Analysis and comments - Game 21 - UConn vs Notre Dame

[BRS24]

Barring injury Ice Brady will not start silly to suggest it would happen
Trying to match another teams strength is foolish
Let a player like Westbeld try and guard Paige or
Ashlyn
That’s the mismatch

Agree. And Geno admitted as much when he tried the big/big vs Texas.

 

[my2cents]

Under the INTANGIBLES heading is the following words and it would seem like we are both on the same page: "UConn is playing at home in Storrs in front of the student body. UConn knows what this game means to the seedings in the NCAA so they will be up for this game."

We agree 100%. The definition of "Intangible" is "Not seen or grasped", the Gampel home court advantage is grasped.

 

[Rowdy831]

This will be the first real test UConn has had in a while and should give a real indicator if Geno focusing on a small lineup will take them to the top in WCBB. The rebounding advantage will need to be offset by the TO advantage UConn should have with the smaller lineup.

UConn needs to win by double digits in this game considering ND plays on Thursday and then has to travel and play on Saturday afternoon. I know UConn will play hard on defense and will make their share of shots in the game. The two things I will be looking at are the number of 3s that UConn takes and the rebounding. If they can take the normal amount of 3s and not resort to firing them up on every possession I think UConn will win if they can keep the second chance points for ND reasonable.

 

[Pharos]

Middle of a 3-2 zone... gonna be fun to watch. KK will shoot more midrange and learn to love it. Paige and Ashlynn will have time to shoot midrange or find Aaliyah for layups as the backline comes forward to stop those midrange shots. The UConn guards lineup is made to keep the outside of the zone attentive to the 3-point line.

 

[Skeets]

Good analysis , but its missing one HUGE advantage for UCONN. GAMPEL....there will be 10,000 screaming UCONN fanatics rooting our team on.

It could cause ND to bite the apple (as we used to say).

 

[HuskyNan]

A few things on that game:

• Yes, it's an important game for ND in the ACC.
• Believe you me, the Irish were not happy to lose for the first time ever to the 'Cuse. They'll be juiced.
• And, perhaps most importantly, Sonia Citron didn't play in that game. I can't emphasize how much Citron means to all aspects of the Irish. They are a much, much better team when she plays.

Is Marquette ND Lite?

 

[MSGRET]

N.D. cannot look past Syracuse 16- 2 and 6 -1 in the ACC. Notre Dame is 14 -3 and
5 -2. N.D. cannot afford to lose another IN CONFERENCE game. Syracuse and Dyaisha
Fair beat N.D. in Syracuse on Dec. 31st 86 - 61. So, hopefully with a tough game
at South Bend, the Irish might be somewhat "spent" for the Sat game at Gampel.
On the other hand if N.D. loses again to The Orange they could be EXTRA scrappy
not to lose two in a row! I'm calling it UCONN OVER N.D. by 10. I 'll be watching for
the N.D. / Syr score from Thursday night.

I believe the score was 86-81 not 61. I see that you already corrected yourself.

 

[Dillon77]

Is Marquette ND Lite?

I can see that, particularly since Coach Duffy decided to start Skylar Forbes to help with rebounding and defense. That gives them two forwards and three guards, which very similar to the Irish (I think of Watson and Westbeld as forwards). Marquette's two most established players are forward Liza Karlen and guard Jordan King.

Karlen does a lot of the same things for the Golden Eagles that Maddy Westbeld does for the Irish and Jordan King is the "big" guard/wing, but King is not the ovearall palyer that Sonia Citron is.

 

[Artifact]

The one with the whistle, is the most dangerous one of all !

 

[Zarathustra]

I believe the score was 86-81 not 61. I see that you already corrected yourself.

The computer keyboard was mightier than my brain! Maybe my unconscious brain
was anticipating the score in Gampel on Saturday night ( FOX ) 8 pm!!

This will be the first real test UConn has had in a while and should give a real indicator if Geno focusing on a small lineup will take them to the top in WCBB. The rebounding advantage will need to be offset by the TO advantage UConn should have with the smaller lineup.

UConn needs to win by double digits in this game considering ND plays on Thursday and then has to travel and play on Saturday afternoon. I know UConn will play hard on defense and will make their share of shots in the game. The two things I will be looking at are the number of 3s that UConn takes and the rebounding. If they can take the normal amount of 3s and not resort to firing them up on every possession I think UConn will win if they can keep the second chance points for ND reasonable.

The game is Saturday night, 8 PM, according to the UCONN WBB web page and ESPN's TV schedule, but
not ESPN, it's on FOX!

 

[HopJim]

Thanks again, @cferraro04. I love your take on the game, though I'm not as sanguine about the MoV. And I think I disagree with a couple matchups.

If ND starts Westbeld and Watson, I suspect Geno will play Aaliyah and Ice. He won't have Paige defending Watson or Westbeld except on switches. And if Aaliyah and Ice are on the floor together, Paige will sometimes defend like Aubrey at the top of the key. But when she's not out there, she'll be guarding Citron. Hidalgo and DeWolfe will be mainly defended by Nika and KK/Ash.

Geno may play the 4 guard lineup even if Watson and Westbeld are on the floor together, but primarily to press. The thing is, Hidalgo and Citron may prove very difficult to turnover in a press. So I don't think we'll see much of this.

On the other hand, if Ivey plays 4 guards with Westbeld in the post, I think Geno will play his 4 guards and they'll do very well against ND. I like Citron a lot, but our 4 guards are simply better than Hidalgo Citron DeWolfe and Bransford as a group. Hidalgo will be the fastest player on the floor and KK will be the second fastest. But the rest of the lineup is going to be slower and won't be able to stand up to the defensive pressure Nika Ash and Paige will bring to bear.

The prime matchups will be 1) Westbeld on Aaliyah and I think this will turn on who stays out of foul trouble, and 2) Hidalgo on Nika/KK. I don't think it will be possible to stop Hannah's offense completely. But it may be very possible to stop her passing game. If she gets no or few assists and has several turnovers, ND's offense will suffer.

Now to our offense:

Hidalgo is the same sort of defensive menace KK is, so on offense our passing has to be very crisp. Today's game against Marquette showed some very encouraging indications that KK and Ash can do exactly this. Also key will be Ash and Nika and especially Paige hitting from the perimeter. This will open up the paint for Aaliyah and Ice, but also put a lot of pressure on ND to score as quickly as we do. I suspect this may lead Hidalgo into some turnovers of her own. If Nika and Ash get hot from 3, and Paige is freed up to drive the lane and score from the midrange, Aaliyah will be difficult to handle.

This may be one of those games where we can't just approach it in the usual way, trying to get our offense from our defense. We may have to use our offense to power our defense. If they feel they can't stop Paige Nika and Ash, they may be easier to stop.

I'm hoping for a 10 point win in the 80s. But ND will be tough and this game could go south very easily. On the other hand, if our freshmen keep their cool and do what they are capable of, it will mean an enormous confidence boost for them.

Believe UConn's chances increase if they can run ND off court so suspect Ice will be first off bench. Whoever the UConn guard that one of the ND bigs has to guard should have big day.

 

[UConnCat]

UConn needs to win by double digits in this game considering ND plays on Thursday and then has to travel and play on Saturday afternoon.

As mentioned earlier, the game is actually Saturday night, not Saturday afternoon. It was last year that UConn played Notre Dame on Sunday afternoon after playing in Connecticut the previous Friday night. I don’t recall much being said about the quick turnaround last year. Notre Dame was healthy last year and UConn was not (no Paige, no Dorka and no Azzi after 13 minutes).

In fact, for as long as UConn has been playing tough non-conference games in January and February, and this goes back through the Maya years at least, UConn has played quick turnaround games (e.g., Saturday/Monday) on the road against ranked opponents. Some of those opponents included South Carolina (at least twice), UNC, Duke, Oklahoma, Baylor to name a few. No one ever said poor UConn because they had to play one night, travel the next and then play on the following afternoon or evening against a ranked opponent. Geno often said the quick turnaround prepared his team for the NCAA tournament (absent the travel between games).

 

[Hedge]

At the 5 minute mark of the first quarter it's Syracuse 8 and Notre Dame 4 . So far I don't see Notre Dame as particularly impressive. Of course, now that I've written this they'll turn into Super Women

 

[Hedge]

Fair outplayed Hildago. SU 79, ND 65

 

[Zarathustra]

Fair outplayed Hildago. SU 79, ND 65

Tied game at the end of third quarter: 51 - 51. N.D. making
a comeback in the 3Q: N.D. 19 - 13 for Syracuse. Half time was
38 - 32 in favor of Syracuse. One concern for UCONN: Syracuse
out rebounded N.D.: 45 to 27!! Also N.D. had 10 steals leading to
14 Syracuse turnovers. Good for UCONN: Syracuse hit 43 % of
their three pointers to 37 % for N.D. ?? Bad for UCONN, N.D.
will NOT want to lose two in a row to ranked opponents. Let
Gampel ROCK " BOOM"!!!!!!!

 

[DEpup]

I'm not sure what to think about ND after the Syracuse game. So many fouls and Hidalgo trying to do it all by herself. Citron doesn't look 100% at all.

 

[UConnCat]

I'm not sure what to think about ND after the Syracuse game. So many fouls and Hidalgo trying to do it all by herself. Citron doesn't look 100% at all.

After that effort, ND shouldn't be tired Saturday night.

 

[DEpup]

I can see that, particularly since Coach Duffy decided to start Skylar Forbes to help with rebounding and defense. That gives them two forwards and three guards, which very similar to the Irish (I think of Watson and Westbeld as forwards). Marquette's two most established players are forward Liza Karlen and guard Jordan King.

Karlen does a lot of the same things for the Golden Eagles that Maddy Westbeld does for the Irish and Jordan King is the "big" guard/wing, but King is not the ovearall palyer that Sonia Citron is.

After what I saw tonight, I think Marquette could beat ND so maybe ND is now Marquette light. I was just shocked by ND's performance against Syracuse.

 

[Zarathustra]

Tied game at the end of third quarter: 51 - 51. N.D. making
a comeback in the 3Q: N.D. 19 - 13 for Syracuse. Half time was
38 - 32 in favor of Syracuse. One concern for UCONN: Syracuse
out rebounded N.D.: 45 to 27!! Also N.D. had 10 steals leading to
14 Syracuse turnovers. Good for UCONN: Syracuse hit 43 % of
their three pointers to 37 % for N.D. ?? Bad for UCONN, N.D.
will NOT want to lose two in a row to ranked opponents. Let
Gampel ROCK " BOOM"!!!!!!!

Sorry about some mis-stats here. I went to two different web pages. The
first one gave the Score Correctly, but the second one had not been
update to the FINAL STATS, thus the errors from the second web page.
Anyhow.... Syracuse won for a number of reasons - one
being they outrebounded N.D. 50 - 34 (I think that is correct).
I wonder how UCONN will do with the looming rebounding battle?
P.S. Did anyone else think that Sonia Citron was limited by her HUGE
knee brace??
Also, LSU losing to South Carolina due to Angel Reese fouling out
at 4: 02 of the fourth quarter - opening the door for USC. A second point
for UCONN vs N.D. " STAY OUT OF FOUL TROUBLE"!
Go UCONN, Beat IRISH! "BOOM" " BOOM" " BOOM"!
Let the game Begin.

 

[Zarathustra]

I'm not sure what to think about ND after the Syracuse game. So many fouls and Hidalgo trying to do it all by herself. Citron doesn't look 100% at all.

I agree about Citron. BIG BRACE on that leg!!!

 

[oldhusky]

The potential defensive match-ups are very interesting. I have no problem starting with Paige on Watson despite the height difference. Westbeld is the far more serious offensive threat, and I can't imagine that with her, Citron and Hildago they would consider Watson against Paige the go to match-up.

Initially I think KK guarding Hildago, and Nika on Citron might be best, but I could see the advantage of throwing different looks at Hildago with Nika too. The toughest defensive situation would be if Aaliyah was out but Westbeld was still in. Geno would probably go with Ice, but I wouldn't be shocked if Geno tried a little of Nika on one of their bigs for a short stretch.

I feel we have multiple defensive options for Hildago and Citron and can give them different looks. Upfront it is different, but I think we can live with a height mismatch against Watson or Marshall, particularly since they will have trouble with our guards at the other end. Westbeld probably needs Aaliyah in the game to defend her.

 

[jeff30189]

If our strength is our guard play (offense and defense) it becomes a matter of "unstoppable force vs. immovable object". Which set of guards is going to prevail? KK can get 2 fouls in warm-ups with her reaching (the same problem Nika had as a freshman). If she plays SMART, limits herself to being a persistent pest on defense and a catalyst on offense, I feel good about the outcome. Nika will hound Hidalgo - she's not as quick, but she's taller, stronger and meaner. Hidalgo will still get her 15-5-5-3 (pts-reb-asst-stl) but it will be painful and inefficient. On offense it needs to be run and gun; keep ND on their heels and backing up.

Avoid stupid reach-in fouls. Make the smart pass, not the heroic pass.

 

[Bone Dog]

I have no problem starting with Paige on Watson despite the height difference.

I’m coming around to this same thought after last night’s game. @cferraro04 may have been right all along. And the real issue I’d overlooked before is the defensive mismatch it creates having a big try to defend Paige. This may be worth more than any rebounding edge we lose.

Also, if Sonia is moving badly because of that huge brace, I wonder if she suffered a rehab setback in the last week. I hope not, since healthy she’s a tremendous talent.

 

[oldude]

I’m coming around to this same thought after last night’s game. @cferraro04 may have been right all along. And the real issue I’d overlooked before is the defensive mismatch it creates having a big try to defend Paige. This may be worth more than any rebounding edge we lose.

Also, if Sonia is moving badly because of that huge brace, I wonder if she suffered a rehab setback in the last week. I hope not, since healthy she’s a tremendous talent.

As for UConn losing the “rebounding edge” vs ND, it should be noted that the smaller Syracuse team was a remarkable +16 off the glass last night. While Westbeld is a solid rebounder, ND’s two 6’4”+ post’s don’t particularly play to their size advantage.

 

[HuskyNan]

Posters on McGraw’s Bench have been bemoaning the chronic lack of an efficient half-court offense for a while now.