Doggydaddy's Den: Doggy's Doghouse 1/21/2023

GO UCONN!!!!!

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BREAKING: UConn women's basketball Class of 2023 signee Jana El Alfy is enrolling early and will soon join the program when she arrives on campus. Details of her availability to play are TBD.
Story⬇️https://t.co/ZZS1k9DvGp
— Maggie Vanoni (@maggie_vanoni) January 21, 2023

Wow. I don't know if she will get up to speed to contribute, but with the fragility of this team, at least she is a body that would be available to play if they only have 6. But she does have some size and some skills for sure. And it will give her a head start for playing next season.

Can't wait to see her in a UConn uniform!!!

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I was at the Boca Art Fair when the game started. I checked my phone and UConn was up

4-0, and then I checked a few minutes later and it was 13-4. I took a double take when I noticed that it was Butler with the lead. Did they really go on a 13-0 run? I'm glad I missed that!!

I was shocked more than worried and of course they came back to take a lead and then preceed to blow out the Bulldogs.

I was home in time for the second half and checked the first half box score to see that after that 13-0 run by Butler, UConn outscored them 32-6 to end the first half. Great job by UConn shaking off that bad start.

UConn dominated the rest of the game outscoring the Bulldogs 43-20 for the 79-39 win.

So, who were the stars of the team for this game?

I'll start with the team defense. Other than the occasion three pointer (Butler's strength) the Huskies limited Butler to 39 points, shooting 25.9% from the field and turned them over 19 times. Not one Bulldog scored in double digit points. And I mentioned in my pregame report, UConn would try to limit McLimore, Butler's leading scorer, and they sure did that. She was 1-7 from the field, and only scored 4 points.

The UConn offense was great after that slow start. They ended up shooting 53.7% from the field and the great news was they only had 11 turnovers. And four of those were in the first five minutes of the game. So only 7 for the last 35 minutes.

Individually, UConn had 4 players in double digit scoring with Edwards leading the way with another 20 point game. She added 7 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals and 3 blocks. Nice stat line.

Juhasz had 14, Griffin had 17 and Lopez Senechal had 17 as well. Muhl added 8 points.

The bench didn't contribute many points, but DeBerry and Bettencourt played 16 minutes each to allow the starters plenty of rest.

Good focus by the team after a tough start. On to the DePaul make up game on Monday.

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Geno Postgame Presser

Griffin, Edwards and Lopez-Senechal

Postgame Presser

Geno explains his sidline dance

The Game in 30 minutes

Game Highlights

Full Game Replay

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FROM PHIL

Nailbiter Saturday

• American University beat Colgate by two points

• Iona beat Siena by two points

• Longwood beat Presbyterian by two points

• South Alabama beat Texas state by two points

• Western Illinois beat St. Thomas by two points

• Queen's University beat Stetson by two points

• UAB beat North Texas by two points

• Marshall beat Southern Miss by one point

• James Madison beat Troy by one point

• Portland State beat Idaho state by one point

• UMBC beat New Hampshire in OT

• Ohio beat Miami of Ohio in OT

• Eastern Michigan beat Northern Illinois in OT

• UTEP beat Florida Atlantic in OT

• Louisiana beat Arkansas State in OT

• Alabama A & M beat Texas Southern in OT

• Eastern Washington beat Northern Arizona in OT

• Liberty beat FGCU in OT

• Fairfield beat Rider in double OT

• Chattanooga beat Furman in double OT

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GAMES

UPSETS IN RED

No. 15 Oklahoma 97 Oklahoma State 93

No. 16 Gonzaga 82 Saint Mary's 57

No. 18 Iowa State 64 Kansas 50

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Straight from the Dog

I'm not sure what impact Jana El Alfy will have on the UConn roster in 2023, but at a minimum she will give them one more healthy player and one more practice player. The last player to come early was Saylor Poffenbarger, who got limited minutes those few months she was there early. And she then decided to transfer, ending up at Arkansas. Hopefully this won't be a repeat situation. I seriously doubt it.

Here are a few videos on YouTube.

Not bad at 13 years old!!

She is a very skilled player who at 6'4" can play both the small forward or power forward. Depending on how quickly she acclumates to the UConn system, she might see some minutes here and there. it's juhst great to have one more body!!

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