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Happy "First Date" Anniversary to my wonderful wife. It's been 48 years since we first met after being fixed up by mutual friends. For me it was love at first sight and it's been 48 wonderful years. Through good and bad, you have always been there for me!! I'm such a lucky guy!! You are as beautiful as ever.
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UCONN vs UCF
UCONN vs UCF
Day: Thursday
Date: January 16th, 2018
Orlando, Fla.
Time: 6:00 PM
TV: SNY/ESPN3
I guess the big question Husky fans have is which UConn team will we see against Central Florida? It's been a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde season so far, and it's not only game to game but sometimes it's within the game itself.
Playing a team like UCF on the road just two days after such a weak performance against Memphis is a real handful for a team as inconsistent as UConn this season. UCF will bring a bunch of pain to the Huskies if they don't have their act together both physically and mentally.
UCF is 9-5 on the season with big wins over....uh.....no one. Their best game is a loss to at the time No. 11 UCLA 61-56. The Knights are a tough out, especially at home. They gave UConn tough games last season, playing them three times, the last in the AAC championship game. Yes, the scores were ugly, 93-57, 78-41 and 66-45, but they were pretty much hand-to-hand combat. UCF is a real physical team and I'm sure Geno hates playing them. I'm also sure that the Knights feel this is their good shot to beat UConn based on the Memphis game and just the season the Huskies are having in general.
Central Florida is a low scoring team (64 ppg) that holds their opponents to even lower scoring (58 ppg).
So what do they do well?
Well, they shoot a decent 34% on threes as a team. There are only three players that shoot threes for the team. Kay Kay Wright, Sianni Martin and Georgia Gayle take 171 of the 185 threes on the season. They shoot 26%, 44% and 39% respectively. The Huskies will have to guard the three pointer better than they have in the past few games. It's become a problem for UConn. Oddly. UCF holds teams to low scoring games, but they allow them to shoot 40% on threes. So this could be a low scoring shootout.
Their other strength is their tough defense. As I mentioned they only give up 58 PPG, and part of that is that they have 143 steals.
They are a terrific free throw shooting team at 76%. And they get to the line on average around 16 times per game. That's a decent clip.
That's about it for the positives. How about the negatives?
They only shoot 41.4 percent overall. They average 11 assists per game and 17 turnovers per game. Not good. They are a poor rebounding team. They only average 34 per game. However the do have a +2 rebounding margin.
Senior Kay Kay Wright, the 5'7" senior guard leads the Knights in scoring at 14.9 ppg and also leads in assists with 53 in 14 games. She shoots a terrific 81% from the line. UConn will have to slow her down.
The only other double digit scorer is 6'3" forward, sophomore Brittney Smith, at 10.4 ppg. She is also second on the team in rebounding.
Masseny Kaba, a 6'3" junior forward, is the leading rebounder at 6.3 per game.
UCF reminds me of the Memphis team that just game UConn such a hard time only better. The Huskies will have to kick their game up a notch in this one to come out of this with a comfortable win. I don't see UCF winning, but it should be a physical game boarding on chippy. It's how UCF rolls.
UConn will win this one by 20+ points. The talent gap is just too great for UCF to keep it closer than that.
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Only two games Wednesday night. No. 2 Baylor put a hurting on Kansas winning 90-47. No surprise there. However, there was an upset on the other game, also in the Big 12.
No. 19 West Virginia lost at home to unranked and former UConn opponent 73-49 behind Taylor Robeterson's career high 31 points. She was 8-18 on threes. I don't know which is more amazing. That stat or the fact that West Virginia only scored 49 points at home against a team not known for it's defense. In fact.....get ready....it's time for another UGGY AWARD!!!
West Virginia was just terrible in this game. Let's take a closer look.
They were only 14-59 from the field for 23.7%. They only shot 1-13 on threes. And they had 18 turnovers. All this led to them only scoring 49 points. Congrats to the Mountaineers for earning a well deserved....
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Three of UConn’s 2020 signees — Paige Bueckers, Mir McLean, and Piath Gabriel — were nominated to participate in the 2020 McDonald’s All-American Game. Final rosters will be announced later this month, and the game will take place on April 1 in Houston.
McLean and Bueckers also made the midseason list of 25 candidates for the Naismith Girls’ High School Player of the Year. The winner will be announced in March.
The future is to bright for the Huskies!!!
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By David in Naples!!!!
As UConn takes a day off between games against Memphis and UCF, let's review some weird stats from recent games, including the Baylor loss.
1. Kyla went 5-5 against SMU, including 4-4 from three point range. Since then, she is 0-7, including 0-4 from three.
2. Crystal had taken 16 free throws in the Huskies first 14 games. Last night against Memphis she went 6-6- from the charity stripe.
3. Megan Walker has 46 turnovers in UConn's first 15 games. She had 6 against Memphis.
4. Olivia has missed 18 free throws and made 23.
5. In the last 3 games, UConn has shot 29%, 54% and 46% from the field. Not exactly consistent.
6. Aubrey is 5-16 or 31% shooting in her last 5 games.
7. Christyn is 5-21 from three range in her last 5 games. That is 24%. Inside the arc, she is an amazing 32-48 or 67%.
Go Huskies..!!
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UCONN LINKS
Geno wants more production from more players
UConn athletic department lost $42 million in 2019
A step back for Nelson-Ododa
Rankings and RPI Sites
UConn Territory - The best UConn women's message board ever!!!
College Fans Only - WCBB board where no holds are barred
Vol Nation - Tennessee women's basketball board
CockyTalk - The upstart South Carolina women's basketball board
CockyTalk - The upstart South Carolina women's basketball board
ND Nation - Notre Dame women's basketball board
Rebkell - WCBB for everyone that thinks they are smarter than everyone else
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