Doggydaddy's Den: Doggy's Doghouse 12/11/2023

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Even my daughter (mother to Logan and Barrett)

is looking for my Blog!!!

GO UCONN!!!!!

That's meant for all the nitpicking, armchair coaching, complaining, know-it-all fans.

Don't be looking at what mistakes the players made. Don't even think about it. They won. They beat a ranked team (well, ranked at the time) by double digits. They reached deep and did what they had to do.

So, all you will see here is the positives and there were plenty of those.

Obviously, the biggest positive was just winning the game against a decent ranked team. This same team lost top South Carolina by only 7 points. But the Tar Heels will be heading out of the Top 25 with this loss. They have now lost 4 of their last 5 games.

UConn, on the other hand has now won two games in a row both by double digits and three of their last four outings. The ship seems to be righting a little bit.

The Huskies had a nice nine point lead after one quarter, but they could not sustain that success and UNC was able to return the favor, winning the second quarter by 9 to tie it up at the half. Towards the end of the quarter I saw a play that made me smile and think that the team is figuring it out. I watched Edwards in the high post and Shade cut through the lane. The pass wasn't there and then Bueckers ran the same route as Shade did. There was a crack of an opening and Edwards hit Paige in stride and she layed it in. Classic UConn offense.

The big quetion was how would this UConn team come out in the second half? It's been a tough season and having North Carolina tie if up after a great first quarter had to play in their heads.

Well, they answered the bell. Off of a steal by Arnold, Paige Bueckers hit a layup on the ensuing fast break for her 1000 career point. A great milestone! I'm sure she will be getting one of those painted balls presented to her soon.

Arnold stole the ball on the next UNC possesion and got fouled on her layup attempt hitting one of two. She hit a three pointer on the next UConn possesion. Bueckers stole the ball on the next UNC possesion and went in for a layup and the Tar Heels were on their heels. They were forced to take a time out. The crowd was LOUD at that point. The defense was doing it's job. Defense to offense and the Huskies had an 8 point lead. UConn just dominated that quarter. It was UConn basketball. Out quick in the quarter with an 11-0 run and then ended the quarter on a 16-5 run. Gotta love it.

The fourth quarter was UConn doing what they had to to hold on to the lead and then it was over.

What a crazy picture. FIVE UNC players and Paige uses her

Inspector Gadget arms to make a basket!!

Paige was the Paige of her freshman year. And boy does that make a difference. She scored in so many ways, she block shots (4 of them) and dove for several balls. I notice she had no wrap on that thumb and it appeared to help her go to her left stronger. She was able to play 33 minutes, another good sign. An efficient game as well with 26 points on 11-14 shooting, 1-1 on threes, and 3 steals. She was scoreless in the fourth quarter. She only took 1 shoot. And had 2 blocks. When was the last quarter she played where she had more blocks than shots?

Nice Finish!

Edwards had a slow first half but she came on in the second half for sure. She ended up with 16 points and 11 rebounds in 35 minutes for her second straight double double. Still not hitting a high percentage of her midrange jumpers but that will come.

KK with the finish!!

Shade with the THREE!

Once again two freshmen started and while not perfect, they both had solid games. Shade played 29 minutes and hit 2 of 5 on threes in scoring 8 points. She did her usual hustling and was good on defense. She has so much energy. Arnold was everywhere on defense and while they only had her for 2 steals she disrupted several passes. Geno had her out there for 32 minutes and she scored 7 points. She added 4 rebounds and 5 assits. Both of these freshmen are getting better and better.

Nika Muhl is now a three point shooting specialist. Ok...maybe that is an exaggeration. But for sure she was hot in this game going 4-7 in scoring 12 points. She also added 6 assists (I think it was more), and only her 6 turnovers detracted from an otherwise stellar game. She played 33 minutes.

AND ONE!

Griffin was really the only player off the bench with regular minutes. She played 27 minutes and while she didn't score much (missed a few chippies) she grabbed 8 rebounds and handed out 4 assists. When UConn went to a small lineup she actually defended the 5 spot and did a good job.

Nice Form, No results

Q and Brady didn't see much time in this game. Brady I get. UNC is not a big team and so Geno matched up with smaller lineups.Q? Not sure why she didn't see more minutes.

So a great game for the Huskies! Up next is 20th ranked Louisville, another team that plays a smaller lineup. That plays right into UConn's hands. I like the match up. More on that game in the Pregame Report coming out in a few days. The Cardinals had an easy game in between against Morehead State on Wednesday. Today they beat Kentucky in their state rivalry game 73-61, My report will come out after that.

The week off will help UConn for sure. With the short bench, breaks are important

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Game Highlights

North Carolina Interivew

Maria Gakdeng, Courtney Banghart and Deja Kelly

Geno interview between 3rd and 4th quarter

Paige on scoring her 1000 point

Geno Postgame Interview

Paige, Nika and Aaliyah Postgame Interview

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** Designates Upset

Sunday, 12/10

Scores and Links

No. 1 South Carolina 78 No. 11 Utah 69

No. 2 UCLA 95 No. 20 Florida State 78

No. 3 NC State 80 Liberty 67

No. 4 Iowa 87 Wisconsin 65

No. 6 USC 85 UC Riverside 53

No. 7 LSU 83 Louisiana 53

No. 12 Ohio State 94 No. 25 Penn State 84 OT

No. 15 Virginia Tech 85 Radford 40

No. 18 Louisville 73 Kentucky 61

No. 19 Marquette 64 Illinois State 62

No. 21 Washington State 55 Washington 60 **

No. 22 Creighton 73 Wyoming 61

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ESPN #1 SARAH STRONG of Grace just DOMINATED at the She Got Game Classic! pic.twitter.com/RewoVNjqn7
— RareFootage (@RareFootageNews) December 9, 2023

PLEASE COME TO UCONN

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Straight from the Dog

I just love this picture!!

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My comments from yesterday and results from a few of Sunday's games.

"No. 1 South Carolina takes on visiting No. 11 Utah in the early ESPN game. This could be a really good game. South Carolina has been slow out of the gate and games have been really close till the end. I don't see why this would be an exception. However, Utah has only played one ranked team and they lost to then No. 21 Baylor."

South Carolina parlayed a 27-17 first quarter lead to hold on for a 78-69 win over Utah in a game that close throughout. Utah actually outscored South Carolina 53-51 over the last 3 quarters but just couldn't get over the hump. The star of the game was Utah's Alissa Pili, who scored 37 points. From video I've seen her game is similar to UConn 2024 target Sarah Strong. I really hope she decides on UConn.

"No. 2 UCLA is visiting No. 20 Florida State. This seems like a mismatch, but I really like FSU as they beat Tennessee. I'm a big Ta'Niya Latson. She graduated HS from the sister school that my granddaughters attend, American Heritage. But I believe the Bruins are just too much for the Seminoles."

Well, UCLA was certainly too much for FSU early on, jumping on the Seminoles for a 22-7 lead in the first quarter. FSU woke up after that and for the rest of the game they were only outscored 73-71 the rest of the way. It was just too much for them to close the gap. Lauren Betts is just a terrific big. She had 18 first half points, going 9-10 from the field, all layups. She has a great post game. Unstoppable going 1-1.

"No. 12 Ohio State is playing on No. 25 Penn State. The Lady Lions have only played one ranked team and only lost to No. 6 USC 71-70. But the Ohio State ball pressure will win the day for the Buckeyes."

What a game!!! Ohio State was down early but came back to make a game of it. Penn State outscored the Buckeyes to take a 10 point lead at the half. It was still 9 points going into the fourth quarter but OSU outscored the Lady Lions 21-12 in the fourth quarter to send the game into overtime. They scored the first 10 points of the fourth quarter to take the lead with 5 minutes left in the game. It was back and forth from there. Penn State scored the final four points of the quarter to tie the game 80-80. At that point, the Ohio State defense and poor shooting by Penn State allowed the Buckeyes to pull away and win 94-84.

"One other interesting game is No. 18 Louisville taking on in-state rival Kentucky. Based on the results so far this season, Kentucky could get blown out. They have really struggled in most of their games. And Louisville is at home so expect a win for the Cardinals."

It was a closer game than I expected. But Massey hit it on the head with a 12 point margin as Louisville won 74-62. They are UConn's opponent after the North Caorlina game. More on them later!

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Tennesssee played Eastern Kentucky in their first of three supposed blowouts. Yes, I said supposed. Massey had them as a 22 point favorite. Someone didn't tell EKU. Now, before you get excited, Tennessee won the game. but it was a battle.

The Lady Vols jumped out to a 15-9 lead after one quarter and had a 36-31 lead at the half. EKU stayed in the game and a couple of free throws brought them to within 4 points going into the fourth quarter. Tennessee was able to turn up the defense and after the score was 55-54 with 8 minutes remaining, the Colonels struggled to score for the next 7 minutes, garnering only 3 points to go down 70-57 with 49 seconds left. They close the gap the rest of the game outscoring Tennessee 6-2 to end it. The final of 72-63 was not what was expected.

This is a team in trouble. Supposedly, their one star, Rickea Jackson is closer to returning, Time will tell when and how much her return boosts the Lady Vols.

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The other two ranked Big East teams won Sunday. Marquette was in a tough battle with Illinois State winning 64-62. They were down 47-41 late before mounting their comeback. They are still undefeated. UConn takes them on the day after my birthday, December 31st.

Creighton was in control most of the game after being tied at the half against Wyoming. They are now 7-1 on the season and they also play UConn soon, right after New Years on January 3rd.

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LSU is down another player as junior guard Kateri Poole is no longer with the team. It won't hurt them against the weaker teams they like to play, but it does impact their depth in the SEC. Against a weak Louisiana team they only played 7 players in their rotation in a 30 point win.

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By PHIL

Milestone watch

• Aaliyah Edwards has 1340 career points after the North Carolina game. She is in 39th place. She needs 25 points to catch Charde Houston.

• Nika Mühl had 466 assists after the Ball State game. She is in sole possession of 18th place. She needs 9 to tie Svetlana Abrosimova.

• Paige Bueckers reached the 1000-point milestone, early in the second half in the game against North Carolina. The two points broke the halftime tie, and were the start of a UConn run. Paige ties Maya Moore reaching the milestone in 55 games, the fewest of any UConn player.

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STATS

Plus one for every assist block point rebound and steal. I don’t add extra for offensive rebounds as it already seems to favor the bigs. Minus one for every missed shot (2, 3 or foul), turnover or foul committed.

We have Paige and they don’t!

UConn 74 North Carolina 53.

Paige 29, Aaliyah 16, Aubrey 13, Ashlynn 8, Nika 8, Qadence 1, KK 1, Ice -2.

Year: Paige 169, Aaliyah 138, Aubrey 115, Nika 73, KK 62, Ashlynn 41, Qadence 28, Ice 4.

Year per minute: Paige .65, Aubrey .55, Aaliyah .50, Qadence.27, Ashlynn .27, KK .27, Nika .25, Ice .03.

Paige Blockers!! Great win. Beat Louisville. The Great Eight!

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UCONN LINKS

Several links are pay sites. Sorry!

Where does UConn rank after win over UNC?

UNC falls to UConn in HOF showcase

Bueckers highlights win with viral blcok