I was at the game today and there were some noticeable issues today, (1) substandard ball movement, (2) inability to make entry passes to the post without turning the ball over; and (3) poor play at center- Ice Brady didn't make a shot and Jana picked up 4 quick fouls playing against MUCH smaller and weaker post players from Fort Hays State. Not sure if Geno was being facetious in his presser but he said with a straight face and serious tone that Fort Hays' complete lack of size and strength threw Ice and Jana off, because they are used to more size and physicality in practice.
Jana did have one nice basket on an impressive putback of an offensive board. I was expecting a lot more, but she was nervous and way too physical.
On the positive side, Paige scored at will and had the 27 easiest points you will see, or at least she made it look easy, and Katelynn Chen is an aggressive, experienced, crafty guard, but much more scoring minded than her predecessor at point guard Nika Muhl. I think Chen needs to be more of a distributor on this team, especially when Azzi comes back, because the ball movement especially in the halfcourt left much to be desired. And because she doesn't need to be the 2nd, 3rd or even 4th scoring option on this team. She comes from Princeton where she was a main woman player and she needs to break that mindset and focus on being a distributor. Which I think she can do although she threw a couple of terrible passes today and had a bunch of TOs.
UConn generated enough TOs with the D to get a lot of transition buckets and pump the score out a to a 40 point win, but the halfcourt offense they ran today isn't going to cut it against some of the quality teams they play.
I was very impressed with Sarah Strong and she isn't coming out of the starting lineup any time soon. She has good rebounding skills, very good hands, shoots well and seems like a team player.
Also impressive was Qadence Samuels who made a big difference in her minutes, not just with her shooting but also rebounding and playing D. She has an excellent chance to be a 3 and D specialist in her minutes.