A Look at St. John's Since Our Last Matchup | The Boneyard
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A Look at St. John's Since Our Last Matchup

Hey Adrien!

Hey Adrien!

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Owning the second longest winning streak in the nation, St. John's has been red hot over the last seven weeks, combining their gritty, disciplined defense the contains the rare mix of turnover pursuit without giving up an excess of defensive breakdowns leaving players wide open.

The biggest news for St. John's is that Ian Jackson is "hopeful" to return from an ankle injury after missing the game against Creighton. However, despite Jackson and Jason Sanon's scoring disappointments this year (this year, they combined 15.2 ppg in Big East play after each averaged 12 ppg last season) Dylan Darling is showing why he should be the every day starting PG, scoring 16+ points and dishing 3+ assists in three of the last four games.

Obviously, the problems last matchup were Demary's struggles controlling the ball (9 TOs), a massive disparity at the free throw line (UConn was 5-12 from FT while St. John's attempted 31 FTAs!!!) and poor interior D (St. John's was 63% from inside the arc) but in total, the bench played just 28 minutes.

Reibe, Ross and Malachi have played better down the stretch, so combining that with our own home court advantage will tip the advantage our way.

Should be an excellent one!


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Iluvsuebird said:
Playing this team is about being tough. Can we bet tougher than them? I have to see it. We have fallen short too often to say otherwise.
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Limiting TO's will be the key. That's why I'd like to see Silas and Smith on the court together for stretches. Smith has had his struggles, but he can handle the rock. At the very least, it should allow us to get the ball up court quicker.
 
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I know we all fear this match-up and rightly so. But there's a bit of a false narrative of how amazing St. Johns has been playing of late. They were losing to Xavier on the road before a big 2H, were down 15 in the 2H at home vs. Seton Hall, needed OT at home to beat Xavier, were trailing late in the 2H vs. Marquette, and were tied with Providence at home when the fight happened. They crushed Creighton at home; we crushed them by the same amount on the road.

To be clear, yes, they're playing better than us, but it's not like they've looked amazing every game or even most of them.
 
Let's ficking destroy them. It would be cathartic on so many levels:
1. Beat allegations that UConn is trending down, and start peaking at the right time of the year
2. Show them who the true boss of the BE is
3. Beat down Pitino and his mercenaries
4. Wipe out their winning streak and not let them win the league outright
 
Glastonhusky said:
Limiting TO's will be the key. That's why I'd like to see Silas and Smith on the court together for stretches. Smith has had his struggles, but he can handle the rock. At the very least, it should allow us to get the ball up court quicker.
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It's not a bad idea. But knowing how smart Pitino is, he will most likely attack Malachi when St. John's is on offense. UConn's defense will have to be on point, especially with help defense principles.
 
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Hey Adrien! said:
Owning the second longest winning streak in the nation, St. John's has been red hot over the last seven weeks, combining their gritty, disciplined defense the contains the rare mix of turnover pursuit without giving up an excess of defensive breakdowns leaving players wide open.

The biggest news for St. John's is that Ian Jackson is "hopeful" to return from an ankle injury after missing the game against Creighton. However, despite Jackson and Jason Sanon's scoring disappointments this year (this year, they combined 15.2 ppg in Big East play after each averaged 12 ppg last season) Dylan Darling is showing why he should be the every day starting PG, scoring 16+ points and dishing 3+ assists in three of the last four games.

Obviously, the problems last matchup were Demary's struggles controlling the ball (9 TOs), a massive disparity at the free throw line (UConn was 5-12 from FT while St. John's attempted 31 FTAs!!!) and poor interior D (St. John's was 63% from inside the arc) but in total, the bench played just 28 minutes.

Reibe, Ross and Malachi have played better down the stretch, so combining that with our own home court advantage will tip the advantage our way.

Should be an excellent one!


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I was at the game at MSG and St. John’s fans were rabid, out of their minds with UConn/ Hurley hate. Needs to be a madhouse Wednesday night. Make the feel UConn nation
 
I feel like the key will be how we handle Hopkins and Mitchell. Hopkins is a brutal matchup for Mullins on the defensive end. He can post him, and on drives, he is big enough that he doesn't really need to beat him to be able to get a good shot. Meanwhile, Mitchell is quick enough to negate Alex's activity and dribble-drive on offense. I would take it if Alex can play him to a draw. In general, if we can play them evenish at 3-4-5, our guards should be able to outplay theirs by enough to get the W.
 
Should be a fun game. If St Johns wins this one, the BE regular season crown is pretty much guaranteed. If we win, we are in a good position to at least tie for it. Maybe win it if we take care of business the rest of the way at St Johns slips up against Villanova

Everyone knows the keys to the game. St Johns has to play physically and blow up all of UConn's offense to create turnovers and tough shots. UConn has to stay out of foul trouble and match physicality

SHOULD BE FUN!
 
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Good synopsis. I dont expect perfection from us. I also dont expect perfection from them. There will be turnovers, because as you mention, that's what SJ does. But I actually say we win by a good margin.
 
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If the Huskies limit TO's as @Glastonhusky said, it will be a BIG plus. Last time around the Red Storm generated 20 points off UConn's 15 TO's. Ouch. Another key is to play tough but smart, disciplined defense so as not to commit a lot of fouls and put them at the line excessively. And, of course, they will need to crash the boards and not allow second chance points. Offensively, I feel like a balanced attack is best here with feeding the ball to Tarris along with spreading the floor and hitting some 3's and getting the midrange game going early. The Huskies have a lot of weapons, and I think they'll need them.

Against Creighton, the Huskies displayed greater energy than they had in weeks as they dove for loose balls and aggressively went after rebounds rather than waiting for the ball to come to them. They also will need to make Dylan Darling uncomfortable and not allow him anything easy. It sure seems like a switch was flipped after the Creighton loss, and there is every reason to believe that after the Villanova win and with all that's on the line, UConn will be absolutely locked in and ready go after a win with ferocity in Hartford.
 
ConnEd said:
I feel like the key will be how we handle Hopkins and Mitchell. Hopkins is a brutal matchup for Mullins on the defensive end. He can post him, and on drives, he is big enough that he doesn't really need to beat him to be able to get a good shot. Meanwhile, Mitchell is quick enough to negate Alex's activity and dribble-drive on offense. I would take it if Alex can play him to a draw. In general, if we can play them evenish at 3-4-5, our guards should be able to outplay theirs by enough to get the W.
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Hopkins and Mitchell are both nightmare matchups for Mullins and both have a smaller advantage against Karaban. Help defense will have to be very sharp and we cannot afford careless turnovers.
 
Agreeing with some folks who posted earlier. This game is all about the toughness. Last game right outta the gate they had another gear, Mitchell I think, taking it to the rack, getting his own rebound, quicker, bodying up a UConn player for a putback. We need to meet that and be tougher. Execute against that D.
 
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Toughness is correct but also subjective for the refs. Evidently UConns brand of toughness leads to less free throws shot and more fouls given almost every game. 22 of St. John’s points came from the line and if they hit even 70% it would’ve been even worse. Zuby has more than double the free throw attempts and almost 50 more made free throw attempts than Silas Demary (leading for UConn at 109) has taken. Bryce Hopkins almost has as many made as Silas has taken. 40-12 attempts last game against them. Have to figure out how to get zuby to get atleast 2 before the half which means reed needs to be a grizzly and Cap has to show out for his last game in Hartford
 
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