Women’s basketball hopes 3-point defense stays strong against Seton Hall
Senior guard Kennedy Burke said limiting Seton Hall’s 3s will be crucial for Sunday’s game. Burke is averaging 14 points and 7.7 rebounds over UCLA women’s basketball’s first three games this season. (Isa Saalabi/Daily Bruin)
Women’s basketball
Seton Hall
Sunday, 2:00 p.m
Pauley Pavilion
UCLA live stream
By Vinny Lavalsiti
Nov. 16, 2018 1:49 a.m.
Michaela Onyenwere said the Bruins will have to focus on containing the 3-point shot Sunday.
“Knowing that they’re 3-point shooters, we just have to force them to be drivers,” the sophomore forward said. “I think if we overplay them they’ll be rattled up and that’ll be an advantage for us.”
After upsetting No. 14 Georgia on Wednesday, UCLA women’s basketball (2-1) will host Seton Hall (4-0) on Sunday in its last game of a three-game homestand. The Bruins last faced off against the Pirates in December 2017, beating Seton Hall 77-68.
The Pirates are averaging just over 10 3-pointers a game, which accounts for 30 percent of their scoring. Forty-three percent of Seton Hall’s shot attempts have come from 3-point range.
Seton Hall guard Victoria Cardaci has sunk 42 percent of her 3s on 26 attempts this year.
“Being aware and talking through things,” said senior guard Kennedy Burke. “That’s going to help diminish the 3s or at least limit how many 3s they do get off.”
In Sunday’s game against Rice, the Bruins held the Owls to 3-of-13 from 3. The Owls shot 36 percent on over 22 attempts per game a season ago.
Cori Close said that the Bruins will attempt to stifle the strengths of its opponent once more.
“Every game is going to be the same for us,” the coach said. “It’s going to be about what they do really well, how do we take away what they do best, and how do we try to control the game to play to our strengths.”
Seton Hall will enter Sunday averaging 87 points per game on 48 percent shooting from the field, good for 10th-best in the NCAA among teams which have played at least three games.
The Pirates are now without forward Donnaizha Fountain – who left the team for personal reasons in January – the team’s leading scorer against the Bruins last year with 23 points.
Seton Hall guard Shadeen Samuels has been filling in on offense with the absence of Fountain and has tallied two consecutive 20-point performances. Samuels leads the Pirates in points per game with 18.3 and rebounds per game with 7.5.
“Honestly, they’re not really the same team as last year’s so we have to be ready for that,” Onyenwere said. “We’ve got to pay attention to the scouting report and we’ll be fine.”
Seton Hall is coming off a 70-66 win against Princeton. Samuels racked up a double-double, going 9-of-15 from the field with 10 rebounds. The forward scored just two points in 21 minutes of action against UCLA last year.
Samuels was third on the Pirates in steals last season, averaging 1.2 a game.
The Pirates have forced their opponent to cough up the ball 23 or more times in all three of their games this year.
“We just have to be really strong with the ball,” Close said. “Create easier catches away from the ball so that we’re able to continue to have a good assist-to-turnover ratio.”
UCLA increased its season assist-to-turnover ratio from 0.7 to 1.2 after tallying 18 assists and nine turnovers on Wednesday.
“Every game is going to be a little different and we’re just going to lock into taking away their strengths,” Close said.
The Bruins will take on the Pirates on Sunday at 3 p.m. in Pauley Pavilion.
