Doggydaddy's Den: 2026

Saturday, March 21, 2026

Doggy's UConn/Syracuse 2nd round Pregame Report

1 Seed UConn Huskies 8 Seed Syracuse Orange 35-0 24-8

Monday, March 23rd, 2026

Time: TBD

Gampel Pavilion

Storrs, Ct.

TV: TBD

Prior Meetings

SYRACUSE | UCONN LEADS 41-12

H: 20-4 | A: 16-7 | N: 5-1

12/29/80 SU 73, UConn 68 Philadelphia, Pa.

02/13/82 SU 86, UConn 78 Storrs, Conn.

02/02/83 SU 90, UConn 64 Syracuse, N.Y.

02/25/84 SU 61, UConn 56 Storrs, Conn.

01/12/85 SU 82, UConn 61 Syracuse, N.Y.

02/13/85 SU 74, UConn 59 Storrs, Conn.

01/04/86 SU 68, UConn 60 Syracuse, N.Y.

02/01/86 SU 78, UConn 72 Storrs, Conn.

01/17/87 SU 67, UConn 52 Syracuse, N.Y.

02/18/87 UConn 52, SU 49 Storrs, Conn.

01/20/88 SU 68, UConn 54 Syracuse, N.Y.

02/20/88 UConn 74, SU 60 Hartford, Conn.

01/21/89 SU 77, UConn 60 Syracuse, N.Y.

01/08/90 UConn 58, SU 42 Syracuse, N.Y.

02/07/90 UConn 68, SU 56 Storrs, Conn.

01/16/91 #18 UConn 65, SU 63 Syracuse, N.Y.

02/17/91 #15 UConn 85, SU 49 Storrs, Conn.

01/15/92 SU 68, #22 UConn 51 Storrs, Conn.

02/15/92 UConn 83, SU 68 Syracuse, N.Y.

01/02/93 #21 UConn 78, SU 50 Syracuse, N.Y.

02/07/93 UConn 85, SU 54 Storrs, Conn.

01/03/94 #4 UConn 64, SU 45 Storrs, Conn.

02/24/94 #4 UConn 79, SU 50 Syracuse, N.Y.

01/22/95 #1 UConn 89, SU 58 Storrs, Conn.

02/25/95 #1 UConn 89, SU 62 Syracuse, N.Y.

01/02/96 SU 62, #2 UConn 59 Syracuse, N.Y.

01/07/97 #1 UConn 93, SU 67 Storrs, Conn.

02/26/97 #1 UConn 86, SU 52 Syracuse, N.Y.

02/01/98 #2 UConn 100, SU 62 Storrs, Conn.

02/03/99 #4 UConn 96, SU 50 Storrs, Conn.

02/23/99 #6 UConn 105, SU 43 Syracuse, N.Y.

02/18/00 #1 UConn 100, SU 74 Storrs, Conn.

01/09/01 #1 UConn 76, SU 63 Syracuse, N.Y.

01/27/01 #2 UConn 84, SU 60 Hartford, Conn.

02/13/02 #1 UConn 85, SU 55 Syracuse, N.Y.

02/12/03 #1 UConn 75, SU 51 Hartford, Conn.

02/11/04 #2 UConn 82, SU 38 Syracuse, N.Y.

02/19/05 #11 UConn 85, SU 49 Hartford, Conn.

03/06/05 #14 UConn 82, SU 56 Hartford, Conn.

02/22/06 #8 UConn 65, SU 36 Syracuse, N.Y.

01/13/07 #7 UConn 76, SU 45 Storrs, Conn.

01/15/08 #1 UConn 65, SU 59 Syracuse, N.Y

01/17/09 #1 UConn 107, SU 53 Hartford, Conn.

02/24/10 #1 UConn 87, SU 66 Syracuse, N.Y.

03/07/10 #1 UConn 77, SU 41 Hartford, Conn.

02/28/11 #1 UConn 82, SU 47 Storrs, Conn.

01/25/12 #3 UConn 95, SU 54 Syracuse, N.Y.

01/19/13 #3 UConn 87, SU 62 Hartford, Conn.

03/11/13 #3 UConn 64, #24 SU 51 Hartford, Conn.

04/05/16 #1 UConn 82, #17 SU 51 Indianapolis, Ind.

03/20/17 #1 UConn 94, SU 64 Storrs, Conn.

03/23/21 #1 UConn 83, SU 47 San Antonio, Texas

03/25/24 #10 UConn 72, #22 SU 64 Storrs, Conn

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Syracuse Season

Syracuse has had a nice season to date. They are 24-8 and were 12-6 in a decent ACC conference.

Just some highlights in their season.

Well, not many...lol. They lost to every NCAA tournament team in the regular season but one.

Michigan 81-55.

Duke 71-51.

Virginia Tech 77-57.

North Carolina 77-71 in overtime

Louisville 84-65.

NC State 82-69.

Notre Dame 72-62.

Louisville II 87-61.

Those are all of their losses. That's the bad news. The good news is they beat everyone they should have beaten.

Their best win was against Virginia, who barely made the tournament as a "First Four" team. Virginia won their play-in game against Arizona State and then beat Georgia in the first round.

They beat Iowa State in the opening round 72-63 to have the chance to play UConn.

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Comparative Team Statistics

(leader in bold)

UConn Syracuse

88.8 PPG 74.4

50.4 Defensive PPG 63.4

38.4 Scoring Margin 11.0

52.4 Field Goal % 42.4

33.5 Defensive FG% 40.4

38.9 Three Point % 31.6

27.6 Defensive 3PT% 28.5

74.1 Free Throw % 72.6

37.5 Rebounds/game 42.2

6.1 Rebounding Margin 7.8

23.6 Assists per game 14.7

12.7 Turnover per game 15.6

1.9 Assists/TO ratio .9

15.7 Steals per game 10.5

5.0 Blocks per game 5.4

UCONN

The player and coaches names for both teams
are clickable to see their Bios

UConn Injuries

25 Ice Bradey
6'3" RS Junior Forward

23 Morgan Chel

6'2" Sophomore Guard/Forward

UCONN TEAM STATS

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Game Analysis

A familar foe and they are playing in a familiar game. Two years ago it was close to the day when these two teams last met. UConn beat the Orange 72-64 in the 2nd round game in the 23-24 season in a competative game. .

However, this is two years later and there is only one player in their rotation that is on this years roster.

Before I go into their player rotation Syracuse lost a starter to injury two games ago. 5'10" grad student guard Dominique Darius injured her left hand is was out for the game against Iowa State and will miss the 2nd round NCAA game against UConn. She is a big loss for the Orange. The third leading scorer at 12.6 PPG, her loss will be felt more as the point guard. She leads the team in assists at 3.5 APG. Syracuse will certainly miss her leadership on the court and in the huddle.

Against Iowa State, Syracuse was limited to only 6 players in double digit minutes.

Uche Izoje, a 6'3" freshman forward, is the leading best player on the team. In similar fashion to Strong she is the leading scorer on the team at 15.7 PPG, leads the team in rebounding at 9.3 RPG and leads the team in block shots at 2.5 BPG. A great building block for the Orange as long as they can hold on to her.

6' senior guard Laila Phelia is the second leading scorer on the team at 13,8 PPG. She leads the team in steals at 2 per game. She is by far the best 3 point shooter on the team, hitting them at a 37.2% clip.

Sophie Burrows is the only player on the roster who saw action against UConn in the 2nd round game 2 years ago. The pressure (in more than one way) will be on her to handle the UConn pressure with their usual point guard out with an injury. I almost feel sorry for her. Almost. She is averaging 11.3 PPG. Second on the team in assists at 2.3 per game. She by far takes the most three pointers on the team with 6 per game, but she only shoots 30.8% from deep.

Replacing Darius in the starting lineup is 6' sophomore guard Madaline Potts. She won't see many minutes. Against Iowa State she started but only played 16 minutes. On the season she averaged 3.6 PPG om 9 MPG.

Another fairly new addition to the starting lineup, 6'3" Senior Journey Thompson is averaging 3.9 PPG and 4.3 RPG. She only played 17 MPG for the season. She played 33 minutes against Iowa State but was scoreless taking only 1 missed shot. However, she did grab 13 rebounds in that game.

Olivia Schmitt, a 5'5" sophomore guard was the only real contributer off the bench. She played 31 minutes and scored 15 points, all them on three pointers going 5-9. She was huge in the second quarter when Syracuse built their big lead that they were able to hang on to.

Three other players saw minutes, but only 5, 7, and 7 each. They were scoreless.

Final Prediction

Well folks, this could get ugly quickly. Missing your primary ball handler against a defensive team like UConn is just a killer situation. And with UConn struggling from three point going 7-33, you can bet that won't happen again. The Huskies should have dusted off the rust after the long layoff between games. I would bet they shoot better.

UConn will win this one big. My dislike for Syracuse has lessoned after Hillsman left them. But I still enjoy a good beatdown.

UConn by 40+.

Thursday, January 29, 2026

Doggy's UConn/Tennessee Pregame Report

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No. 1 UConn Huskies No. 18 Tenn Lady Vols

22-0 (10-0) 15-3 (7-0)

Sunday
February 1st, 2026

Peoples Bank Arena
Hartford, Ct
Noon
FOX

Prior Meetings

UCONN LEADS 17-10

Home: 6-4
Away: 6-4
Neutral: 5-2

01/16/95 #2 UConn 77, #1 UT 66 Storrs, Conn.
04/02/95 #1 UConn 70, #3 UT 64 Minneapolis, Minn.
01/06/96 #2 UConn 59, #4 UT 53 Knoxville, Tenn.
03/29/96 #4 UT 88, #2 UConn 83 (OT) Charlotte, N.C.
01/05/97 #1 UConn 72, #8 UT 57 Hartford, Conn.
03/24/97 #10 UT 91, #1 UConn 81 Iowa City, Iowa
01/03/98 #1 UT 84, #3 UConn 69 Knoxville, Tenn.
01/10/99 #2 UT 92, #1 UConn 81 Storrs, Conn.
01/08/00 #1 UConn 74, #2 UT 67 Knoxville, Tenn.
02/02/00 #4 UT 72, #1 UConn 71 Storrs, Conn.
04/02/00 #1 UConn 71, #2 UT 52 Philadelphia, Pa.
12/30/00 #1 UConn 81, #2 UT 76 Hartford, Conn.
02/01/01 #3 UT 92, #2 UConn 88 Knoxville, Tenn.
01/05/02 #1 UConn 86, #2 UT 72 Knoxville, Tenn.
03/29/02 #1 UConn 79, #6 UT 56 San Antonio, Texas
01/04/03 #3 UConn 63, #5 UT 62 (OT) Hartford, Conn.
04/08/03 #1 UConn 73, #5 UT 68 Atlanta, Ga.
02/05/04 #4 UConn 81, #1 UT 67 Knoxville, Tenn.
04/06/04 #6 UConn 70, #2 UT 61 New Orleans, La.
01/08/05 #10 UT 68, #15 UConn 67 Hartford, Conn.
01/07/06 #1 UT 89, #7 UConn 80 Knoxville, Tenn.
01/06/07 #4 UT 70, #5 UConn 64 Hartford, Conn.

1/23/20 #3 UConn 60 #23 Tennessee 45 Storrs, Conn.

1/29/21 #3 UConn 67 #25 Tennessee 61 Knoxville, Tenn.

02/06/22 #10 UConn 75, #7 Tennessee 56 Hartford, Conn.

01/26/23 #5 UConn 84, UT 67 Knoxville, Conn.

02/06/25 #19 UT 80, #5 UConn 76 Knoxville, Tenn.

Tennessee Overview

At first glance Tennessee appears to be having a very good season. They are 15-3 and undefeated in the SEC at 7-0. Great numbers. However, their opponents haven't been the best.

They lost to then ranked No. 9 North Carolina State 80-77 to start the season. NCST is now unranked. The next five games were against pretty weak opponents. Massey rating in parentheses.They beat ETSU (256) 97-47, UT Martin (223) 72-61, Belmont (84) 68-58, Middle Tennessee (109) 85-41and Coppin State (302) 88-35.

I would say that the UT Martin and Belmont games were way too close against pretty weak opponents.

The next game was against No. 2 UCLA and they were hammered 99-77. Tennessee bounced back against unranked (unusual) Stanford 65-62. A good win but this was not the typical Stanford team.

They followed that with an east win against Winthrop (311) 112-40. However, No. 8 Louisville destroyed the Lady Vols 89-65. That was three games against top 25 teams at the time they played and three loses by an average of 17 points per game.

Tennessee played their final OOC game against Southern Indiana (141) winning 89-44. They rolled through their first 5 SEC conference games beating the bottom teams. They beat Florida 76-65, Auburn 73-56, Mississippi State 90-80 and Arkansas 85-50. They then beat at the time No. 21 Alabama and at the time No. 11 Kentucky 70-59. In their final game before meeting UConn they lost to Mississippi State in their rematch 77-62.

Their best win was against an overranted Kentucky team, who lost their prior game to Mississippi State 71-59 and Georgia 72-67. Both unranked.

Comparative Team Statistics

Leader in Bold

UConn Tennessee

90.2 PPG 78.4

50.5 Defensive PPG 61.2

39.7 Scoring Margin 17.2

52.7 Field Goal % 41.2

33.7 Defensive FG% 38.7

39.3 Three Point % 30.0

26.8 Defensive 3PT% 29.4

75.7 Free Throw % 65.9

37.2 Rebounds/game 42.1

5.8 Rebounding Margin 3.3

24.4 Assists per game 14.3

13.1 Turnover per game 15.1

1.9 Assists/TO ratio 0.9

16.0 Steals per game 11.8

4.9 Blocks per game 4.3

UCONN

The player and coaches names for both teams
are clickable to see their Bios

UConn Injuries

25 Ice Bradey
6'3" RS Junior Forward

23 Morgan Chel

6'2" Sophomore Guard/Forward

UCONN TEAM STATS

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Tennessee Lady Vols

Coach Kim Caldwell

Tennessee Starters

TENNESSEE TEAM STATS

Game Analysis

Well, here we go again. Playing one more game in this rivalry. It just doesn't have the same oomph it has had in the past. But after last years loss to the Lady Vols, this game has a little more meaning to it. I know fans and pundits all say that loss propelled them to the championship. I don't buy it. I believe they would have won it all win or lose that game. Prior to last year the Huskies had the Lady Vols number. UConn had beaten Tennessee the last four times they had met. The series lead is now 17-10.

Tennessee is missing three starters from last year. And at times they miss those players experience.

Gone are Ruby Whitehorn, who was dismissed from the team with issues with the law. I won't go into details. She was second on the team in scoring at 13 PPG, her biggest contribution is on the press. She was quick and has long arms to disrupt teams from bringing up the ball across half court.

5'11" fifth year guard Jewel Spear came from Wake Forest two seasons ago. She averaged 12.1 PPG and was able to get hot from the outside at any time in a game, especially late in close games. With this teams poor three point shooting they sure miss her.

Samara Spencer was the point guard on this team. She was the fifth double digit scorer at 10.1 PPG. Her biggest contributions were two fold. She led the team in assists by far with 5.1 APG and she was the best three point shooter at 40.5%.

This is the second season of the brand new version of Tennesee. Kim Caldwell, who came after one season at Marshall to this high profile job to be a savior of the program. A tough position to be in. Last season was a mixed bag of success. My overview of Tennessee gives you an indication of their season to date.

She brought with her a system that you just don't see at the highest level of Division I basketball. No matter how the team is performing she will replace the starting five with five new players after only a couple of minutes on the court. And then continue to replace players after a few more minutes over and over again. That is why she has no one over 26 MPG and eleven players with double digit minutes.

Coach Caldwell makes quick substitutions because the Lady Vols press on almost every possesion. Full court pretty much from opening tip to final buzzer and she wants to keep them fresh. However, she appears to be changing her style a little. She still makes quick early substitutions but the last few games she hasn't replaced the players as often and looks to have shrunk her rotation to 8 players. And the pressing seems to have slowed down a little. Maybe the constant pressing was wearing out the Lady Vols.

I'm pretty sure that Tennessee is the only team where ten different players have started at least one game. Crazy, huh. But they have five players that started the majority of their games. It doesn't mean those five will start against UConn but I'll go with that for this analysis.

South Carolina transfer, Talaysia Cooper is the star of the team. The 6' red shirt junior guard is averaging a team leading 14.4 PPG, first in assists with 4.1 APG and by far a team leading 3.5 steals per game. She is shooting a poor 42.3% from the field and 32.6% on three pointers. Although she can get hot for a short period of time. Oh, she is also second on the team lead in rebounds at 5.7 RPG. A stat filler good and bad.

Janiah Barker is a 6'4' forward that transfered from UCLA. UConn faced her last year in the final four where she played 17 minutes and scored 3 points. She has had some really good games this season scoring 25 points against UCLA in a loss and 20 points against Mddle Tennessee and Winthrop. Barker is second on the team in scoring at 14.3 PPG and tied for 1st in rebounding at 6.9 RPG. She is second on the team in blocks.

Tennessee has brought in a terrific freshmen class including the Pauldo twins. Both 5'6" guards, Mia has moved into the starting lineup and has some really good games. She does make some freshman mistakes but she is third on the team in scoring at 12.1 PPG. She is also second in steals with 22. She is shooting 40.4% from the field and 33.3% on threes.

Zee Spearman, Miami transfer, is one of two bigs on the team at 6'4". Listed as a forward, Spearman is tied for 1st on the team in rebounds at 6.9 RPG. She is only shooting 39.5% from the field. Poor shooting for a forward/center. She is averaging 11.7 PPG and leads the team in blocks with 26.

Deniya Prawl is a 6' freshman guard who appears to have moved into the starting lineup the last few games. She is a solidly buit guard who loves to play a physical game. She is only averaging 3.9 PPG and 3.2 RPG but Coach Caldwell loves her defense. UConn won't mind her she shooting some three pointers as she is only 3-24 on the season.

I believe the bench has shrunk to three maybe four players that will see significant minutes.

6'2" junior forward Alyssa Lathem is a transfer last season from Syracuse. She averages 4.7 PPG and 3.1 RPG. She is a big contributor to the full court press. Lathem is the only player on the team shooting better than 50% at 51.1.

Jaida Civil is another freshman seeing playing time. The 6' guard is averaging 5.6 PPG and 3.7 RPG. Another good sized guard, she does a goodt job on the press.

5'7" Senior Guard Nya Robertson is a transfer from SMU. She will see plenty of minutes. She is averaging 8.4 PPG and is only behind Pauldo in number of three point shots. She is hitting them at only 31.7%. Even that number is misleading. She had one game where she set a Tennessee record with 10-16 on one game. Without that game she would be shooting 25.8%.

The final homegrown talent in the rotation is 5'9" freshman Kaniya Boyd. Coach Caldwell put her in the starting lineup in their last game against Missouri. She is maybe the quickest Lady Vol and loves to drive to the basket. She is averaging 3.9 PPG. Boyd is only shooting 4-19 on threes.

Well, there ya go. A look at all 9 players we should see in this game with significant minutes. And you will see all of them coming in and going out. It will make your head spin although not as much as earlier in the season.

The Lady Vols also take a ton of three pointers average 32 per game. However they only make them at a 30.0% clip. Last season their entire offense was taking more shots than the other team. And they did that on average by 17 per game. Not so much this season. Their scoring is down because they only take 9 more per game. And most of those were against the weaker teams in their schedule.

Player to player comparisions are straight forward.

Mia Pauldo vs KK Arnold. This one is easy. Pauldo trys too hard and makes a lot of mistakes. KK is a great defender and will force Pauldo into quick shots and bad turnovers. Pauldo is quick and will make a few good players but....advantage UConn.

Zee Spearman vs Serah Williams. Spearman is really important for Tennessees success. She was in last seasons win against UConn scoring 16 point on 6-9 shooting. Williams game has improved the last few weeks looking a lot more like her Wisconsin self. Advantage UConn.

Janiah Barker vs Sarah Strong. Barker is a good player, emphisis on good. Strong is, well, the best player in the country. Need i say more?? Advantage UConn.

Talaysia Cooper vs Ashlynn Shade. I have Shade on Cooper, but you can bet that burden will be shared. Cooper can disappear in games, but if she is on, the has the advantage over Shade. I'll throw Tennessee a bone. Advantage Tennessee.

Deniya Prawl vs Azzi Fudd. I have a feeling that Azzi will be teaching the freshman a lesson. It's not close. Advantage UConn.

Tennessee bench vs UConn bench. Tennessee has no one to compare to Blanca. Right there you have a UConn advantage. Add in Heckle, El Alfy and Ziebell? It's not close. Advantage UConn.

Geno vs Caldwell. Advantage UConn.

Intangible. Home court advantage. UConn. Revenge factor. UConn.

All these items lead me to my final prediction.

Final Prediction

These two teams are different in some ways and the same in others. Both teams love to press and force turnovers. UConn forces 24 per game, Tennessee forces 21 per game. And the outcome will depend on which team can play their game better than the other team. Both teams take a lot of three pointers but UConn shoots 39% and Tennessee shoots 30%. Shoot away!!

If Tennessee can't turn UConn over and a high rate and if Tennessee doesn't turn the ball over at a hight rate and if Tennessee can shoot a lot better than their season average on three pointer shots......if, if, if. I just don't see it happening. UConn is too talented, too smart and well coached. These freshmen haven't seen a defense like UConn's.

My friend TonyC said that it would take a team holding UConn to less than 60 points because of how good the Husky defense is. No way this version of Tennessee can do this. And this version of Tennessee is a really poor shooting team.

I had my prediction a bit lower before watching the Lady Vols get slapped around by Mississippi State. And MSU is no UConn. And Tennessee was at home. It could get ugly.

UConn by 32+.