03-12-2011, 03:05 PM
(This post was last modified: 03-12-2011, 03:07 PM by Viking_Guy.)
UCLA outhustled, outworked and outphysicaled Stanford in the first half. Their 2-3 zone was disrupting the passing lanes, and Jeanette Pohlen had her worst single half of the year, going 0-5 from the field with 3 assists but 3 turnovers, and in general not making anything happen against the Bruins\' harassing defense.
It didn\'t start out that way. Lindy LaRocque hit a three to open the scoring, and Stanford got out to a 7-2 lead with Chiney hitting a couple of buckets. But there were warning signs. Jeanette turned the ball over and committed a soft foul that let Doreena Campbell complete a 3 point play. More troublingly, Stanford seemed content to toss the ball around the outside of the 2-3 zone, before getting late in the shot clock and tossing up a three pointer. None of which were falling. No one was driving into the lane to force the zone to rotate; no one was getting to the free throw line to receive a high-post entry pass and get in the "hole" in the zone. It was one of the least effective zone-offensive displays, and points out a major vulnerability of this Stanford team - the lack of a slasher/scorer. Part of that is personnel, but part of it is also the sacred triangle. Playing the triangle against a 2-3 zone is, well, not the most effective set - the offensive triangle is matched up against a defensive triangle.
Defensively, the Cardinal was playing well, but Lindy was losing her player (Campbell or Darxia Morris) off simple baseline screens, and Stanford and Tara showed her continually frustrating unwillingness to pack in a zone against a team that I believe has the second-fewest three pointers made in Division I. And when the Bruins discovered the key to beating Stanford\'s switches was a simple high-post pick and roll with a bounce pass to the roller, they turned a 16-9 Stanford lead into a 21-18 deficit, with the only basket being Toni getting into the lane for her short pull-up jumper, a shot that I really love.
And then Chiney picked up her second foul, and sat. And Stanford fell apart. NINE consecutive trips down the floor ended in five bad late three point shots and four turnovers. They couldn\'t get the ball inside, and settled for long shots that weren\'t falling.
Stanford went the final EIGHT minutes of the half hitting one shot, a three by Kayla that was absolutely critical. Meanwhile, with Chiney sitting, the Bruins kept running the same play, high post screen and either a roll to the basket or a 15 foot pull up jumper. Markel Walker finally hit a three point jumper, and Stanford, with the last possession of the half, trailed 30-21. And again, we don\'t have a good last possession, with no one initiating any offense, and Kayla hoisting a horrible three-pointer at the buzzer.
Pretty much everything that could go wrong did. Stanford shot 2-15 from 3 point range, and took nearly 70% of their shots from beyond the arc. Jeanette, again, went 0-5 with 3 turnovers, and Stanford as a team had 10 turnovers. Chiney was on the bench with foul trouble.
One other thing. Missy was out there. And the "let them play" mentality was in effect. There were a total of 8 fouls called in the first half, 6 on Stanford. Albeit UCLA was in a zone, the amount of contact that was allowed to go on rebounding, especially the Bruins guards crashing into the Cardinal posts, was astonishing. And the second foul call on Chiney seemed to be in direct response to Nikki Caldwell\'s complaints midway through the half. The officials didn\'t decide the game, but that one call very definitely changed its nature.
The second half started about the same, which was really frustrating. Two consecutive missed threes let UCLA score again to give themselves an 11-point lead. And the Cardinal still wasn\'t defending particularly well. But with Chiney on the floor, they were able to get the ball inside, and were at least trading baskets, keeping the lead at 9 or so.
Jeanette then had her only real impact on the game, hitting back to back 3s to cut the lead to 5 at 40-35. And Toni, into the game because Lindy was having trouble keeping her mark in front of her, came up with a steal and fastbreak layup to cut it to 3. But she was just getting started.
The big change - Kokenis was keeping up with her perimeter mark, and UCLA was not finding the same success in the pick-and-roll in the second half; the Ogwumikes were getting their hands down in the bounce-pass lane and knocking it away. And the Bruins, when forced to take long jump shots, are just not that effective.
That being said, their 2-3 was still giving Stanford fits. Kayla had a couple of great efforts, one a spectacular nearly instantaneous tip shot that she got over the rim while falling to the floor off a weak-side rebound of a Pohlen miss. Her free throws cut the lead to 46-42, then a Nneka layup off a great out-of-bounds play cut it to 2. Then came an absolutely critical possession, all about the elder Ogwumike and "want to."
more...
It didn\'t start out that way. Lindy LaRocque hit a three to open the scoring, and Stanford got out to a 7-2 lead with Chiney hitting a couple of buckets. But there were warning signs. Jeanette turned the ball over and committed a soft foul that let Doreena Campbell complete a 3 point play. More troublingly, Stanford seemed content to toss the ball around the outside of the 2-3 zone, before getting late in the shot clock and tossing up a three pointer. None of which were falling. No one was driving into the lane to force the zone to rotate; no one was getting to the free throw line to receive a high-post entry pass and get in the "hole" in the zone. It was one of the least effective zone-offensive displays, and points out a major vulnerability of this Stanford team - the lack of a slasher/scorer. Part of that is personnel, but part of it is also the sacred triangle. Playing the triangle against a 2-3 zone is, well, not the most effective set - the offensive triangle is matched up against a defensive triangle.
Defensively, the Cardinal was playing well, but Lindy was losing her player (Campbell or Darxia Morris) off simple baseline screens, and Stanford and Tara showed her continually frustrating unwillingness to pack in a zone against a team that I believe has the second-fewest three pointers made in Division I. And when the Bruins discovered the key to beating Stanford\'s switches was a simple high-post pick and roll with a bounce pass to the roller, they turned a 16-9 Stanford lead into a 21-18 deficit, with the only basket being Toni getting into the lane for her short pull-up jumper, a shot that I really love.
And then Chiney picked up her second foul, and sat. And Stanford fell apart. NINE consecutive trips down the floor ended in five bad late three point shots and four turnovers. They couldn\'t get the ball inside, and settled for long shots that weren\'t falling.
Stanford went the final EIGHT minutes of the half hitting one shot, a three by Kayla that was absolutely critical. Meanwhile, with Chiney sitting, the Bruins kept running the same play, high post screen and either a roll to the basket or a 15 foot pull up jumper. Markel Walker finally hit a three point jumper, and Stanford, with the last possession of the half, trailed 30-21. And again, we don\'t have a good last possession, with no one initiating any offense, and Kayla hoisting a horrible three-pointer at the buzzer.
Pretty much everything that could go wrong did. Stanford shot 2-15 from 3 point range, and took nearly 70% of their shots from beyond the arc. Jeanette, again, went 0-5 with 3 turnovers, and Stanford as a team had 10 turnovers. Chiney was on the bench with foul trouble.
One other thing. Missy was out there. And the "let them play" mentality was in effect. There were a total of 8 fouls called in the first half, 6 on Stanford. Albeit UCLA was in a zone, the amount of contact that was allowed to go on rebounding, especially the Bruins guards crashing into the Cardinal posts, was astonishing. And the second foul call on Chiney seemed to be in direct response to Nikki Caldwell\'s complaints midway through the half. The officials didn\'t decide the game, but that one call very definitely changed its nature.
The second half started about the same, which was really frustrating. Two consecutive missed threes let UCLA score again to give themselves an 11-point lead. And the Cardinal still wasn\'t defending particularly well. But with Chiney on the floor, they were able to get the ball inside, and were at least trading baskets, keeping the lead at 9 or so.
Jeanette then had her only real impact on the game, hitting back to back 3s to cut the lead to 5 at 40-35. And Toni, into the game because Lindy was having trouble keeping her mark in front of her, came up with a steal and fastbreak layup to cut it to 3. But she was just getting started.
The big change - Kokenis was keeping up with her perimeter mark, and UCLA was not finding the same success in the pick-and-roll in the second half; the Ogwumikes were getting their hands down in the bounce-pass lane and knocking it away. And the Bruins, when forced to take long jump shots, are just not that effective.
That being said, their 2-3 was still giving Stanford fits. Kayla had a couple of great efforts, one a spectacular nearly instantaneous tip shot that she got over the rim while falling to the floor off a weak-side rebound of a Pohlen miss. Her free throws cut the lead to 46-42, then a Nneka layup off a great out-of-bounds play cut it to 2. Then came an absolutely critical possession, all about the elder Ogwumike and "want to."
more...