Doggydaddy's Den: Doggy's Doghouse 3/26/2024

GO UCONN!!!!!

The Boys and their Dogs -

Under the UConn blanket!!

GO UCONN!!!!!

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

Only a few days left!!

Naismith fan voting has started. You can vote once a day. Paige and Aaliyah are on the ballot.

VOTE HERE

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

Ok, I just started breathing again. Wow, what a great game. Yes, UConn was a little sloppy with the ball but how could you not love the competativeness of the contest. For those who said UConn hasn't won a close game, well...take a seat. this is the kind of game that gives the team confidence when they are in this situation in a future game. Like maybe against Duke. Or USC. Or Iowa. Or SC. Hey..it could happen!

This game proved the adage "we have Paige and you don't". She was so amazing in this game. Clutch shot after clutch shot. She was just breathtaking. 32 points, 10 rebounds, 6 assists and 4 steals. Oh yeah, and one hellacious block. However, this game was much more than just Paige.

Edwards had to work hard but she still ended up with a double double with 11 points and 11 rebounds. Give credit to Syracuse in limiting Aaliyah's shots to only 8 for the game. Down side was her five turnovers.

KK was a force in this game. She hit the opening three pointers and then hit a clutch three late in the game. She helped harrass Syracuse start Diaysha Fair into a tough shooting night. KK had 10 points in her 30 minutes. She kept her compsosure with only 1 turnover.

That precosious freshman Ashlynn Shade followed up her career scoring game in the first round with 19 more points in her (surprise!!) 40 minutes of play. She hit clutch three pointer after three pointer going 5-9 on the day. She is no longer a freshman. She is playing like an upper classman. One turnover in 40 minutes. Fantastic.

Nika played 34 minutes before fouling out. She was 0-2 on her only shots, two three pointers. She didn't get to the foul line. She did have 5 assists and only 2 turnovers. Terrible game right? WRONG! Her defense on that 5'5" little jitterbug Fair, with help from KK at times, held Fair to 20 points on 6-22 shooting, 4-12 on threes, and 5 turnovers. It was a great defense job by one of the best defensive guards in WCBB.

The Huskies were hurt by their 17 turnovers, which allowed the Orange to keep coming back in the game closing to 2 points at one time. But Paige wouldn't let them complete the comeback.

Thanks ladies. On to the 30th consecutive Sweet Sixteen. Up next Duke!!

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

Did I forget to mention? Nike became the all time assist leader in UConn history early in the game.

From the UConnblog Article I have linked in the UConn links section -

Nika Mühl is officially the owner of all of UConn’s assist records. By setting up an Ashlynn Shade 3-pointer with 1:56 left in the first quarter of the Huskies’ second-round matchup against Syracuse on Monday, the senior point guard became the program’s all-time assist holder with 660 total. Moriah Jefferson has held the mark since 2016.

In addition to topping the career list, Mühl also has UConn’s single-game assist record (15 vs. NC State in Nov. 2022) and single-season assist record (284 in 2022-23). Her 17 games with 10+ assists are the most by any Husky as well.

On top of all that, Mühl is the only player in school history with 200+ assists in multiple seasons and has dished out 13+ assists five times. That’s only happened four other times in program history and nobody has done it more than once.

What’s most impressive about Mühl securing the all-time mark is how few games she set the record in. Monday is just the 128th game in her career whereas Jefferson played 155 games with the Huskies.

I am really going to miss that young lady. I hope all her professional dreams come true. Any team would be lucky to have her on their roster.

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

I'll be putting together a Duke Pregame Report. It certainly was not who I thought they would be playing in the Sweet Sixteen game. I was looking forward to the Huskies getting some revenge on Ohio State. But I'm happy they are playing Duke instead. There certainly won't be the same full court pressure that OSU plays. But Duke has it going and has looked good so far in the tournament. And it could be a factor in the Sarah Strong Sweetstakes.

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

Full Game Highlights

KK hits the biggest three of the night!!

Last two minutes of the game

Another Full Game Highlights Video

Highlights from Paige's 32 Point Game

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

Geno say Paige is the best player in America

Geno Full Postgame Interview

Paige and Aaliyah on the Syracuse Game

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

Let's hear it for fellow Big East team Creighton, who gave 2 seed UCLA all they could handle before losing 67-63. I hope a few more Big East teams join Creighton at this level of play soon. More competition for the Huskies is a good thing.

And that big bad SEC conference with 8 teams in the tournemtn is down to the two teams we all expected would make the Sweet Sixteen, LSU and South Carolina. Another overrated season the the SEC.

Iowa had a tough time with West Virginia, only winning by 10 points 64-54. The Hawkeyes were held to 26 first half points, their low total of the season. Clark led the way with 32 points. She was an inefficient 8-22 from the field, 5-14 on threes and another 6 turnovers. She is no Paige Bueckers.

During the USC/Kansas game they posted this picture -

These are all great players. But they are missing the Big East Freshman of the Year who has scored 26 and 19 points in her first two NCAA games with 10 rebounds, 4 steals and only 2 turnovers in games of 40 and 39 minutes. She was 10-20 on threes. And shot 17-31 overall. These are serious stats.

Ashlynn Shade has been remakable.

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

By PHIL

Milestone Watch

• Aaliyah Edwards had 11 points in the Syracuse game, which brings her to a career total of 1797 points. She now is tied with Stefanie Dolson in 17th place all time.

• Aaliyah Edwards now has 999 rebounds with 11 against Syracuse. She now needs 8 to catch Gabby Williams in 8th place.

• Nika Mühl has 663 assists after her 5 assists in the Syracuse game. She is the all-time leader is career assists passing Moriah Jefferson!

• Mühl is now the holder of:

o Single game assists record 15 (against NC State 20 November 2022) surpassing Paige Bueckers

o Single season assists record 284 (2022–23) surpassing Sue Bird’s 231

o Career assists record surpassing Moriah Jefferson

• Paige Bueckers now has 785 points this season. This moves her past Maya Moore’s 754 in the 2008-09 season and Napheesa Collier in the 2016-17 season.

• Geno now has 1211 wins.

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

SPIDER 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 80, Syracuse 53.

Net positives/minutes played: Paige 35/40, Ashlynn 18/40, Aaliyah 16/39, KK 9/30, Ice -1/17, Nika -1/34.

Gampel was packed and loud, great crowd!! It is a privilege to watch Paige. Ashlynn stepped up again! Aaliyah got beat up again, it can’t be any worse in the pros. KK came through in the clutch. Nika played phenomenal unrelenting defense, with some help, until those two fouls.

To paraphrase Charles Dickens, “It was the best of Nika, it was the worst of Nika.” Ice did get 4 rebounds. A great effort against a good team.

Go UConn beat Duke!!

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

Tournament Section

Date, Time and TV

Albany 1 Region

Round of 32

Columbia, SC

1 South Carolina 86 - 8 North Carolina 41

Bloomington, Indiana

4 Indiana 75 - 5 Oklahoma 68

Notre Dame, Indiana

2 Notre Dame 71 - 7 Ole Miss 56

Corvallis

3 Oregon State 61 - 6 Nebraska 51

Sweet Sixteen

1 South Carolina vs 4 Indiana 5:00 ESPN

2 Notre Dame vs 3 Oregon State 2:30 ESPN

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

Albany 2 Region

Round of 32

Iowa City, Iowa

1 Iowa 64 - 8 West Virginia 54

Manhattan, Kansas

4 Kansas State 50 - 5 Colorado 63 **

Los Angeles, California

2 UCLA 67 Creighton 63

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

3 LSU 83 - 11 Middle Tennessee 56

Sweet Sixteen

1 Iowa vs 5 Colorado 3:30 ABC

2 UCLA vs 3 LSU 1:00 ABC

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

Portland 3 Region

Round of 32

Los Angeles, California

1 USC 73 - 8 Kansas 55

Blackburg, VA

4 Virginia Tech 72 - 5 Baylor 75

Columbus, Ohio

2 Ohio State 75 - 7 Duke 63 **

Storrs, Connecticut

3 UConn 72 - 6 Syracuse 64

Sweet Sixteen

3 UConn vs 7 Duke 8:00 ESPN

1 USC vs 5 Baylor 5:30 ESPN

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

Portland 4 Region

Round of 32

Austin, Texas

1 Texas 65 - 8 Alabama 54

Spokane, Washington

4 Gonazaga 77 - 5 Utah 66

Stanford, California

2 Stanford 87 - 7 Iowa State 81 OT