Doggydaddy's Den: Doggy's Doghouse 1/11/2023

GO UCONN!!!!!

UConn Huskies St. John's Storm

82 52

Ahhhh.....that's more like it. Against a pretty good St. John's team, UConn showed what they can do with players getting healthy. The top 6 players on this rotation is pretty darn good. And we all can imagine how good they will be when the two players out on concussion protocol come back.

It brought a big smile to my face and a full heart to see Azzi Fudd run to the scorer's table and check into the game. And I gave a big shout when she hit her first three pointer. And then it was like she never was out. There are other big stories in this game, and I'll touch on those, but none bigger than having Fudd back in the lineup. She played 20 minutes, more than most fans thought she would play, and scored 15 points on 6-11 shooting, 3-5 on threes, 3 rebounds and an assist and zero turnovers. Like I said, like she was never out. I would expect that maybe by Sunday, she will be be back in the starting lineup. Or the following game at the latest. It's where she belongs.

To me the big story team wise what the turnover number. If you remember, I showed the stats when Fudd played was 14 turnover per game and 22 when she was out. Well, she was back and the team had it's lowest turnover number of the season, only 9 for the game. Now, you can't give all the credit to Fudd playing for the low number. But the numbers don't lie.

Back to the players, it was great to see contributions from so many of them. While Fudd was a big story, Dorka Juhasz was the star of this game. In 39 minutes she had 18 points, 10 rebounds, a career high 6 assists a steal and a block. Just a terrific performance. You can see the big change in her game from last season. She is taking her defender to the hoop on hard drives and finishing at the rim. She is finding players cutting to the basket for easy hoops. Just a tough player out there. I'm looking forward to her continued great play and the match up with South Carolina's Boston.

Edwards didn't miss a game as the DePaul game was postponed, but it felt like she was a retunring player from injury. And she didn't disappoint. She scored 15 points on 5-8 shooting, got the the line ofter going 4-5 on free throws and grabbed 7 rebounds. I'd like her to take more shots since she shoots at such a high percentage, but that is a small complaint.

The leading scorer in the game was Lou Lopez-Senechel with 19 points on 8-9 shooting and 3-4 on threes. So efficient. And when Dorka passed to Fudd who passed to Lou who hit a three pointer, well, I just was so thrilled. With two great three point shooters on the court at the same time, UConn just got so much harder to defend.

Aubrey Griffin had a "backround" game. She didn't look for her shot very often scoring only 6 points on 2-4 shooting, but her defense was not in the backround. I believe she was on Evertt most of the game and forced her into a 3-11 shooting night.

Nika was Nika in this game. Her defense was outstanding, as were her 6 assists. She made a couple of great drives to the basket and ended up with 9 points. Only her poor free throw shooting stopped her from scoring double digits.

Hey, guess who was in the regular rotation when a couple of Huskies had first half foul trouble? None other than Amari DeBerry. And for the most part she looked pretty good. Her passing is excellent with 2 assists, she grabbed a couple of rebounds, blocked a shot and affected several others. All in 10 minutes. Yes, she had a couple of bad plays on both sides of the ball but she is getting better and better.

Against a pretty good defensive team, UConn shot 62.5% from the field, 42.9% on threes. They will take those numbers every game.

My prediction was - "I think UConn's defense will befuddle the Red Storm and hold them to under 60 points. UConn should get to the upper 70's at a minimum. So I'm guessing UConn by 18+."

It was a lot plus...lol. But not bad.

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UConn women's basketball's Aaliyah Edwards, Azzi Fudd and Nika Muhl have been named to the USBWA's Ann Meyers Drysdale Award midseason watch list
— Maggie Vanoni (@maggie_vanoni) January 11, 2023