UMass-Lowell Postgame Thread

[veryolddog]

I was happy to see the Team play. What I saw I liked. Lot's of talent on the floor no matter what time of play. Paige.....she is a phenom. She will be one of the greats in UConn history. With the addtions next season, jeepers, they will give anyone a run for the money. I sense and smell a National Championship coming. Have to make an effort to see it.

Geno won't be Geno unless he has something to bitch about. That makes the team great. At least he won't say, that his bench does not contribute.

 

[psconn]

Mir looks like Gabby2 to me, unless you think Aubrey is Gabby2. Then she becomes Gabby3. Nika showed the effects of her injury, but she is going to be a player. There is a reason why she was the first guard off the bench.

I get that. She also reminded me of Swin at times. Whatever... she's got a chance to be pretty darned good.

 

[JoePgh]

Christyn and Olivia are who they are; fine basketball players but not all-Americans. Evina and Paige are the leaders of this team, at least at this juncture. What improvement we see from the sophomores and freshmen will determine how successful this team is, at least IMHO.

Liv has the ability to be a dominant post player, and I think she showed that in the first half of today's game. I would attribute the sequence in the third quarter where she missed four or five shots on one possession to her being tired and not really in game shape. I would not expect to see that continue, but note how she relentlessly went after all those rebounds!

After she made several shots in the first half on aggressive moves to the basket, she attempted and missed a fade-away that looked unnecessary late in the second quarter. Megan Culmo attributed that to tiredness, and I think she was probably right about that.

 

[FairView]

Sadly, no. Someone who passed like Cousy. And I think Paige also passes like Cousy. Do you agree?

Her game is also a lot like Oscar Robertson. ( Boy, am I dating myself.)

Do you remember whether you and Naismith used galvanized nails when you put up those peach baskets?

 

[VA Huskie]

I found it interesting that Nike, Edwards and Mir all got in the game before Griffin. Wonder why?

 

[the Q]

Outside shooting is going drive how good this team will become. They also passed up quite a few open looks, Williams in particular had some wide open looks and hesitated and waited for someone to guard her before doing anything.

The freshmen looked good, but this wasn’t much of a test. But this is going to be the worst UConn will be for a while.

Enjoy this run.

 

[Blueballer]

not wanting to be a downer but:
18 turnovers against UMass Lowell????? Better be first game jitters.
Once again the other team played great free throw defense against Liv. She got bailed out of one miss by a UConn lane violation. As Geno said, "I don't know why the other team doesn't foul her all the time." I kept hoping she could move from a 50% shooter to at least 60% or maybe 65%. Nope. Remember when we all said Charlie Collier's great games were against weak teams. But she did shoot 90%, averaged over 30 points, etc. Liv missed 4 or 5 shots on one possession. The type of sequence when Geno says she was building up her rebound numbers.
If Paige cannot overcome bias against a freshman AA, I don't see an AA on the floor today.
UMass Lowell got a number of wide open shots, defense just broke down.
Seemed like a lot of dribbling at times.
Some long stretches with no points.
UMass Lowell is a team that past UConn teams would score 110 points on. This team would not have won us free wings if we were allowed in the stands.
I think we need to see big improvement on Tuesday, and more on Thursday. But I will settle for just seeing us play.

but with all that, they all played better than I could, even Chassion.

IMO it's not unusual to have that many TO's given the situation. So many new players and different combinations of players. That will reslove as time goes on. But it will not happen overnight.

 

[BobbyJ]

Will there be a replay of the game?

No, the players are all too tired.

 

[CocoHusky]

I am fairly sure that we didn’t score 100+ by design. There is no way that Geno would allow a humiliating score line when they are playing Shea’s husband’s team. I’m sure Geno is extremely grateful that he accepted the game at all. I thank him as well! We finally got to see what we have been waiting for.

I’m fairly sure that’s not correct and you can easily check the box score to verify that UCONN had the same number of FGA in the first half (32) as it did in the second half. Several UCONN players played poorly to keep the final score below 100. Unless you think the design was for CW and Liv to combine to shoot 10 for 26.

 

[ed4ourgirls]

Olivia and Christyn went 10/26 = 38%

the 5 freshmen went 16/24 = 67%

rather the reverse of what I would have expected for the first game.

 

[CocoHusky]

Liv has the ability to be a dominant post player, and I think she showed that in the first half of today's game. I would attribute the sequence in the third quarter where she missed four or five shots on one possession to her being tired and not really in game shape. I would not expect to see that continue, but note how she relentlessly went after all those rebounds!

After she made several shots in the first half on aggressive moves to the basket, she attempted and missed a fade-away that looked unnecessary late in the second quarter. Megan Culmo attributed that to tiredness, and I think she was probably right about that.

Where has Liv ever shown the ability to be a dominant post?

 

[MSGRET]

Let me ask some of the most loyal fans in the world this question. When was the last time that five Freshman played 39% of the game minutes in the teams first game of the season at UConn? Also, when was the last time a Freshman was selected as the Player of the Game by SNY In their first game ever played. Paige played 36 of the 78 minutes played by the Freshman and except for a couple of plays she DID NOT look like a Freshman. I think we have a PG for the next 4 years.

 

[SLY63]

Really great to finally see them play.

Only one game, so don't want to jump to many conclusions, but Paige looks like she will be the best player on the team by the tournament (if not sooner), Edwards is very strong and won't get pushed around by anyone, and Mir looks very athletic. Evina looked good and really let the game come to her (didn't force it). The juniors were OK (but this was only 1 game). I really like the overall defensive effort/potential, we have some really aggressive 1:1 defenders.

We'll know much more in 10 days (assuming they play)

 

[huskyd]

Paige is superb; she's everything I expected. All of the things she did at Hopkins, she was able to do in her first college game. She never forces anything; everything she does is calculated. Her centeredness is rare except in great players. She is never out of control. She can score as much as necessary, but she makes everyone around her better. Note the very quiet 17pts. Please note, too, the 9 rebounds. Like 'Pheesa and Gabby, Paige seems to know exactly where the ball is going when it comes off the backboard--a natural rebounder.
I love that I get to watch her for (at least) 4 years . . .

 

[MooseJaw]

As usual I am late to post, most has already been said, so briefly and mostly about the newbies Paige is the Bomb, Aubrey and Mir, there is some greyhound in those Huskies. Evina looked smooth. AE will be a load. Nika looks a half step slowed by her foot injury. Piath will improve. For the most part not bad for a first game with so many new players, when the court spacing gets better and the players blend we will be awed.

 

[Biff]

I am amazed by long range conclusions about anything after one game in a weird season against a team that has no player better than our 10th player.

No you are not. You have been around this board a long time. You know it's SOP.

 

[Aluminny69]

Do you remember whether you and Naismith used galvanized nails when you put up those peach baskets?

No, but I remember back when I first became interested in Women's basketball, many players had difficultly hitting open layups. ( We called them bunnies.) The players have come a long way from those days.

 

[CocoHusky]

Let me ask some of the most loyal fans in the world this question. When was the last time that five Freshman played 39% of the game minutes in the teams first game of the season at UConn? Also, when was the last time a Freshman was selected as the Player of the Game by SNY In their first game ever played. Paige played 36 of the 78 minutes played by the Freshman and except for a couple of plays she DID NOT look like a Freshman. I think we have a PG for the next 4 years.

Stevie had a similar debut against College of Charleston in 2012 leading scorer 21 points in 26mins. In 2010 three UCONN freshman (Dolson, Walker and Hartley) all played more than 20 minutes against Holy Cross. No chance any of those three would win player of the game though, Maya still had eligibility and Tiff blew up for 30 +.

 

[blkkirk]

Most everything has been said. However, I would like to add to what has been said about Aubrey. She did not get in the game until the second quarter. I have the suspicion that Geno was sending her a message. My guess is that he has very high expectations of her and needs her to up her game for this team to be successful. I think she is our best defender and clearly the most disruptive player on defense. She had a very productive time on the court today.

The second thing that I noticed was that all the substitutions leads to disjointed play. This is why Geno doesn't usually play a lot of players. This team needs to be different. That is a tough ask with the makeup of this team.

Paige was clearly our best player today. We are going to need her to score more and more from the outside. Very poised, relaxed, and skilled. I think this team will be unrecognizably different by the end of the season.

 

[EdSaid]

Fox Sports Ap sucks.
Paige, Yup. Just let her play. As good as advertised.
Nika no points, but she is a tough customer. She got dirty. Maybe nervous. Anna was nervous. She will be an important piece of the team.
ONO and CW missed way too many layups. How many times did we see that last year?
Mir Yes. She does not miss layups. going to be a good one. Rebounder
AE another tough customer may start later this season.
AG is fine coming off the bench, the game wasn't close or important or she would have had a bigger role.
Started with 4 guards and played with four guards most of the game. (Some may not consider Anna a guard, but she is. Very similar player to Lou.)
Was ONO and AE ever in the game at the same time?

We need to play some better competition. Basically a scrimmage today, but a good days work.

 

[Fairfield Fan]

Bueckers, Edward’s, and possibly Mir will be major contributors this season. IMO The other freshmen are going to struggle.
As a team, need to get better on defense.

You said it. IMHO, Paige and Aaliyah will be the twin stars who will drive this team forward. They'll be supported by ONO, but perhaps more importantly, McLean and Griffen. Those two display aggressiveness and athleticism that haven't been matched since Gabby Williams. We need outside shooting, so we'll need Westbrook and Makerat to come through.

But this is going to be four years of the freshman core. Upon them, the team's future is based.

Paige reminds me of a freshman Ionescu: they have very similar physiques, they play with the same confidence and panache, they both drive to the basket at will and pass beautifully, and are capable of shooting threes. Paige could be an Ionesco. Or better.

But Ionescu was boosted by twin peaks- two great inside players. I'm confident that Edwards can be one of them. ONO? Hmmm....

 

[eebmg]

I get that. She also reminded me of Swin at times. Whatever... she's got a chance to be pretty darned good.

I think Tamika is the best parallell at the moment

 

[Fairfield Fan]

I wasn't impressed with Christyn and LIv's play today. They should dominate this level of competition. I thought Evina's play was good considering she hasn't played for two years. Paige was the best player on the court today. She played under control and should have had a double/double if not a triple double.

Yes. Christyn and Liv were billed as the team core. But they haven't really advanced. Christyn was the recipient of a number of good passes, but wasn't really the initiator of scoring. Take her out and replace her with McLean or Griffin or even Muhl and you get as good, if not much better, results.

This is the freshman class that will vie for NC's for the next four years.

 

[Jingo]

Sadly, no. Someone who passed like Cousy. And I think Paige also passes like Cousy. Do you agree?

Her game is also a lot like Oscar Robertson. ( Boy, am I dating myself.)

My era: Cousy and Oscar were quite dissimilar. Cousy was a facilitator, pass first, shoot second. Oscar was shoot first, pass second. The results were: Cousy won 10 NBA titles; Oscar won 1, eh? Paige is more like Bob Cousy but can score like Oscar...

 

[Cuango]

9 player

this fake news. UConn didn’t pass up any scoring opportunities

9 player

this fake news. UConn didn’t pass up any scoring opportunities

Oh! My bad.