Paige Bueckers Beats South Carolina
The Story: One of the most masterful performances ever by a UConn freshman took place last night as Paige Bueckers scored 31 points, including a tying jumper to send the game to overtime and a 3-pointer that served as the nail in the coffin, in the Huskies’ 63-59 win over No. 1 South Carolina last night.
THERE ARE NO WORDS: Bueckers became the first UConn player ever — you read that right: player, not freshman — to score at least 30 points in three consecutive games. She was, in a word, sensational. With her family in attendance, Bueckers put her teammates on her shoulders and carried them to a victory over the Gamecocks, the nation’s top-ranked team and a national title contender. Although she had just eight points in the first half, she scored each of UConn’s final 13, including all nine in overtime and the absolute dagger of a 3-pointer with 10.8 seconds remaining that seemed destined to go in the minute she heaved it up.
PAIGE. GETS. BUCKETS.@paigebueckers1 gets the bounce in OT to seal the win for @UConnWBB 🔥 pic.twitter.com/yMqfZj0TUq
— FOX College Hoops (@CBBonFOX) February 9, 2021
LET’S TALK ABOUT THAT SHOT: Simply magnificent. (Just watch it.) Bueckers, who until that point was 0-for-5 from 3-point range, didn’t have much of a choice. The Huskies were up 60-59 when Olivia Nelson-Ododa considered a jumper from the foul line, but she smartly found Bueckers breaking free at the top of the arc. Three seconds remained on the shot clock when Bueckers shot the ball off-balance over Brea Beal, and although it clanged off the back of the iron, it bounced straight up into the air and back down through the basket to give the Huskies the insurmountable lead. (Even James Bouknight approved.)
WHAT DID BUECKERS SAY? “It bounced straight up so I’m thinking, ‘This has got to go in.’ It looked good. It felt good. I would say I got a nice bounce.”
A LITTLE BIT OF HISTORY: Bueckers has now scored more than 20 points in each of her last five games — since she missed the romp over Georgetown with a sprained ankle. (In a way, she’s a modern-day real-life Henry Rowengartner.) Since the victory over Tennessee, in which she scored nine points but also made the game-winner, she has scored 28.4 points per game. She’s now at 21.1 points per game this season, and only two players have scored more often for the Huskies in a single season: Maya Moore, who had 22.8 per game in 2010-11, and Kerry Bascom, who scored 22.6 per game in 1988-89. (For more context: Moore, UConn’s all-time leading scorer with 3,036 points, averaged 19.7 points per game.) And in terms of single-game performances as a freshman, Bueckers’ might be up there with Diana Taurasi‘s game against Tennessee in 2003 for the best ever. It’s not too early to put Bueckers among the greats, for she’ll end up there anyway.
STILL, IT WAS A DUD: OK, the ending was exciting, but the rest of the game was actually rather brutal to watch, especially one awful first quarter from both teams. South Carolina is one of the best defensive teams in the country, allowing 58.9 points per game, and that was basically true to form. The Huskies shot just 39.7 percent — they missed their first 10 3-pointers and made just 2 of 15 on the night — and were only helped by the Gamecocks also shooting a paltry 36.8 percent. Evina Westbrook missed all four of her shots and didn’t score in 24 minutes and Christyn Williams finished with six points after also going scoreless in the first half. (Yikes.) The Huskies scored 19 points off South Carolina’s 21 turnovers and were much better in transition.
WHAT’S THIS ABOUT BILLY JOEL? Geno Auriemma went on a beautiful digression about the value of the Huskies’ other players, comparing how much they’re needed in order for Bueckers look good just like Billy Joel‘s stage crew does the same. Let the finally free Mike Anthony take it from here:
Geno on Paige and her friends who set up the piano for her concert. pic.twitter.com/j6TNgrDmqQ
— Mike Anthony (@ManthonyHearst) February 9, 2021
WE’RE NO. 1! The Huskies moved up to No. 2 with the release of the Associated Press poll yesterday afternoon and, after winning last night, will surely move to No. 1 next week, assuming they don’t lay an egg against Seton Hall tomorrow night or Georgetown on Friday. UConn is now 22-3 all time in games between the top two teams in the poll, according to our fine friend and walking encyclopedia Carl Adamec, and will be No. 1 in the country for the first time since Jan. 6, 2020. I bet you didn’t see that coming two weeks ago.
IN A NUTSHELL: We could go on and on about this one, but we know you don’t come to the Daily to read million-word rants. Frankly, we don’t want to overreact to one game, but … what a game! Aside from Bueckers, we loved how Aaliyah Edwards matched up with Aliyah Boston, her more vowel-stingy namesake. We loved how Nika Muhl continued to assert herself; she’s really gotten herself together in recent weeks. We love that the freshman class (and let’s be honest: It was basically the freshman class) held on to pick up a signature win so early in its time in Storrs, especially given that true tests this season have been few and far between. We don’t love that Williams and Nelson-Ododa continue to disappear, but we’ll save that thought for later in the week. The wacky nature of this season doesn’t mean the Huskies could really win the national title this year, but stranger things have happened. UConn, once again, has put the college basketball world on notice. Dan Hurley said about the men’s team last year, “You better get us now. That’s all. Because it’s coming.” We thought this was going to be that kind of season for the women’s team. We wouldn’t be so sure anymore.
Is Offensive Rebounding a Viable Scheme?
The Story: The men’s basketball team is one of the best offensive rebounding teams in the nation. Is that a good thing or fool’s gold heading into the stretch run?
GO TO THE OFFENSIVE BOARDS, YOUNG MAN: We aren’t fans of offensive rebounding. There. We said it. Somewhere, Jim Calhoun might bicycle to UConn Daily HQ and throw rocks at our triple-glazed windows just for fun. But hear us out: Offensive boards are killer and opportunistic. If you can get a chance to score a second time, of course you do it. What we don’t like is concentrating on it. Why? We think devising a strategy to corral your misses just isn’t a surefire offensive strategy. There is too much luck involved, and it is really hard to count on offensive rebounding and second-chance points to lift your offense.
REALLY? OFFENSIVE REBOUNDING IS BAD? We didn’t say that. It isn’t, but teams that crash the offensive boards like UConn run a risk of getting caught in transition. That’s something Seton Hall, St. John’s and even Creighton have done at various times. In this analytics-obsessed era of basketball, the value of offensive rebounding is diminished by the fact that stopping teams in transition — and stopping the transition 3-pointer — has become the main focal point of almost all defenses at high levels of basketball. Obviously, the more skilled teams are, the more they can punish teams that crash the glass. At different levels of basketball, offensive rebounding has different levels of success. At the high school level? Hit the boards, you win. How about at the major college level? It’s a mixed bag (as we have seen) but if the Huskies want to beat the elite teams in the country — those with a lot of talent — those teams can really do a number on the Huskies in transition.
BUT THEY ARE REALLY GOOD AT IT: How good is UConn on the offensive glass? The important stat isn’t how many offensive rebounds a game they grab — that doesn’t account for pace — but rather the rate of offensive rebounds. The Huskies are third in the nation (thanks Team Rankings) at 37.7 percent, which is an extraordinarily high amount. The national average for offensive rebound rate is 28 percent. Considering the Huskies’ slower pace, they are really good at hitting the offensive glass and getting second-chance opportunities. Here’s the thing, though: The Huskies are grabbing 37 percent of potential offensive rebounds. How many are they then converting into baskets? That’s the rub with the Huskies. They are 198th in effective field goal percentage and 262nd from 2-point range at a paltry 47.2 percent. No coach has ever said to players, “Let’s get fewer offensive rebounds.” But considering the nature of offensive rebounds — there’s an element of luck in it — and the fact the Huskies don’t finish particularly well means that using that as an offensive strategy is more a luxury than something they can bank on.
BOTTOM LINE: The Huskies are a good offensive rebounding team and it has helped them at the margins this year, but we don’t think it will translate against the better and faster teams. Let’s hope James Bouknight comes back soon and provides some scoring punch because hitting the offensive glass doesn’t seem to be sustainable as the season goes on. Not against the better teams in the Big East.
#IceBus Hits the National Rankings!
The Story: The men’s hockey team has hit the big time and is ranked for the first time in program history. It’s coming in at No. 20 in the USCHO poll ahead of the matchup against UMass-Lowell at 5 p.m.
HUSKIES EARNED IT: The Huskies (8-6-2) earned the ranking the old-fashioned way: by winning games. The Huskies are coming off a 4-1 shellacking of then-No. 14 Northeastern on Friday and are also No. 15 in USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine’s top 15. The Huskies have won three straight games and will look to make a statement against the River Hawks, who finally fell out of the poll after a fourth consecutive loss.
WORTH NOTING: UMass-Lowell won the first matchup, taking a 2-1 win on Dec. 21 in Storrs, but the teams’ fortunes have changed greatly since then. Junior Jonny Evans has scored all but one of his team-leading 12 goals since that game, goalie Tomas Vomacka was named the Hockey East Defensive Player of the Week for the third time this season yesterday and the power play has scored a goal in six of the last eight games.
NESN GAME: Want to take a look at the men’s hockey team? The game will be on NESN tonight. (If you are a Yankees fan, we give you a reprieve.)
Morning Reads
LIBERTY BIBBERTY: The football team has added two more games against Liberty, which will travel to PAWSARF on Nov. 12, 2022. The Huskies now have 11 opponents scheduled in 2022, including games against Syracuse, Michigan, Boston College and NC State. (FBS Schedules)
ADAMS A CHAMPION: Safety Andrew Adams is the latest former UConn player to win a Super Bowl ring after he claimed one in the Buccaneers’ win over the Chiefs on Sunday night. (The UConn Blog)
