UCONN - Marquette post game thread (merged thread)

[Carnac]

Caroline is not as quick as a lot of players but she gets her hands up and contests a lot of shots without fouling. She’s strong fundamentally.

Ducharme started today and played 38 minutes. They don't win without her effort and production. She was probaly tired as she's still working her way back from injury.

 

[HuskyNan]

Have rewatched most of the past few games and focused on Patterson. Surprised to see how flat footed she plays. While Edwards, Dorka, etc. are always going to the ball for offensive rebounds, Patterson let's shorter defensive players outrebound her by standing in one spot-rarely moves. Same thing on her layups. Not surprising that she gets so many shots blocked by players much shorter since she doesn't get up on her toes and make ball fakes. Hopefully Geno and the assistants are coaching her since she appears to have the physical skills to contribute much more.

I rewatched the Texas game recently and was reminded how well Ayanna can play, even as a freshman. She seems to have lost some of her energy since then but I suspect it’s more mental than physical. Contrary to some comments I’ve seen, Geno doesn’t pull players for making mistakes, he pulls them when they don’t play with energy and effort.

Just guessing here, but it seems Ayanna is taken aback by the speed and physicality she’s seen from opposing post players. This is entirely normal. Adjusting to the size, strength, and speed of college players often takes a season or so.

 

[Carnac]

I rewatched the Texas game recently and was reminded how well Ayanna can play, even as a freshman. Contrary to some comments I’ve seen, Geno doesn’t pull players for making mistakes, he pulls them when they don’t play with energy and effort.

Just guessing here, but it seems Ayanna is taken aback by the speed and physicality she’s seen from opposing post players. This is entirely normal. Adjusting to the size, strength, and speed of college players often takes a season or so.

THAT is exactly why I've said many times, I'm not worried about Ayanna. She will mature and adjust. She'll be fine next year, if not by March of next year. This is still 2022. I look for Ayanna to be "monsterous" her junior and senior years. Kinda like Aaliyah is this year.

 

[bballtalk]

When Uconn is challenged, that’s wen they learn how to get better. Not every game will be easy and they pulled the game out. The Bugs didn’t have great games, so glad to see Caroline step up. We will need her. We are learning to win without Azzi and when she gets back, we’ll be better because of it.

 

[#12in21]

On the cusp of Azzi’s presumed return the loss of Aubrey for these last couple games has been a hard blow. Nika in particular IMO has struggled the most over these couple games because of it. She has played the most minutes and has had to slow down the opponets best players. She just hasn’t had her usual energy on the offensive end - too much expended on defense.

I think she can taste the return to ‘normalcy’ when Azzi gets back but it’s just out of reach. Aubrey being out these two games has just been alittle too much. She has had to let others make it happen on the other end. Aaliyah and Dorka did so last game and Lou and Caroline this one.

With Azzi snd Aubrey back I expect a real surge for a tired squad and a return to where they all started at seasons start. Nika’s assists will be back up ( correspondingly the team assists) and our offensive flow will return. One positive is that our defense has remained solid and will only get better with those two back as well.

 

[Huskee11]

Good sized and enthusiastic crowd, but not many students of course. The Cromwell eighth grade girls played at halftime and they have some good shooters!

Azzi warmed up with the team, no knee brace, looked good, and I spotted her parents in the stands so I thought something might be up. Nope, but she seems close.

Kudos to our starters for all going 35 or more minutes, 40 for Lou and Nika. The game was physical and played in the half court, and I thought our defense was outstanding.

Caroline and Lou were the stars today but all five contributed to the win.

It was tough to get any offensive flow and part of the problem was that Marquette was forcing us to start our offense about 3-4 feet further out than normal. We usually are able to exploit that with back door cuts and we did some of that, but they defensed that pretty well.

Not Nika`s finest game but don`t underestimate the job she did on the defensive end. 40 minutes, no fouls. She bothered King all day - she leads Marquette in points and assists, and ended the day with 4 points on 2-9 shooting, no assists, and no offensive rebounds. In addition, I don`t think Nika was covering her when she made the two hoops. Nika was stuck to her like she was stuck to Clark against Iowa.

This is a tired team. Getting Aubrey and Azzi back will be huge. Hopefully the next two games, Butler and Xavier, will not require anyone to play more than 30-32 minutes and we have at least one of them back for those games.

 

[MSGRET]

Caroline is not as quick as a lot of players but she gets her hands up and contests a lot of shots without fouling. She’s strong fundamentally.

Don't hear you talking about her 5 T/O vs 2 assists, bet if it was Nika it would be different.

 

[MSGRET]

We played tired and uninspired it seemed. Nika didn't drive the train, was to passive and played like practice set-ups. She has to drive and shoot more to open up the court. Our offensive sets are much too predictable. Our starters are playing too many minutes, even with the short bench. Zero points from two positions hopefully will change. We need to look for our shot more instead of looking to pass. Our creative basketball is missing.

Nika had the main job of shutting down Marquette's best player. King ended up with 4 points, 2-9 shooting with 0-2 on 3 pointers. She also had 0 assists and 3 fouls.

 

[Geew1992]

I rewatched the Texas game recently and was reminded how well Ayanna can play, even as a freshman. She seems to have lost some of her energy since then but I suspect it’s more mental than physical. Contrary to some comments I’ve seen, Geno doesn’t pull players for making mistakes, he pulls them when they don’t play with energy and effort.

Just guessing here, but it seems Ayanna is taken aback by the speed and physicality she’s seen from opposing post players. This is entirely normal. Adjusting to the size, strength, and speed of college players often takes a season or so.

I think Ayanna is in her head as most freshman tend to get.

 

[The deacon]

Geno said Caroline played well except on defense

Geno says a lot of things... Caroline missed a few switches but otherwise played a good defensive game, particularly for a physically struggling player on the court virtually throughout.

 

[#1florida]

Seven

We have only

Yes, with only 6 players in today's game.

 

[JJTB]

Like seeing CD’s pull up jumpers the last 2 games….nice, fluid deliveries.

 

[Glenn]

We looked tired, as others have said and i think Geno got out coached today. They took our bigs out of the offense, particularly AE, who did ont have many touches. We never seemed to adjust our spacing to get good looks for AE, like she has had teh past few games. And the dropoff in play when Amari and Ayanna were put in was not that great--i think they should have played a bit more to give our starters a chance to catch their breaths.

 

[Rb335]

Don't hear you talking about her 5 T/O vs 2 assists, bet if it was Nika it would be different.

And similarly the board harps on Caroline’s every missed shot, but Nika can go 0-5 from the floor and nobody complains because of assists.

With a short rotation, you have to have some give and take.

 

[Valleyfan]

Agree with most, the team looked tired, both mentally and physically. Getting Aubrey back will help as her athleticism and energy she brings, especially on D - is sorely missed. Adding Azzi on top will hopefully be like icing on the cake!

It looks like Patterson will be glued to the bench when these two come back.

 

[pvdoggy]

Geno says a lot of things... Caroline missed a few switches but otherwise played a good defensive game, particularly for a physically struggling player on the court virtually throughout.

Geno also said in his presser that Caroline has improved her defense.

 

[oldude]

Agree with most, the team looked tired, both mentally and physically. Getting Aubrey back will help as her athleticism and energy she brings, especially on D - is sorely missed. Adding Azzi on top will hopefully be like icing on the cake!

It looks like Patterson will be glued to the bench when these two come back.

No, Patterson will not be “glued to the bench” when Aubrey & Azzi return. Ayanna has an enormous upside. Geno and his staff will continue to coach her up, as they have every player who ever came to UConn. Ayanna will have opportunities to step up in the games ahead and hopefully be ready for the big games in March.

 

[JoePgh]

Everybody seems in 100% agreement that UConn looked tired today. I was at the game, in the lower level about 30 feet from one of the baskets. I did not think that fatigue had a major impact on how UConn played.

Yes, there were small signs. I attribute Aaliyah's near misses to fatigue, but (as usual) she hustled more than almost anybody, so that may account for it. I did see one play where Caroline retreated on defense holding one of her hips. That can be a sign of fatigue, but in her case it can also be a sign that someone tweaked her in a spot that is still recovering from summer surgery.

I think that the Boneyard consensus about fatigue being a major factor reflects group-think. Some people seem to think that if starters play 35+ minutes 36 hours after getting off a plane from Omaha at 3:30 AM, they must be fatigued, and the fatigue must account for every missed layup or missed defensive assignment. I think that those mistakes have been present in every game against good opposition, so it's too facile to blame them on fatigue in this case.

UConn lost the second quarter by 3 points, then won the third quarter by 3 points and the 4th quarter by 6 points. The fourth quarter was UConn's best shooting quarter (61% after 50%, 31%, and 42% in the first three quarters). A fatigued team would be expected to perform worse in the last quarter of the game. I just didn't see that today.

 

[Littlemin]

Marquette has a good, very physical team, came in with a very good game plan, executed it very well and turned the game into an absolute rock fight. Yet Uconn, tired, exhausted really, stayed very tough, especially on defense and beat Marquette by double digits at their own game.
Yes, Muhl shoot poorly; yes, she takes at least some blame for a choppy Uconn offensive performance; yes, Edwards had a very tough game offensively, but so what? Winning by 30 is easy but winning by digging deep and staying tough when things are not going great or very pretty can be much more satisfying and provide a much greater learning experience for the “real“ season.
Personally, I thought it one of the teams more impressive games because each and every one of those players had to dig very deep and play with a “refuse to lose” attitude all game long.
Maybe ”Fatigue makes cowards of us all” can be a ready made excuse for many to quit, but not for anyone in this group.

 

[oldude]

Everybody seems in 100% agreement that UConn looked tired today. I was at the game, in the lower level about 30 feet from one of the baskets. I did not think that fatigue had a major impact on how UConn played.

Yes, there were small signs. I attribute Aaliyah's near misses to fatigue, but (as usual) she hustled more than almost anybody, so that may account for it. I did see one play where Caroline retreated on defense holding one of her hips. That can be a sign of fatigue, but in her case it can also be a sign that someone tweaked her in a spot that is still recovering from summer surgery.

I think that the Boneyard consensus about fatigue being a major factor reflects group-think. Some people seem to think that if starters play 35+ minutes 36 hours after getting off a plane from Omaha at 3:30 AM, they must be fatigued, and the fatigue must account for every missed layup or missed defensive assignment. I think that those mistakes have been present in every game against good opposition, so it's too facile to blame them on fatigue in this case.

UConn lost the second quarter by 3 points, then won the third quarter by 3 points and the 4th quarter by 6 points. The fourth quarter was UConn's best shooting quarter (61% after 50%, 31%, and 42% in the first three quarters). A fatigued team would be expected to perform worse in the last quarter of the game. I just didn't see that today.

Fatigue can be physical or mental, something Geno pointed out in his postgame comments. These are extremely fit young athletes, who can all play a hard 40 minutes if they have to, and then do it again a few days later. There is no doubt that all the Huskies played hard today.

Mental fatigue is another thing altogether. It occasionally manifests itself in poor execution on offense and missed assignments on defense. That is what many of us observed today. When players are involved in a tough, physical game, playing all, or nearly all 40 minutes, it can be difficult to stay locked in.

 

[Mdoggie]

...and what did Inez do wrong other than have a bandage on her head? Amari had a couple of good defensive stances, and Ayanna is "too afraid" to make mistakes rather than just playing - wonder why. By the way Nan, Dorka missed a couple of point blank lay-ups in the first few minutes, too. Kids need to play to get confidence and contribute to the team, long term. You can only drive a car so long before it stops breaks down! We'll all take the win, however!

If you go to the UConn WBB website, you can navigate to Genos email address. Tell him how College players are to gain confidence. Give him the whole car analogy thing.

 

[HuskyNan]

Everybody seems in 100% agreement that UConn looked tired today. I was at the game, in the lower level about 30 feet from one of the baskets. I did not think that fatigue had a major impact on how UConn played.

Yes, there were small signs. I attribute Aaliyah's near misses to fatigue, but (as usual) she hustled more than almost anybody, so that may account for it. I did see one play where Caroline retreated on defense holding one of her hips. That can be a sign of fatigue, but in her case it can also be a sign that someone tweaked her in a spot that is still recovering from summer surgery.

I think that the Boneyard consensus about fatigue being a major factor reflects group-think. Some people seem to think that if starters play 35+ minutes 36 hours after getting off a plane from Omaha at 3:30 AM, they must be fatigued, and the fatigue must account for every missed layup or missed defensive assignment. I think that those mistakes have been present in every game against good opposition, so it's too facile to blame them on fatigue in this case.

UConn lost the second quarter by 3 points, then won the third quarter by 3 points and the 4th quarter by 6 points. The fourth quarter was UConn's best shooting quarter (61% after 50%, 31%, and 42% in the first three quarters). A fatigued team would be expected to perform worse in the last quarter of the game. I just didn't see that today.

 

[Kaizen]

 

[Carnac]

It didn’t make sense vs this defense

I'm not questioning Geno today. He earned his salary today winning a game against a good team with a patchwork lineup (3 starters out) and a very short bench. A tip o' the turban to Geno and his entire staff for the job they did today. He didn't have a lot to work with, and no room for error. I'm sure it wasn't his desire to play Lou and Nika 40 mins, Caroline and Aaliyah 38 mins, and Dorka 35, but THAT was the hand he was dealt. The man knows what he's doing. He's been down this road before..........lots of times.