Absolute Best Sign from Last Night . . .

[Prezidint]

Mr. Fire in His Eyes himself, Andre Drummond, clearly thrives in the national spot light, and he clearly brings his A-game when the chips are down.

That's huge, and that's unteachable. Some guys excel in the big moment (Jordan, Faldo, Conners). Some guys fold (Norman, Malone). Drummond is clearly solidly in the first group.

 

[Kitaman]

Some perspective, it was one game but yes a huge game considering the circumstances.

 

[TheRogers]

Was watching him match up againts Jones. He had that look and swagger that he wasn't affraid of the challenge. When growth and experience catches up with that attitude...game over.

 

[Silk City]

I love Drummond.. but come on, it was one game. He's not "solidly" in any category. I agree that he showed last night he's capable of rising to the occasion and thriving off the crowd, but I can't see that alone forecasting his future performances in games like this.

Lots of huge games with a national spotlight left to be played. Hope he keeps it up but I'm not going to make any judgments just yet, because Drummond has been tough to figure out. I'm just glad he's such a likable player

 

[UConnSwag11]

once the raft or bilas said the jones was having some words for drummond in the second half he turned it on

 

[Palatine]

It was obvious that Andre was enjoying himself immensely. He loves the big stage.

It was also obvious that he is an incredible player. The NBA scouts had to be drooling.

 

[aceboon]

AD performance was great but dude it was one BE regular season game, he has another 15 years of college and NBA games left to play, he hasn't put himself in any category.

 

[alexd]

I wish the chips had been "down" vs RU and SH...

 

[businesslawyer]

It wasn't even one game -- it was about 10 or 12 consecutive good minutes at the end.

A huge reason we were down ten before the comeback started was his inability to play solid D when his man screens,his inability to either go for a block or stay with his man, as opposed to getting caught in no man's land where he neither alters a shot nor boxes his man out, and his inability to set a screen and hold it until the defender gets through him (which is a big part of why our offense goes through periods where no one is coming free off screens and we end up with a PG giving up and dribbling).

He will be a great player one day. But we're not winning anything this year unless his fundamentals begin to catch up to some extent to his talent. And if you really think he played a great game yesterday, as opposed to a great ten minutes, you're not watching carefully enough.

 

[wpq4elamin]

I actually think the fire from all of the guys was the best sign from last night.... it seemed like Alex, Jeremy, Bazz, Boat and Drummond were all balls to the wall and emotionally charged in the second half last night... and we haven't seen that from Alex a lot this year.... he was actually excited and smiling and it looked like they were having fun while playing well in the second half

 

[Rico444]

I thought Alex had that intensity the entire game. By far the most encouraging game from him all season.

 

[cohenzone]

"It wasn't even one game -- it was about 10 or 12 consecutive good minutes at the end."

While I agree that one shouldn't jump to broad conclusions from one game, in fairness to AD, he played pretty well for most of this game. He was being asked to guard a very skilled senior on the perimeter, rarely the comfort zone for a big guy, and Jones hit some pretty well contested 3s s by using a great deal of arc. Without AD, they were pretty well nowhere in the first half.

 

[Gurleyman]

Thought the first three Jones hit was open, and then AD adjusted and got out there well on him for the second and third - they were just good shots. Based on his veteran savvy and effectiveness at getting position on rebounds, it was probably to our benefit to have him fall in love with his three-point shot.

 

[wpq4elamin]

Thought the first three Jones hit was open, and then AD adjusted and got out there well on him for the second and third - they were just good shots. Based on his veteran savvy and effectiveness at getting position on rebounds, it was probably to our benefit to have him fall in love with his three-point shot.

great point- he definitely seemed to settle for a lot of outside shots when he was wiping the boards clean, looking like charles barkley on the offensive glass

glad he decided to keep hoisting 3's and also glad that the mountaineer got into foul trouble bc he was a beast down low and was hurting us pretty bad when both him and jones were hitting the glass

 

[tykurez]

I wish the chips had been "down" vs RU and SH...

Agreed ... didn't really see it in those games unfortunately.

However, I will note that the first time I saw him like that was against UCF and FSU. There were moments in those games where the team was getting pushed around a bit and you could tell it lit a fire under his ass where he just straight up wanted it more than anyone else on the court.

The key is getting all the kids to play like that.

 

[Gurleyman]

Agreed ... didn't really see it in those games unfortunately.

However, I will note that the first time I saw him like that was against UCF and FSU. There were moments in those games where the team was getting pushed around a bit and you could tell it lit a fire under his ass where he just straight up wanted it more than anyone else on the court.

The key is getting all the kids to play like that.

He became passive against Rutgers. He had a couple bad turnovers early trying to pass the ball back out of the post (on one of them he tried to throw it underhand like a bowling ball - not sure what happened on that one). And then he was just so conscious about not making a mistake that he made himself a non-factor - and I think teammates were hesitant to give him the ball since he was having a rough night.

 

[jibsey]

AD is 5 games in the BE into his UCONN career as an 18year old so with that as a consideration, it's pretty much a best sign.

 

[Scot-e]

I'd rather get these kinds of posts vs the whinny biatching we had the last week. I like the fact some fans get carried away by the play one one of our guys-single game or not- it's fun being a fan.