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GO UCONN!!!!!
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No. 9 UConn Huskies 85 Florida State 77
A great win for the Huskies and a lot of positives to take away from the game in spite of letting the Seminoles back into the game in the second half. UConn was able to push back when Flrodia State got as close as 4 points.
Here is the good.
Edwards is still playing at an AA level. She had 26 points and 7 rebounds.
Muhl came back from her concussion and played all 40 minutes. She was not happy with her second half performance but still managed 12 assists. And some were just spectatular. Her shooting and tunrovers show the rust.
I think UConn fans forgot how important Juhasz is. She only played two games but averaged a double double. I don't think the expectations were high for her in this game. What did she do? Well, she played 34 minutes and had 15 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists and 5 huge blocks. This team is so much better with her on the floor.
Lou was just Lou again. She really knows how to play this game. She scored 23 points, shot 4-9 on threes and has really been the answer to the question on who will score with Fudd on the bench.
Ducharme took another step forward in her quest to get back to her great play last season before her head injury. She played 31 minutes. A solid 31 minutes. And had 9 points and 7 rebounds. Something to build on.
Up next is Seton Hall at noon on Wednesday. The Pirates have won 7 games in a row including wins over Wisconsin, Marquette and Georgia.
POST GAME PRESSER
Coach Daily, Nika Muhl and Dorka Juhasz
POST GAME QUOTES AND INFO
CD on Geno: "He's OK. I think it's flu-like symptoms right now and dehydration. But it's been a heck of a week (for him). .... So I'm sure it's a combination of a lot of things. But he's feeling better."
CD: "It's been a draining couple of weeks for us ... I would challenge anyone to deal with all the injuries we've had to deal with. It's just draining."
"We made plays when we had to,” Chris Dailey said. “I thought Aaliyah was terrific...I’m happy that we were able to have (Dorka and Nika) back in the lineup to be able to handle it, that helped a lot and it made a huge difference.”
Chris Dailey: "This is the story of our season. We got two people back, then Ines sprained her ankle at practice"
Nika - "We had a 20-point lead and we could have played a much better second half," We kind of lost ourselves out there, starting with me. I lost my focus, the control of the team. That's why our offense wasn't working as well. I'm proud of the way we bounced back after each play we gave up. We got the win and we're off to the next one."
Chris Dailey is UNDEFEATED when serving as acting head coach for the UConn Huskies.@UConnWBB | #ThatsaW pic.twitter.com/lbpHwsmVtl
— espnW (@espnW) December 18, 2022
UConn's six wins over the current top-35 on Her Hoop Stats is the most of any team. South Carolina, Maryland, and NC State all have three wins apiece over the top-35 teams. https://t.co/nlvdPJ1YH5
— Megan Gauer (@megangauer) December 19, 2022
Dorka Juhász on her thumb: "It's not fully healed. It's still really painful."
— Daniel Connolly (@DanielVConnolly) December 18, 2022
She said she was planning to play last week but prior to the games, it got hit in practice, swelled up and she couldn't get it in her splint.
Game Highlights
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It was a battle all afternoon.
No. 1 South Carolina was doing their best to embarrass undermanned Charleston Southern while No. 4 Indiana was just killing Morehard State.
Here is the tale of the tape.
Charleston Southern - 23 points, 8-50 16% FG, 3-20 15% 3PTFG, 4-8 FT%, 15 TOs
Morehead State - 24 points, 9-51 17.6% FG, 5-23 21.7% 3PTFG, 1-4 FT%, 25 TOs.
Wow, it's so close!!! However, I think the TO's are the difference.
Before I announce the award, let me say how disgusted I am that these games even happened.
Now, congrats to Morehead State on their UGGY award. It is well deserved!!!
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GAMES
UPSETS IN RED
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Straight from the Dog
I predicted a Stanford win at home against Tennessee and for a while it didn't look good for that thought. Tennessee was up 5 points going into the fourth quarter but they fell apart as Stanford outscored them 24-12 to end the game losing 77-70.
While the Lady Vols certainly made a game of it, it's just one more loss to a ranked team on the resume. They have four more games against ranked teams - LSU, UConn, South Carolina and Arkansas. They need to win one of these, otherwise their NET rankings might put them out of the tournament. That would be crazy.
A few thoughts on the game:
Horsten had a double double with 19 points and 10 rebounds, but her shooting efficiency is not good. 8-24 from the field, 0-2 on threes and 3-6 on free throws.
Tennessee fans and the press went gaga over freshman Pissott, who had 14 points in a "breakout game". Well, against a good team, she had 0 points in 5 minutes. Did her breakout break?
Their former staring point guard Powell, the transfer from Minnesota, is now coming off the bench, played only 16 minutes with 2 points and zero assists.
Stanford didn't look good in this game. They were 18-30 from the FT line. It could have been the difference.
Brink is one hell of a player. 21 points, 17 rebounds and a career high 6 blocks.
Haley Jones played like the AA she is. 19 points on 8-16 shooting and 12 rebounds.
Tennessee gets to take out their frustrations on Wofford in their next game a week from Tuesday. 10 days to stew about this loss.
One more thing. The Tennessee fans take complaining about the officiating to a new level. It's like the Lady Vols never foul and their opponents foul on every play.
Game was paused as officials discuss a problem, and Tennessee assessed an administrative technical foul. Jillian Hollingshed's jersey # doesn't match what's in the game book, #53 #ncaaw
— Hoopfeed.com 🏀 (@hoopfeed) December 18, 2022
DOPES!!!!
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Undefeated Virginia had one of those games against a really overmatched opponent. If they were ranked I'd give them more of a hard time. They beat Morgan State 84-28 and the Lady Bears were in the running for an UGGY with their 0-19 three point shooting. Mir McLean didn't quite get another double-double with 16 points and 9 rebounds. She is still having a hell of a season.
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Another tough loss for the Big East when No. 14 Iowa State defeated No. 25 Villanova 74-62. Even another outstanding outing by Maddy Siegrist couldn't carry the Wildcats to the win. She had 32 point, 12 rebounds and 4 blocks. Just not enough firepower around her to win this game.
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I already mentioned South Carolina and Indiana's embarrassing wins against overmatched opponents. The MOV in those games were 64 and 63 points. Here is one more.
Oregon 97 Charleston 33 for a MOV of 64.
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And then there were 10
Eight days ago, I wrote about the 12 team still undefeated in women’s basketball Division I. I thought the list would start shortening soon after, but since that post, only USC who took on the 10th ranked UCLA team has failed to win and on Sunday Virginia Tech was taken off the list.
That means as I write this, there are still 10 undefeated teams in women's basketball Division I
South Carolina
Indiana
Ohio St
Utah
Arkansas
LSU
Kansas
Virginia
St John's
Rice
South Carolina takes on Charleston Southern on the 18th. I think we can pencil that result in.
Indiana is taking on Morehead State. Ditto.
Virginia is taking on Morgan State. Double dittos. They do face Duke on Wednesday the 21st which will put their winning streak in jeopardy.
St. John’s is taking on Providence. The Friars are only ranked 116 but St. John’s is only an eight-point favorite so keep an eye on this game, which will be tough to do with so many other good games in play.
LSU is facing the toughest opponent of their season so far playing Oregon State in Hawaii. That said, Oregon State has been a powerhouse in recent years, but they are ranked 47th now. I’ve been extremely critical of LSU’s schedule, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that LSU is not a strong team, it means we don’t really know. While one can’t draw too strong a conclusion from the win over Montana State, after all Montana State is 6-5 ranked 122, but Massey saw that as a 15-point game and it ended up being a 39 point game. Maybe that means LSU is better than some think. Maybe it means weird things can happen on island tournaments.
Ohio State’s next game is on the 20th against South Florida. The game is being played in San Diego and sometimes games in neutral locations can have funny results. Ohio State favored by nine; South Florida is not as strong as it has been, but this could be a good game.
Utah also plays on the 20th but they are playing Weber State. This will not jeopardize their status as one of the undefeated teams.
Rice is taking on MTSU on Tuesday. MTSU is only ranked 50th but MTSU is favored by a slim three points.
Arkansas just survived their toughest challenge this season, beating Creighton by eight points on Saturday. They are also playing in San Diego against Oregon and Oregon is favored so we will see if Arkansas can keep their streak alive.
Kansas takes on Nebraska on Wednesday. That will be their second toughest opponent of the season. 11 the toughest on paper was Arizona whom they demolished. I anticipate Nebraska will give them a better game but don’t be surprised if Kansas is still undefeated when Thursday arrives.
It’s like we will have a few challenges to undefeated statuses but the list appears it will stay long for a while.
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