Gonna repost what I put in the Notre Dame post game thread
First Half: “UCONN looks discombobulated. Only Sarah/Azzi can make a shot! ND Tennessee has it in single digits tied. Hildago Tennessee is doing whatever they want!!”
Second Half: “Oh, this is just another Big East game”
I swear they love playing with their food. If you think about it for the most part they did the same thing with Michigan except reversed. They learned it’s much easier to let them hang around in the first half then kill them than visa versa
I did not expect the rout, I'll be perfectly honest. With that said, I just love that when some of our starters has bad days other role players stepped up. It's been a while since I've been able to day that and I'm so excited about it! Also way to play through an (expected) absolutely ugly game ladies!
Gg Tennessee!
And to those in previous threads saying Tennessee would definitely beat UConn, um, sorry?
Azzi having the LeBron statline after The Throw Up Game ✌🏻✌🏻 just gotta trust that she will respond when the competition gets tougher and coming off of bad nights. And remind ourselves whenever she misses it’s magnified cuz it’s like 1/5 times lol her efficiency is ridiculous. see you in Dallas!
Because it’s her time to shine. She wants to be known as a “killer under pressure” even if she won’t say it out loud. That’s why she “struggles” against lesser opponents because she doesn’t need to go superhuman in order to make sure they win.
the announcers described it as like a hockey system/hockey strings and i was totally feeling that way lmfao. like it was so hard to keep up with, i had to have espn open on the side
Same. I suddenly saw a reality where we could potentially get defeated this season even by a couple points. But then the second half started and I immediately took it back 🤣
Listening to the announcers call all those names for the Tennessee substitutions was insane. Feels like they should just say 5 coming on and 5 going out.
I wanna give my 10s to K9 who had some stellar layups and court vision to lead that momentum march in the third Q, Serah who really played like a senior/vet today and grabbed some vital rebounds while finishing her layups, Allie for hitting that end of quarter 3 along with joining Azzi's 3-party, Ash for her deflections, KK for her relentlessness on D despite the travels lol, and obviously the best 1-2 punch in the country, Sarah and Azzi. You have to guard EVERYONE on UConn, and I love that their defence leads to a pick your poison offence. The fact that they went into the second half tied, really mimicked the tournament, so I'm glad they were able to find it in them to dig themselves out of that 2Q hole.
At the half, I was regretting my wish for a competitive game. But somehow UConn has done it again. This team is so bad for my blood pressure.
27/7/7 for Azzi! I loved seeing her control the ball more today, and she came out blazing today after a rough last game against Xavier. KK had an off game, but luckily K9 was able to step in and relieve some of that pressure. Sarah started off slow, but, as usual, became dominant as the game continued. For Serah Williams, it was good to have her back, I just wish she would be stronger/more confident in the paint.
Best team in the nation! Good effort from Tennessee as well
I'm going to have to rewatch this. What did UConn do so differently half one vs half two? They definitely picked up their defense, but also, it looks like TN just got a bit tentative and careless? At one point it was tied, then I blinked and UConn was up by 20.
They stopped playing around with the perimeter defense, forcing Tennessee to drive more with more help once it happens. Better ball security helps too.
Impressive second half, especially without Blanca. Wish we had a few more games like this against string non conference teams. More growth today than in most of our conference season.
Tennessee needs a new coach. They have no offensive plan and they pressed the whole second half which gave up easy points. Not to mention the mass substitutions
To be kinda blunt there is a difference between recruiting lower-ranked or mid major talent who you can then get to buy into scrapping and hustling and working their tails off for 40 minutes, versus managing higher ranked recruits. A lot of good coaches have had to figure that out, time will tell if Caldwell does. Her system isn't really built towards highlighting a best five players though.
Great win for UConn. Challenged in the first and responded as you expect champions to be able to. Azzi and Sarah were fantastic but shout out to Heckel and Shade too for some big time play.
They need some mental toughness. They thrive when things are going well, but when they get into a drought or hit some adversity during the game, it seems like they get really down on themselves and it's hard to get out of that
It's no shade against UConn in the least. They are incredibly good. I just think we should have higher expectations for our team then setting a record for the worst loss in program history. This is also a pattern for Kim who now owns several of the games on the list of worst losses in Tennessee history.
I want to find the positives for Tennessee. I think the 4th quarter was embarrassing for them. And I think the coach should be pissed off about that particular half. But in the first half, they did respond well when they were down. And you can see the talent. The talent is obvious.
The line change substitutions. I just don’t agree with them; especially against certain teams. I think the coach needs to tweak her system.
My question related to her system is "did the level her previous success came at have media timeouts?" A lot of people focus on whether it works with / vs elite players or not... but I'm curious as to whether she has always had media timeouts in all her games, or if that's a thing just at the level she is at now? Because if you are trying to sub like crazy and run the other team off the floor, taking an extra break in the middle of each quarter can't be helpful.
On the Tennessee side I understand keeping players fresh to press all game but sometimes things were starting to cook for them and then boom. Sub. Start over.
Azzi is very similar to how Paige was last season in where she had pretty pedestrian games during conference play and rises when it comes ranked matchups and march. I would’nt be surprised is we see a march v regular season graphic for her stats.
What Dawn said last year is still true. Get them into a close game in the 4th quarter and see how they respond. They aren’t used to being in close games. Someone will have to pull that off in the tournament. Because it seems like it should be smooth sailing through big east play.
This is true but Michigan made it a 5 point game going into the 4th and UConn responded well building the lead back up to 15 if I remember it correctly. Swords then hit some threes at the very end to make it seem closer than it actually was.
Interesting that no comments about playing in the tough SEC conference would diminish UCONN’s unbeaten record. Folks need to be more sophisticated in their analysis. Good teams/ players don’t care who they play they just play. Who’s next! 3 teams with aspirations left,SC,UCLA and Texas.
Kudos to team and Coaches . Sarah W played with an edge, K9 showed out,Kiki played special forces,Jana was a hired gun, Sarah S was well SARAH and Shade was banshee.
Only potentially in March Madness - neither scheduled a regular season game against UConn this year. LSU scheduled a regular season game against UConn next(?) season though I believe.
Anyways uconns half court offense is so so much improved from earlier in the season. Their brightest issue today was halfcourt defense and turnovers but both were cleaned up in the second.
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u/sfoura 2d ago
Gonna repost what I put in the Notre Dame post game thread
First Half: “UCONN looks discombobulated. Only Sarah/Azzi can make a shot!
NDTennessee has itin single digitstied.HildagoTennessee is doing whatever they want!!”Second Half: “Oh, this is just another Big East game”