Preview:
We are now repeating our Pac 12 opponents, so I won't repeat the information in my preview for the last time we played Arizona, way back on January 2. That information can be found here:
https://thecardboard.org/board/showthread.php?tid=23928
Our game on January 2 was a bit of a harbinger of things to come--while we won it comfortably, the Arizona defense was beginning to show the tactics that eventually made the next game at Cal into a "root canal," the next game at UCLA into a low-scoring and essentially tied game through three, and then the disaster at USC. So Arizona now has much more information available to help its stingy defense emulate the success of USC, Washington, and the semi-successes of numerous other coaches. Add to this the fact that this time it is at their place, which has had enormous crowds in recent years, and it is televised nationally on ESPN--and this looks for all intents and purposes like a far greater challenge than the game at Washington, and is of greater consequence. Furthermore, the committee will have its first "reveal" of the top 16 teams in seed order at halftime of this game. If we earn a disappointing seeding, one hopes it won't be a distraction in the second half.
The good news is that we also have the advantage of seeing how other teams have exposed Arizona's weaknesses. Since we played them at Maples, Arizona is 6-3, having lost at Utah, at Colorado, and (most shockingly) at home to Washington State. Recently they are hot--they went to LA and beat USC and UCLA on the road, and we are lined up to be on their home menu next. Arizona is currently ranked 17, Massey has them at 17, NET has them at 25.
Rather than review all the starters as I did 5 weeks ago, I will focus only on their last game, to give you a sense of their current state. Against the USC defense that stifled us, Arizona scored 81 points--but only after 2 overtimes. In regulation the teams tied at 58. Arizona's offense was, frankly, pretty awful in the first half--they had scored only 18 points by halftime. USC did to them what they did to us.
But (unlike us) Arizona solved the puzzle at halftime and had much better third, fourth, and overtime periods--to the point that the score looks like a decent offensive game, despite scoring only 6 points in quarter 2.
On defense, Arizona was badly hurt (drum roll) by Destiny Littleton, who scored 21, although Arizona held her to 3/11 three point shooting. For the first three quarters, USC was held to 11, 13, and 12 points by the Arizona defense. In the end, USC had 4 players score in the upper teens, so Arizona's defense started to go soft in the 4th and overtime, but since USC's did as well, Arizona was able to pull it out.
On offense, Cate Reese is coming off a monster 33 point game. Remember that we could not score inside against USC. Clearly Arizona found a way. Guards Shaina Pellington and Jade Loville each added 17 points--no one else was in double figures. Three point shooting was sedate except for Jade Loville, who was 3/5.
We need to blanket Jade Loville--in our first game she victimized both Lepolo and Nivar until Tara put Belibi on her, and not only was Belibi effective defending her, Belibi also grabbed 5 O-boards. Loville has to be our #1 priority.
Reese I think can be neutralized by Brink or at least kept within reasonable scoring parameters by Iriafen or the other bigs.
I think we showed in our first game that we can defend Arizona. But Thursday will be a really good test to see whether our offense has indeed regressed, or whether we can find a way to score on a good defensive team that has been armed with the Washington and USC blueprints.
I am happy that we play Arizona first this weekend.
We are now repeating our Pac 12 opponents, so I won't repeat the information in my preview for the last time we played Arizona, way back on January 2. That information can be found here:
https://thecardboard.org/board/showthread.php?tid=23928
Our game on January 2 was a bit of a harbinger of things to come--while we won it comfortably, the Arizona defense was beginning to show the tactics that eventually made the next game at Cal into a "root canal," the next game at UCLA into a low-scoring and essentially tied game through three, and then the disaster at USC. So Arizona now has much more information available to help its stingy defense emulate the success of USC, Washington, and the semi-successes of numerous other coaches. Add to this the fact that this time it is at their place, which has had enormous crowds in recent years, and it is televised nationally on ESPN--and this looks for all intents and purposes like a far greater challenge than the game at Washington, and is of greater consequence. Furthermore, the committee will have its first "reveal" of the top 16 teams in seed order at halftime of this game. If we earn a disappointing seeding, one hopes it won't be a distraction in the second half.
The good news is that we also have the advantage of seeing how other teams have exposed Arizona's weaknesses. Since we played them at Maples, Arizona is 6-3, having lost at Utah, at Colorado, and (most shockingly) at home to Washington State. Recently they are hot--they went to LA and beat USC and UCLA on the road, and we are lined up to be on their home menu next. Arizona is currently ranked 17, Massey has them at 17, NET has them at 25.
Rather than review all the starters as I did 5 weeks ago, I will focus only on their last game, to give you a sense of their current state. Against the USC defense that stifled us, Arizona scored 81 points--but only after 2 overtimes. In regulation the teams tied at 58. Arizona's offense was, frankly, pretty awful in the first half--they had scored only 18 points by halftime. USC did to them what they did to us.
But (unlike us) Arizona solved the puzzle at halftime and had much better third, fourth, and overtime periods--to the point that the score looks like a decent offensive game, despite scoring only 6 points in quarter 2.
On defense, Arizona was badly hurt (drum roll) by Destiny Littleton, who scored 21, although Arizona held her to 3/11 three point shooting. For the first three quarters, USC was held to 11, 13, and 12 points by the Arizona defense. In the end, USC had 4 players score in the upper teens, so Arizona's defense started to go soft in the 4th and overtime, but since USC's did as well, Arizona was able to pull it out.
On offense, Cate Reese is coming off a monster 33 point game. Remember that we could not score inside against USC. Clearly Arizona found a way. Guards Shaina Pellington and Jade Loville each added 17 points--no one else was in double figures. Three point shooting was sedate except for Jade Loville, who was 3/5.
We need to blanket Jade Loville--in our first game she victimized both Lepolo and Nivar until Tara put Belibi on her, and not only was Belibi effective defending her, Belibi also grabbed 5 O-boards. Loville has to be our #1 priority.
Reese I think can be neutralized by Brink or at least kept within reasonable scoring parameters by Iriafen or the other bigs.
I think we showed in our first game that we can defend Arizona. But Thursday will be a really good test to see whether our offense has indeed regressed, or whether we can find a way to score on a good defensive team that has been armed with the Washington and USC blueprints.
I am happy that we play Arizona first this weekend.
![[Image: funny-face.gif]](https://media.tenor.com/4pC8zTFXiIkAAAAM/funny-face.gif)
![[Image: alright-team-lets-get-it-the-black-hokage.gif]](https://media.tenor.com/Wvkkxkiy2KMAAAAC/alright-team-lets-get-it-the-black-hokage.gif)
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