A few random thoughts on the OSU game.

[RichZ]

• Lyle had nervous feet. moved his pivot foot A LOT on the perimeter. Never got called for it.
• The first palming call on Jalen was ludicrous. Yes, he palmed the ball, but he was in the air, making a pass.
• Greg Oden in the stands. Looks younger than he did when he played for them 10 years ago. He's 28 and looks it. But at 18, he looked 40. He's like basketball's version of Dorian Gray.
• Damned announcers. It's viTAL, not VItal.
• Brimah's 3rd foul (blocking) was uhm... questionable at best.
• I guess it was just coincidence, but Facey made a couple really nice effort plays in UConn's run to start the 2nd half, then was called for mystery fouls on two consecutive possessions. It was one possession, actually. Had to sit with 4.
• The major WTF call on Purvis. He had taken 4 steps inbounds before catching that pass. Even the BTN announcers had no idea what the call was all about.
• Brimah's hook is much more effective than it should be. It looks a little ugly because he shoots it off his palm without ever rolling it to his fingertips. Can't mess with it, since it goes in the hole at a pretty good clip, but it sure looks like it shouldn't.
• The officiating sequence that infuriated me the most came on the 1st possession following the time out with 2:40 to go. Tie game, UConn ball. Jalen is tripped by Lyle coming around Purvis's screen. While he's regaining balance and reestablishing control of the ball, it's stolen by Lyle. No question in my mind that the steal would not have happened without the uncalled trip. Lyle misses the breakaway, and Thompson gets the rebound off the floor. Jalen cleanly (as far as I can see) knocks the ball away from him, and gets called for a foul. They took a lead they would never relinquish on Thompson's foul shots.
• Fouls aside, I sure hope Facey keeps playing like the last couple games.
• Trevor Thompson is a very good basketball player, but he doesn't look 7 foot.

 

[mauconnfan]

1 - bingo, should have been whistled 2-3 times saw the same thing.
2 - another awful call on the first one, you would have to call 12 others in the game to be consistent on that one
3 - That's funny . Feel for the guy, seems like a really good dude.
4 - I know I know of course I would say this but it's true, it was a block and if he moved his feet more and acted like the shot blocker he is he would've made the right play. Not the time to take a charge.
5 - Facey made a couple great plays he is so athletic. He had a rebound they called over the back during the run of fouls they gave him which was just plain awful yet again.
6 - Officials are awful, both ways mind you, but they really prove time and again they are clueless for the most part, way overpaid to do an amatuerish job.
7 - Ugly but he even made a lefty one, he's better from the middle with it as he clears a little just throw it to him more there, not on the low block where gets muscled up.
8 - Yeah another one - how about the one on the first half when Jalen was guarding a guy who ran the baseline then went through a pick still playing good D and they called him for hanging on? Even the B10 announcers said Adams has a gripe there that was good D
9 - Kentan looks good, when he rebounds he gets it at its peak he looks big and is tougher. Like what we see, fouls killed him last night.
10 - Yes he is, would love him on our side. But he's not 17/17 good that's on our bigs.

 

[InKembaITrust]

I think a major statistic you're leaving out here that has plagued us the entire season (and really shows our youth as a bball team) is the amount of TOs we have. 16 TOs on the road aint gonna cut it. We've seen it game after game this season the high amount of TOs and mistakes we make on the offensive end. We cut these in half we win the ball game, PERIOD. Had a much better FG% than Ohio St., and I thought our defense played very well, but at the end of the day, AGAIN, TOs are our achilles heel. I think we're slowly but surely starting to figure it out as a collective team and building chemistry, so hopefully TOs are limited moving forward as the season progresses.

 

[mauconnfan]

I think a major statistic you're leaving out here that has plagued us the entire season (and really shows our youth as a bball team) is the amount of TOs we have. 16 TOs on the road aint gonna cut it. We've seen it game after game this season the high amount of TOs and mistakes we make on the offensive end. We cut these in half we win the ball game, PERIOD. Had a much better FG% than Ohio St., and I thought our defense played very well, but at the end of the day, AGAIN, TOs are our achilles heel. I think we're slowly but surely starting to figure it out as a collective team and building chemistry, so hopefully TOs are limited moving forward as the season progresses.

No doubt a fair statement IKT. Although reality puts the kids at a decent TO rate of 11-12 with good refs, they still had some bad ones at crunch time and that's where it counts.

 

[uconngb]

I think a major statistic you're leaving out here that has plagued us the entire season (and really shows our youth as a bball team) is the amount of TOs we have. 16 TOs on the road aint gonna cut it. We've seen it game after game this season the high amount of TOs and mistakes we make on the offensive end. We cut these in half we win the ball game, PERIOD. Had a much better FG% than Ohio St., and I thought our defense played very well, but at the end of the day, AGAIN, TOs are our achilles heel. I think we're slowly but surely starting to figure it out as a collective team and building chemistry, so hopefully TOs are limited moving forward as the season progresses.

And it's not just the TOs, it's the TYPE of TOs. Lazy passes.....the one Enoch threw over Jalen's head on the inbounds: really?? Jalen passing to Facey on a pick and roll when Facey is 15 feet away from the hoop on the baseline? Like he WASN;T going to dribble it out of bounds. If we just cut out the stupidity, which has nothing to do with talent or athleticism, and even as depleted as we are, I think we'd be about 7-2 right now with some hope.

 

[Tdaley]

One of the worst jobs of refereeing I have seen in a very long time. The only thing more irritating was listening to the Big Ten Network announcers wax poetic on how great it is to be in the Big Ten. They seem to be completely oblivious of the play on the court. The lopsided foul calls didn't seem to register with either one of them.

 

[Walker11]

You are always adding insights that I missed. Thanks Rich.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

Kids played tough and it was nice to see they carried over that effort from Monday. I think the foul disparity was pretty big, but had they taken care of the ball better they still should have won.

It remains to be seen whether or not they can play with this effort during the balance of the AAC schedule. It seems to me that under KO the team can get up for a big individual game, preseason tournament or post season tournament. Where they slip up is against the AAC regular season and lose games they have no business losing or losing home games to the top half of the league.

The margin for error the rest of the way is razor thin and I think while their is still a shot at an at large bid, we need to play our asses off in the AAC for a top seed for the tourney in Hartford and win our way in. I just hate seeing us come out 'flat' against a Houston, Tulsa, Temple, etc. and then wonder why they beat us.

 

[jayfromfla]

officiating reminded me business as usual when the team from a low grade conference is expected to lose to the almighty Big 10 programs. refs help the cause with their whistle. It's been a long time since I've seen that one sided a game calling

 

[UConnSwag11]

Agreed on all. Durham would've been huge both sides of the ball and with five more fouls.

 

[gtcam]

TOs and missed FTs will be the bane of this team but a sure reflection of it's youth
I am enjoying this team right now because I go into the game with less of an expectation and do not get my blood pressure boiling after a loss
GREAT insight Rich - Thanks

 

[Waquoit]

• I guess it was just coincidence, but Facey made a couple really nice effort plays in UConn's run to start the 2nd half, then was called for mystery fouls on two consecutive possessions. It was one possession, actually. Had to sit with 4.

Talk about bringing back memories. We took the road trip out to Columbus the last time we played there. It was so long ago the team stayed at the Knights Inn. Al Frederick got hot in the 2nd half and the Huskies were making a nice comeback. Two phantom fouls in a row on Al, comeback averted.

 

[pnow15]

We got a home job by the refs. The shot about 25 more free throws and got another 15 whistles thrown as a bonus. The worse non call of the night was when an Ohio St. player was laying on the floor in the lane for at at least 8 seconds with out a three second violation being called.

 

[Balker]

27 fouls ... 7 scholarship players ... 7•5= ...

Overtime would have been fun.

 

[joober jones]

If nothing else, Durham would have been useful in keeping Enoch out of the game.

 

[Kemba'sYogurt]

Greg idea is actually a student- assistant coach for OSU. I think that's the name of the position but he's finishing up his degree, and coaching too. They showed a clip of him decking some kids in practice lol

 

[Hankster]

Great write Rich. Thanks for paying close attention to the fouls. Honestly, for me, they were happening so fast it was hard to keep track. (For me anyway) I do remember Facey getting back to back calls. I hate to say it because it seems to be the easiest way out on a lose, but, we got jobbed. I agree our to's were horrendous. We make just 70% of those turnovers we win. At this point talking about at Large Bid, NIT, making the Top 25 is just plan wasting ink. Sure it is a topic but it is something that seems unreachable a this point. Again, at this point.
What I am doing is having fun watching these guys. We have great freshman that will mature. Our veterans, no excuse for their play. Enoch looks really in shape. Seems he lost some weight and added some strength. All he needs to do is have "court awareness". Seemed lost on a couple times on backdoor plays. Adams, well as we expected, hard player with no fear. I am very happy with Facey breaking out.
Young, full of injuries, cannot wait until next year. I am not giving up, but not taking it to Final 4 either. Lets enjoy and get excited for conference play.

 

[jibsey]

The refs have it in for Enoch. The only way for him to not foul in the first 2 minutes is to bind him in a straight jacket and even then.

 

[KingOPancakes]

As others have said it seems petty to complain about the fouls, but it was sort of ridiculous. If they didn't use those 3 fouls they had to give in the last 30 seconds or so, it would have been 27-9 in fouls called. UConn wouldn't have made it to the double bonus over both halves. Ohio State's center made as many free throws as our entire team attempted.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

I love the BTN commentators on the foul differential. "OSU is the more aggressive team that's why they're heading to the line so much." First of all, most of the fouls were going for loose balls/rebounds or Adams putting a pinky on Lyle 30 ft out and not on drives. Wouldn't that make UConn more aggressive? Second of all, how does the less aggressive team wind up with 3 times as many fouls?

 

[AZHuskiePop]

I've been involved in basketball for over sixty years,
as a fan,ref, and coach and I don't ever recall a team having 4 fouls to give with less than 2 minutes to play.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

I've been involved in basketball for over sixty years,
as a fan,ref, and coach and I don't ever recall a team having 4 fouls to give with less than 2 minutes to play.

OSU didn't have any fouls because they were so aggressive

 

[HuskyHawk]

I've been involved in basketball for over sixty years,
as a fan,ref, and coach and I don't ever recall a team having 4 fouls to give with less than 2 minutes to play.

And that same team was in the double bonus about 5 minutes into the half. It was as if they said at half "OSU is down, but they'll come back. If not, you know what to do." UConn stretched the lead to six, and the whistles descended upon them like locusts.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

OSU didn't have any fouls because they were so aggressive

Did you watch the game ?
They were fouling intentionally in the last minute and a half because thst had them to give without sending UConn to the line

 

[uconnell]

Did you watch the game ?
They were fouling intentionally in the last minute and a half because thst had them to give without sending UConn to the line

Why do you think they had all those fouls to give at the end of the game? Did you watch the game?

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

Did you watch the game ?
They were fouling intentionally in the last minute and a half because thst had them to give without sending UConn to the line

My bad for not putting the eye roll emoji

 

[mauconnfan]

I've been involved in basketball for over sixty years,
as a fan,ref, and coach and I don't ever recall a team having 4 fouls to give with less than 2 minutes to play.

And especially not when the other team was going to the line with over 12 minutes left

 

[AZHuskiePop]

I am banning myself from the BY
I'm in no mood for sarcasm which are normally love.
Hopefully see you after the new year

 

[champs99and04]

LeBron seems to have gone through the same cycle as Oden. He honestly looks younger than his age now after looking like he was in his mid-20's coming into the league. Maybe Thad Matta will look 70 when he's 70.

 

[EBonz30]

Being big man in college has a lot to do with attitude and mentality...

Facey has shown over the last few games he wants it more than the other player...

Would love to see that for the rest of the year...

We haven't had a big man like that since the Jeff Adrien's & Kevin Freeman's of the world...

Beast it Facey...