02-10-2023, 01:08 AM
The team, players and coaches alike, truly stepped up in their romp over UA! They performed as I had hoped after the loss at UW.
- Our two AA's stepped up and both played great, barely missing the bar of 20 pts each and double digit rebounds (Brink 18/8, Jones 18/12). We didn't hesitate to exploit their talent together to control the game. Their potent scoring opened it up for the rest of the supporting cast to chip in nicely as needed. They would have had more stats if the game wasn't so lopsided and played more minutes and also Brink having foul trouble.
- Jump stepped up and found her shooting touch again, hitting 3 of 4 and at good times. She benefited from UA's D having to try and stop Cam and Haley.
- Lepolo stepped up and looked quicker than in past few games since her injury. She had 4 assists, 2 TOs, and 2 nice steals. More importantly she successfully handled the UA press and pressure. Nivar stepped up and was a strong contributor and got 22 minutes. Other than lowing one lay up, she played terrifically on both O and D with 8 pts, 2 assists, and 3 steals with no TOs.
- The bench stepped up with 31 points and good D as Tara liberally played lots of players.
Overall, we maximized our strength - our bigs. 50 pts. in the paint, 12 O rebounds, a 45 to 27 rebounding advantage, and 10 blocks spread among 5 players with Brink setting a season record. Betts got in 21 minutes and responded with 12 pts., 4 rebs, and 4 blocks - she was a force. Iriafen and Belibi had good contributions. We had 2 bigs on the floor virtually all game and balanced the physical sizes and skills well to the point that we had a few gorgeous passes, assists, and scores from one big to another. We didn't give in to trying to match up with UA's smaller quicker players, but instead used our stregth to dictate.
The team also stepped up in terms of energy and intensity and you could see that they stepped up their attitude i.e. we are going to crush and dominate UA because we are better - and they did. The team got out and ran more than they have lately. Although UA obviously wanted to speed us up, pressure us, and try to force TOs, we kept in control, were mostly patient, but also played at a fast pace when the opportunity was there. About the only criticism was that we had too many unforced turnovers - some were just dumb, some were due to trying to make a big play and just getting a bit much out of control.
We need to continue stepping up and taking this approach right though the end of the regular season, P12 tournament, NCAA tournament clear through to the NC game.
A few side notes:
1. Really a blessing that this game was on the main ESPN channel and at prime time. Our initial #1 seeding probably was a bit tentative and people were probably seeing chinks in our armor with our losses to SC and UW and how we lost lose games as well as some too close wins lately. Tonight's game sent a message that we are a dominant force to be reckoned with.
2. The officiating was pretty bad (men's game was worse). As an example of the crappy inconsistency, I think Brink was called for 2 moving screen fouls - one I know for sure and it was a very picky foul. Later in the game, in the space of less than a minute, I see Betts commit a blatant moving screen foul and couldn't believe that she wasn't whistled. Then on the other end, Reese commits an even more blatant moving screen than Betts and on top of that, she shoves our player right after the moving screen - no call. The refs either have to call these all the time or stop calling them.
I realize that they can't see everything and miss stuff, but it happens far too often.
3. I really loved the psotgame interview with Cam and Haley. They thanked the interviewer in unison at the end and and ran off the court together with arms around each other. Sheer joy. Nice to see that unity with our two best players - no ballhog, selfish, ego stuff.
- Our two AA's stepped up and both played great, barely missing the bar of 20 pts each and double digit rebounds (Brink 18/8, Jones 18/12). We didn't hesitate to exploit their talent together to control the game. Their potent scoring opened it up for the rest of the supporting cast to chip in nicely as needed. They would have had more stats if the game wasn't so lopsided and played more minutes and also Brink having foul trouble.
- Jump stepped up and found her shooting touch again, hitting 3 of 4 and at good times. She benefited from UA's D having to try and stop Cam and Haley.
- Lepolo stepped up and looked quicker than in past few games since her injury. She had 4 assists, 2 TOs, and 2 nice steals. More importantly she successfully handled the UA press and pressure. Nivar stepped up and was a strong contributor and got 22 minutes. Other than lowing one lay up, she played terrifically on both O and D with 8 pts, 2 assists, and 3 steals with no TOs.
- The bench stepped up with 31 points and good D as Tara liberally played lots of players.
Overall, we maximized our strength - our bigs. 50 pts. in the paint, 12 O rebounds, a 45 to 27 rebounding advantage, and 10 blocks spread among 5 players with Brink setting a season record. Betts got in 21 minutes and responded with 12 pts., 4 rebs, and 4 blocks - she was a force. Iriafen and Belibi had good contributions. We had 2 bigs on the floor virtually all game and balanced the physical sizes and skills well to the point that we had a few gorgeous passes, assists, and scores from one big to another. We didn't give in to trying to match up with UA's smaller quicker players, but instead used our stregth to dictate.
The team also stepped up in terms of energy and intensity and you could see that they stepped up their attitude i.e. we are going to crush and dominate UA because we are better - and they did. The team got out and ran more than they have lately. Although UA obviously wanted to speed us up, pressure us, and try to force TOs, we kept in control, were mostly patient, but also played at a fast pace when the opportunity was there. About the only criticism was that we had too many unforced turnovers - some were just dumb, some were due to trying to make a big play and just getting a bit much out of control.
We need to continue stepping up and taking this approach right though the end of the regular season, P12 tournament, NCAA tournament clear through to the NC game.
A few side notes:
1. Really a blessing that this game was on the main ESPN channel and at prime time. Our initial #1 seeding probably was a bit tentative and people were probably seeing chinks in our armor with our losses to SC and UW and how we lost lose games as well as some too close wins lately. Tonight's game sent a message that we are a dominant force to be reckoned with.
2. The officiating was pretty bad (men's game was worse). As an example of the crappy inconsistency, I think Brink was called for 2 moving screen fouls - one I know for sure and it was a very picky foul. Later in the game, in the space of less than a minute, I see Betts commit a blatant moving screen foul and couldn't believe that she wasn't whistled. Then on the other end, Reese commits an even more blatant moving screen than Betts and on top of that, she shoves our player right after the moving screen - no call. The refs either have to call these all the time or stop calling them.
I realize that they can't see everything and miss stuff, but it happens far too often.
3. I really loved the psotgame interview with Cam and Haley. They thanked the interviewer in unison at the end and and ran off the court together with arms around each other. Sheer joy. Nice to see that unity with our two best players - no ballhog, selfish, ego stuff.
