Doggydaddy's Den: Doggy's Doghouse 2/3/20

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Sometimes the other team not only plays better, it's just clear that the other team is the better team. And in this 74-56 win by Oregon, the Ducks were the better team. Even though UConn played them close to even in the last three quarters, the game was never in doubt. There were no UConn runs to be found.

It certainly hurts when your best player has such a poor shooting night. It's a killer. I think that at this point in Megan Walker's career, she is a very good player, but not a great player. Great players don't have games like this in a big spot like this. They just don't. It doesn't mean she can't become great. But right now, it's just not there.

And maybe Walker is not the best player? Dangerfield was great in this game. I believe she has that title now.

There was more disappointment with the play of Christyn Williams. I have no clue why she is playing so poorly. She is just not playing up to her skill level. A slump or just who she is this season? There is more time to find that out. ** On edit I just read that she has been recovering from the flu. I'll give her a pass here.

I'm going to give a special shout out to Anna Makurat. She is one hell of a freshman. She never looked intimidated against a great team like Oregon. She wasn't afraid to shoot and she filled up the box score again. My favorite stat for her was zero turnovers.

Oregon is one hell of a team. They are not deep, as the play by their two bench players showed, but in Ruthy Hebard, Sabu Sabally, Erin Boley and Minyon Moore to go along with all-world Sabrina Ionescu, they have the best starting five in the country. And in this game, the entire starting five contributed.

Hebard is the kind of post presence that a championship team need to win it all. I was so impressed with her in this game.

I could go on and on about Oregon. They deserve all the platitudes I can come up with. But I won't. I mean, I'm still a UConn fan and this is mostly a UConn blog!!

The Huskies will hopefully learn a few things from this game. Try to find some positives to build on. And get ready for the next opponent.

A loss is a loss. There are no moral victories here.

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Up next is Memphis, a 68-56 loser to UConn in their first matchup back in January 14th. They play on Friday in another home game before playing their last OOC game against No. 1 South Carolina.

The game against the Gamecocks is the last chance UConn has to make a statement that they can still be a force to be reckoned with in the NCAA tournament. After this bad outing against Oregon, it's hard to be confident in that game.

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By David in Naples!!!!

Random thoughts on tonight’s loss to Oregon.
1. Sabrina Ionescu was not the best player tonight, Ruthy Hebard was. By far.
2. Megan sucked shooting the ball (3-16) and needs to pass to Anna.
3. Dangerfield kept this game from being a 30 point loss.
4. Oregon’s bench scored 0 points.
5. Everyone thinking Aubrey should start is wrong. 1-5 shooting and 3 turnovers.
6. Anna should play 35 minutes every game. 13 pts, 4 assists.
7. Christyn had 0 assists and only 5 pts on 9 shots.
8. UConn shot 2-7 from the free throw line. Plain lousy.

Burn the game tape, nothing good and little to learn. 🤮

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