Nika +13

[mudblood]

+/- stats are not always very meaningful, but this time it is glaring...

During the 19 min with Nika on the floor, UConn outscored Notre Dame by 13.
During the 21 min with Nika on the bench, Notre Dame outscored UConn by 28.

Read the two lines above. And then read them again. And one more time

Even with Paige banged up, Ash going 0-6 on threes, etc., we would have still won if Nika wouldn't have been pulled out of the second quarter with foul trouble and not playing but the first minute of the fourth after fouling out.

With Nika on the floor, the offense flows and the defense is in synch (btw, Hidalgo was exceptional but she scored 24 of her points when Nika was out...). With Nika on the bench, the offense stagnates and the defense is out of sorts. Geno said it point blank in the post-game presser. She largely got the foul trouble under control the past year and a half. She won't fall into it again this season.

I am not worried. The sky is not falling.

 

[Rb335]

It also illuminates the drop off between the level of the starters and the bench. It makes perfect sense that there would be a dip in effectiveness between Nika and either Ice/Q.

With Aubrey, there was a 6th option with experience. Without her, the margin for error is gone. Any of Paige, Nika or Aaliyah getting into foul trouble means 3 freshman on court at once.

 

[maple]

Having Nika on the floor is vital, I think that’s obvious.

Which is why she absolutely cannot foul out, especially with an entire quarter left to play. That’s the bigger issue.

 

[mudblood]

The Huskies home page has the detailed official box scores for all games:

21 NotreDame Box (PDF) - University of Connecticut Athletics

21 NotreDame Box (PDF)

uconnhuskies.com

 

[uconnfan68]

Having Nika on the floor is vital, I think that’s obvious.

Which is why she absolutely cannot foul out, especially with an entire quarter left to play. That’s the bigger issue.

I was surprised to see her with 19 minutes. It looked like about 12.

 

[Blacketh’D]

She was definitely missed but lots of factors go into who’s a plus and who’s a minus on the floor. The game would have been closer but that doesn’t change our off shooting and not getting our best players the best looks in the second half. They honestly all should have been capable of running the offense, the defense though was suspect.

 

[npignatjr]

She was definitely missed but lots of factors go into who’s a plus and who’s a minus on the floor. The game would have been closer but that doesn’t change our off shooting and not getting our best players the best looks in the second half. They honestly all should have been capable of running the offense, the defense though was suspect.

All? The defense collapsed without her, hh lay up by drill happened without Nika. Honest question there is something I miss when at a game, the replays, of the 5 fouls on Nika were all good calls, called on all others all game long?

During the 3rd quarter come back after a steal Nika was going in for a layup wound up sprawled on the floor in person it appeared an obvious foul not called, I will watch a replay but what are the thoughts on this?

 

[HopJim]

Nika is one of our core players, but she has had these sloppy foul issues all year. Suggest that for big games in the remaining schedule, Geno plan for them to continue and manage substitute patterns accordingly. With so few solid subs, there are matchups that Nika is ideal for - Huskies will continue to find it difficult to change on the fly when surprises occur.

 

[CONN78SEJ]

+/- stats are not always very meaningful, but this time it is glaring...

During the 19 min with Nika on the floor, UConn outscored Notre Dame by 13.
During the 21 min with Nika on the bench, Notre Dame outscored UConn by 28.

Read the two lines above. And then read them again. And one more time

Even with Paige banged up, Ash going 0-6 on threes, etc., we would have still won if Nika wouldn't have been pulled out of the second quarter with foul trouble and not playing but the first minute of the fourth after fouling out.

With Nika on the floor, the offense flows and the defense is in synch (btw, Hidalgo was exceptional but she scored 24 of her points when Nika was out...). With Nika on the bench, the offense stagnates and the defense is out of sorts. Geno said it point blank in the post-game presser. She largely got the foul trouble under control the past year and a half. She won't fall into it again this season.

I am not worried. The sky is not falling.

Nika picked up 3 and then 4 fouls fairly fairly on. Ultimately fouling out. How did that happen? Whose fault was it?

 

[Redux]

Nika ...absolutely cannot foul out, especially with an entire quarter left to play

I was amazed to see Nika out there starting the 4th Q. What sealed the deal IMO was having her out there and NOT focusing on Edwards inside, that combo was fatal.

It's so easy to coach basketball from the audience, I don't know what the big deal is about Geno. Of course if he had held Nika as long as possible out and continued to go to Edwards and neither of those had worked I'd be criticizing that too, I guess. It's easy!

 

[Cornell Lt]

Having Nika on the floor is vital, I think that’s obvious.

Which is why she absolutely cannot foul out, especially with an entire quarter left to play. That’s the bigger issue.

Should have given her the heads up about that before the game

 

[Zanzman]

I was amazed to see Nika out there starting the 4th Q. What sealed the deal IMO was having her out there and NOT focusing on Edwards inside, that combo was fatal.

It's so easy to coach basketball from the audience, I don't know what the big deal is about Geno. Of course if he had held Nika as long as possible out and continued to go to Edwards and neither of those had worked I'd be criticizing that too, I guess. It's easy!

Coaches give their seniors more trust not to pick up silly fouls she didn’t play like a senior this game

 

[MSGRET]

Having Nika on the floor is vital, I think that’s obvious.

Which is why she absolutely cannot foul out, especially with an entire quarter left to play. That’s the bigger issue.

No the bigger issue is the refs called Nika for a blocking foul when it should have been charging and a pushing foul when it should have been a moving screen.

 

[maple]

No the bigger issue is the refs called Nika for a blocking foul when it should have been charging and a pushing foul when it should have been a moving screen.

Sure but you have to admit that last foul Nika committed was just not great basketball IQ. I love that she is tough and aggressive but that one was on her.

 

[my2cents]

She scored 0 points so she couldn't have added much to the + number, and her silly fouls per you, contributed to her not being on the floor for the minus number.
She did not have a good game.

 

[tomcat]

I'd like to thank the OP for finding a statistical way to demonstrate what I thought I was seeing during the gam: When Nika was in, it seemed UConn was more effectively defensively, which led to a more effective offense. I totally agree that it's on her to make sure she dials back the aggressiveness a little in a game like this, but there were people in other posts claiming that she had a terrible game, and I just didn't think her level of play rated that kind of review.

 

[MSGRET]

Sure but you have to admit that last foul Nika committed was just not great basketball IQ. I love that she is tough and aggressive but that one was on her.

She still would have been in the game and would have also played more minutes if the refs would have called those two early fouls correctly. I would like to know why they let ND hold or impede Paige and not call them for it.

 

[Zanzman]

Its always the refs fault when does the player take blame for not playing smart

 

[Redux]

last foul Nika committed was just not great basketball

It was absolutely a legitimate call and maybe more caution was required. But a few things had to happen. Nika was not playing DeWolf tight at that moment, she was loose, and going to deflect/intercept the pass. For an instant there seemed to be lots of room. Possible outcomes: intercepted pass; she misses but sticks the landing, no contact; DeWolf doesn't stop directly in her path, no contact.

So we're saying Nika can't go for an interception in a one-point game? Then she shouldn't be in the game at the start of the 4th Q in a one-point game.

OTOH 10 seconds earlier Nika could have been called for hooking Bransford and knocking her to the floor and temporarily out of the game. A crapshoot sometimes.

 

[Aluminny69]

Basically, you are comparing having Nika on defense vs. Ice Brady on defense. So that mostly explains the difference. Here's a good analysis of the entire game, including Nika's foul troubles.

 

[Bigboote]

No the bigger issue is the refs called Nika for a blocking foul when it should have been charging and a pushing foul when it should have been a moving screen.

The block to me was borderline; I'll give the refs that one. But from my point of view, the third foul just looked like Hidalgo fell on Nika, no trip -- coulda been a no call or a foul on Hidalgo. And the fourth was a moving screen -- Nika was moving but I looked at it several times and it looked like there was zero contact, just a flop.

I agree with others, the fifth was just a poor play.

 

[drweo]

+/- stats are not always very meaningful, but this time it is glaring...

During the 19 min with Nika on the floor, UConn outscored Notre Dame by 13.
During the 21 min with Nika on the bench, Notre Dame outscored UConn by 28.

Read the two lines above. And then read them again. And one more time

Even with Paige banged up, Ash going 0-6 on threes, etc., we would have still won if Nika wouldn't have been pulled out of the second quarter with foul trouble and not playing but the first minute of the fourth after fouling out.

With Nika on the floor, the offense flows and the defense is in synch (btw, Hidalgo was exceptional but she scored 24 of her points when Nika was out...). With Nika on the bench, the offense stagnates and the defense is out of sorts. Geno said it point blank in the post-game presser. She largely got the foul trouble under control the past year and a half. She won't fall into it again this season.

I am not worried. The sky is not falling.

I havent seen the post game presser. Where is it posted?

 

[Spaceman213J]

So we're saying Nika can't go for an interception in a one-point game? Then she shouldn't be in the game at the start of the 4th Q in a one-point game.

I'm sorry but I disagree.
First, Nika brings energy to the team and her presence helps keep the team fired up and helps them against a team that was playing physical tough defense.
Second, by the time of her 5th foul, it was clear that when Ice came in, the defense did not have enough footspeed to have any chance of keeping Hidalgo in front of them and/or out of the paint.

Nika's a senior and she should be smarter than she was last night. Once she was out, it became a layup drill for Hidalgo.