St. John's Post Game Thread

[Waquoit]

It feels that way with Newton sometimes because he always has some headcratching plays where you're left wondering why did he do that but he always rebounds on both ends, passes well, and gets to the line. He's a great player but his style is different from any other player I can remember.

Some of his rebounds are incredible for a guard. Like that one in the last minute.

 

[FearThePups]

I'd really like to know that we can get a little more out of the bench when we need it ...
But with these starters, when will we need it?

Great performance against a team who designed their game to make life difficult, and yet a double digit win.

Spencer was on today, so was Castle. Newton less so, but still controlled the game.
Clingan still has to find a way to stay on the floor. Many of the fouls are mind boggling.

I’ll beg to differ that Newton was off. He was 2 assists short of another triple double. He can get his numbers many ways.

 

[Jaydumo20]

He's always been a one and done lottery pick, I'm thinking we may be seeing the #1 pick.

Before anyone argues this let me be the first to second this motion.

 

[JMick]

Tough critic!

I’ll take Diarra being “off” like this any day. Dude was an absolute dawg on defense, finished off some important drives with nifty layups to keep SJU from mounting runs, 5reb, 2 steals.

On top of that he made a few bad plays but then immediately made up for it. The turnover then steal was big

 

[Bomber36]

Man, Cam getting drafted would make me so happy. He’s been such an integral piece this year and made a HUGE impact off the court too. When we lost Andre and Sanogo, we also lost our 2 biggest dogs, and Cam has stepped up and been one of the toughest and most fiery competitors I can remember at UConn. He’s helped our transition from last year to this year so much

He’ll be a solid G league player who might eventually get a shot. I see his size and speed being a problem. He has the smarts for it for sure.

 

[FearThePups]

Castle is developing into a great 4th option on offense. His game is really developing. I did notice too they had him running point in this game more than before especially in the first half. He is just money now and hitting his FTs too. Cam Spencer is our more clutch player. Holding Soriano to 6 pts was key. This team is so versatile. If we could ever get Clingan playing well we would be unstoppable. Clingan is my only worry he needs to learn to play better positional defense and stop reaching. Favorite moment of the game was Spencer doing that turnaround shot over Alleyne.

My favorite moment was Spencer looking back at Soriano and chirping something. He doesn’t back down.

 

[FearThePups]

He usually is. As far as who our most valuable player is this year? We have like 5 choices.

Nice problem to have

 

[todbo]

Our guys are IN SHAPE! Castle and Spencer 39 minutes apiece, Newton 37 minutes, and Diarra 30 minutes. Breathing hard but not gasping and not letting up for 40! Conditioning matters.

 

[Rich]

Hurley 3, Crypt Keeper Pitino 0.

 

[Mister P]

Credit to Hurley for coaching and managing the game perfectly today w/o having AK. His substitution patterns were timed perfectly as well as the minute allocations. He wasn’t afraid to bring Clingan back in for a couple of possession’s in the first half even though he could have picked up his third foul. He also picked his arguments with the refs to have his point made but knew when to stop so he wouldn’t get t’d up.
Diarra 30 mins., Castle 39 mins, Newton 37 mins, and Spencer 39 mins. These minutes were needed to win the game. And please, no one chime in saying Singare should have played to help out with Clingans and Johnson’s foul trouble or to say it was a good game for him to get more game experience.

 

[jibsey]

I hate all this draft talk because when it finally happens you’ve got players who we never heard of from overseas taking many of those spots. I’m not knowledgeable about it but that’s the way it has been going it seems.
Castle already has an NBA body, creative on drives and he can defend.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

Rick Pitino has had a halftime lead over Dan Hurley 3 times since 2023, with his teams outscoring UConn 108-99.

In those 3 games, Hurley has notched 3 victories, his teams having outscored those of Pitino 134-84 in the second half

No Clingan in December, and no Karaban today. No Castle at Allen Field House, but 43 points this week.

Maybe UConn picks up some #1 votes this week?

 

[FearThePups]

35% fewer fouls than Tuesday. This was basketball.

At the risk of getting lambasted, I thought the refs did a good job on the game. A few bad calls with Clingan blocking Soriano and getting called and Ledlum getting the fouls on the castle drive to the rim. The refs didn’t interrupt the flow today. Very enjoyable.

 

[LIUCHusky]

Impressive road win against a team that causes us problems. Even more so without Karaban. Castle becoming a reliable scorer has elevated this team significantly.

The next three games are against the worst of the Big East. It’s likely we will be 23-2 heading to a matchup with Marquette. Simply amazing.

Eh don’t look now, but Butler is pretty good. Not one of the 3 worst in Big East. Will be a tough game especially if UConn has to play without Karaban.

 

[runner11]

I’m excited to see what our offense looks like with a defense forced to respect Steph’s shot, and a healthy AK. Should
open up the floor a lot for more penetration and kick outs

 

[FfldCntyFan]

If you consider the fact that for the first 30 minutes St Johns got called for 1 out of every 4 fouls they committed and we still won by double digits - that’s what #1 teams do.

I hope we finish at #1 but for right now we are on top of the college BB world and it’s not even close!

This. The amount of grabbing, holding, shoving that they got away with was ridiculous. A St John's fan was sitting in front of us and even he reached the point where he said "well, you have to expect home cooking from the referees".

One thing that made me laugh after the game was as we were leaving the Garden, a group of younger fans started a UCONN chant. Some woman tells "of course you're going to win when the refs are on your payroll". I don't know what game she saw but it wasn't the UConn-St John's game at MSG.

 

[OceanDoggie]

Newton 2nd game in a row with 10 made free-throws (10/11 & 10/16). Having Newton and Castle aggressive to the basket really opens up the offense when the shot clock winds down. This is a good sign for when our front court offense is limited.

 

[Poe]

Look up Newtons numbers. He was quietly VERY good

Newton was ok today and still stuffed the stat sheet, 3 assists shy of another triple double and didn’t play that great. 4-11 missing all four threes and had 6 turnovers, but was money at the line and does a lot of other things.

But I’ll take this type of B game anytime. Love Tristen.

 

[yungdowork]

He’ll be a solid G league player who might eventually get a shot. I see his size and speed being a problem. He has the smarts for it for sure.

He’s definitely not an elite athlete but I think his defense gets underrated a lot because of it. He’s very good at jumping passing lanes and leads the team in steals.

If he shoots 50/40/90 (currently 48/43/89) it’s pretty hard to imagine him not finding a role somewhere as a bench shooter. I look at a guy like Sam Merrill and don’t see a lot that he provides that Cam couldn’t.

 

[Mike Honcho]

Our social media team is usually on the ball but oof.

 

[OceanDoggie]

He’s definitely not an elite athlete but I think his defense gets underrated a lot because of it. He’s very good at jumping passing lanes and leads the team in steals.

If he shoots 50/40/90 (currently 48/43/89) it’s pretty hard to imagine him not finding a role somewhere as a bench shooter. I look at a guy like Sam Merrill and don’t see a lot that he provides that Cam couldn’t.

It's his size that will keep him out of the league. He's got the skills. Although he's taller than Shabazz, he will suffer from the same lack of speed/athleticism needed to get your shots up as an undersized Guard.

 

[alphasigko]

His fourth foul was such a dumb foul for him to commit. He doesn’t know how big he is yet. Just stand there

And he just cannot resist taking the shot fake. He jumps every time. He just missed fouling out w/less than a minute to go.

 

[El Obrero]

Newton’s value to this team is that he provides a “high floor” in every game they play. That is, no opposing team’s coach ever game-plans to stop Newton; there are too many other guys they need to stop. He does everything at a high level, just not quite as high as the superstar(s)) the opposing coach convinces himself that they have to take away in any particular game. So he always reaches his floor- which is close to a triple-double- and more often than not he turns out to be among the top two in scoring and assists at the end of the game. With the way the backcourt played today, you could make the argument that they could’ve left Clingan on the bus and still won this game. And Newton is the guy that makes it that way.

 

[nomar]

Man, Cam getting drafted would make me so happy. He’s been such an integral piece this year and made a HUGE impact off the court too. When we lost Andre and Sanogo, we also lost our 2 biggest dogs, and Cam has stepped up and been one of the toughest and most fiery competitors I can remember at UConn. He’s helped our transition from last year to this year so much

I had irrationally high hopes for Spencer and he's managed to completely surpass them in all respects.

Everything he showed in his highlights video from Rutgers he does all the time.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

Felt like Newton had a pretty rough game, yet he still went for 18, 10, and 7. Such a calming presence when he's out there

Sometimes sometimes stellar, sometimes interstellar...