Alleyne appreciation thread

[Chin Diesel]

Alleyne’s stellar game tonight is good example on why you don’t give up on players and bench. I’m hoping Hurley keeps, Alleyne JC, And Diarra in the mix off the bench, while given the hot hand some extra time.

Alleyne historically has been a plus 3P shooter and good defender. Now he has 4 games in a row with a 3P. He scored 28 in NCAA game last year. He has the potential to explode into a 6th starter caliber player.

During the January skid Newton, Jackson, Calcaterra, Diarra and Alleyne were all struggling from what we could see. Hurley figured out he needed Newton to be primary PG and run the offense through him and have Jackson be a secondary source.

For the bench players, all three of Alleyne, Diarra and Calcaterra were struggling but Alleyne was closest to keeping his minutes while Diarra and Calcaterra saw theirs diminish. Hindsight is usually pretty clear meaning Alleyne was doing the most in practice to keep the coaches' attention and keep him in the rotation. His movement with the ball still takes time getting used to but he takes the open shot when he gets it. He doesn't hunt for it, but he doesn't pass it up either. If he can continue to get about 15 solid minutes a game that is huge.

We are far enough in to the season and know Jackson is still very foul prone and susceptible to how the refs are calling the game. Hawkins and Newton both pick up enough fouls that a fourth player needs to be reliable on that rotation.

 

[my2cents]

Props to the kid tonight. Plays tough D and knocked down some shots. The shot at the end of the half broke the camel’s back. He’s an important piece in the stretch run and helps space the floor off the bench. If he can spell Hawkins and give them 10 pts off the bench we become really tough to keep up with.

Hurley made the same points in his press conference.

 

[Umami Zen]

Dude is tough/smart/two way player.. If DH can show him some love/encouragement.. He'll perform when the bright lights are on.

 

[HooperScooper]

"You give us a guy like Nahiem that gets back to his old form," the UConn coach said, "that's going to be a problem for the other guy."

If UConn men's basketball guard Nahiem Alleyne keeps improving? Why that could be 'problem' for opponents

If the UConn senior guard continues to play like he did when he scored 13 points Tuesday, "that's a problem for other people," per Dan Hurley.

www.nhregister.com

Alternate free access:

If UConn men's basketball guard Nahiem Alleyne keeps improving? Why that could be 'problem' for opponents​

 

[mauconnfan]

While he struggled finding his shot and most every offensive category I think many here were missing he was always a solid defensive player. He’s physical and can guard bigger if needed. Obviously finding some offense the other night even fires up the kid to play even better D as most others. Great to see, good kid and nice player who if he finds consistency now helps us a ton.

 

[Conndog]

Love him! His shot has an interesting look to it- release is nice and high, but he doesn’t look squared up to basket when he shoots, it sometimes looks like he’s diagonal to it. I don’t care as he is reliable and a great defender too.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Love him! His shot has an interesting look to it- release is nice and high, but he doesn’t look squared up to basket when he shoots, it sometimes looks like he’s diagonal to it. I don’t care as he is reliable and a great defender too.

He turns to the side on the jump shot. I think we may see that more that we would if he wasn't a lefty.

 

[JustbrewitMan]

Alleyne has really started to develop into the player we thought we were getting. I'll chalk it up to taking some time to adapt to the tougher, high quality Big East comp vs. the mediocre ACC.

Over the last 8 games, his defense has been outstanding, and he's shot 10/25 (40%) from 3pt.

Hoping he can keep that momentum going into the postseason!

 

[Captbluefin]

I want him on the floor next year

 

[prankster]

Alleyne has really started to develop into the player we thought we were getting. I'll chalk it up to taking some time to adapt to the tougher, high quality Big East comp vs. the mediocre ACC.

Over the last 8 games, his defense has been outstanding, and he's shot 10/25 (40%) from 3pt.

Hoping he can keep that momentum going into the postseason!

When you look at the team construction it is around 40% foundation, and about 60% add-on.

Pre-season/early-season the raw talent, accompanied by so much depth, we were .... well .... invincible. Beat everybody, even top pre- season ranked teams by double digits.

Then we hit the meat grinder of the BE regular season. 5 top 20 teams among the top 5 of the BE rankings.

The coaching staff and the players are demonstrably improving, together. Great time to hit our stride to peak, starting next week.

We are very talented. Very experienced and very experienced, together as a top team. We are battle tested.

I think we are very ready for the post season to begin.

 

[RichZ]

I think we are very ready for the post season to begin.

I think we need to take care of business at the Garden tomorrow and at Nova on the 4th, before we start thinking about the BET. We need to beat St. John's on general principals, and we need to sweep somebody not ranked in the bottom three of the league.

 

[Ronobro]

12/17 Butler
12/31 Xavier
2/7 Marquette
2/22 Providence

That’s at least 4 times Alleyne has closed the first half with a three. Respect.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

If he can play anywhere close to as well as he did tonight, we’re in much better shape going forward. His shot looked better, he played with confidence, and he was tough as nails on defense. He’s the type of glue guy I love bringing in off the bench.

Our bench was 4-5 from the three
He and Joey were 100% . Boy if we could get that tandem going .?
I like that Lefty stroke . Watching him shoot Reminded me of a contemporary of mine named Gary Liberatore who could hoist them up .

Diarra was 0-1 ,
The starters 6-16 .350%
The team 10-21 not to shabby

 

[Palatine]

He is trending in the right direction. Be nice if he can keep it going.

 

[Sibeerian]

I don't care if nobody else gets this reference

 

[ctchamps]

He pretty much shut down Hopkins while Alex was on the bench if you remove the slip foul.

 

[Umami Zen]

He pretty much shut down Hopkins while Alex was on the bench if you remove the slip foul.

IMO..Hasn't been given enough credit for his D.. Quietly goes about his business.. He'll be an X factor in the BET/March Madness off the bench..

 

[huskiesouth]

Our bench was 4-5 from the three
He and Joey were 100% . Boy if we could get that tandem going .?
I like that Lefty stroke . Watching him shoot Reminded me of a contemporary of mine named Gary Liberatore who could hoist them up .

Diarra was 0-1 ,
The starters 6-16 .350%
The team 10-21 not to shabby

Gary L was a really good player.

 

[ConnEd]

He pretty much shut down Hopkins while Alex was on the bench if you remove the slip foul.

At his size, to D-up Hopkins the way he did is impressive. I love the young man's toughness on D, and I've been hoping his shot would start dropping as getting some offense off the bench helps enormously.

 

[Umami Zen]

Our bench was 4-5 from the three
He and Joey were 100% . Boy if we could get that tandem going .?
I like that Lefty stroke . Watching him shoot Reminded me of a contemporary of mine named Gary Liberatore who could hoist them up .

Diarra was 0-1 ,
The starters 6-16 .350%
The team 10-21 not to shabby

Liberatore was awesome.. Ronny Riordan wasn't bad either

 

[AZHuskiePop]

Gary L was a really good player.

He scored over 3,000 pts before the 3 ball. He had NBA range .
My fellow gym rats and I went to a few New Haven vs Quinnipiac wars back in the Day . Best game in the area Although UB vs Sacred Heart was decent .
I thought New Haven screwed up emphasizing football instead of going the D1 BB and Hockey route QU took.

 

[auror]

At his size, to D-up Hopkins the way he did is impressive. I love the young man's toughness on D, and I've been hoping his shot would start dropping as getting some offense off the bench helps enormously.

Yeah I was surprised. When Karaban was out and both Jackson and Alleyne were in, we had Alleyne on Hopkins and not Jackson.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

Yeah I was surprised. When Karaban was out and both Jackson and Alleyne were in, we had Alleyne on Hopkins and not Jackson.

Kid's built like an ox.

 

[Huskyforlife]

We could do worse than bringing Alleyne back to fill out the lineup next year in that shooter spot. Castle/Alleyne/Jackson/Karaban/Clingan could be really nice on both ends if Alleyne can consistently be this type of shooter. Maybe his boy Castle will talk him into one more year?

 

[prankster]

View attachment 84395 I don't care if nobody else gets this references.

siBEriaN!