Many useful observations by my fellow cardboarders about this game, but let me also note that senior nights, filled with emotion and attended by all the players' friends and family, are often unpredictable.
That said, here are my thoughts:
1) I am getting worried about Jump. I've seen the pattern before, with Karlie Samuelson, with Kiana Williams--even with Lindy LaRocque. Players who are terrific three point shooters early in their careers, and early in their senior season, start to press too hard and suffer from declining accuracy at the end of their senior year. It has happened over and over--why I don't know. I also wonder if Tara's decision to start Jump and play her for nearly 40 minutes in so many games has taken a toll--more psychological than physical. In this game Tara did take her out of the game several times as if to give her a reset, but it did not work. 0 points in 30 minutes. She spent a lot of time defending Londynn Jones, though, who with 14 points on 5/10 shooting was held somewhat in check.
2) Let's celebrate something extraordinary with Cameron Brink. UCLA was attempting Mike Montgomery's strategy against Tim Duncan and just decided to foul her over and over. A year or two ago, this board was filled with concern about Brink's free throw shooting. She was barely a 60% free throw shooter that last couple of years, and sometimes she went into deep free throw shooting slumps which encouraged other teams just to hack her to death. But tonight she was 15/15 from the line and that was more than enough for the victory. Tonight's officials were not Friday's officials, thankfully.
3) UCLA's defense is quite good--not up to USC standards--but more steals and enough quickness to make passing difficult. We were reminded of that with all the turnovers early in the game. However, our defense was better. We shot 47% and held them to 36%, and we did so while committing 14 fouls compared to their 19. UCLA has several top three point shooters, and our own Jump was 0/2. Nevertheless, we shot 36% from three point range while holding UCLA to 28%. In short, chalk this victory mainly up to defense. At the beginning of the year our defense was a weakness, but against good teams late in the year, it is now a strength. That is what a year of coaching can do.
4) As others have noted, this game was only close because we gave UCLA 17 offensive rebounds, compared with only 7 for us. That led to UCLA having 17 second chance points compared to our 2. TWO! Oregon's coach Graves described UCLA's strategy as a "chuck and chase" strategy. By that he meant they took lots of shots early and crashed the boards to get the misses back, not worrying too much about accuracy. The way to punish such a strategy is to make sure that when you do get a defensive rebound you get it out quickly in transition--since if UCLA's 5 players are all crashing the boards then no one should be back on defense. We did get 12 fast break points--which is better than most games--but not enough to compensate for giving them 17 second chances. Brink only had 5 Dboards, Jones only 6. Betts had 5 in 15 minutes--she was our best rebounder tonight.
5) I was frustrated at times tonight with Jones, but looking at the stat sheet has quieted those misgivings. This was actually a good game for her. She was an efficient 7/13 with 18 points. She led with 6 Dboards. I was saddened that she missed two free throws, had 4 turnovers, but she had a couple of assists and 3 steals to help balance it out a bit. Her +/- for anyone who cares was the best on either team, +11. (You will never guess the worst on either team at -17. I was shocked to see Londynn Jones.)
6) Lepolo 3/5 on three point attempts, made herself one of 4 players in double digits. Her friendly rival Nivar had 0 points tonight. Those two seem to go back and forth. But playing against a quick defense that made it difficult to pass, she had only 2 assists to 3 turnovers. She was mainly assigned to defend Osborne, who was held to 3/15 shooting, so I would count that as a major plus for the freshman.
7) Finally, Betts is really coming into her own. I noticed, however, that she did tire after being in for too long a stretch. Her cardio is much better than in the fall, but it has a ways to go before we will see her playing 40 minutes, which she may need to do after Brink graduates. Tonight, her 12 points in 15 minutes with 2/2 free throws, an assist, and 0 turnovers--was actually better than Brink's numbers per minute played. I am delighted to see her coming along so well.
That said, here are my thoughts:
1) I am getting worried about Jump. I've seen the pattern before, with Karlie Samuelson, with Kiana Williams--even with Lindy LaRocque. Players who are terrific three point shooters early in their careers, and early in their senior season, start to press too hard and suffer from declining accuracy at the end of their senior year. It has happened over and over--why I don't know. I also wonder if Tara's decision to start Jump and play her for nearly 40 minutes in so many games has taken a toll--more psychological than physical. In this game Tara did take her out of the game several times as if to give her a reset, but it did not work. 0 points in 30 minutes. She spent a lot of time defending Londynn Jones, though, who with 14 points on 5/10 shooting was held somewhat in check.
2) Let's celebrate something extraordinary with Cameron Brink. UCLA was attempting Mike Montgomery's strategy against Tim Duncan and just decided to foul her over and over. A year or two ago, this board was filled with concern about Brink's free throw shooting. She was barely a 60% free throw shooter that last couple of years, and sometimes she went into deep free throw shooting slumps which encouraged other teams just to hack her to death. But tonight she was 15/15 from the line and that was more than enough for the victory. Tonight's officials were not Friday's officials, thankfully.
3) UCLA's defense is quite good--not up to USC standards--but more steals and enough quickness to make passing difficult. We were reminded of that with all the turnovers early in the game. However, our defense was better. We shot 47% and held them to 36%, and we did so while committing 14 fouls compared to their 19. UCLA has several top three point shooters, and our own Jump was 0/2. Nevertheless, we shot 36% from three point range while holding UCLA to 28%. In short, chalk this victory mainly up to defense. At the beginning of the year our defense was a weakness, but against good teams late in the year, it is now a strength. That is what a year of coaching can do.
4) As others have noted, this game was only close because we gave UCLA 17 offensive rebounds, compared with only 7 for us. That led to UCLA having 17 second chance points compared to our 2. TWO! Oregon's coach Graves described UCLA's strategy as a "chuck and chase" strategy. By that he meant they took lots of shots early and crashed the boards to get the misses back, not worrying too much about accuracy. The way to punish such a strategy is to make sure that when you do get a defensive rebound you get it out quickly in transition--since if UCLA's 5 players are all crashing the boards then no one should be back on defense. We did get 12 fast break points--which is better than most games--but not enough to compensate for giving them 17 second chances. Brink only had 5 Dboards, Jones only 6. Betts had 5 in 15 minutes--she was our best rebounder tonight.
5) I was frustrated at times tonight with Jones, but looking at the stat sheet has quieted those misgivings. This was actually a good game for her. She was an efficient 7/13 with 18 points. She led with 6 Dboards. I was saddened that she missed two free throws, had 4 turnovers, but she had a couple of assists and 3 steals to help balance it out a bit. Her +/- for anyone who cares was the best on either team, +11. (You will never guess the worst on either team at -17. I was shocked to see Londynn Jones.)
6) Lepolo 3/5 on three point attempts, made herself one of 4 players in double digits. Her friendly rival Nivar had 0 points tonight. Those two seem to go back and forth. But playing against a quick defense that made it difficult to pass, she had only 2 assists to 3 turnovers. She was mainly assigned to defend Osborne, who was held to 3/15 shooting, so I would count that as a major plus for the freshman.
7) Finally, Betts is really coming into her own. I noticed, however, that she did tire after being in for too long a stretch. Her cardio is much better than in the fall, but it has a ways to go before we will see her playing 40 minutes, which she may need to do after Brink graduates. Tonight, her 12 points in 15 minutes with 2/2 free throws, an assist, and 0 turnovers--was actually better than Brink's numbers per minute played. I am delighted to see her coming along so well.