Doggydaddy's Den: Doggy's UConn/Tennessee Post Game Report 2/6/2022

I'm almost speechless after watching the game. UConn did some feeling out early and the game stayed competative at that point. But that third quarter start? It was pure old school UConn. How many times have we seen the Huskies just put away a team like that?

Geno had his team ready for the Lady Vols. I guess that extra day of practice really did help. Now, Tennessee doesn't really run plays but the UConn players looked like they knew exactly what the Tennessee players were going to do.

UConn handled the Lady Vols usual advantage on the boards and that was really big early on. And it was probably their best shooting game of the season, especially from deep. Especially Fudd..lol.

We can talk offense all night long, but I was just as impressed with the defense. They held Tennessee to 28.8% shooting and if it wasn't for a hot streak in the fourth quarter (8-14) is would have been much worse. They were 3-15 on threes. Incredibly, they were 19-21 on free throws. Amazing for a team shootin only 63% on the season. UConn blocked 7 shots and Key was only able to block one for Tennessee.

Replays and Highlights

Game Highlights - UConn

More Highlights - UConn looking Scary

Highlights from a Tennessee Perspective

Full Game Replay

Game Stats and Box Score

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Post Game Interviews

Geno

Edwards, Westbrook and Fudd

Informal w/Edwards, Westbrook and Fudd

Coach Kellie Harper

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Photos: UConn women vs. Tennessee

Game Quotes from Geno

“Azzi looked happy playing basketball today. Sometimes kids that come in with that kind of hype, it’s like an obligation. ‘I know everyone expects me to do this and I hope I don’t let anybody down.’ She just looked like a happy kid playing the game she loves. ... Makes it look easy, doesn’t she?”

“Paige is the kind of kid, she doesn’t care if she takes any shots. So that’s one more distributor, one more smart decision-maker, one more defender. Caroline will just keep being Caroline. She’s found her niche. That’s her role, and you can just kind of play it by ear every game. Somebody’s got it going, let’s go with her, like Azzi today. We could be a good team in March. If we make the NCAA Tournament, we’re going to be a tough out.”

“If you’d have watched the game, you would’ve thought she was an upperclassman playing out there, that she was a senior. So eight games into her freshman career, that was pretty good. If that’s the worst she ever looks, it’s gonna be pretty good.”

Game Quotes from

Tennessee Coach Kellie Harper

And her players

Harper - “She’s always been known as a great shooter. She has a beautiful shot. Really, really pretty to watch, to be honest with you. The game plan was not to leave Azzi Fudd open.”

Harper - "Well, if you have a breakdown defensively, Fudd is going to knock it down. We started the game was a defensive breakdown, first possession she hits a three. So you can't have mental lapses against a player like Fudd. They do a great job within their offense of finding her and they're such great passers. So if you do have a breakdown, they capitalize on it."

Horston - "I feel like everybody was in a great mindset going into the game. Unfortunately ... they play really fast and they get into their offense really fast and we had some breakdowns and with good teams, we can't break down. I mean, we know UConn is a great team, and unfortunately, we didn't play our best today. But it's not the end of the world. It's one game and we'll keep it moving."

Harper - "I think there's a couple things. I think one, we've got to be able to look for Key. Two, she's gotta want the ball in there. So we've got to go back and look at those things and see how we can make some adjustments. Moving forward, we have to have an inside presence – we have to. We need that for our for our offensive production."

Harper - "The biggest thing for us is we lost Keyen Green. We just have not recovered form that yet. We haven't. And right now, the team is still searching. And we aren't getting her back so we have to step up, and we have to be mature. We have to tweak some things systematically and find confidence in what we are doing. And that right now is the biggest drop-off for us in the past two weeks."

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UConn Player Evaluations

Player of the Game

Azzi Fudd

“You know, I was just nervous, a little nervous. Good nervous, obviously.”

“I haven’t really had time to let this sink in yet but this isn’t at all how I expected my freshman year to go, sitting out of so many games and getting hurt. But my teammates just make the moment so much more special for me.”

“It’s pretty hard to not be happy when your teammates get you so many open shots. Today was definitely a lot of fun, and I was smiling the whole time. Seeing so many of my shots go in today, it was definitely a big confidence booster.”

“It’s going to be very scary, and definitely scary for our opponents. We’re going to be a nasty team with everyone healthy.”

Nasty. Yep, she said it. And now that is their team motto. "we are going to be a nasty team". No doubt about it. And Azzi is a big part of it.

She had her first start, and played 39 minutes. You watch her and wonder what could have been if she started the season healthy.

Fudd had 25 points on 9-16 shoot. She was a startling 7-9 on threes. She missed her only free throw. Crazy. And she had 4 assists and a couple of them were real beauties. She is much more than a three point shooter. She will figure out when to take that mid-range and start hitting them like they are layups. She changes everything for this team.

Nika Muhl

Boy, did Nika every change the game. After a scoreless first half, she came out in the third quarter like a house on fire. Her two three pointers and a great pick of Walker's pocket turned into a layup got the Huskies going. I love this picture of her shouting out a play to her teammates. She is the perfect backup point guard to Paige.

Nika played 30 minutes and while those 8 points were her only scoring of the game she contributed in so many ways. That block early in the game on Key got the crowd going along with her teammates. 5'10" blocked 6'7". She had 5 assists and only 1 turnover. A great leader on the court.

Evina Westbrook

"A sequence like that just kink of makes the other team give up. They can't do anything else. Nika haveing the steal and back to back threes, obviously they call a timeout rith after that. It gives ut, the arean being home with so much energy. We could just see it on their face that they were done. You have to take advantage of that and we did"

Tennessee seems to bring out the best in Westbrook and she is always sky high to play them. Did you see her screaming after she forced a turnover by Burrell, her former teammate? Wow.

I just liked her game today. She was always under control, seemed to make the right play at the right time. In her 24 minutes, had 14 points. She didn't shoot great, but her one three was very timely. She added 3 assists and 4 rebounds. And her defense was intense.

It's great having her come off the bench. And she seems to have accepted that role very graciously.

Christyn Williams

Well, it was not her best shooting game. In fact, it was pretty darn bad. Open shots, but she seemed a little tight in the release. However, she added to that great third quarter explosion with a three pointer and a nice pull up jumper. I'm sure she will bounce back in her next game. In her 29 minutes she ended up with 6 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists.

Olivia Nelson-Ododa

I bet there are plenty of fans out there that are saying "another poor game against a big opponent". And in some ways that is correct. However, she played Key to a standstill, and that was huge. In her 27 minutes, she had 6 points and 3 rebounds. But her 3 blocks were huge in getting in the Tennessee player's heads. One thing to remember. Key is really big and Olivia did not force her offense.

Aaliyah Edwards

The smile on her face after hitting her three pointers could have lit up the entire XL Center. But she was much more than that in this game. She played big, which is important against a great rebounding team like Tennessee. And I loved how she kept moving and the UConn guards were able to find her in scoring position.

Geno must have noticed too as he played her 37 minutes, second on the team behind Fudd. Aaliyah was 5-6 from the field and 3-4 on free throws. She added 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 blocks and a steal. I hope this is the Edwards we see going forward. She seems to be on a roll and playing like she did as a freshman.

Dorka Juhasz

You can tell that Dorka was still recovering from her foot issue. She only played 13 minutes and her conditioning and timing was a little off. She still managed 2 points, 4 rebounds and 1 assists. Not her best effort, but it wasn't needed. She did play some good defense on Key.

Final Thoughts

Ok, that is over. It's just so exhausting to prepare for this game. I can't imagine how Geno and the players feel.

It was just so good to see the team jell for this game. And we all got to see what the big deal was about landing Fudd. Like a Tennessee fans said (really) This is only her 8th college game and 1st as a starter. How good can she get? And just imagine Paige and Fudd in the backcourt?

Here are a few pictures that really capture the game and atmosphere.