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Just got my 2nd Moderna Vaccine shot Tuesday Morning!!
And now 9 hours later my arm hurts and I am so tired.
Early blog. So glad there were no games for me to write about Tuesday night!
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Ok, not really a rivalry, but I really like the graphic. And St. John's has beaten the Huskies in recent memory, like the 2000's.
UConn beat the Johnnies 94-62 when the teams met February 3rd in a very good performance by the Huskies.
St. John's has only played 2 games since that loss to UConn. They were beat by 81-73 and then beat Butler in a game I should have had in my UGGY award piece, 47-35.
St. John's had several a few problems when they faced UConn last time. They are not a deep team and they just lost their second leading scorer Quaddashi Hoppie to a season ending shoulder injury. She only played 8 games but hit three pointers at 40%. They will miss her for sure.
Leading scorer Correa Leilani is a sophomore 6' guard. Tough for her to take all the scoring load. They also start Kadaja Bailey, a 6' junior guard, Unique Drake (great name!!), a 5'7" sophomore guard, Emma Nolan, a 6'1" sophomore forward, and Rayven Peeples, a 6'3" junior forward. Off the bench they bring in Raven Farley, a 6'4" senior.
The starting lineup was different in this game. Christyn Williams was on the bench with an ankle injury and Aubrey Griffin was moved to the bench. So two freshmen started instead, Nika Muhl and Aliyah Edwards. Muhl has started every game since then.
Once again UConn started a little slow. back to back threes by St. John's made it 13-12. But from that point on, UConn outscored the Johnnies 31-12 to finish the half up 44-24.
Paige Bueckers had 18 points in the half hitting 7-9 shots and 3-4 on threes. She also had 4 assists. Muhl added 4 assists and 3 steals. She was all over the court. And Edwards had a nice half as well with 8 points and 4 rebounds.
It was great to see three freshmen starting and playing so well.
UConn's defense let up a little but the offense was solid outscoring St. John's 29-23 to take a 73-47 lead after three quarters. This was the game where UConn had five freshmen on the court for UConn. FIVE. That is just so amazing to me. I don't think I've seen Geno trust freshmen like he trusts these kids.
Geno in his post game conversation said "4 freshman and a high school kid"...lol. And he couldn't say enough about Edwards and Muhl. He loves their toughness. I guess Muhl sprained her ankle the other day and Geno said "She taped it up a bunch and played anyway. She's a gutsy kid, a real gutsy kid".
Final stats? Well, Paige had 32 points on 13-20 shooting. She was a remarkable 5-6 on threes and had 7 assists. If there is a better player in the country I haven't seen her.
Edwards had 22 points and 9 rebounds.
Muhl earned more starts with this game. She was outstanding. Much more under control. She had 11 points, 6 assists and 4 steals. And she was 3-4 on threes.
Westbrook was (turn you head away) 1-9 from the field and 0-6 on threes. She clearly is better when no one is guarding her as she was 6-6 on free throws. So 8 points but she added 7 assists and 3 steals.
McLean had 7 points, 8 rebounds and 3 assists. A really solid game for the freshman.
UConn shot 53.8% from the field and 45% on threes. And they had 27 assists and only 11 turnovers. Much better.
I really can't see this game being much different than the last match up. I would bet that the scoring is more spread out but the final should be another 30+ point win for the Huskies.
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From the Courant - Auriemma said Monday that Anna Makurat, who has been out since the Georgetown game with a lower leg issue, is getting closer to returning.
“She’s trying to get her rehab done every day. She’s spending some time getting some shots up when she can. She’s been keeping her conditioning up and getting in a weight room a lot,” Auriemma said. “And just waiting on time. Hopefully, we’ll find out this week at some point how close we are [to getting her back].
It's not that optimistic. Not sure what closer means. But let me say this. If she comes back with enough time to put in some meaningful minutes, this is one hell of an 8 player rotation. She did slump for a while when she was clearly not up to par physically, but her first 4 games of the season she shot 48% from the field, 35% on threes, 8 PPG, 5RPG and 5 APG. There is no doubt that she would have been a big contributor to the team and is certainly missed.
Keep on rehabbing Anna!!!
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I was perusing the Tennessee fan message board and they were bragging on how popular their team still is and they posted this interesting spreadsheet. Look who is No. 1!!
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No Covid Related Cancellations.
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By David in Naples
Olivia Nelson-Ododa has officially moved into 9th place on Uconn's all-time shot blocking list. Liv, who has 183 blocks, passed Kelly Schumacher and now sets her sights on Maya Moore at 204 blocks. After that, 7th place is Napheesa Collier at 251 blocks. Stef Dolson is #6 at 254 blocked shots. The 5th place spot may be a stretch for Liv, a junior, because Tina Charles blocked 304 shots. Stewie's #1 spot is certainly safe. She blocked 414 shots & is the only Husky to reach 400+ blocks.
For the season, UConn has blocked 96 shots in 17 games. That works out to 5.6 blocks per game. Besides Olivia, Huskies with double digit blocks include Aaliyah at 16, Aubrey with 15 and Evina at 12. Apparently, we did not get the blocking Bueckers. She has only 4. Opponents have only blocked 36 of the Huskies' shots.
Go Huskies..!!
For the season, UConn has blocked 96 shots in 17 games. That works out to 5.6 blocks per game. Besides Olivia, Huskies with double digit blocks include Aaliyah at 16, Aubrey with 15 and Evina at 12. Apparently, we did not get the blocking Bueckers. She has only 4. Opponents have only blocked 36 of the Huskies' shots.
Go Huskies..!!
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No. 11 Michigan 86 Michigan State 82 - A nice interstate match up with the better team winning. Michigan's Naz Hillmon had her usual dominating performance with 20 points in the first half and 32 for the game. Matching her for Michigan State was Nia Clouder who actually outdid her with 34 points, bringing her team back from a 16 point deficit to close to 3 points at one point. Leigha Brown hit a big three pointer to push the lead back to 6 points and the Wolverines never got closer than the 4 point margin at the end of the game.
No. 21 Tennessee at Mississippi State - Postponed due to weather. Tennessee is stuck in Texas until the airport opens.
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