Arkansas-Pine Bluff Post Game Thread

[HooperScooper]

Tom must be out today so figured I'd start it.

Nice to see Karaban get his shot back. Huge.

 

[superjohn]

11-15 on threes for Karaban and Cam. Two of those misses were in and out. Crazy.

 

[Matrim55]

I've been watching UConn for 40 years, and this offense (which really started early February of last year) is the best we've ever run. In terms of screen/cut/slip/curl, skip passes & hit-aheads etc., even our very best offenses under Calhoun weren't this unselfish and relentlessly good.

Not saying these are the best UConn teams ever, but goshdarn man, this is some beautiful ball.

This is from the other day, but it still stands up, obviously:



Incredible buy-in and execution from these kids at this point in the season. It took us til February last year.

 

[Palatine]

The second half run by the Huskies was ethereal.

 

[Punkbo]

That second half was insane. Go Huskies!

 

[MJKI]

Castle is so under control. Come March if he’s fully healthy, the offense could be unstoppable.
Loved seeing the jab step and J by Stewart. He’s got a decent handle too, just needs more confidence.
Speaking of confidence, I love how Ball is playing. Next year he’ll be a monster

 

[OceanDoggie]

How does everyone feel about the fast break offense compared to last year? The post season run in the B.E. and NCAA was lifted by speed on the break and transition offense that lead to open 3 point opportunities.

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

I've been watching UConn for 40 years, and this offense (which really started early February of last year) is the best we've ever run. In terms of screen/cut/slip/curl, skip passes & hit-aheads etc., even our very best offenses under Calhoun weren't this unselfish and relentlessly good.

Not saying these are the best UConn teams ever, but goshdarn man, this is some beautiful ball.

This is from the other day, but it still stands up, obviously:



Incredible buy-in and execution from these kids at this point in the season. It took us til February last year.

I definitely agree. This offense is absolutely amazing to watch. It’s comforting in these kind of games and any game we play in knowing that a run will come eventually because of the looks it generates.

 

[HailUConn]

Karaban broke out of his slump with style: career high!

 

[my2cents]

When comparing this year's team to last year's team, they both are loaded on offense. The difference is that when Sanogo got the ball down low, everyone stopped to watch him dribble and shoot. This team , the ball doesn't stick with anyone.

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

How does everyone feel about the fast break offense compared to last year? The post season run B.E. and NCAA was lifted by speed on the break and transition offense that lead to open 3 point opportunities.

We are better in transition with Castle and Ball leading the break. Newton is more of a calm and steady PG. Castle especially seems to always look to attack which led to that barrage in the 2nd half.

 

[djct1999]

Is this what UConn looks like when they are looking ahead? My god. They gave Coach just enough that he can ride them hard all week.

 

[Hunt for 7]

Everything about this game is what we needed. AK being AK. Ball continued to show improvement. Johnson is a + defender. DC impacts the game in so many ways. Spencer is a great all around player. Castle is actually the best defensive player on our team. He can get to the hoop. He had four assists I counted five. And Stewart finally got an extended run and showed he is pretty close ( offense ready/defense getting there) but he can handle the ball. I really think Stewart is going to contribute. And Stewart that was an NBA drive when he changed direction in the air created a block and finger rolled a lay up. Very impressive move with his length. I mean everyone played well. Give APB credit they shot it well but we did pick up our defense in 2nd half and that was the biggest issue in the first half as far as the score. But Hurley took care of that with his in game adjustments. Also another classic trap game. We made our own energy in the 2nd half and the the crowd finally joined in.

 

[Matrim55]

How does everyone feel about the fast break offense compared to last year?

It was never going to be as good without Andre. The hope is that as Castle gets healthy he'll be able to do a bunch of the grab-and-go stuff AJJ excelled at.

Even so, we weren't a particularly fast-paced team last year: our tempo was 204th in the country. This year we're down to 277th.

Our half-court offense is just unbelievable. NBA-level stuff.

 

[superjohn]

How does everyone feel about the fast break offense compared to last year? The post season run in the B.E. and NCAA was lifted by speed on the break and transition offense that lead to open 3 point opportunities.

I like everything about this offense more than last year outside of not having the go to bucket down low we had with Sanogo. This teams moves the ball better, values the ball more/turns it over less, cuts more, more shooting threats...

 

[aceboon]

I wish we had a young beat writer that's an actual hoop fan that would do a deep dive on the offense. There's more to it than just getting a quote from Hurley that the offensive philosophy had to change, write about how.

 

[OceanDoggie]

Even so, we weren't a particularly fast-paced team last year: our tempo was 204th in the country. This year we're down to 277th.

Our half-court offense is just unbelievable. NBA-level stuff.

Wow, that it is low. It is obvious that the opposition is unable to patch holes within the game that our half-court sets present, even unhealthy.

 

[auror]

How does everyone feel about the fast break offense compared to last year? The post season run in the B.E. and NCAA was lifted by speed on the break and transition offense that lead to open 3 point opportunities.

Jackson was in a different league as far as pushing in transition and creating full blown transition opportunities out of semi-breaks. Hawkins and Joey were real weapons flaring to the wing on the break.

But this team is better in the halfcourt because Jackson was a liability (at times off the ball) and Spencer is a lot better overall in halfcourt than Hawkins. Hawkins opened up a lot of space, but Spencer has a lot of gravity on his own while also being better able to drive and find cutters, rollers, and advantage situations.

Being good in the halfcourt will help us when games slow down in conference play. But Jackson forcing transition is where we really started to throttle teams like Arkansas and Gonzaga in the NCAAT. I want to see Castle in that role a little bit more grabbing and going off the boards.

 

[OceanDoggie]

I like everything about this offense more than last year outside of not having the go to bucket down low we had with Sanogo. This teams moves the ball better, values the ball more/turns it over less, cuts more, more shooting threats...

Sanogo's value was unmatched. Subtleties such as the first low post match-up with Miami in the FF and Norchad Omier realizing that he couldn't move Sanogo 1 inch were priceless. He would set the tone for a long night of basketball

 

[WhereistheDove?]

• 11/15 from deep out of Spencer and Karaban. Our outside shooting will be just fine.
• Yes the opponent was undersized but Clingan absolutely shut down the paint. The amount of players that just turned back after beating their man off the dribble and seeing Clingan coming to help or put up wild shots was incredible. He is a defensive powerhouse in the paint.
• Castle was fantastic today. An absolute defensive menace on-ball and really good at initiating offense and making things happen off the bounce.

 

[superjohn]

Jackson was in a different league as far as pushing in transition and creating full blown transition out of opportunities out of semi-breaks. Hawkins and Joey were real weapons flaring to the wing on the break.

But this team is better in the halfcourt because Jackson was a liability and Spencer is a lot better overall in halfcourt than Hawkins. Hawkins opened up a lot of space, but Spencer has a lot of gravity on his own while also being better able to drive and find cutters, rollers, and advantage situations.

Being good in the halfcourt will help us when games slow down in conference play. But Jackson forcing transition is where we really started to throttle teams like Arkansas and Gonzaga in the NCAAT. I want to see Castle in that role a little bit more grabbing and going off the boards.

As to your last sentence, I think we'll see that once we're at full strength with the rust knocked off.

Who would've thought we would upgrade the shooting guard position offensively when Hawkins went to the NBA draft as a lottery pick? It's pretty crazy.

 

[JustbrewitMan]

It was never going to be as good without Andre. The hope is that as Castle gets healthy he'll be able to do a bunch of the grab-and-go stuff AJJ excelled at.

Even so, we weren't a particularly fast-paced team last year: our tempo was 204th in the country. This year we're down to 277th.

Our half-court offense is just unbelievable. NBA-level stuff.

When you can run the half court stuff that we run, having a fast break is just icing on the cake. My guess is that it’s there if we need it as the season goes on. But we get layups, wide open 3s, dunks at will (even against best teams in the country) so why bother at this point?

The other thing it does is make teams play relentless intense defense for long and it takes a toll on them as the game goes on.

So darn impressive to watch. Love this team!

 

[Palatine]

Fast break points are easy points. Fast, easy points are a good thing. We need to learn to run the fast break and finish. Not throw away lobs and points. This lobs on fast breaks are one of the easiest things in basketball. Take an extra step, draw the defender and make the easy lob. We are making this way too difficult.

 

[nomar]

It was never going to be as good without Andre. The hope is that as Castle gets healthy he'll be able to do a bunch of the grab-and-go stuff AJJ excelled at.

Even so, we weren't a particularly fast-paced team last year: our tempo was 204th in the country. This year we're down to 277th.

Our half-court offense is just unbelievable. NBA-level stuff.

I feel like a good half-court offense has been our white whale since I started following the team 35 years ago. Amazing.

 

[uconnfan68]

Sanogo's value was unmatched. Subtleties such as the first low post match-up with Miami in the FF and Norchad Omier realizing that he couldn't move Sanogo 1 inch were priceless. He would set the tone for a long night of basketball

And conversely, no one could stop Adama either.