Are we worried about our backcourt?

[Class of 09]

Mali has been pretty consistently about as good as you can ask for from a backup point guard over the last four (very big) games. Silas has been consistently solid, not great, Braylon has been consistently about as good as a freshman coming off injury as you can get. I don’t think inconsistent is the right word at all.

 

[superjohn]

Silas is struggling badly, it's the toughest offense in the country to feel comfortable learning. He's wired more to score and the transition is messing with him now. Malachi has been awesome. Not worried about Silas but it may take him a while tk truly find his comfort zone. Not at all worried about Solo and Braylon.

 

[TerryBoyz]

Arrogant and spoiled. Wouldn’t want it any other way.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

Braylon Mullins

He may be it, but he isn’t particularly what I was referencing. He doesn’t do much 1v1, he rarely dribbles more than twice. I meany a guy at the top with the shot clock running down getting to the rim.

 

[superjohn]

He may be it, but he isn’t particularly what I was referencing. He doesn’t do much 1v1, he rarely dribbles more than twice. I meany a guy at the top with the shot clock running down getting to the rim.

That will be Silas by the end of the season.

 

[UCHuskies08]

no

 

[bendm]

Luckily we’ve got 20 games in which we’ll probably be favored for Silas to figure it out

 

[auror]

Silas had 5 assists in 19 minutes tonight. That's very good.

Running the offense wasn't the problem tonight. He lost his dribble like three times, picked the ball up in the corner once, and made a sloppy pass another time. Just basic basketball stuff.

 

[superjohn]

Silas had 5 assists in 19 minutes tonight. That's very good.

Running the offense wasn't the problem tonight. He lost his dribble like three times, picked the ball up in the corner once, and made a sloppy pass another time. Just basic basketball stuff.

He had 5 turnovers and 2 points. He's really struggling, he'll figure it out during our Big East games.

 

[Huskyforlife]

Demary needs to be better, but he’s still got runway left to figure it out, and we know he’s capable. Concerned only to the degree that we probably won’t win a championship with this version of him, but our coaches are really good, and they’ll probably help him figure it out soon.

Ball is coming off multiple games shooting well, he’s gonna be fine.

 

[patrick]

Silas is in a 5-game funk since his triple double. Looked totally lost out there tonight. Continues to get himself in foul trouble. Color me concerned but not worried.

Smith just needs to lock in his FT shooting. Other than that he’s been a huge plus.

This ❤️
But can I add, as much as I love Smith, sometimes he's too fast and doesn't play Dan's offense but wtfdik

 

[patrick]

Or maybe that is Dan's offense 🤔 🤯

 

[TroyHall98]

The guards will figure it out. I’m more worried about the dumb fouls and rebounding issues.

 

[Kitaman]

Has it been even a month for our new guards? Can't expect perfection in the first month of play, especially for new guards playing in Hurley's system. Hell, yesterday was our first look at our starting 5.

Our guards are an important part of 10 of our 11 wins.

Give me this all game long while they are still 'in training':

 

[homunculus]

I meany a guy at the top with the shot clock running down getting to the rim.

Malachi has done this multiple times with success, against top competition.

 

[cp176]

I’m not worried about our guards but Demary’s turnovers last night might result in his butt seeing more bench time if he doesn’t clean it up. You have to cut Ball some slack. His defense has improved and he is still a factor on offense whether he makes every shot he takes or not. Mullins is going to be a reliable option at the two guard if he has to be used there. I am still waiting for Ball to throw him the ball in the haklfcourt though. Could be just me I guess. Last night I would have liked to see Millender get some time when Demary was in his turnover phase.

 

[Hoophound]

Hurley has had tremendous success and he obviously knows what he’s doing, but I really would like to have a traditional point guard once in a while. It just lowers my stress level when I know we have one or two guys that can pretty much dribble into and out of anything and make free throws.

 

[CTBasketball]

I think we need to push the ball on fast breaks more to truly see how good Silas can be.

 

[willie99]

We're pretty good, we're playing and defeating the best teams in the country

And the team will get better, they always do. My Avatar's teams were notorious for that. Hurley is following in his footsteps in that regard

I'm not concerned at all

Enjoy the ride people, you're supposed to be having fun

 

[3rdbass]

Our PGs combined for 14 assists tonight. For some reason they couldn't dribble, but it worked out.

They did have 8 TOs which was not good. Demary had 5 of them.

 

[BPT2Storrs]

People said the same thing about Tristen, then we all saw what happened. I am confident Silas will progress the same.

I do think he needs to take more shots.

 

[Husky Alien]

No! We played 6 top 25 teams including an exhibition game and we are 10-1. Now we have 20 games to go and I'm sure the guards and team will get much better. So no again. Lol

 

[martyn]

Smith had 9 assists off the bench and Mullins is a tremendous talent. Our guards are just fine, although the free throw shooting certainly needs a major upgrade.

Point guard is the weak link in this otherwise excellent team.

 

[Hey Adrien!]

Would I like the backcourt to play better? Of course.

But, it's only mid-December and there's definitely a bit of a 2024 vibe with this backcourt w/ an early-season injured five-star freshman (Castle in 2024 and Mullins in 2026) just scratching the surface of his potential while a big-guard transfer slow start once buy game season ended (Newton in 2024 and Demary in 2026).

We love Newton now, but remember how panned he was on the Boneyard during his first mid-season struggles.

Newton's per-game from Game 4 to Game 19 as a UConn Husky: 8.0 ppg, 38 FG%, 3.9 APG, 2.1 TOPG

Demary's per-game from Game 6 to Present (just one cupcake in this span): 9.5ppg, 38.5 FG%, 6.5 APG, 2.5 TOPG

Stylistically, they are so similar: big guards who are end-game closers in their ability to take the rock, create offense off the dribble, draw fouls and get to the line.

Here's how I look at this backcourt: it's not what it could be, but damn, we're winning games against very good teams despite this group not jelling yet.

The most dangerous teams are the ones that peak in March. UConn can be one of those teams, especially since we haven't seen the best of what this backcourt can be this season, but I feel confident we will.

 

[XLCenterFan]

We don’t have a QB. Unless we settle that, it’s going to be hard to beat elite teams in March. Silas has to show me more or start Mali. Multiple people in my section last night stated the same thing without being prompted.