Doggydaddy's Den: Doggy's Doghouse 2/22/2022

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GO UCONN!!!!!

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No. 8 UConn Huskies VS Marquette Golden Eagles

19-5 (13-1) 18-8 (11-6)

Day: Wednesday

Date: February 23th, 2022

Time: 7:00

Location: XL Center

Hartford, Ct

TV: SNY

Prior Meetings

MARQUETTE | UCONN LEADS 11-0 H: 4-0 | A: 7-0 | N: 0-0

02/25/06 #8 UConn 74, Marquette 59 Storrs, Conn.

02/03/07 #3 UConn 52, Marquette 48 Milwaukee, Wis.

02/20/08 #1 UConn 95, Marquette 63 Hartford, Conn.

02/07/09 #1 UConn 83, Marquette 49 Milwaukee, Wis.

01/13/10 #1 UConn 68, Marquette 43 Milwaukee, Wis.

12/09/10 #1 UConn 79, Marquette 47 Storrs, Conn.

02/25/12 #4 UConn 85, Marquette 45 Milwaukee, Wis.

01/12/13 #3 UConn 85, Marquette 51 Milwaukee, Wis.

02/05/13 #3 UConn 94, Marquette 37 Storrs, Conn.

02/05/21 #3 UConn 87, Marquette 58 Milwaukee, Wis.

02/13/22 #8 UConn 72, Marquette 58 Milwaukee, Wis.

The Golden Eagles were having a good season and were right on the NCAA tournament bubble prior to the last UConn game. That was a big game for them, but they didn't need to pull off an upset for it to help. They were able to play well and kept it to a 14 point loss.

However, they then lost to DePaul 77-66 and that might have pushed them out of the last group in the NCAA tournament.

Here is a review of their players.

They did lose last years leading scorer Selena Lott and third leading scorer Cameron Taylor, but they return 3 starters and add a fabulous tranfer to the lineup.

Marquette's best big is No. 42 Lauren Van Kleunen. She is only 6'2" but is a wide shouldered young lady who knows how to use her body to carve out space in the post. She will take the intermediate jumper but of she gets the ball in the low post she knows how to finish. Her go to move is a little jump hook. Tough to stop. She leads the Golden Eagles in scoring at 14 PPG. However UConn handled her in the first game, holding her to 3-10 from the field and only 7 points.

5'7" guard, Purdue transfer Karissa McLaughlin is the second leading scorer at 12.7 PPG. She is the only, and I mean ONLY three point threat on the team. But she is a good one at 44.6% and she takes around 6 per game. UConn will have to watch her coming off screens to get open. She was only able to hit 2-9 against UConn in the first game and scored 10 points.

5"11" Senior Jordan King is the other guard in the starting lineup. She leads the team in assists And she is the only other double digit scorere on the team at 11.5. She had a nice game against the Huskies the first time out, scoring 14 points and handing out 5 assists.

Lisa Karlen, a 6'2" sophomore forward brings some rebounding to the team and leads Marquette in blocks at 23. She is averaging 8.9 PPG. She was really good against UConn in the first matchup. She led the team in scoring with 15 points and grabbed 9 rebounds.

The final starter is 6'1" junior Chloe Marotta. A solid shooter, she doesn't take many out of her range, which is right around the basket. She is a pretty good defender as well. And she is the leading rebounder on the team. UConn did a great job against her in the first game keeping her off the boards.

The bench give Marquette some solid minutes, but none of the four players that get minutes are going to come in and change the trajectory of the game. Like the first matchup, I would expect the starters to get more than their average minutes in this one and the bench to be a non-factor.

Marquette averages over 41 rebounds per game but it is split evenly between all 5 starters with no player over 7.1 RPG. They average only around 3 blocks per game so they will have a tough time stopping UConn at the rim.

Defensively, they Golden Eagles play exclusively a man to man. They did a good job in the first game, holding UConn down for three quarters. With the expanded rotation since that game, it could be a disaster if they don't do a good job switching off the screens. They Huskies are getting better and better at that.

UConn will try to uptempo this game. They will run on almost every defensive rebound. And they finally have the horses to do that.

Marquette hasn't seen a defense as good as UConn's. They are coming off a tough overtime game against Villanova Friday night where their five starters all played 40+ minutes. Not much time to recover.

For the first matchup, the first question is about who is available to play. Would Nelson-Ododa and/or Ducharme be available? The answer was no. But they are all there for this one, the game is at home and UConn is on a roll.

The first game was a 14 point margin. I think it's double in this game.

UConn by 28+.

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Extended highlights from Ice Brady's last game

Isuneh Brady's game lines from February

28 points (12-18 FG), 13 rebs, 7 assists
24 points (12-20 FG), 18 rebs, 5 assists
31 points (13-22 FG), 17 rebs, 3 assists
31 points (15-19 FG), 15 rebs, 12 assists
26 points (8-15 FG, 5-10 3-PT), 13 rebs, 3 assists

2022 IHSAA 4A State Finals Preview https://t.co/BP8dFUbxwV
— IGBRR Hoops (@coachbeckett) February 22, 2022

Maybe the fittest player ever coming into UConn

Sometimes your heart just absolutely explodes with pride pic.twitter.com/TUMwlVE2HK
— Natalie Morse (@natjmorse) February 22, 2022

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GAMES

Usual Tuesday

No top 25 games

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I don't know if I have the engery for Charlie SECreme's latest Bracketology. There is no rhyme or reason to his changes from version to version.

He still has UConn as a 3 seed. Yep, he's not listening to me again. But at least they were in the Bridgeport Region last time. For some strange reason, he moved them to the Wichita Region for the first time. I believe UConn started in the Spokane Region at one point. Unbelievable.

I think that this version of UConn, the way they are playing, can beat any team that they might meet to get to the Final Four. This region is no different. I like that they could have a rematch with Georgia Tech in the second round, Baylor in the sweet sixteen and a rematch with Louisville in the Elite Eight.

But Charlie is rarely accurate in the final seedings and regions. So who knows. All I know is this team is looking really good and I'm still confident Paige will be back soon.

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And this is why I'm so confident!

I'm just so happy to see this video. Finally, a taste of how Paige is actually doing.

No brace!!

No hesitation!

No limp!

She is cutting with ease, Jumping and landing with no issues.

I'm still guessing we might see a few minutes on Senior Day. But the BE Tournament for sure.

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By David in Naples

In the last four games, UConn has scored 335 points in victories over DePaul, Marquette, Xavier and Georgetown. Skeptics will point out none of those Big East teams are in the top 25 in the country. More reasonable people will note the Huskies are finally healthy and getting back to full strength. Both are accurate. But consider the play of the defense over those four games. Total points allowed = 202 or 50.5 per game. In the last 2 games, the defense has limited opponents to 42 points per game. Considering games are 40 minutes long, that is a very good average.

The UConn scoring has been balanced now that Geno can play 10 players and bring fresh starters in mid-period. Consider the Huskies individual scoring against Xavier and Georgetown.

1. Christyn - 32 points
2. Azzi - 23 points
3. Caroline - 19 points
4. Nika - 19 points
5. Aaliyah - 17 points
6. Evina - 16 points
7. Olivia - 15 points
8. Dorka - 13 points

Six of these 8 players have started at least 14 games this year. CFD and Fudd have started 11 and 6 respectively. Geno has almost all his pieces back and playing for the final run into the Big East tournament and the Big Dance.

Go Huskies..!!

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