Doggydaddy's Den: Doggy's Doghouse 11/4/2024

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

Even my daughter Elizabeth (mother to Logan and Barrett) is looking for my Blog!!!

GO UCONN!!!!!

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

DoggyDaddy says VOTE!!!!!!!

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

We love our newcomers 😍 pic.twitter.com/NyIZYEJ7UA
— UConn Women’s Basketball (@UConnWBB) November 4, 2024

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

No. 1 South Carolina 68 Michigan 62

No. 3 USC 68 No. 20 Ole Miss 66

No. 5 UCLA 66 No. 17 Louisville 59

No. 6 Notre Dame 105 Mercyhurst 61

No. 7 LSU 95 Eastern Kentucky 44

No. 8 Iowa State 96 Chicago State 56

No. 10 Oklahoma 76 Southern 44

No. 11 Duke 89 Radford 36

No. 13 Kansas State 92 Green Bay 45

No. 15 North Carolina 83 Charleston Southern 53

No. 18 Maryland 74 UMBC 32

No. 19 Florida State 119 North Florida 49

No. 22 Kentucky 98 South Caroline Upstate 43

No. 23 Nebraska 88 Omaha 48

No. 24 Alabama 115 New Orleans 53

No. 25 Indiana 82 Brown 60

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

Straight from the Dog

A couple of great games between Top 25 teams on Monday played in Paris, France.

No. 5 UCLA defeated No. 17 Louisville 66-59 in a game that was close throughout. Jeff Walz has another very good but not great team. He hasn't had a really great team since the Angel McCautry led teams. But he certainly has another terrific freshman in Tajianna Roberts, a 5'10" guard. Against UCLA she had 21 points hitting 4-10 three pointers. I had to look her up as it's hard to believe she really is a freshman. Not bad for her career opening game against a Top 5 team. But UCLA won the day behind possible 1st team AA Lauren Betts. The 6'7" center dominated the game with 18 points, 13 rebounds (5 offensive boards), 4 assists and 4 blocks. Also impressive was foward Timea Gardiner, a 6'3" transfer from Oregon State. She game off the bench for UCLA scoring 15 points going 5-7 on three pointers. She brings them a different dimension. While the game was close, we have to remember that UCLA was missing star guard Kiki Rice, who was out with some sort of injury. They did not announce what it was. But she makes that team hum and I don't believe it would have been that close if Kiki was available.

In an even more exciting game, No. 3 USC beat No. 20 Ole Miss 68-66. This one went down to the final buzzer. Unlike the UCLA/Louisville game, this game wasn't close throughout. Ole Miss was just awful early. I believe they shot 18% in the first half and were 1-11 on threes. They were down 15 points early in the third quarter and still down 13 points, 49-36 with 5 minutes remaing in that quarter. The Rebels closed to 52-45 going into the fourth quarter using a 9-3 run. The fourth quarter was more Ole Miss, and they finally took the lead 57-56 half way through the quarter. That's a 21-7 run. The game was tied 66-66 with 17 seconds left and Ole Miss had the ball after USC tied it on two free throws. They threw the ball away and two more free throws for the Trojans gave them the lead with 9 second remaining. Tought USC defense prevented a game winning or tying shot and the Trojans squeaked it out. Superstar Juju Watkins had 27 points on 8-19 shooting, 1-4 on threes. She added 10 rebounds and almost had a triple double with 9 turnovers. She was a big part of winning and also a big part of letting Ole Miss get back in the game. And she played 40 minutes. I was not impressed with the USC bench. They had 4 players play 31 minutes and theyb only produced 5 points, 5 rebounds, 5 turnovers and 1 assists. Juju might have a bunch of 40 minute games. Superstar transfer Kiki Iriafen showed her stuff with 22 points and 13 rebounds and some clutch free throw shooting going 8-11. Can't wait to see them play UConn. A really good measuring stick for the Huskies and the Trojans.

The rest of the games were all the usual mismatches for Top 25 teams. But there were some great individual performances.

No. 6 Notre Dame beat Mercyhurst 105-61 and welcomed back Olivia Miles. She didn't miss a beat starting with a Triple Double. She had 20 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists reminding us how talented she is. All-American Hannah Hildago had her usual game with 19 points, 9 rebounds a 6 steals. Pittsburgh transfer Liato King, a great rebounder at 6 feet in hight had 24 points and 11 rebounds. And freshman post Katie Koval had a nice first game with 18 points, 7 rebounds and 5 blocks. When Lisa Karlen and Maddy Westbeld are available, they are not only a talented team but a really deep team.

No. 10 Oklahoma beat Southern 76-44. Why am I posting about this game you might ask? Well, their starting center was of great interest to UConn and their fans. Raegan Beers transferred to the Sooners from Oregon State and was down to Oklahoma and UConn according to reports. She would have been a great addition to the Huskies. Instead she had 18 points and 10 rebounds for Oklahoma in her first game for the Sooners. Bummer.

In a later game, No. 1 South Carolina had their hands full with unranked Michigan. The Spartans fought to the end before succoming to the Gamecocks 68-62. It was an unimpressive initial outing for South Carolina. Their shooting was just terrible and thankfully for them, Michigan's wasn't much better. SC shot 33% from the field and was only 5-26 on threes. Their best shooters Paopao was only 1-4 on threes, Hall 1-3, Fulwiley 0-4 and Johnson 0-5. Last season, they hit close to 40%. Based on the first game, can we call that number an outlier for the Gamecocks? In 22-23 they shot 31.8%, in 21-22 they shot 30.6, 20-21 they shot 33.7. Without that dominating big in the middle they will need to shoot closer to 40% than 30%.

Maryland won their opener. Amari DeBerry, former UConn players, garnered 10 minutes and was 1-1 from the field for her only 2 points. No rebounds or assists. But I'm glad she got double digit minutes.