RSS
Dangerfield's diligence results in breakout perfomance for UConn
The opening tip was just moments away when I turned to Roger Cleaveland, the beat writer for the Waterbury Republican-American and after watching Crystal Dangerfield hit shot after shot during the warmups, I told him my gut was telling me that she was due for a breakout game.
The shooting percentages of the players in UConn's primary rotation heading into Monday night's Elite Eight game against defending national champion South Carolina looked like this - Gabby Williams 76.2, Napheesa Collier 70.3, Azura' Stevens 61.3, Kia Nurse 55.6, Katie Lou Samuelson 53.6, Megan Walker 53.3, Dangerfield 29.4. However, I liked Dangerfield's body language when she was taking open shots against Duke on Saturday. Still, I did not anticipate the first half that Dangerfield put together.
The sophomore guard went 5 for 5 from 3-point range and had 19 points at halftime topping her previous best mark in NCAA tournament play. Other than one play when she took her eye off an incoming pass resulting in an unforced turnover, it would be hard to find fault with Dangerfield's game and not just her shooting.
Dangerfield is on a team with players not afraid to show their emotions on the court especially the trio of Kia Nurse, Katie Lou Samuelson and Gabby Williams. However, Dangerfield isn't somebody who is going to let the world in on her current emotional state. When she hit shot after shot, she cracked a smile that I probably haven't seen from her (in a game or practice setting) since last year's practice in Orlando when she had a crossover move that left graduate assistant Chloe Pavlech struggling to stay on her feet. Her teammates and coaches started to chuckle and even Dangerfield cracked a smile - eventually.
"I wanted to be poised, stay level headed, not get too high or too low," Dangerfield said.
Like everything she set out to accomplish on Monday night, she did what she planned to do.
Dangerfield started the season by making 6 of 7 of her 3-point attempts in a win over Stanford on the same Nationwide Arena court where the Final Four is being played. Eight games into the season she was shooting 53 percent from 3-point territory with 45 assists and 14 turnovers. Before long, however, shin splints began to force Dangerfield to miss practice time. No part of her game appeared to suffer more than her shot. She was 1 for 10 in a Feb. 1 win over South Carolina, just 3 for 15 in back to back games against Louisville and Temple later in February.
It's been a long road but Dangerfield and her teammates said that she is in a perfect place right now as UConn heads to its record 11th straight Final Four.
"I am fortunate to be around her a little more often than you guys are but with her preparation, she has been preparing for the last couple of days, the last week or so and you could absolutely tell that she was on a roll," UConn senior guard Kia Nurse said.
A few notes from last night -
Kia Nurse and Gabby Williams will become the 20th and 21st UConn players to be a part of four Final Four teams (not including players sitting out the season as redshirts)
Geno Auriemma's first recruiting class didn't get to experience the thrill of being part of a Final Four team but the current freshmen will be the 30th straight UConn recruiting class to be a part of at least one Final Four team.
Kia Nurse recorded her 100th assist of the season giving UConn five players with at least 100 assists. It is the fourth time that has happened in program history and Nurse has been a part of three of those squads.
Gabby Williams recorded her 100th career blocked shot. She is currently at 997 career rebounds so I wasn't able to use the one statistical nugget I was looking forward to unveiling last night. The last player to have at least 1,500 points, 1,000 rebounds, 400 assists and 300 steals is Miami's Shenise Johnson, who played at Miami from 2008-12. The last one to hit all of those marks in addition to 100 career blocked shots is UConn legend Maya Moore.
RECRUITS MAKING SOME NOISE
While UConn was dispatching South Carolina, incoming freshman Olivia Nelson-Ododa was engaging in some March Madness of her own as she advanced to the finals of the dunk competition (as the only female competitor) at McDonald's All-American Game festivities (the game is set for tomorrow).
Fellow UConn signee Christyn Williams was part of the winning team in the skills competition.
The shooting percentages of the players in UConn's primary rotation heading into Monday night's Elite Eight game against defending national champion South Carolina looked like this - Gabby Williams 76.2, Napheesa Collier 70.3, Azura' Stevens 61.3, Kia Nurse 55.6, Katie Lou Samuelson 53.6, Megan Walker 53.3, Dangerfield 29.4. However, I liked Dangerfield's body language when she was taking open shots against Duke on Saturday. Still, I did not anticipate the first half that Dangerfield put together.
The sophomore guard went 5 for 5 from 3-point range and had 19 points at halftime topping her previous best mark in NCAA tournament play. Other than one play when she took her eye off an incoming pass resulting in an unforced turnover, it would be hard to find fault with Dangerfield's game and not just her shooting.
Dangerfield is on a team with players not afraid to show their emotions on the court especially the trio of Kia Nurse, Katie Lou Samuelson and Gabby Williams. However, Dangerfield isn't somebody who is going to let the world in on her current emotional state. When she hit shot after shot, she cracked a smile that I probably haven't seen from her (in a game or practice setting) since last year's practice in Orlando when she had a crossover move that left graduate assistant Chloe Pavlech struggling to stay on her feet. Her teammates and coaches started to chuckle and even Dangerfield cracked a smile - eventually.
"I wanted to be poised, stay level headed, not get too high or too low," Dangerfield said.
Like everything she set out to accomplish on Monday night, she did what she planned to do.
Dangerfield started the season by making 6 of 7 of her 3-point attempts in a win over Stanford on the same Nationwide Arena court where the Final Four is being played. Eight games into the season she was shooting 53 percent from 3-point territory with 45 assists and 14 turnovers. Before long, however, shin splints began to force Dangerfield to miss practice time. No part of her game appeared to suffer more than her shot. She was 1 for 10 in a Feb. 1 win over South Carolina, just 3 for 15 in back to back games against Louisville and Temple later in February.
It's been a long road but Dangerfield and her teammates said that she is in a perfect place right now as UConn heads to its record 11th straight Final Four.
"I am fortunate to be around her a little more often than you guys are but with her preparation, she has been preparing for the last couple of days, the last week or so and you could absolutely tell that she was on a roll," UConn senior guard Kia Nurse said.
A few notes from last night -
Kia Nurse and Gabby Williams will become the 20th and 21st UConn players to be a part of four Final Four teams (not including players sitting out the season as redshirts)
Geno Auriemma's first recruiting class didn't get to experience the thrill of being part of a Final Four team but the current freshmen will be the 30th straight UConn recruiting class to be a part of at least one Final Four team.
Kia Nurse recorded her 100th assist of the season giving UConn five players with at least 100 assists. It is the fourth time that has happened in program history and Nurse has been a part of three of those squads.
Gabby Williams recorded her 100th career blocked shot. She is currently at 997 career rebounds so I wasn't able to use the one statistical nugget I was looking forward to unveiling last night. The last player to have at least 1,500 points, 1,000 rebounds, 400 assists and 300 steals is Miami's Shenise Johnson, who played at Miami from 2008-12. The last one to hit all of those marks in addition to 100 career blocked shots is UConn legend Maya Moore.
RECRUITS MAKING SOME NOISE
While UConn was dispatching South Carolina, incoming freshman Olivia Nelson-Ododa was engaging in some March Madness of her own as she advanced to the finals of the dunk competition (as the only female competitor) at McDonald's All-American Game festivities (the game is set for tomorrow).
Fellow UConn signee Christyn Williams was part of the winning team in the skills competition.
posted by Jim Fuller at
10:51 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home