UConn vs CAL post game

[Carnac]

Thank goodness for finally being able to see a replay of the game which was posted this morning by our Boneyard brother tcf15. tcf, you are THE man!!! Thank you so much.

I saw the entire game live on TV. I thoroughly enjoyed it from tip to buzzer. Cal was a very worthy opponent. They made UConn work for everything they got. There were very few easy or uncontested baskets for the Huskies. This was the type of game you could watch and enjoy via replay 2-3 more times.

"The score doesn't tell the whole story -- that the Huskies built a 17-point lead in the second and third quarters before allowing the Bears to nearly pull off a record-breaking comeback. "We're a different team than we've ever been," Anigwe said. "It's disappointing to lose because I really, really believed we were going to win this game."

UConn escaped a second-straight close game with a win, partially thanks to another big game from senior Katie Lou Samuelson, who recorded her third consecutive double-double.

Despite being from California, it wasn't what you could call a "homecoming game" for Lou. That game was last year at UCLA. Berkeley is 413 miles (6hr 45min drive) from Lou's hometown city of Huntington Beach. With a large group of family and friends sitting directly behind the bench, she played like it was. She recorded 20 points and 11 rebounds."

"It's really great," Samuelson said of playing so well in front of her family, "especially because they had to travel so far to come today. I really appreciated that because this is one of their only chances to get to see me in person, so I'm just happy that they're here and that I get to see them for a little bit."

GREAT CROWD - A Cal program-record crowd of 10,818 attended the game.

In a game where Geno was not able to incorporate his bench into the game (2 min / 0 points), the starters realized it was up to them to bring this one home. No doubt they figured that out after awhile. Several observations here:
1. ALL 5 starters showed up and played well.
2. ALL 5 starters scored in double figures.
3. Megan Walker was the only starter that did not play 40 minutes. The 2 minutes ONO played, she subbed in for Megan. The other 4 gutted it out. Cal's bench provided 39 minutes of rest for it's starters.
4. UConn played like they wanted to win this game, just like Cal did. They asked no quarter, and gave none.
5. Cal did not back down or show any fear. They took it right to the Huskies from the tip.
6. This game and the one in South Bend, were games they needed to experience and put behind them before they resume play in January.
7. The Oklahoma game was the 10th game on the schedule. It marked the completion of 1/3 of their season.
8. Crystal was the only starter with 3 fouls. Pheesa had none
9. Collier was going around and by Anigwe to the basket all afternoon.

[Box score]

11-0 during the first 2 months of the season. You can't do better than that. The good thing is that not all 11 were laughers. They had to bear down and scratch out a win in a couple of them. Their first game coming back from the holiday break is Baylor. A very formidable opponent. One of the two games that some BY'ers predicted (during the summer) they would lose.

Baylor sits at 8-1, with a 68-63 road loss to #11 Stanford. They've played two other ranked teams to date, #23 Arizona St. (65-59), and #18 South Carolina (94-69). These are also the only 2 road games Baylor has played so far. The other 7 were at home against mid-majors.

I think Baylor is more concerned about UConn than UC is about them. I'm not saying for a moment that UC is taking them lightly, far from it. UConn knows this may be the most difficult game remaining on their schedule. Even though the Bears have not played a top 5 team on the road yet and come out on top, they figure to give UConn all they want. However, I think UConn has an excellent chance of leaving Waco with a win.

I'm going to take a break from the yard for a few days to enjoy Christmas with my family, since no UConn games are pending. I'll catch up with any breaking news upon my return.

I want to take this opportunity to wish ALL of my fellow BY'ers Happy Holidays. May this holiday season be the best yet for you and your family. In a world where you can be anything, be kind. Be a blessing to someone this holiday season.

 

[wallman]

Ease up on Anigwe, she only got beat twice and this was due to bad defensive strategy as she was overplaying on her right when she should have been on her left which is her favorite way to drive, plus the help did not arrive in time. A couple of Dangerfield fouls were head scratchers as they were very tacky considering how much the refs were allowing physical play. The refs did get quite a few out of bounds calls wrong though.

 

[VaConnFan11]

After getting a chance to watch the game and to read all of the posts about not subbing, I thought Geno missed a couple of opportunities to get Lou and/or Pheesa out for a couple of minutes without "risking" anything.

The main one being at the 1:33 mark of the third quarter, up by 15. There was as stoppage of play. Knowing that his starters were probably going to play most, if not all of the 4th quarter, I would have subbed for them then. That would have given them 5-7 minutes of actual rest time with no risk of losing the lead.

It worked out in the end.

 

[DEpup]

The bench will get plenty of minutes when conference games start if they earn them. I will say it would have been nice for ONO, Kyla, and Coombs to get a few minutes throughout the game because the starters began to run out of gas when Cal started to come back in the fourth. Also, Geno slowed them down to take time off the clock and that didn't go so well. They are better when going at full speed. He was probably trying to teach them how to manage a tough game with a lead in the 4th. Plenty of film to work with.....

 

[Gus Mahler]

This was a very good game for the fans. First time I have seen Haas rocking. Sure Cal was hitting shots that they don't normally make but they had to have that shoot em up attitude, with nothing to lose, to have any chance as your game plan was to send help on Anigwe and leave a shooter open. Once the game went into the second half Uconn were on cruise, and then you had a few of your younger players decide to take early shots and you lost a few possessions, this brought Cal back in a little. Add on Genos technical, which was bad timing and Dangerfield missing her assignment on Thomas, and Cal thought they had a chance, but only for a few seconds. When your younger players understand time management better you will be blowing teams out by a lot.

@wallman, I really appreciate your insights.

 

[Bigboote]

I was unable to watch the Cal game, but in viewing the highlights UConn seems to be utilizing high ball screens much more than they have the past few years. Do others have that same impression about their offense sets?

I just finishes watching it. You’re absolutely correct. I noticed that Collier especially set a great number of really hard, well-timed and -positioned screens.

That’s another way in which she really impacted the game.

 

[Longtime fan]

What exactly were Olivia's two mistakes?

I will rewatch the tape and point them out. But not today. It is Xmas and the goose needs basting.

 

[oldude]

What exactly were Olivia's two mistakes?

I watched the game film closely and there are no obvious mistakes in Liv’s 2 minutes of play. She ran the court well, boxed out and switched well on D.

The 2 “mistakes” that Longtime Fan may be referring to are as follows:

- Crystal drives the lane and Liv rolls to the basket. Crystal tries to deliver a high pass to Liv but a CA defender gets a hand on it and knocks it out of bounds. The ref calls it off Liv, who never touched the ball and protests the call to no avail.

- Later, Liv makes a nice switch in the lane to cover a CA forward who receives a pass. Liv is in perfect defensive position, and contests the CA player’s awkward baby hook shot without fouling. The awkward shot rattles around on the rim before falling through the basket.

Can’t agree that Liv did anything wrong in either instance. CA was making a mini-run at the time, so Geno put Megan back in the game. I certainly would have liked to see Liv get some additional PT in the 2nd half.

 

[donalddoowop]

oldude, you have to realize, Longtime fan seems to constantly look for something negative to say about a players performance even when the player has played well.

 

[Bajan Best]

I watched the game film closely and there are no obvious mistakes in Liv’s 2 minutes of play. She ran the court well, boxed out and switched well on D.

The 2 “mistakes” that Longtime Fan may be referring to are as follows:

- Crystal drives the lane and Liv rolls to the basket. Crystal tries to deliver a high pass to Liv but a CA defender gets a hand on it and knocks it out of bounds. The ref calls it off Liv, who never touched the ball and protests the call to no avail.

- Later, Liv makes a nice switch in the lane to cover a CA forward who receives a pass. Liv is in perfect defensive position, and contests the CA player’s awkward baby hook shot without fouling. The awkward shot rattles around on the rim before falling through the basket.

Can’t agree that Liv did anything wrong in either instance. CA was making a mini-run at the time, so Geno put Megan back in the game. I certainly would have liked to see Liv get some additional PT in the 2nd half.

That was exactly my take on those two events, but I wanted to give @Longtime fan the opportunity to point out her mistakes, that I may be missing

 

[oldude]

That was exactly my take on those two events, but I wanted to give @Longtime fan the opportunity to point out her mistakes, that I may be missing

Whenever I watch a live UConn game, I often react emotionally to what I’m seeing. I suspect that’s true for many fans, which is why your first impression can be deceiving. I always go back and watch the game a 2nd or 3rd time, like a coach might, to get a more accurate assessment of how everyone played. Liv played OK in her limited minutes.

 

[Teacherdeb]

Thank goodness for finally being able to see a replay of the game which was posted this morning by our Boneyard brother tcf15. tcf, you are THE man!!! Thank you so much.

I saw the entire game live on TV. I thoroughly enjoyed it from tip to buzzer. Cal was a very worthy opponent. They made UConn work for everything they got. There were very few easy or uncontested baskets for the Huskies.

"The score doesn't tell the whole story -- that the Huskies built a 17-point lead in the second and third quarters before allowing the Bears to nearly pull off a record-breaking comeback. "We're a different team than we've ever been," Anigwe said. "It's disappointing to lose because I really, really believed we were going to win this game."

UConn escaped a second-straight close game with a win, partially thanks to another big game from senior Katie Lou Samuelson, who recorded her third consecutive double-double.

Despite being from California, it wasn't what you could call a "homecoming game" for Lou. That game was last year at UCLA. Berkeley is 413 miles (6hr 45min drive) from Lou's hometown city of Huntington Beach. With a large group of family and friends sitting directly behind the bench, she played like it was. She recorded 20 points and 11 rebounds."

"It's really great," Samuelson said of playing so well in front of her family, "especially because they had to travel so far to come today. I really appreciated that because this is one of their only chances to get to see me in person, so I'm just happy that they're here and that I get to see them for a little bit."

GREAT CROWD - A Cal program-record crowd of 10,818 attended the game.

In a game where Geno was not able to incorporate his bench into the game (2 min / 0 points), the starters realized it was up to them to bring this one home. No doubt they figured that out after awhile. Several observations here:
1. ALL 5 starters showed up and played well.
2. ALL 5 starters scored in double figures.
3. Megan Walker was the only starter that did not play 40 minutes. The 2 minutes ONO played, she subbed in for Megan. The other 4 gutted it out. Cal's bench provided 39 minutes of rest for it's starters.
4. UConn played like they wanted to win this game, just like Cal did. They asked no quarter, and gave none.
5. Cal did not back down or show any fear. They took it right to the Huskies from the tip.
6. This game and the one in South Bend, were games they needed to experience and put behind them before they resume play in January.
7. The Oklahoma game was the 10th game on the schedule. It marked the completion of 1/3 of their season.
8. Crystal was the only starter with 3 fouls. Pheesa had none
9. Collier was going around and by Anigwe to the basket all afternoon.

[Box score]

11-0 during the first 2 months of the season. You can't do better than that. The good thing is that not all 11 were laughers. They had to bear down and scratch out a win in a couple of them. Their first game coming back from the holiday break is Baylor. A very formidable opponent. One of the two games that some BY'ers predicted (during the summer) they would lose.

Baylor sits at 8-1, with a 68-63 road loss to #11 Stanford. They've played two other ranked teams to date, #23 Arizona St. (65-59), and #18 South Carolina (94-69). These are also the only 2 road games Baylor has played so far. The other 7 were at home against mid-majors.

I think Baylor is more concerned about UConn than UC is about them. I'm not saying for a moment that UC is taking them lightly, far from it. UConn knows this may be the most difficult game remaining on their schedule. Even though the Bears have not played a top 5 team on the road yet and come out on top, they figure to give UConn all they want. However, I think UConn has an excellent chance of leaving Waco with a win.

I'm going to take a break from the yard for a few days to enjoy Christmas with my family, since no UConn games are pending. I'll catch up with any breaking news upon my return.

I want to take this opportunity to wish ALL of my fellow BY'ers Happy Holidays. May this holiday season be the best yet for you and your family. In a world where you can be anything, be kind. Be a blessing to someone this holiday season.

Thanks Scoop for your excellent posts

 

[mhshuskies]

That's a true statement. Just ask the 2013 Baylor Bears. On any given night......If you recall, that's how Louisville beat Baylor 82-81 in the OKC Regional in 2013. Louisville threw caution to the wind and knocked off the Bears by shooting 16-25 (64%) from beyond the arc.

The Louisville women were a 24-point underdog to Baylor in Las Vegas casinos for this game. Odds on Louisville to win outright were 75-1, paying $7,500 on a $100 wager. Louisville's win blew up a lot of people's brackets.

[Box score]

This opened up the door for UConn to win its first of 4 in a row. I don't believe UConn would have been able to beat Baylor for the championship that year. Baylor was 31-1 going into the tournament that year. UConn was 29-4

That was a scheduled game? I thought it was a fight where a game just happened to break out! That was a mugging that occurred in a back alley.

 

[HuskyNan]

Ahem! You are wrong. Not only wrong, not even close.
All Games (Includes home, away & neutral sites)
View attachment 37645

I don’t know what, exactly, you’re trying to prove. Gampel’s maximum capacity is currently 10,137 after it ways expanded a hundred seats or so. UConn used to play the majority of its games there. Comparing it to much larger arenas seems silly.

 

[Vowelguy]

After getting a chance to watch the game and to read all of the posts about not subbing, I thought Geno missed a couple of opportunities to get Lou and/or Pheesa out for a couple of minutes without "risking" anything.

Geno knows they are going to play 40 minutes in March, so he wants them to get used to that level of stress and mental fatigue.

 

[donalddoowop]

Geno knows they are going to play 40 minutes in March, so he wants them to get used to that level of stress and mental fatigue.

Why not prepare the bench so that the starters won't have to play forty minutes in March? The opportunity will certainly present itself.

 

[JordyG]

Collier battled Anigwe for 40 minutes without committing a single foul!!! Napheesa was the only starter to have no fouls Saturday. Imagine if the reverse had been the case.

What would the outcome had been if she had picked up two quick fouls in the first quarter guarding Anigwe, and had to go to the bench for the remainder of the half? ONO would have gotten a lot more than 2 minutes. Geno may have sat Collier until the start of the 2nd half.

You just can't trust those homer refs.

 

[FanFromMaine]

I was unable to watch the Cal game, but in viewing the highlights UConn seems to be utilizing high ball screens much more than they have the past few years. Do others have that same impression about their offense sets?

The offense at this time seems as you describe, a lot more ball screens than usual. The low number of assists also suggests it. A work in progress...

 

[Vowelguy]

Why not prepare the bench so that the starters won't have to play forty minutes in March? The opportunity will certainly present itself.

WOW! What am amazing idea!

 

[Gus Mahler]

He was probably trying to teach them how to manage a tough game with a lead in the 4th.

Good point.

 

[donalddoowop]

WOW! What am amazing idea!

I know.

 

[mhshuskies]

WOW! What am amazing idea!

Oh yea of tounge in cheek.

 

[SVCBeercats]

I don’t know what, exactly, you’re trying to prove. Gampel’s maximum capacity is currently 10,137 after it ways expanded a hundred seats or so. UConn used to play the majority of its games there. Comparing it to much larger arenas seems silly.

UCONN doesn't always draw the most people for all games played at home. on the road, and at neutral sites as other seem to believe.

 

[oldude]

UCONN doesn't always draw the most people for all games played at home. on the road, and at neutral sites as other seem to believe.

You are correct relative to home and overall attendance. Attendance at home venue Hartford has declined considerably from the days when the Huskies would draw upwards of 16,000 fans. But Geno’s traveling circus remains the biggest draw on the road.

 

[HuskyNan]

UCONN doesn't always draw the most people for all games played at home. on the road, and at neutral sites as other seem to believe.

But Gampel arena held more people, attendance figures would be higher. Look at the UConn official site for attendance figures - many games were sold out