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GO UCONN!!!!!
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So proud of my granddaughter Mya. She did a great job today at synagogue.
PARTY TONIGHT!!!
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No. 7 UCONN No. 6 UCLA
6-2 9-1
Sunday, December 19th
3:30 PM EST
Uncasville CT
Mohegan Sun Arena
TV: ESPN
Matchup History
LOUISVILLE | UCONN LEADS 17-2 H: 8-1 | A: 4-1 | N: 5-0
03/17/93 Louisville 74, UConn 71 Storrs, Conn.
01/31/06 #4 UConn 75, Louisville 68 Louisville, Ky.
02/13/07 #5 UConn 84, #20 Louisville 56 Storrs, Conn.
03/05/07 #2 UConn 76, #23 Louisville 50 Hartford, Conn.
01/12/08 #1 UConn 92, Louisville 71 Louisville, Ky.
03/11/08 #1 UConn 65, #23 Louisville 59 Hartford, Conn.
01/26/09 #1 UConn 93, #6 Louisville 65 Storrs, Conn.
03/10/09 #1 UConn 75, #5 Louisville 36 Hartford, Conn.
04/07/09 #1 UConn 76, #7 Louisville 54 St. Louis, Mo.
02/07/10 #1 UConn 84, Louisville 38 Louisville, Ky.
01/15/11 #2 UConn 78, Louisville 55 Hartford, Conn.
02/07/12 #3 UConn 56, #20 Louisville 46 Louisville, Ky.
01/15/13 #3 UConn 72, #15 Louisville 58 Hartford, Conn.
04/09/13 #3 UConn 93, #17 Louisville 60 New Orleans, La.
02/09/14 #1 UConn 81, #4 Louisville 64 Storrs, Conn.
03/03/14 #1 UConn 68, #3 Louisville 48 Louisville, Ky.
03/10/14 #1 UConn 72, #3 Louisville 52 Uncasville, Conn.
02/12/18 #1 UConn 69, #4 Louisville 58 Storrs, Conn.
01/31/19 #3 Louisville 78, #2 UConn 69 Louisville, Ky.
03/31/19 #2 UConn 80, #5 Louisville 72 Albany, N.Y.
I'm going to use their game against Kentucky to determine what players we will likely see in the UConn game.
No. 14 Kianna Smith Redshirt Senior 6' Guard
MPG 25.7, PPG 12.3, RPG 3.2, APG 2.0
No. 10 Haily Van Lith Sophomore 5'7" Guard
MPG 27.7, PPG 10.8, RPG 3.5, APG 1.6
No. 21 Emily Engstler Senior 6'1 Forward
MPG 23.0, PPG 10.0, RPG 9.1, APG 1.3
No. 23 Chelsea Hall Graduate Student 5'7" Guard
MPG 22.7, PPG 6.8, RPG 3.6, APG 2.2
No. 44 Olivia Cochran Sophomore 6'3" Forward
MPG 22.1, PPG 6.3, RPG 5.0, APG 1.3
No. 22 Liz Dixon Senior 6'5" Forward
MPG 15.0, PPG 5.7, RPG 3.6, APG .8
No. 2 Ahlana Smith Senior 5'9" Guard
MPG 13.5, PPG 5.6, RPG 1.1, APG .7
No. 5 Mykasa Robinson Senior 5'7 Guard
MPG 20.7, PPG 4.3, RPG 2.8, APG 2.4
Louisville, a member of the Pac 12. Wait, they are in the ACC? Oh yeah, they only HAVE players from the Pac 12 as transfers. The Smith girls, Kianna (California) and Ahlana (UCLA) have really helped replace their superstar from last season Dana Evans. They also added three other transfers, Emily Engstler from Syracuse, Liz Dixon from Georgia Tech and Chelsea Hall from Vanderbilt. They all contribute in their own way and will do so in this game.
I don't expect Louisville to play more than 8 players in this game. And maybe 1 or 2 will see some seriously limited minutes. But you can count on Kianna Smith, Haley Van Lith, Chelsea Hall and Emily Engstler to see 30-35 minutes.
The Cardinals lost their first game of the season to Arizona 61-59 in overtime. Then they won their next 9 games, but really only against two good teams. They beat an overrated then No. 12 Michigan team 70-48 and against then No. 14 Kentucky 64-58. The other 7 games were against a lot of really bad teams. They held Bellamine to 25 points, UT Martin to 30 points, Cal Poly to 32 points and in their latest game they beat Eastern Kentucky 82-38. Yeah, that will inflate (or deflate) a teams defensive stats.
So while holding teams to a 46.2 points per game average seems impressive, well, not really. Same thing with their defensive FG defense and rebounding margins. While impressive,much of those numbers were from the games against those weak opponents.
Same thing with their offensive numbers. They average 70.3 PPG, but against the three good teams they faced, they average only 63 PPG.
Now, that's not to say they aren't a good team. They are. But No. 6 in the country? I don't think so.
So, what can we expect from this version of the Louisville team? I've only seen them once and that was in their win against Kentucky. And as you can tell from what I have written so far, I wasn't impressed.
California transfer, Kianna Smith has clearly been the best player on the team. She hit 5-7 three pointers in their last game so UConn will have to stay on her. She takes almost 5 a game and makes 48% of those.
Hailey Van Lith came ito Louisville with the reputation as a good three point shooter. And her freshman season she shot a very good 39%. But her shot has deserted her and this year she has not just been bad but if there was an UGGY for three point shooting so far, she would win it. She is 5-33 for 15%. Really. Now, of course. I just reverse jinxed her and she will be hot against UConn.
Emily Engstler is a transfer from Syracuse and is a really good overall player. She almost averages a double double and leads her team in steals. She doesn't take many threes but she is hitting them at 50%. She will impact this game in a big way for the Cardinals.
Chelsea Hall will get a ton of minutes in this game. Another transfer, she has been a solid player for Louisville. A good ball handler, she will also hit the occasional long range shot.
Olivia Cochran is the post player for this Cardinal team and from what I saw a weak link. Her defense is not bad but she has no outside game and her post moves are mediocre. In the Kentucky game she showed little composure when things didn't go her way. I would bet that either Nelson-Ododa or Juhasz will dominate their matchup.
They bench is will contribute some, all three players Dixon, Smith and Robinson won't see a ton of time unless the starters have foul trouble.
With the current line up, if UConn plays like they did against Georgia Tech and most of the first half against UCLA they will lose this game. But with a week of practice, I would expect them to play more like they did in the second half against UCLA. The Huskies have a distinct advantage against Louisville down low. And Westbrook and Williams are better at the guard spot as well. It's all about playing like a team for the Huskies. And I am hopeful that they will do just that.
Huskies by 5+
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GAMES
UPSETS IN RED
MOST SCORES HAVE CLICKABLE LINKS TO A GAME STORY
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Straight from the Dog
No. 3 Stanford defeated No. 7 Tennessee 74-63 at Thompson Boiling Arena. Stanford had a 17 point lead at the half, easily outplaying the Lady Vols for the first 20 minutes. Then over the first 5:31 of the third quarter, Tennessee scored the first 14 points to close to 46-43. Stanford had 8 turnovers and was 0-13 from the field over those ugly minutes. But Tennessee could not close the gap to closer than those 3 points.
Haley Jones was 3-18 from the field but still scored 18 points as she was 12-12 from the free throw line. Jones also had 19 rebounds. The battle of the centers, as I pointed to in yesterday's blog never came to fruition. But Key and Brink fouled out of the game with litle impact on the game. Horston had her typical game for Tennessee, shooting 5-19 from the field and 7-12 from the line. She also had 5 turnovers. But she did end up with 19 points and 12 rebounds. She gives away as much as she produces for Tennessee.
Tennessee was outrebounded for the first time this season and that was a big part of Stanford's success in this game. And their 21-24 from the foul line compared to Tennessee going 16-29 was also a huge difference between the two teams.
Well, on the plus side for Tennessee, they are no longer the worst offense for an undefeated team.
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Current UConn commits KK Arnold, Ayanna Patterson & Isuneh Brady! @Kamorea_2023 @ayannap34 pic.twitter.com/W9jBlWGyxo
— Courtside Films (@CourtsideFilms) December 17, 2021
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Undefeated watch
There are now seven undefeated teams in D1 basketball.
Cleveland State played today. Two minutes into the game, the score was tied and maybe Ohio Christian had visions of knocking a team from the ranks of the undefeated. Cleveland State went on a 9–0 run and it was never close. If there was any betting action, it was a nailbiter for anyone with money on the game. Cleveland State was picked to win by 54.5 and ended up winning by 53, so didn’t quite cover the spread.
Cleveland State is now 7-0. Their next game is at Hofstra where they are expected to win by 13.
Four teams will put their undefeated status on the line on Sunday.
Tulsa is 8–0, when most of their games comfortably except for a game against Florida Atlantic that they won by two points. They play South Alabama at noon on Sunday. South Alabama is ranked number 312 and Tulsa is expected to win by 16. It’s likely they will win one or two more, but they then have to take on Oklahoma State at Oklahoma State, and a win there would be a major upset. If they somehow managed to win that game, they have games at Memphis, Houston and South Florida all of which they are expected to lose.
Nebraska is 10–0, facing Drake at 1 PM on Sunday. Nebraska is expected to win by double digits, but Drake could give them a game. If they survive the night when a few more games but in January they play Michigan, Iowa, Indiana, and Iowa again and are more likely to go 0–4 than 4–0.
Arizona is also 10–0, but in their Sunday game, Massey has Texas a tiny favorite picking them to win by one. This is the only undefeated team expected to lose their next game.
North Carolina is 9–0, facing Boston College at Boston College but expected to win by double digits. If they prevail in that game, they are highly favored in the next three games, and may well be undefeated when they face NC State on 6 January.
South Carolina is 11–0. I don’t know how to look it up easily, but I won’t be surprised if this is the first time ever that both Carolinas are undefeated closing in on the Christmas break. South Carolina’s next game is Tuesday against Stanford. If they play the Stanford team that doubled up Tennessee in the second quarter, they could be seriously challenged, but if they get the Stanford team from the first third or fourth quarter, they are likely to win by double digits.
Colorado won’t play their next game until Monday, facing number 120 San Francisco with an expected margin of 13 points. They are very likely to extend their undefeated streak to 11 games, but then they play at Oregon State and Oregon, and they are likely to lose both.
Every one of the seven teams is expected to win by double digits in their next game except for Arizona, picked to lose by one, and South Carolina favored by only nine.
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By David in Naples
#3 Stanford beat #7 Tennessee tonight on UT’s home court. Game was not pretty.
Consider:
1. Teams missed 87 combined shots.
2. There were 32 turnovers.
3. Stanford shot less than 35% from the field.
4. Tenn missed 13 of 29 free throws… 55%
5. Brink for Stanford has 1 basket & 2 rebounds.
Tennessee is no longer undefeated and can be beaten again…
Go Huskies..!!
1. Teams missed 87 combined shots.
2. There were 32 turnovers.
3. Stanford shot less than 35% from the field.
4. Tenn missed 13 of 29 free throws… 55%
5. Brink for Stanford has 1 basket & 2 rebounds.
Tennessee is no longer undefeated and can be beaten again…
Go Huskies..!!
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UCONN RELEVANT LINKS
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