Game Thread: Lady Vols Vs UCONN. ; Thurs Feb 6th ; Home game; 6:30 PM Eastern; ESPN...WIN 80-76

[Coach Jumper]

It has been fun reading the game thread after the momentous victory. It is rare for any big win to have significant contributions from all 10 players. I am so happy for Puckett hitting a three right near the end, perhaps healing her hurt for missing the 3 at the end of the LSU ? game. We have had many opportunities to learn from our close losses but I think this team also needed to learn from experiencing a win Specifically, to see how team ball and commitment to CKC's guidance.actually is what produces the best results for all.

I remarked to my host at the game that she had not missed a shot during warmups and was due

 

[Good2bavol]

I keep hearing that this is the Lady Vols' 1st win against UCONN since 2007. Well that is true, but it sounds like they owned us for 18 years. Better said, this is the 1st win in the last 4 meetings. Or this is the first win since 2020. Not playing for 13/14 years does not equal a loss for us.

You might as well say the Lady Vols have never beaten Wyoming. Of course, we never played either.

 

[Orange007]

got to give a couple of shout outs now that i can think straight.

spencer is the key to all of this. what a damn player. so freaking smart and tough.
boyd and latham are already ballers. i think latham gives me young izzy vibes. she is so long and athletic. she will be a beast. boyd is one of the toughest players on the floor. i did not see this coming.
puckett- if she finds her shot moving forward it will be a game changer for the lady vols. we need her to at least put 8 to 10 points down a game.
spearman- played under control. i think those last min misses has made her lock in during big moments. she was determined to see the ball go through the net.

 

[OrangeBeachVol]

I keep hearing that this is the Lady Vols' 1st win against UCONN since 2007. Well that is true, but it sounds like they owned us for 18 years. Better said, this is the 1st win in the last 4 meetings. Or this is the first win since 2020. Not playing for 13/14 years does not equal a loss for us.

You might as well say the Lady Vols have never beaten Wyoming. Of course, we never played either.

Yeah that was unfair UConn hype by ESPN. It did make it sound like that. And having R. Lobo, a die hard UConn homer, as the tv analyst.

 

[HerdLVol]

Yep ^This & the UCONN players were playing hard but some looked gassed and most of the players on UT had more spring in their step in the 4th Q. Most coaches cannot and will not stay the course on this system. First of all they don't have 10 players they trust to play an average of 20 minutes a game. They cant stay the course its not in their DNA, its not the Bball they grew up with , even some on this site have said we have to veer away from this system, some.

As someone said a while back; it may have been Coach Gabe. It’s to hard to coach this style. Most are not willing or able to do it. It’s a very difficult style.

 

[KTrain]

As someone said a while back; it may have been Coach Gabe. It’s to hard to coach this style. Most are not willing or able to do it. It’s a very difficult style.

Yep, some players may not like it. If you want to play 38 to 40 minutes a game, you won't like it. The team comradery is better in this system. Players like to play, maybe you are not starting but the next 5 gets involved in about 2 minutes after the opening tip. 2 and maybe 3 players will play around 32 minutes on the high end and 2 or 3 players will play 12 to 15 minutes on the low end of the 10 starters. I call all 10 starters because they play early in the start of the game. It keeps all the players dialed in at practice as they know they are a valued part of the plan moving forward.

 

[JCP201]

Yep, some players may not like it. If you want to play 38 to 40 minutes a game, you won't like it. The team comradery is better in this system. Players like to play, maybe you are not starting but the next 5 gets involved in about 2 minutes after the opening tip. 2 and maybe 3 players will play around 32 minutes on the high end and 2 or 3 players will play 12 to 15 minutes on the low end of the 10 starters. I call all 10 starters because they play early in the start of the game. It keeps all the players dialed in at practice as they know they are a valued part of the plan moving forward.

I remember how they played last year, and everyone pretty much stood around and waited for Rickea to make a basket. They are in so much better shape. They actually look like a men's team the way they move around and pass the ball. It's very i fun to watch. Even Geno made comment to Coach Kim that he'd noticed the difference and the impact she had.

 

[UT Challenger]

It has been fun reading the game thread after the momentous victory. It is rare for any big win to have significant contributions from all 10 players. I am so happy for Puckett hitting a three right near the end, perhaps healing her hurt for missing the 3 at the end of the LSU ? game. We have had many opportunities to learn from our close losses but I think this team also needed to learn from experiencing a win Specifically, to see how team ball and commitment to CKC's guidance.actually is what produces the best results for all.

I have been down on Puckett this year but she made 2 timely 3 pointers last night that were just gut shots to uconn. I really thought it was our night when she hit those. About the losses. Sometimes you have to learn how to win. If you hate losing enough you will reach down inside yourself and figure out how to win.

 

[MAD]

 

[madtownvol]

Game didn't go exactly as I expected as I thought we'd win both the turnover and the rebound battle and we only won rebounding. I thought they would shoot better than us but we would have more shot attempts. Surprised that we held them to such a low percentage shooting the ball. To win we had to as possesions turned out to about dead even. Keeping them off the free throw line was huge and shooting 46 percent overall , even with 25 percent from the three was encouraging to see. I think if we shoot it at 45 percent in the LSU game we will win that one as well. This was a straight up win no extra possessions we just made more shots didn't depend on getting 15 to 20 extra shots that we've gotten in so many games this season while shooting 35 percent from the field.
The way we were moving the ball in and out was the best we've done in a while We finished at the rim better than we have in the last several games. I see a lot of improvement overall. Coach KIm said February was when you would see it all come together and that is happening.

We were do to have a game where our ranked opponent had a bad shooting night. And it was a vital.

We made 3 more shots (including two additional threes) than Uconn which equals an 8 point gap but they made 4 more FTs, which gives us the four point difference.

When you look at the other stats, it was so close between the teams in almost all categories, including both shooting 25% from outside. TOs were almost event; Uconn had the edge at the freethrow line. Uconn actually won the batters in fast break points (26 to 14), points off TO (24-19), assists (20 to 12, which suggest better ball movement) and points in the paint were tied @ 42. They even got more shots 72 to 70. All those numbers would point to a Uconn win.

The differentiating stat could have be rebounding which the LVs won 46-34, with 4 more ORs). One the one side, rebounding been an area where the LVs have lagged in several of their close losses. That is a good sign overal but in this game. However, in this game, the LVs did not convert their rebounding advantage into a differientiating gap in 2nd chance points (11 for Uconn, 12 for the LVs).

So, in the final analysis, this game came down to the LVs making 3 more shots (and which they could blow by missing FTs).

My takeaway is that this win was not that qualitatively different from the close losses to OK,. LSU, TX, SC, or Vandy, except some critical breaks went our way (like the reviewed out of bounds play involving Ruby that went in favor of the LVs possession, and where Ruby just missed touching the ball by a fraction of an inch).

The good news is that in games with ranked opponents (including all the losses), the LVs have consistently shown that they can play "with anybody'. But, they are lacking a consistent "difference maker" who can insure close games go their way more than chance.

Looking ahead, LSU is probably going to be another super tight game and the LVs need it becasue 4-6 in conference is just not where they want to be.