Well, that was a lot more fun than Friday, for Stanford fans.
1) The chalk talk and the behind-the-bench both noted that the emphasis was on improving our offense. Tara actually said at the behind the bench that our offense on Friday was "horrible, just horrible" and that the team worked very hard with only a day of practice to improve. We are an "inside out" team this year, meaning the ball needs to go inside every possession and then only come out if the other team is doubling in the paint.
2) Bird talked a little about Friday's game and responded to questions about why Lepolo was on Watkins. She pointed out everyone else who was also on Watkins. Watkins got very few layups on Friday, and in previous games she had not been so accurate with her jump shot. But Bird said if we play them again we will try something else. Letting her get comfortable with her jump shot early just served to get her in the zone. (My analysis: scouting report defense actually backfired on Friday.)
3) Our shooting percentage for the game was 63.5%, the highest since 2014. After Friday, Tara was adamant that our team needed "better shot selection." She got it.
4) UCLA's shooting percentage was 32%. Osborne was 5/18, Rice was 3/13, and Jones was 2/6. Lepolo did a superb job on Osborne, who was 5/18 and held to 13 after her 30+ point outburst on Friday. Amazing how good a defender she is when facing someone who doesn't have a 7" height advantage on her.
5) The conundrum about the wing position continues. Bosgana started and went 3/3. Pretty good, eh? Agara sometimes plays 4 and sometimes 3. She came in and went 4/4.
6) Harriel continues to impress. 2/2 from three point range in 7 minutes. I like her right now, but have to believe she gets oodles more time after Jump graduates. She is up to 49% three point shooting now, and it seems consistent from game to game.
7) Rebounding is deceptive. UCLA got 13 O-boards out of 50 misses, or 26% of their misses. We got 6 O-boards out of 22 misses, or about 27% of our misses. Still, with our inside advantage we might think that we should have gotten some of those 13.
8) 17 turnovers was not a terrific stat, but a lot were trying to get the ball inside rather than settling for outside shots. Entrance passes are difficult when the other team knows you are playing inside-out. Lepolo still had 7 assists to 3 turnovers, which seems acceptable to me, but we could be better.
9) Bottom line, we got a lot better on offense and also tuned up our defense, creating a gargantuan disparity on accuracy between us and them. The officiating may have been a factor, too, letting us get into the flow of our offense.
1) The chalk talk and the behind-the-bench both noted that the emphasis was on improving our offense. Tara actually said at the behind the bench that our offense on Friday was "horrible, just horrible" and that the team worked very hard with only a day of practice to improve. We are an "inside out" team this year, meaning the ball needs to go inside every possession and then only come out if the other team is doubling in the paint.
2) Bird talked a little about Friday's game and responded to questions about why Lepolo was on Watkins. She pointed out everyone else who was also on Watkins. Watkins got very few layups on Friday, and in previous games she had not been so accurate with her jump shot. But Bird said if we play them again we will try something else. Letting her get comfortable with her jump shot early just served to get her in the zone. (My analysis: scouting report defense actually backfired on Friday.)
3) Our shooting percentage for the game was 63.5%, the highest since 2014. After Friday, Tara was adamant that our team needed "better shot selection." She got it.
4) UCLA's shooting percentage was 32%. Osborne was 5/18, Rice was 3/13, and Jones was 2/6. Lepolo did a superb job on Osborne, who was 5/18 and held to 13 after her 30+ point outburst on Friday. Amazing how good a defender she is when facing someone who doesn't have a 7" height advantage on her.
5) The conundrum about the wing position continues. Bosgana started and went 3/3. Pretty good, eh? Agara sometimes plays 4 and sometimes 3. She came in and went 4/4.
6) Harriel continues to impress. 2/2 from three point range in 7 minutes. I like her right now, but have to believe she gets oodles more time after Jump graduates. She is up to 49% three point shooting now, and it seems consistent from game to game.
7) Rebounding is deceptive. UCLA got 13 O-boards out of 50 misses, or 26% of their misses. We got 6 O-boards out of 22 misses, or about 27% of our misses. Still, with our inside advantage we might think that we should have gotten some of those 13.
8) 17 turnovers was not a terrific stat, but a lot were trying to get the ball inside rather than settling for outside shots. Entrance passes are difficult when the other team knows you are playing inside-out. Lepolo still had 7 assists to 3 turnovers, which seems acceptable to me, but we could be better.
9) Bottom line, we got a lot better on offense and also tuned up our defense, creating a gargantuan disparity on accuracy between us and them. The officiating may have been a factor, too, letting us get into the flow of our offense.