Attacking Donwhill

[Gurleyman]

Even in the win streak, it’s stood out to me at times as a problem to be exploited. And today it was a big one. X guards and wings made a lot of shots going downhill - including a few and ones to take Karaban out of the game and render our third scorer a non-factor. I think we made one shot going downhill (Diarra) and it was a tough one. We never forced them to make tough decisions on rotations defensively.

We know Jackson can’t really finish unless it’s a dunk - he’s looking to pass. Which is ok if you have the right personnel around him. Hawkins sometimes can do it if he gets a lane, but it’s his third option after the 3 and the midrange pullup. Newton has been puzzlingly terrible at it - can’t finish and makes a lot of bad decisions (even the alley oop tip in by Sanogo that worked was an awful pass). So has Alleyne. Calcaterra has maybe the best flair for creative scoring around the rim, but we don’t trust him on D enough to play in crunch time.

I look at Newton and Jackson out there together in crunch time and we are too easy to guard. Load up on Hawkins, bring help on Sanogo - take your chances. If Newton doesn’t take his game to another level in the second half of the season - we are going to get stuck in some grinders where we’ll have to hope Hawkins can make really tough shots (he’s been taken out of the game by tight D in the second half by Arcidiacano and by Kunkel all day today), or Jackson hits open looks. I’m honestly not seeing it from Newton to this point - but somewhere in there is a nearly 20 ppg scorer, and maybe we have to figure out how to unlock more of his strengths. Otherwise, Calcaterra’s ability to not be a liability on D might be the biggest factor in our hopes for a deep run. Didn’t think I’d be saying that in October.

 

[uchusky32]

We don't have anyone. Hawk doesn't have the handle. Joey C is about it. After he hitd some 3s. Hes been off lately, though. Tristen plays to soft. Thought it could be him.

 

[jibsey]

Diarra can go inside a bit but he’s small. It’s just one loss and there will likely be others but maybe something can be learned from this?

 

[bendm]

Newton was supposed to be the guy who could penetrate and draw fouls. I didn’t watch any ECSU games last year but it was my impression doing just that was his bread and butter. I cannot understand the disconnect with what we’re seeing now.

 

[husky429]

Newton was supposed to be the guy who could penetrate and draw fouls. I didn’t watch any ECSU games last year but it was my impression doing just that was his bread and butter. I cannot understand the disconnect with what we’re seeing now.

He's never had to balance being a facilitator and attacking before. at ECSU it was attack attack attack, all the time. He didn't need to read the defense at the high level we're asking of him. He'll figure it out--he's too good of a player not to (I hope)

 

[August_West]

Even in the win streak, it’s stood out to me at times as a problem to be exploited. And today it was a big one. X guards and wings made a lot of shots going downhill - including a few and ones to take Karaban out of the game and render our third scorer a non-factor. I think we made one shot going downhill (Diarra) and it was a tough one. We never forced them to make tough decisions on rotations defensively.

We know Jackson can’t really finish unless it’s a dunk - he’s looking to pass. Which is ok if you have the right personnel around him. Hawkins sometimes can do it if he gets a lane, but it’s his third option after the 3 and the midrange pullup. Newton has been puzzlingly terrible at it - can’t finish and makes a lot of bad decisions (even the alley oop tip in by Sanogo that worked was an awful pass). So has Alleyne. Calcaterra has maybe the best flair for creative scoring around the rim, but we don’t trust him on D enough to play in crunch time.

I look at Newton and Jackson out there together in crunch time and we are too easy to guard. Load up on Hawkins, bring help on Sanogo - take your chances. If Newton doesn’t take his game to another level in the second half of the season - we are going to get stuck in some grinders where we’ll have to hope Hawkins can make really tough shots (he’s been taken out of the game by tight D in the second half by Arcidiacano and by Kunkel all day today), or Jackson hits open looks. I’m honestly not seeing it from Newton to this point - but somewhere in there is a nearly 20 ppg scorer, and maybe we have to figure out how to unlock more of his strengths. Otherwise, Calcaterra’s ability to not be a liability on D might be the biggest factor in our hopes for a deep run. Didn’t think I’d be saying that in October.

Agreed on all. These pieces fit and we are so deep we overcome some weaknesses. Newton was an almost 20 ppg scorer on a tea where he was 1a 1b and 1c. He and Hurley deserve credit for not trying to be that, but we need way more out of him. He doesn’t really get us into anything from guard sets. He’s a spot up shooter on this team.

I also agree with Joey. Love him and he gives a big offensive lift for many reasons other than shooting and can get us going downhill a bit, but Hurley is a defensive coach and we had some major breakdowns defensively with Joey on floor ( nunges unobstructed roll to hoop for dunk most glaring, even Sanogo was yelling at Joey for that) , even still we could’ve used and absorbed more Joey minutes today because X is not great defensively.

 

[bendm]

He's never had to balance being a facilitator and attacking before. at ECSU it was attack attack attack, all the time. He didn't need to read the defense at the high level we're asking of him. He'll figure it out--he's too good of a player not to (I hope)

Then AJ needs to be the de facto PG so Newton can focus on attacking. AJ can’t finish anyways so he can focus more on facilitating. it’s a win win.

 

[UConnSwag11]

He's never had to balance being a facilitator and attacking before. at ECSU it was attack attack attack, all the time. He didn't need to read the defense at the high level we're asking of him. He'll figure it out--he's too good of a player not to (I hope)

Play him in a different lineup when he can play off the ball. It sounds like Ollie with Gibbs

 

[husky429]

Then AJ needs to be the de facto PG so Newton can focus on attacking. AJ can’t finish anyways so he should focus on facilitating. it’s a win win.

Agree. There was a stretch where Newton looked pretty good while playing with Diarra/Jackson. I think that might have been a factor. More off ball work so he doesn't have to be the high IQ facilitator for 30 mins a game.

 

[UConnSwag11]

Hopefully Castle helps with this

 

[PlayItLeo]

One thing that I think may bite us a few times this year is the tendency for both Andre and Newton to prefer to pass rather than score. It makes sense for Andre, even though I don't always agree, since he's not a natural scorer and we know that from him now in year 3.

Newton's deference, however, confuses me. I get that he fills the assist category in the stat sheet, but when his passes don't work, you get sloppy ones that become turnovers when he could've given himself a decent look. Since he and Andre both start and play mutual minutes, I feel like it stifles our offense at times to have two pass-first guards in the backcourt.

 

[Gurleyman]

One thing that I think may bite us a few times this year is the tendency for both Andre and Newton to prefer to pass rather than score. It makes sense for Andre, even though I don't always agree, since he's not a natural scorer and we know that from him now in year 3.

Newton's deference, however, confuses me. I get that he fills the assist category in the stat sheet, but when his passes don't work, you get sloppy ones that become turnovers when he could've given himself a decent look. Since he and Andre both start and play mutual minutes, I feel like it stifles our offense at times to have two pass-first guards in the backcourt.

Yeah. if you want to get teams out of their defensive alignment and get them scrambling, you have to be a threat. When Newton drives, you don’t have to step up and stop him - bigs can stay at home and take away the lob, and wait until he leaves his feet to challenge, and it seems like at that point, he often doesn’t have a plan. If he becomes a threat, he can bring that help defense sooner and more options open up. Jackson isn’t much of a threat either, but you at least have to stop him from just taking off and dunking so there’s more potential for creating spacing.

Right now, the game plan against us is a little too simple. Hawkins’ defender locks over every screen (on or off ball) and takes away the catch and shoot. Newton and Jackson you can play for the pass on the drive. The only complicated schemes that get you out of alignment are figuring out how to deal with Sanogo - or sometimes a second defender shading over to Hawkins if it looks like he’s coming open off the ball. Karaban is the only screener where you really have to worry about the pick and pop, but unless he’s screening for Hawkins, you can often just let the screened defender trail and get back in the play, and Hawkins isn’t a great p’n’r guy at this point in his career either.

This worried me after the Oklahoma State win when our offense was in the mud a bit. We opened up a 17-point halftime lead (they had some foul trouble which helped) and then the second half we were bogged down. We were protecting a lead, so no big deal, but we weren’t getting many looks in a game that was moving at a slow pace.

 

[McLovin]

We don't have anyone. Hawk doesn't have the handle. Joey C is about it. After he hitd some 3s. Hes been off lately, though. Tristen plays to soft. Thought it could be him.

Newton can get to the rim, he needs to be more aggressive trying to get to the hoop and drawing a foul. Right now he gets into the lane, jumps and looks to pass. Just keep going to the hoop.

 

[jdb50]

Newton can get to the rim, he needs to be more aggressive trying to get to the hoop and drawing a foul. Right now he gets into the lane, jumps and looks to pass. Just keep going to the hoop.

Yep he is not attacking the rim to score and he is in the paint with opponents on Sanogo. We need more from him than a couple of 3 point attempts a game. He had some chances today and just passed them up. If we as a team are going to shoot and miss that many 3's and keep Clingan on the bench other coaches are going to be thrilled.

 

[gsmooth]

Yeah. if you want to get teams out of their defensive alignment and get them scrambling, you have to be a threat. When Newton drives, you don’t have to step up and stop him - bigs can stay at home and take away the lob, and wait until he leaves his feet to challenge, and it seems like at that point, he often doesn’t have a plan. If he becomes a threat, he can bring that help defense sooner and more options open up. Jackson isn’t much of a threat either, but you at least have to stop him from just taking off and dunking so there’s more potential for creating spacing.

Right now, the game plan against us is a little too simple. Hawkins’ defender locks over every screen (on or off ball) and takes away the catch and shoot. Newton and Jackson you can play for the pass on the drive. The only complicated schemes that get you out of alignment are figuring out how to deal with Sanogo - or sometimes a second defender shading over to Hawkins if it looks like he’s coming open off the ball. Karaban is the only screener where you really have to worry about the pick and pop, but unless he’s screening for Hawkins, you can often just let the screened defender trail and get back in the play, and Hawkins isn’t a great p’n’r guy at this point in his career either.

This worried me after the Oklahoma State win when our offense was in the mud a bit. We opened up a 17-point halftime lead (they had some foul trouble which helped) and then the second half we were bogged down. We were protecting a lead, so no big deal, but we weren’t getting many looks in a game that was moving at a slow pace.

Thanks for saving me from writing a long post. You hit the nail on the head as far as what I was thinking. Newton can score and finish-I have seen him do it at ECU. But he is having trouble balancing being a facilitator and a scorer/ finisher.

 

[cullaville]

Even in the win streak, it’s stood out to me at times as a problem to be exploited. And today it was a big one. X guards and wings made a lot of shots going downhill - including a few and ones to take Karaban out of the game and render our third scorer a non-factor. I think we made one shot going downhill (Diarra) and it was a tough one. We never forced them to make tough decisions on rotations defensively.

We know Jackson can’t really finish unless it’s a dunk - he’s looking to pass. Which is ok if you have the right personnel around him. Hawkins sometimes can do it if he gets a lane, but it’s his third option after the 3 and the midrange pullup. Newton has been puzzlingly terrible at it - can’t finish and makes a lot of bad decisions (even the alley oop tip in by Sanogo that worked was an awful pass). So has Alleyne. Calcaterra has maybe the best flair for creative scoring around the rim, but we don’t trust him on D enough to play in crunch time.

I look at Newton and Jackson out there together in crunch time and we are too easy to guard. Load up on Hawkins, bring help on Sanogo - take your chances. If Newton doesn’t take his game to another level in the second half of the season - we are going to get stuck in some grinders where we’ll have to hope Hawkins can make really tough shots (he’s been taken out of the game by tight D in the second half by Arcidiacano and by Kunkel all day today), or Jackson hits open looks. I’m honestly not seeing it from Newton to this point - but somewhere in there is a nearly 20 ppg scorer, and maybe we have to figure out how to unlock more of his strengths. Otherwise, Calcaterra’s ability to not be a liability on D might be the biggest factor in our hopes for a deep run. Didn’t think I’d be saying that in October.

did anyone make shots going uphill?

 

[QDOG5]

Teams are trying to take away Hawks' three away which should allow him to attack the rim more often. He needs to seek contact more when he drives. Newton is our other option driving to the bucket. He needs to attempt it more often. I think we should run a pick and roll with Newton and Sanogo/Clingan with a shooter in the corner. Newton will have the option of two passes or get take it to the bucket. For some reason it is not part of our offense.

 

[McLovin]

Yep he is not attacking the rim to score and he is in the paint with opponents on Sanogo. We need more from him than a couple of 3 point attempts a game. He had some chances today and just passed them up. If we as a team are going to shoot and miss that many 3's and keep Clingan on the bench other coaches are going to be thrilled.

Right, I get our desire to shoot 3s, we get so many open looks and have guys who can knock them down. But layups at the rim by guards are very efficient shots too. Adding a component to the offense that gets Newton and Hawkins running to the rim is the final piece.

 

[storrsroars]

Then AJ needs to be the de facto PG so Newton can focus on attacking. AJ can’t finish anyways so he can focus more on facilitating. it’s a win win.

I was going to post something tangential to this, but will expand on your thought. DH makes a big deal about "identity", and it is a big deal and this team has one. But it disappeared at crunch time.

We all remember Bazz getting up in teammates' faces, and Khalid directing traffic. If AJax is going to play that role, then he has to do it when it matters most. I'm a huge AJax fan and am OK with him being pass-first as he makes good decisions for the team far more often than not. But he can't do what he did tonight in those final 3+ minutes and think he has to win it himself through shooting..

To jog everyone's memory, here's the scoring after the last TV timeout at around 3:44, tied 71-all:

• missed trey, AK
• missed tip-in, AS
• layup, X (71-73)
• 2 FTs, X (71-75)
• 2 FTs, X (71-77)
• missed trey, AJ
• layup, AS (73-77)
• missed trey, X
• layup, X (73-79)
• missed trey, AK
• missed trey, JH
• missed trey, AJ
• missed trey, JH
• 2 FTs, X (73-81)
• missed trey, AJ
• FT, X (73-82)
• missed trey, AJ
• FT, X (73-83)

8 missed trey attempts, 1 missed tip-in, 1 layup.
AJ: 0-4
JH: 0-2
AK: 0-2

It was still just a 4-point game with 2 minutes left. Plenty of time to still play UConn ball, but they went did something else out of character.
And to me, that's as much, if not more, on the players, especially AJax, than DH.

There will be more of these situations. There always are. Someone's got to be the boss in crunch time. That guy didn't show up today.

 

[yungdowork]

Really just felt like we tried to play a finesse game today and it didn't work. We have the skill to win games like that, but I don't think it should be our go-to. We're as big and athletic as any team in the country, we're at our best when we play like it.