Friday, January 26, 2024

Doggy's UConn/Notre Dame Pregame Report

 




Date: Saturday 
January 27th, 2024
Storrs, Ct.
Gampel Pavilion
Time: 8:00
TV: FOX


No. 8 UConn Huskies                                             No. 15 Notre Dame

             17-3 (9-0)                                                                14-4 (5-3)


Prior Meetings

NOTRE DAME | UCONN 
HUSKIES LEADS 39-14
H: 21-4 | A: 12-5 | N: 5-5

 01/18/96 #3 UConn 87, ND 64 South Bend, Ind. 
02/24/96 #3 UConn 86, ND 79 Storrs, Conn. 
03/05/96 #2 UConn 71, ND 54 Storrs, Conn. 
02/09/97 #1 UConn 72, ND 49 Storrs, Conn. 
03/04/97 #1 UConn 86, ND77 Storrs, Conn. 
12/06/97 #3 UConn 78, ND 59 South Bend, Ind. 
02/21/98 #2 UConn 73, ND 61 Storrs, Conn. 
03/02/98 #3 UConn 73, ND 53 Piscataway, N.J. 
12/08/98 #1 UConn 106, ND 81 South Bend, Ind. 
03/02/99 #6 UConn 96, ND 75 Piscataway, N.J. 
02/26/00 #1 UConn 77, ND 59 Hartford, Conn. 
01/15/01 ND 92, #1 UConn 76 South Bend, Ind.
03/06/01 #2 UConn 78, ND 76 Storrs, Conn. 
03/30/01 ND 90, #1 UConn 75 St. Louis, Mo. 
01/21/02 #1 UConn 80, ND 53 Hartford, Conn. 
01/20/03 #2 UConn 72, ND 53 South Bend, Ind. 
02/23/03 #1 UConn 77, ND59 Storrs, Conn. 
01/13/04 ND 66, #4 UConn 51 South Bend, Ind.
01/12/05 #16 UConn 67, #7 ND 50 South Bend, Ind. 
01/30/05 #6 ND 65, #9 UConn 59 Storrs, Conn.
03/07/05 #14 UConn 67, #10 ND 54 Hartford, Conn. 
02/19/06 #8 UConn 79, ND 64 South Bend, Ind. 
03/05/06 #7 UConn 71, ND 60 Hartford, Conn. 
01/27/07 #6 UConn 64, ND 47 Storrs, Conn. 
01/27/08 #1 UConn 81, #16 ND 64 South Bend, Ind. 
02/22/09 #1 UConn 76, #24 ND 66 Hartford, Conn. 
01/16/10 #1 UConn 70, #3 ND 46 Storrs, Conn. 
03/01/10 #1 UConn 76, #8 ND 51 South Bend, Ind. 
03/08/10 #1 UConn 59, #6 ND 44 Hartford, Conn. 
01/08/11 #2 UConn 79, #19 ND 76 South Bend, Ind. 
02/19/11 #2 UConn 78, #8 ND 57 Storrs, Conn. 
03/08/11 #1 UConn 73, #10 ND 64 Hartford, Conn. 
04/03/11 #10 ND 72, #1 UConn 63 Indianapolis, Ind.
01/07/12 ND 74, #2 UConn 67 (OT) South Bend, Ind.
02/27/12 #3 ND 72, #4 UConn 59 Storrs, Conn.
03/06/12 #4 UConn 63, #3 ND 54 Hartford, Conn. 
04/01/12 #4 ND 83, #3 UConn 75 (OT) Denver, Colo.
01/05/13 #5 ND 73, #1 UConn 72 Storrs, Conn.
03/04/13 #2 ND 96, #3 UConn 87 (3OT) South Bend, Ind.
03/12/13 #2 ND 62, #3 UConn 59 Hartford, Conn.
04/07/13 #3 UConn 85, #2 ND 65 New Orleans, La. 
04/08/14 #1 UConn 79, #2 ND 58 Nashville, Tenn. 
12/06/14 #3 UConn 76, #2 ND 58 South Bend, Ind. 
04/07/15 #1 UConn 63, #2 ND 53 Tampa, Fla. 
12/05/15 #1 UConn 91, #3 ND 81 Storrs, Conn. 
12/07/16 #1 UConn 72, #2 ND 61 South Bend, Ind. 
12/03/17 #1 UConn 80, #3 ND 71 Hartford, Conn. 
03/30/18 #3 ND 91, #1 UConn 89 (OT) Columbus, Ohio
12/02/18 #2 UConn 89, #1 ND 71 South Bend, Ind.
04/05/19 #3 ND 81, #2 UConn 76 Tampa, Fla. 
12/08/19 #2 UConn 81, ND 57 Storrs, Conn.
12/05/21 #2 UConn 73, #24 Notre Dame 54  Hartford, Conn.
12/04/22 #7 ND 74, #3 UConn 60 South Bend, Ind.
 
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Notre Dame

The Irish have had a good season to date. But it started with a bucket of cold water dropped on the team in the opening game. They lost to No. 1 South Carolina 100-71 and it wasn't that close. But the Irish found out what they have in freshman Hannah Hildago as she scored 31 points agains tthe tough Gamecock defense.


They won their next nine games against a series of weaker opponents, the best being at the time No. 20 Tennessee 74-69. They then lost two of their next three, losing to Syracuse 86-81 and Notrh Carolina 61-57, two currently ranked teams. They are now on a 5 game winning streak, beating Boston College 98-48, Miami 70-59, Virginia 86-76 and Wake Forest 75-56. In the warmup game for UConn, Notre Dame had their revenge game against Syrracuse but lost 79-65 to end their streak at 4 games.


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Comparative Team Statistics
(leader in bold)

                                             UConn                                       Notre Dame 

                                              84.4        PPG                            83.3
                                              58.8        Defensive PPG            61.1
                                              25.6        Scoring Margin           22.3
                                              51.8        Field Goal %               47.0
                                              36.2        Defensive FG%           38.4 
                                              38.8        Three Point %             36.2
                                              30.4        Defensive 3PT%          27.2
                                              74.2        Free Throw %             76.6
                                              37.9        Rebounds/game           42.3
                                                5.2        Rebounding Margin       8.8 
                                              20.4        Assists per game          17.3
                                              13.3        Turnover per game       15.6
                                                1.5        Assists/TO ratio             1.1
                                              10.3        Steals per game            12.2
                                                3.4        Blocks per game            4.6
    

Notre Dame

 


Notre Dame Starters
 Game Analysis

Last year's loss to the Irish was particularly annoying. Shorthanded before the game and then losing Fudd early in the game, UConn just coudln't get anything going. My friend Cat put it best - "Meh. Not going to lose sleep over this one. No Dorka, no Azzi for most of the game and a bad game for others. No one should have expected UConn to go through this gauntlet without a loss. I would have no problem meeting this team down the road assuming all are healthy. Notre Dame is still loathsome."  

Yes, they are still loathsome. 

Olivia Miles, their 5'10" junior point guard is still out with her knee injury. Notre Dame is a little weird about it. They have never said she is out for the season and never released info on what the injury was.

But they have replaced her fairly seamlessly with the freshman Hannah Hidago. She is a 5'6" bundle of energy and has come in playing like an upper classman. She is leading the team in scoring at 23.9 PPG, assists at 5.6 APG, and she is a defensive wizard. She has an amazing 94 steals on the season. That's almost 6 per game. She just has a knack for it. Quick hands and great anticipation.

Sonia Citron is the second leading scorer for Notre Dame at 18.9 PPG. The 6'1'' junior guard is a tough matchup for anyone. A big guard, she is tough to defend. She missed several games with a knee strain, but thankfully it wasn't worse and is back to 100% last few games. I would use the word fearless for her game.

At forward is 6'3" senior Maddy Westbeld, another sibling connection with her sister Kathryn playing for the Irish from 2014-2018. She is a fundamentally sound player with a decent outside shot. But too slow to get to the basket regularly. She has really taken on a bigger role this season is scoring 13.8 PPG and leads the team in rebounding at 9.5 RPG. Not quick afoot, she struggles to guard quicker players.

Anna DeWolfe is a Graduate Student. The 5'8" guard transferred in from Fordahm after four seasons in the A-10. She had a terrific career with the Rams, garnering All A-10 honors. She averaged 1.69 PPG. This season, in a tought schedule, is is averaging 9.8 PPG. She shoots a solid 35.5% on threes. 

The final starter is a transfer from Oregon, 6'4" senior forward Kaylee Watson. Averaging 6.7 PPG and 4.8 RPG, Watson is a big body under the basket. The reality is she really doesn't play that big. Not a plodder, but she is a little slow of foot.

Notre Dame will probably only play two players off the bench.

6'5" Junior Natalija Marshall is the big off the bench. She pretty much shares the middle with Watson. They rarely play on the court together. She is averaging 7 PPG and 4 RPG. Like Watson, the Irish don't get much offense from her.  

Sophomore KK Bransford The 5'11" guard will give the starters a blow and hit the occasional jumper. Her on the ball defense is solid. She is averaging 8.9 PPG and 4.7 RPG. She is not a good shooter, hitting 39% from the floor and 3-17 on threes. We all know that means she will hit ont or two against UConn.

The Irish will play a man to man defense or  matchup zone for most of the game. I watched the Notre Dame/Viginia game and the Irish almost exclusively play the match up zone. I'm not sure how effective it will be against a team with 4 guards that pass so well and all can hit the three pointer at a hig percentage. If they do play some man, who will guard who is the question. For both teams.

I expect that Watson will guard Edwards and visa versa. Westbeld is a problem for both teams. UConn really doesn't have a player to guard her other than Edwards and she will have to play one of the centers when they are in the game. I'm thinking that Paige, in her power forward mode will guard Maddy. Not easy but UConn will send an extra defender if she posts up Paige.

On the other hand, which guard will Westbeld guard when UConn has four of them on the floor as they do much of the time? This is UConn's big advantage when they have the ball on offense.

I'm thinking that Nika will be covering Citron. She gives up an inch or two but Nika will do her thing keeping the ball out of Citrons's hands.Sonija is a terrific offensive player so just holding her down a little will be important.

Ok, so what to do about Hidalgo? I think she might be too quick for Nika which is why I think she won't be assigned to her. More likely it will be freshman on freshman. Hidolgo and Arnold. Quick on Quick! I've only seen a little big of Hidolgo but she is just a handful. More importantly, the Huskies can't let her get her 5-6 steals that she has been doing every game. She loves to jump passes. Those have been turning into fast break baskets for the Irish. I would imagine that Geno and the team have been working on more ball fakes and back door cuts.

That leaves Shade on DeWolfe. A great matchup of an inexpereinced freshman vs a fifth year player. The little I've seen of DeWolfe tells me that she will struggle to guard the constant moving of Ashlynn and I expect her to get open for a few three point attempts.  

The benches are pretty much a wash. I do like when Ice comes in, it allows Edwardes to guard Westbeld. 

Final Prediction


UConn and Notre Dame will both only go 7 deep in this game so foul trouble for either team will be an issue. And we all know how the refs just love the Irish.

I don't know what is up with Marshall for ND. She only played 9 minutes against Syracuse and boy, the starters could have really used the rest. They were really tired the last half of the fourth quarter.   

UConn is going to pressure the freshman point guard and see how she handles it. She loves to turn over opponents, how will she handle it when she is under pressure? Paige is a big problem for Notre Dame. As she is for everyone.

I like how the Huskies are playing and they are just the better team. With the game being at Gampel for a "white out" game, past championship teams being honored, and a crazy full arena, UConn has a huge home court advantage. Huge. As long as UConn can play their game, the Huskies will prevail. I expect them to do just that.  

I watched a couple of Irish games on Youtube and it's just not the same Notre Dame team. The more I watched the more it looked like ND will really struggle against UConn.


Huskies by 15+.

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