Doggydaddy's Den: Doggy's Doghouse 12/7/2023

****************************************************

Even my daughter (mother to Logan and Barrett)

is looking for my Blog!!!

GO UCONN!!!!!

**************************************************

UConn 90 Ball State 63

It's a lot more fun when they win, but somehow there is still some residual pain in my bones from the UCLA and Texas losses. It felt good but not that good.

Geno is still working through the missing players and the struggles of the players that are there. Don't get me wrong, they did a great job in that first quarter scoring 37 points. However, it was pretty choppy from that point to the final buzzer.

There was an interesting starting lineup. As small as Geno can make it. Paige, Nika, KK, Ashlynn and Edwards. 6', 5'11", 5'9", 5'9" amd 6'3". More experimenting by the coach. Two freshmen starting as well. Wow.

They did a great job but as Geno subbed, the performances deterirated. Ball State had something to do with that. They his 2 bank shot three pointers and seemed to take advantage of every one of UConn's 17 turnovers.

So, what was good?

Aaliyah was good. She had her first double double of the season with 18 points and 12 rebounds. Surprising it took so long. She was very agressive. I was disappointed in her heistation to take the elbow jumper. She missed a couple and even when left wide open, refused to take the shot. The one she did hit was when she caught a pass coming off a screen. She played big against the smaller Cardinals.

Paige had a nice game. She only played 21 minutes as Geno is still watching her time on the court. But she was so efficient going 5-7 from the field, 2-3 on threes, 4 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals. It was good to see her smiling on the bench while sitting in the fourth quarter.

Nika was so happy in this game. And intense. A great time for her parents and her sister Hannah, who played well for Ball State. The end of the game hug was so sweet and the Mom taking a video of the hug was wonderful. A great tribute that Geno made happen for his player. I believe Hannah is goosing Nika in this picture.

So, how did the freshmen do? I loved the energy.

And Ashlynn was just great. I love her pull up jumper and the more she plays the more confident she will be. Her smile lights up the room.

KK was good but she can be better. Geno must have loved what she was doing as she lead the team in minutes played with 35.

Q had that typical freshman game. She had some really bad moments with turnovers and decision making but then she hit 3-6 threes and scored 11 points. She only played 19 minutes. She would play more if she played smarter. That will come as the season progresses.

There were also some good minutes for Ice. She just needs to shoot more. When she is open at the three point line she needs to take the shot. She can make it and she has to force the defender to guard her away from the basket. She did have rebounds and 4 assists. And a few really nice ones. All in 14 minutes.

I believe that at one time Aubrey came in for Aaliyah and that small lineup became even smaller. It was weird to see. I'm not sure we will see that very often against most teams. But it was effective in this game.

It was a game to build off of for sure. And up next is North Carolina. They are No. 24 in the country and are 6-3 on the season. I believe this is a good matchujp for UConn. More to come in my Pregame Report later in the week,

Paige Bueckers Highlights

Geno Postgame Interview

Aaliyah, Ashlynn and Nika Postgame Interview

Game Highlights

Full Game Replay

**************************************************

** Designates Upset

Wednesday, 12/06

Scores and Links

No. 1 South Carolina 104 Morgan State 38

No. 4 Iowa 67 Iowa State 58

No. 5 Texas 106 Long Beach State 62

No. 13 Kansas State 101 McNeese 39

No. 14 Notre Dame 96 Lafayette 42

No. 15 Virginia Tech 98 Long Island University 50

No. 24 North Carolina 81 UNC Greensboro 66

**********************************************************

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Big O (@olivia.vukosa)

Olivia Vukosa at the UConn game Wednesday Night. 6'4" Class of 26. I believe this is her third unofficial visit to the campus. An incredibly important recruit for the Huskies!

**************************************************

Straight from the Dog

Nothing better than a UConn win. Well, unless 30 minutes later Tennessee loses. And not only loses but loses to Middle Tennessee State for the first time EVER. Yeah, I know, the same thing happened with UCLA and Texas to UConn. But look at the teams each team lost to. Enough said.

The Lady Vols lost 73-62 and struggled at the end to even foul to try to come back. This is one messed up team. I mean, they lost to Middle Tennessee State!

Stricklin was the best player in this game for Tennessee and that is not a good thing. She had 29 of their 62 points. Pretty darn close to half. No one else was in double digits. The supposed great guard portal pickups were a non-factor. Wells off the bench was ok with 8 points, 3 assists and only 3 turnovers. But Destinee Spears was just bad again. She played 29 points and was 1-6 from the field, 1-3 on threes and only 2 assists and 2 rebounds.

So, now Tennessee sits 4-5 on the season after suffering their third straight loss. I can't remember them in this position in a long time.

They have three "easy" games before the SEC schedule starts, playing Eastern Kentucky, Wolford and Libery. But they way they are playing? Who knows??

*****************************************

By PHIL

David in Naples observation

David in Naples made an astute observation:

UConn has 3 losses; Those opponents have zero losses combined

That's not the normal way to look at records but then David is not… well let's just say some thoughts ought not to be to expressed

I thought it might be worth beating this point to death. Let's look at the records of about twenty teams. I'll skip over the handful of undefeated teams for which the answer is obvious.

I sorted first by the number of losses and second by the number of losses by those opponents. Here's the list:

Notre Dame has only one loss; that opponent is undefeated
USC has only one loss; that opponent is undefeated
Ohio State has only one loss; that opponent is undefeated
Colorado has only one loss; that opponent is undefeated
Utah has only one loss; that opponent is undefeated
Iowa has only one loss; that appointment has a single loss
Indiana has only one loss; that opponent has a single loss
LSU has only one loss; that opponent has a single loss
Kansas State has only one loss; that opponent has a single loss
Stanford has only one loss; that opponent has two losses
Louisville has only one loss; that opponent has two losses
Washington State has only one loss; that opponent has 3 losses
Creighton has only one loss; that opponent has 3 losses
Michigan has only one loss; that opponent has 3 losses
Syracuse has only one loss; that opponent has 3 losses
Virginia Tech has 2 losses; those opponents have 2 losses
Gonzaga has 2 losses; those opponents have 2 losses
Florida State has 2 losses; those opponents have 3 losses
Oklahoma has 2 losses; those opponents have 7 losses
Duke has 3 losses; those opponents have 2 losses
Maryland has 3 losses; those opponents have 4 losses
Tennessee has 4 losses; those opponents have 5 losses

My take away — having one's opponents undefeated is possible, five other teams have done so, but not a single one of them have more than one loss to an undefeated team, much less three losses to undefeated teams. There isn't even a single team with three losses and a single loss among their opponents. You comes up best in this metric – there are three opponents have only two losses among them. Among teams with two losses the best result is a tie between Virginia Tech and Gonzaga whose opponents have 2 losses combined (each).

Is probably a metric that's not going to get regular use, but I think this data suggests that the UConn situation is quite remarkable.

Milestone watch

• Aaliyah Edwards has 1306 career points after the Texas game. She passed Morgan Tuck and Laura Lishness to move into 39th place. She needs 59 points to catch Charde Houston.

• Nika Mühl had 458 assists after the Texas game. She recorded 6 in the Kansas game bringing her total to 456. She is in sole possession of 18th place. She needs 17 to tie Svetlana Abrosimova.

• Paige Bueckers has 966 career points, so needs 34 to reach the 1000 point milestone.

********************************************************

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.

UConn 99 Ball State 32

Hana 7, Nika 5.

Aaliyah 28, Paige 20, Aubrey 16, Ashlynn 9, Ice 8, KK 6, Nika 5, Qadence 3, Amari 1, Ines -2.

Heard Azzi’s grandfather talking about all the help Steph Curry is providing for her recovery in addition to UConn.

Caroline also not on bench- hope she does everything needed to protect her brain and stay safe.

By giving more time to the freshmen, the seniors shone in their fewer minutes. Keep it up even against the top teams!

********************************************************

UCONN LINKS

Several links are pay sites. Sorry!

UConn beats Ball State in Nika's Homecoming Game

UConn women handle Ball State

UConn women shoots bast Ball State