No. 9 UConn Huskies Florida State
7-2 12-1
Date: Sunday
December 18th, 2022
Mohegan Sun Arena
Uncasville, Ct
Time: 1:00
TV: ESPN
Prior Meetings
FLORIDA STATE | UCONN LEADS 9-0
H: 3-0 | A: 3-0 | N: 3-0
12/30/02 #3 UConn 74, FSU 55 Tallahassee, Fla.
11/25/03 #1 UConn 81, FSU 53 Hartford, Conn.
03/22/05 #10 UConn 70, FSU 52 Storrs, Conn.
12/21/08 #1 UConn 83, FSU 71 Cancun, Mexico
12/28/09 #1 UConn 78, #12 FSU 59 Tallahassee, Fla.
03/30/10 #1 UConn 90, #11 FSU 50 Dayton, Ohio
12/21/10 #1 UConn 93, #22 FSU 62 Hartford, Conn.
12/11/15 #1 UConn 73, #11 FSU 49 Uncasville, Conn.
11/14/16 #3 UConn 78, #12 FSU 76 Tallahassee, Fla
*******************************************************************
You can clearly see that FSU has played a weak schedule. According to RealtimeRPI their RPI is 45 and their SOS rank is 181.
The player and coaches names for both teams
are clickable to see their Bios
Florida State
| Date | Opponent | Opp. RPI Rk | Results | |||
| 12-04 | Western Carolina | 5-7 (0-0) | 242 | 90-41 | W | |
| 11-07 | Bethune-Cookman | 0-9 (0-0) | 293 | 113-50 | W | |
| 11-10 | at | Kent St. | 6-3 (0-0) | 51 | 80-71 | W |
| 11-13 | Georgia St. | 3-8 (0-0) | 299 | 75-70 | W | |
| 11-16 | Florida | 11-2 (0-0) | 97 | 92-77 | W | |
| 11-19 | at | Houston | 3-9 (0-0) | 259 | 79-73 | W |
| 11-24 | Oklahoma St. | 9-2 (0-0) | 46 | 77-79 | L | |
| 11-25 | at | Purdue | 11-2 (1-1) | 22 | 76-75 | W |
| 11-26 | Harvard | 8-5 (0-0) | 79 | 88-57 | W | |
| 12-01 | at | Wisconsin | 5-10 (0-2) | 177 | 92-87 | W |
| 12-04 | Stetson | 4-7 (0-0) | 279 | 83-48 | W | |
| 12-11 | Texas Southern | 1-8 (0-0) | 183 | 108-51 | W | |
| 12-15 | Presbyterian | 2-8 (0-0) | 260 | 98-37 | W | |
You can clearly see that FSU has played a weak schedule. According to RealtimeRPI their RPI is 45 and their SOS rank is 181.
They won their first 6 games, lost to Oklahoma State and then won their last 6 games. Hopefully that pattern continutes...!!
The weak schedule also has a huge impact on their statistics listed below. They have the advantage over UConn in several categories but again against the 181st ranked schedule. It makes a big difference.
*******************************************************************
Comparative Team Statistics
(leader in bold)
UConn Florida State
82.3 PPG 88.4
65.4 Defensive PPG 64.6
16.9 Scoring Margin 21.8
52.4 Field Goal % 45.7
38.9 Defensive FG% 34.9
42.7 Three Point % 31.4
31.8 Defensive 3PT% 30.3
74.1 Free Throw % 72.6
39.0 Rebounds/game 47.6
9.1 Rebounding Margin 8.8
20.9 Assists per game 15.1
16.9 Turnover per game 13.9
1.2 Assists/TO ratio 1.1
7.8 Steals per game 9.6
3.7 Blocks per game 7.1
UCONN
are clickable to see their Bios
UConn Starters
UConn Injuries
1-3 Weeks
OUT FOR THE SEASON
*******************************************************************
Florida State
Florida State Starters
Game Analysis
I was ready to start writing this game preview Friday at around 3:00 with the word came out that Nika Muhl has been cleared to play. Geno also said that Dorka Juhasz will probably play, but he caviated that with "we will see for sure after practice Saturday". I'm feeling good that she will play but maybe won't start. At least that how I have the lineup.
What a difference those two make in this game. Especially Nika. Her defense will be huge in this game. Why?
Let's look at Florida State.
Their best player and leading scorer is 5'8" freshman La'Niya Latson. At. 25.4 PPG she leads the Seminoles in scoring, 5th in the country in scoring and she is the leading freshman scorer. She also won the National FOW award last week. And she has won 5 consecutive ACC FOW awards. Last, she was the first player 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 to sweep ACC Player and Rookie of the Week honors in consecutive weeks. She is a bundle of energy. She can hit the outside, shooting 41% on threes. She doesn't take that many but she doesn't hesitate to take them. Latron takes, by far, the more shots on the team, almost twice as many as the next player. In fact, she takes 25% of their shots. She shoots 52% from the field, so she doesn't take many bad shots. Her ball handling is just ok with 33 assists and 38 turnovers. Her defense is just terrific as well with 11 blocks. Amazing at her height. And she has 39 steals. Just a great player and a handful for any team to deal with.
They lost their second leading scorer, Taylor O'Brien to injury early in the season. I haven't heard if she will be back for this game.
Their "Big" is 6'2" forward Makayla Timpson. She is the only other double digit scorer at 13.1 PPG and shoots a sparkling 61.9% from the field. At only 6'2" she has 28 blocks on the season. However her ball handling skills are a real negative for the Seminiore. She only has 3 assists to go with her 15 turnovers. She leads FSU in rebounding at 9.6 per game.
Seniors Sara Bejedi, a 5'7" guard and Erin Howard, a 6'1" forward are the two leading three point shooters on the team. But that is not a good thing. Howard takes the most with 72 but only hits 27.8% of them while Bejedi takes the second most with 57 shooting 14%. Of course they will both do better against UConn...lol. At least it always seems that way. Howard is second on the team rebounding at 6.7 per game.
The fifth starter is someone that is familiar to most WCBB fans. Jazmine Massengill, a 6' grad student guard is a transfer from Kentucky. And before that she was a transfer from Tennessee. She is not a great player, but very experienced. And it shows as she has 41 assists and only 15 turnovers. A calming influence for the hyper freshman Latson.
The bench are solid replacements for the starters but their minutes are limited, especially against the better teams. O'Marah Gordon, a 5'4" sophomore guard averages 9.6 PPG in her 18.7 MPG and as you would imagine, a very quick player. Mariana Valenzuela, a 6'2" sophomore forward is a dead-eye shooter. She is 19-28 on the season.
As a team they are second in the country in blocks at 7.3 per game.
But as I mentioned before, their stats are built on the backs of a weak schedule. They haven't seen a team like UConn yet and with the good news about Muhl and Juhasz, the Huskies will be a handful.
I totally expect Nika to be ready to start and to look forward to the challenge of guarding Latson 1-1. However, Geno always has a twist when a team relies on one player. RE: Lauren Park-Lane from Seton Hall. She killed UConn in one game then Geno ended that in the next. But Nika will handle the ball most of the time and the Huskies turnover issue while she was out will go down.
Along with Griffin, they are the best defensive duo in the country. And you can expect that Aubrey will see time guarding Latson.
FSU's problem is they have no one to guard Edwards and when she is playing, Juhasz. The Huskies will look to get the ball into the post as much as possible and hopefully get some kickouts to an open Lou.
With the height advantage I would think UConn will rebound and run as much as possible. With Muhl back and running the break the Huskies will hope to get back to their usual game.
Final Prediction
Whew....a sigh of relief to have Muhl and Juhasz back. They will make a huge difference in lengthening the rotation. With the time that both DeBerry and Bettencourt got the last couple of games, I expect them to see more than mop-up minutes. At least I hope so.
Looking at FSU's schedule, it's clear they are a product of playing weaker teams. They played Kent State to only a 9 point win, Georgia State to a 5 point win, a terrible Houston team to an overtime win, lost to Oklahoma State and beat Purdue on a three point shot at the buzzer. They had 49, 63, 31, 35, and in their last two games, 57 and 61 points. Logic tells me this should be an easy win for the Huskies. But with them just getting two big pieces back in Muhl and Juhasz, it still could be a struggle. At least early.
The "home court" advantage will help. Love the Mohegan Sun Arena. If I was in Connecticut I'd be going to that game. I'll hae to suffer with the Florida sunshine.
UConn by 12+.
No comments:
Post a Comment