 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 turnovers. Mediocre at best for such a talented player. Listening to her interviews lately, it appears it's in her head. That's ok because I expect her to break out big time sometime soon. She is still working hard, but her shot selection is a little off and it is affecting her confidence. She was 5-12 from the field and 1-4 on threes. Get ready for that to change after the break.     

Kyla Irwin

Kyla's shooting percentage went down after this game after shooting 1-2 from the field and on threes...lol. She just takes a couple a shots, makes most of them, grabs 4-5 rebounds and fills a role for this team. She did it again in this game scoring 3 points, grabbing 6 rebounds in 19 minutes.    

Anna Makurat   

Anna is still figuring this out. Surprisingly, her defense has turned into an asset. In 19 minutes she had 1 block and a steal and was solid on the boards with 5 rebounds. She his a sweet three point shot. But with the big four doing all the heavy lifting, Makurat is deferring to them as much as a player can defer. She is not taking open shots. That's ok for now, but Geno will be working on her to take those shots in the future.   

Aubrey Griffin

Once she gets it enough to get the confidence of the coaches, she will see 20-25 minutes during the conference season. She is an amazing athlete. I believe the announcer watched her dunk in practice. You can see her "ups" during the game. What I loved in this game was her incredible first step to the hoop on drives. It's quick and long and basically unstoppable without fouling her. She did that 2-3 times, and the baseline drive for a reverse layup was something that I've only seen from players like Maya Moore and Gabby Williams, maybe the two best athletes to wear a UConn uniform. When the discussion is about UConn 's future, she is a huge part of it. Oh year, in only 13 minutes, she was 7-9 from the field for 14 points, grabbed 5 rebounds and even handed out a couple of assists and had 3 steals.   

Molly Bent

I'm about to get on the "free Molly" train. I don't know why she only played 4 minutes. I rarely complain about the minutes, but there was time on the court for her to fill instead of 4 players with 35+ minutes each. In her 4 minutes, she hit a 3 pointer, and handed out 3 assists. Now that is production. Her 40 minutes stats were off the charts. Come on Geno and Chris. Release the Molly!!!  

 Final Thoughts

I don't usually watch games more than once. But in this case, I watched this one twice already and haven't deleted it. I know it was only Oklahoma, not the best team in the country, but they are not a bad team, not even close to one. UConn just dismantled them and made them look like a Div II team at times. That is more a reflection on how good this UConn team is getting. They have come a long way since the first game of the season where they struggled with Californina at home before winning 72-61. They only got 2 points from the bench in that game in 48 minutes. That has been a big difference and just the improved team play. They are finding each other and it is making a big difference.

Time for a well deserved break for the holidays before they take on Wichita State at home on January 2nd. Then it's SMU on the road on 1/5 before the next real test, No. 6 Baylor in Hartford on 1/9.

Happy Holidays!!!