Doggydaddy's Den: Doggy's Doghouse 1/23/20

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UCONN 60 TENNESSEE 45

Can I breath now? Whew, what a tense game. At least for me!!! I was planning on watching the game later as I get so crazy during the live game, but my good friend Jeff, who lives in the same area that we are staying in Florida, invited us over for the game and some Cannolis and coffee. It was worth it!!

After a really slow start and some really bad shooting UConn figured out that if they couldn't shoot they would have to defend, and boy did they defend.

The Huskies were down in the second quarter 26-18 They outscore Tennessee the rest of the quarter 10-5 to go into halftime only down 31-28. As bad as they were shooting, they were still in this game.

The second half was more of the same in regards to the UConn offense, but thanks to some really sloppy play by Tennesee and some incredible defense by the Huskies, UConn was able to pull away for the 15 point win. They ended up outscoring Tennessee 42-19 after being down 26-18. I can only imagine the final score if UConn shot just a little bit better, let alone their season averages.

Let me give kudos to a few players.

Thank you Crystal Dangerfield for your great start in this game, keeping the Huskies in the game when no one else could make a basket.

Same goes for Olivia Nelson-Ododa, who would have been really hearing it from the fans after her scorless first half, but more than made up for it with a 10 point second half. She had some big free throws and baskets.

Let's hear it for the freshman duo, Anna Makurat and the player of the game in my mind, Aubrey Griffin. Between them they had 18 points, 15 rebounds, 7 assists and 8 steals. And they only had 2 turnovers between them.

I was really proud of the team tonight. They didn't let that early Tennessee lead and the fact that they couldn't make shots get to them. They made a nice comeback in the first half and then roared in the second half. As my friend Jeff noted, UConn got to almost every loose ball. It was great to see such hustle.

I'd be remiss if I didn't give Tennessee credit for some really tough play in this game. Their defense did cause some of UConn's offensive problem although the Huskies missed plenty of open shots. However, as much as I would like to compliment them, I just look at that turnover number and shake my head. Twenty-seven turnovers? That is just god awful. I'm sure the Tennessee fans are latching on to any positive that they can find. Bottom line UConn won by 15. It should have been more.

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So, I wandered over to Volnation.com, the Tennessee message board to see how they were dealing with this loss.

I was surprised to see that they consider this a moral victory. I mean, they did win the first half.

Sigh.....

As I mentioned in my quick game review, after getting out to a 26-18 lead, Tennessee was outscored 42-19 to close out the game. That's 18 points in 24 minutes. That's a moral victory?

They had 27 turnovers. The Tennessee fans have said several time that if they had cut those in half they would have won. Yes, and my my Aunt had balls she would be my Uncle.

They are reveling in the fact that they are only the second team this season to lead UConn at the half. Uh....games are two halves.

Lady Vol fans, you lost. You lost big. Yes, 15 points is big. You should count your blessings that UConn had a poor shooting performance. You could have lost by 30.

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Up next for UConn is AAC conference mate East Carolina, the worst team in a bad conference. The Lady Pirates are 3-15 on the season and 0-6 in the AAC. I probably won't have time for a Pregame Report. I'm not sure it makes sense to even have one. But I can give you a prediction.

UConn by 50+.

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Congrats to Paige Bueckers and Mir McLean, two incoming 2020 players for UConn, for making the McDonald's All-American roster. It's great to see these two get this honor. Can't wait to watch the game!!

Amazingly, all five Oregon 2020 players made the team. I'm not sure that has ever happened before.

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By David in Naples!!!!

If you heard UConn played a game against Tennessee and only scored 60 points, shot 31% from the field, only had 12 assists and missed 50 shots, would you guess they won or lost? Well, they won, and by 15 points. What went right when so much seemed to go wrong..?

For starters, the Huskies forced 27 turnovers and took 18 more shots than the Lady Vols. They out rebounded by 47-45 with 17 offensive boards. UConn also had 17 steals. Most of all, Geno took a big risk and started two freshman in the 2nd half. Anna and Aubrey (A2) scored 18 points, grabbed 15 boards and had 8 steals. Tennessee didn’t know what hit them and were held to 14 second half points.

Go Huskies..!!