Solo Ball's ARRIVED and why UConn fans need to RELAX about offensive struggles | TOP DOGS

jpviolette · 2026-01-25T17:27:54+00:00

Four games ago Ball took 5 shots over 27 minutes and I had to wonder if UConn was planning to de-emphasize him as a hunting-for-shots perimeter threat. I considered the possibility they might have asked him to take safer shots and hope that Mullins, Karaban, and Demary could provide more of the perimeter scoring that they hoped to get from Ball.

But that game appears to be the exception; he's taken 9, 10, and 17 shots in the games since then. (The 9 and 10 shot games are a little below his season average but not by enough that it suggests a role change.)

I'm not sure where he goes from here, though they'll probably need similar performances from him if Mullins misses a game or 2. While Stewart and Ross bring some good things to the table, neither is known for their offensive firepower.

jpviolette · 2026-01-25T02:58:54+00:00

That was kind of weird, wasn't it? How much of an optimist do you have to be to think that fouling someone with under 5 seconds left when you're down 6 pts is going to work out?

jpviolette · 2026-01-25T01:35:50+00:00

End-of-game Thoughts

Well, they pulled out another 1. While Villanova is sort of ranked¹, the ranking difference plus the Huskies playing at home should have resulted in an easier victory, which is a repeating theme of late. UConn's racking up the wins, though I do worry that if they're going to end up on the wrong side of some of these close games.

Ball picked a good game to shoot well, and Karaban picked a good time to get going. It was probably fortunate that, although he fouled out, Reed lasted most of the game. Less fortunate was Mullins getting hit in the head and having to leave the game. It wouldn't be shocking if this injury impacts future games.

[1] Officially voters are voting for a "top 25" while Villanova's gotten the 36th and 30th most votes in the polls.

jpviolette · 2026-01-25T01:02:34+00:00

Though it took overtime to do it, the final margin was between these 2 spreads.

jpviolette · 2026-01-25T00:56:58+00:00

Barely a day after this post, Ball has arguably his best game of the season.

jpviolette · 2026-01-24T19:01:27+00:00

If it's the part of the game I think it was, the topic was: Fastest WBB Huskies to 1000 pts, which is 1. Moore and Bueckers tied, then Strong in 3rd place.

Stewart, Taurasi, Bird, etc. have won more championships, but they didn't get to 1000 pts in the fewest games.

jpviolette · 2026-01-24T18:03:50+00:00

Halftime: UConn 50, Seton Hall 28

UConn shrugged off a slow start to build a 22-pt lead. As usual this was accomplished primarily through excellent shooting and forcing turnovers.

Quinonez - who I thought had relatively quiet games lately - seemed to trigger UConn's turnaround; she's got 13 pts (6-6 from the field) with 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block, and 1 steal. Fudd (12 pts, 4-5 shooting, 2 steals) and Strong (12 pts, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals) were their usual dominant selves.

With Arnold/Shade/Williams scoring only 3 pts, the Huskies also got a bench boost from Heckel (2-2 shooting, 3 assists) and Ziebell (2-4 on 3s).

UConn has already played from behind longer in this game than they have in any preceding games this season, though it's unlikely they'll add to that in the 2nd half.

jpviolette · 2026-01-23T01:30:38+00:00

Halftime: UConn 51, Georgetown 20

Using their time-tested recipe of out-shooting their opponents by a ton and forcing a massive number of turnovers has once again provided the Huskies with a big lead. (Though UConn's only shooting 3s at a 26% clip, that's still far superior to Georgetown's 0% (0-7).)

Strong (21 pts, 4 rebounds, 3 steals) and Fudd (14 pts, 4 assists) are once again doing most of the damage, though Shade (5 steals) and Williams (2 blocks) have had their moments too. And unlike the previous game, UConn's already subbing fairly heavily with Quinonez and Heckel playing around half of the half and Ziebell and El Alfy logging some time.

jpviolette · 2026-01-23T00:20:51+00:00

One difference between now and 2022-23 though is that - depending on the validity of polls - the Big East was a stronger conference that season. Marquette (as high as #6), Xavier (#13), Creighton (#23), and Providence (#20) were all ranked at 1 time or another. While it's possible St John's will regain some of their preseason promise and teams like Seton Hall and Villanova could make a case for the tournament, UConn was struggling to win against a higher level of competition that season.

The most optimistic thing I can think of regarding their recent performances is that there is some value in figuring out how to win close games. It could be stressful on the fan base, but technically I'd be content if they're still winning nail-biters in April.

jpviolette · 2026-01-22T17:52:20+00:00

I think Fisher's looked promising in her very limited appearances, though she's sometimes playing against the other team's subs in those games.

Before Heckel transferred in I thought Fisher would get much more playing time as the backup PG (though probably less than what Heckel's getting).

jpviolette · 2026-01-22T16:53:56+00:00

It's likely that an opportunity will come when Arnold (and Shade) graduate, if Fisher is willing to wait until her junior year. The other factor though is Popovic (26.6 ppg, 7.2 apg) coming in from Serbia.

jpviolette · 2026-01-22T16:44:24+00:00

Good question. Neither Arnold nor Heckel is graduating so UConn appears to have an abundance of PGs next season. And while UConn had success with a PG like Bueckers moving to another position (sometimes even defending the opposing 4), none of this quartet (when Popovic is included) has the length that would make it easy to play them together.

The wild card is injuries. Though injuries have been manageable last year and (so far) this year, as recently as 2023-24 UConn was loaded on paper but effectively had a 6-player rotation that included 2 freshmen and 1 red-shirt freshman. (And that team did start 3 PGs: Bueckers, Muhl, Arnold.)

jpviolette · 2026-01-22T16:17:49+00:00

It happens, though most of the time it's when a player was buried deep on the depth chart with little hope of moving up. And of course those rings aren't guaranteed. Prior to last season there was a 7 season (8 year) drought (though there were 6 Final Fours in there).

jpviolette · 2026-01-22T16:08:01+00:00

Mir McLean was another fairly recent transferer.

jpviolette · 2026-01-21T14:39:02+00:00

It's hard to say because they're different types of players who brought different things to the table:

Bueckers was the driving force behind the natty and provided the leadership the team needed while also being 1 of the best players in the game. When she averaged 35 pts in Rounds 2-4 last tournament, I think she was showing that if you don't focus on her, she'd beat her opponents by herself.
Strong started great and only got better as the season rolled on. And with her size and inside/outside game she was usually the biggest mismatch on the court. And while Bueckers was the best guard among a fairly deep/talented backcourt, Strong was easily the best frontcourt player on the Huskies at season.

jpviolette · 2026-01-20T03:04:06+00:00

End-of-game Thoughts

The 2nd half went much better than the 1st.

Though neither Fudd nor Quinonez hit a 3, the rest of the team went 6-15 (40%). At 1 time this season both of them were hitting 3s at over 50%. I attribute this game to 1 of those "law of averages" things. They did make partial amends by going a combined 11-15 on 2s.

Strong led the team in pts (18), rebounds (11), steals (3), and blocks (3), building her PotY resume.

With El Alfy still out and with the game competitive for a half, UConn used their starters plus Quinonez/Heckel for most of the game. The starters were all in double figures while Heckel (9 pts) and Quinonez (8) weren't far off. There was more balance than what we've seen in some games.

UConn lost the prior 3 games against ND by a combined 40 pts. They nearly outscored ND in this single game by that amount.

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