Box Score Notes

[OkaForPrez]

He attempted ONE outside shot last night, and your writing off his ability/value from the outside based on one attempt?

Samson has logged how many minutes in 2 years. He needs game reps, defense will
Come.

I’m hopeful, I want him to be successful both defensively and shot making.

He’s 1-8 from 3 in his career here. It’s never looked particularly smooth in the process.

Defensive positioning should be something you’re developing in practice. I do think we can extrapolate a bit on where he’s at.

I’m a traditional scrappyist. I’m usually over positive. We don’t need Samson to shoot 3’s. He’s a real weapon on PNR dives. He will be great running the floor.

He had a big from Northern Arizona throw him so forcefully that he collided with another player and was whistled for a foul. He’s going to be challenged physically against big east 5’s.

He had a really bad “out of position” foul defending the PNR. He didn’t leave his feet at all on the help side in the paint with No Arizona scoring.

Yes he needs more minutes, but I think people need to temper expectations. There’s a lot of talk that Samson can be as effective off the bench as Clingan was. I think that’s a tall order. We had a once in a lifetime 1-2 punch at the 5.

Hurley is using the media to build the kid up. I’m glad he is. We definitely need him to be solid.

I’m worried people are going to get on the kid for not being what they are building him up to be instead of celebrating him for how far he’s come along.

 

[Sphinx]

Michigan State made only 23 of 37 foul shots in its overtime loss to James Madison. Izzo said, "We missed one foul shot after another, after another, after another." Well. for the record, UConn made 24 of 37 foul shots against NAU.

Eight of the 13 misses were by Clingan and Castle, the two players most likely to be taking foul shots this year. This was no surprise. There was concern going in about DC's and SC's foul shooting.

If there is a no-brainer prediction to be made for this year, it is that if DC continues to shoot 50% from the foul line, and SC 65%, then UConn is going to lose a half-dozen games they otherwise would have won.

I have concern also about Stewart, who looks like he might be earning some significant playing time. His 1 for 3 at the foul line is a tiny sample, but his execution seemed less than practiced and consistent.

No doubt these deficiencies will be addressed, but that doesn't guarantee they will be resolved. If there's a caveat coming out of last night's game, It's our performance at the FT line.

 

[Deleted at users request]

One more thing to note.

10 blocks on the day with DC playing limited minutes. Look primed to retake our place at the top of the shot blocking thrown this year.

 

[AllHusky]

It’s year 3 and Samson is still often not in the right position defensively. The hand check foul on the pick and roll was particularly bad. He rarely elevates from the help side on penetration at the rim. We are very vulnerable in the paint when he comes in.

He looked very good offensively. And that’s exciting, because he’ll need to keep pace with the points I’m concerned we’ll be giving up at the big East level when he’s in the game.

So he won't work on his defense with the staff? Wasn't Joey C a liability early and became competent+ as time went on. Seems coachable and motivated+athleticism, should equate to a great defender down the road.

 

[Hunt for 7]

He attempted ONE outside shot last night, and your writing off his ability/value from the outside based on one attempt?

Not writing it off just stating that the shot attempt is now on film….that other teams watch. So perhaps it will help as I have seen him shoot and he did have a good looking shot. If Dan Hurley wants him working on other parts of his game so he can fill a needed role then I am ok with that. It almost looked like he did not want to shoot it and he did have a few other times he was open that he passed on the shot.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

Lot of #concerns.

 

[AllHusky]

I’m hopeful, I want him to be successful both defensively and shot making.

He’s 1-8 from 3 in his career here. It’s never looked particularly smooth in the process.

Defensive positioning should be something you’re developing in practice. I do think we can extrapolate a bit on where he’s at.

I’m a traditional scrappyist. I’m usually over positive. We don’t need Samson to shoot 3’s. He’s a real weapon on PNR dives. He will be great running the floor.

He had a big from Northern Arizona throw him so forcefully that he collided with another player and was whistled for a foul. He’s going to be challenged physically against big east 5’s.

He had a really bad “out of position” foul defending the PNR. He didn’t leave his feet at all on the help side in the paint with No Arizona scoring.

Yes he needs more minutes, but I think people need to temper expectations. There’s a lot of talk that Samson can be as effective off the bench as Clingan was. I think that’s a tall order. We had a once in a lifetime 1-2 punch at the 5.

Hurley is using the media to build the kid up. I’m glad he is. We definitely need him to be solid.

I’m worried people are going to get on the kid for not being what they are building him up to be instead of celebrating him for how far he’s come along.

OkaForPrez,
Check in 2 months to see if any improvement noticeable. Those Coaching, Practicing and Experiencing things might lead to a different look on Jan 7.

 

[OkaForPrez]

So he won't work on his defense with the staff? Wasn't Joey C a liability early and became competent+ as time went on. Seems coachable and motivated+athleticism, should equate to a great defender down the road.

He’s not in his first year in this program.

 

[OkaForPrez]

OkaForPrez,
Check in 2 months to see if any improvement noticeable. Those Coaching, Practicing and Experiencing things might lead to a different look on Jan 7.

I’ll be rooting for him every game and in between from now until April.

 

[Waquoit]

He attempted ONE outside shot last night, and your writing off his ability/value from the outside based on one attempt?

It's like last year never happened.

 

[Fan1978]

I’m hopeful, I want him to be successful both defensively and shot making.

He’s 1-8 from 3 in his career here. It’s never looked particularly smooth in the process.

Defensive positioning should be something you’re developing in practice. I do think we can extrapolate a bit on where he’s at.

I’m a traditional scrappyist. I’m usually over positive. We don’t need Samson to shoot 3’s. He’s a real weapon on PNR dives. He will be great running the floor.

He had a big from Northern Arizona throw him so forcefully that he collided with another player and was whistled for a foul. He’s going to be challenged physically against big east 5’s.

He had a really bad “out of position” foul defending the PNR. He didn’t leave his feet at all on the help side in the paint with No Arizona scoring.

Yes he needs more minutes, but I think people need to temper expectations. There’s a lot of talk that Samson can be as effective off the bench as Clingan was. I think that’s a tall order. We had a once in a lifetime 1-2 punch at the 5.

Hurley is using the media to build the kid up. I’m glad he is. We definitely need him to be solid.

I’m worried people are going to get on the kid for not being what they are building him up to be instead of celebrating him for how far he’s come along.

He needs to be viewed as a freshman. Based on his lack of pt, game speed is probably quite fast for him. As he settles in and gets more comfortable the game will slow down for him. He was a very high level recruit and probably feels a lot of pressure. We all need to be patient and support him. We know he could have hit the portal. Tremendous respect earned by staying

 

[OkaForPrez]

We all need to be patient and support him. We know he could have hit the portal. Tremendous respect earned by staying

amen.

 

[willie99]

We're good people, we're deep, different kids will contribute on different days, we can play different games on different days.....

You have to be trying way to hard to find problems if you're finding problems

Geez, enjoy the ride

 

[navery12]

Michigan State made only 23 of 37 foul shots in its overtime loss to James Madison. Izzo said, "We missed one foul shot after another, after another, after another." Well. for the record, UConn made 24 of 37 foul shots against NAU.

Eight of the 13 misses were by Clingan and Castle, the two players most likely to be taking foul shots this year. This was no surprise. There was concern going in about DC's and SC's foul shooting.

If there is a no-brainer prediction to be made for this year, it is that if DC continues to shoot 50% from the foul line, and SC 65%, then UConn is going to lose a half-dozen games they otherwise would have won.

I have concern also about Stewart, who looks like he might be earning some significant playing time. His 1 for 3 at the foul line is a tiny sample, but his execution seemed less than practiced and consistent.

No doubt these deficiencies will be addressed, but that doesn't guarantee they will be resolved. If there's a caveat coming out of last night's game, It's our performance at the FT line.

Completely agree, last year in game 2 we shot 14/26 from the FT line against BU and it really highlighted the fatal flaw in FT shooting that kept us from winning a championship

 

[dennismenace]

Stew looked super impressive. Offensively he looked like the 2nd most ready freshman out the group. Could do it all.

Ross looked heady and long on defense. That pass to a cutting Karaban was great.

Spencer looked very passive this game which is fine. He’s a 5th year senior he should be ready when he needs to step up.

Newton looked solid driving the ball. Drew a lot of fouls. Got up for a lot of rebounds too. Felt like every time I looked up he was in the air for one of those or a block.

Karaban was the player of the game. Made everything look easy. Want to see how the drives look against better comp but that was encouraging to see. Very efficient too didn’t need a lot of dribbles to get to the rim.

DC still working back from the foot but still looked dominant.

SJ has crazy athleticism. Him and DC as lob threats are going to open up a lot on offense. He looks like he still has work to do with overall positioning on offense and defense to work on it fouling as much. The dunks and blocks should be of abundance though.

Castle looked like he had some first game jitters but you can see the talent. I hope in the future Hurley lets him get more time at PG with Newton on the bench. He looked to come alive for the few minutes that was his role. Defense looked pretty good though.

I missed that part of the game but I am glad to hear it. We are going to need a couple of lockdown defenders against some teams without Andre. No doubt the staff has some very good ideas after watching all the preseason practice wars! I'm hoping these kids and Spencer have the time of their life playing under the lights in Storrs and the Big East this season. This is going to be an exciting season with a whole new look re: personnel. Talk about chasing away the Winter blues!

 

[dennismenace]

It’s year 3 and Samson is still often not in the right position defensively. The hand check foul on the pick and roll was particularly bad. He rarely elevates from the help side on penetration at the rim. We are very vulnerable in the paint when he comes in.

He looked very good offensively. And that’s exciting, because he’ll need to keep pace with the points I’m concerned we’ll be giving up at the big East level when he’s in the game.

No one is talking about it but I'm glad you mentioned this. I don't think we are going to have to wait too long to find out just how good a defensive presence Youssef can be while Dan Hurley gives Samson time to develop. If he can give us 10-15 minutes against certain teams just playing strong defense it could go a very long way. Dan Hurley said the bench would be critical for the teams success this year. The initial plan is to give Samson as much time as possible to get acclimated. I think there could be minutes for Youssef but will have to wait and see. I watched SJ last night against Stoney Brook and they were as aggressive as any Pitino team can be (ugh!).

Here is a Fanta quote from Soriano about Pitino's half time motivation:

St. John's basketball center Joel Soriano had an impressive second half in their 90-74 win over Stony Brook on Tuesday. Soriano gave credit to head coach Rick Pitino for motivating him at halftime, per FOX Sports' John Fanta.

Joel Soriano on scoring 16 points in the second half: “Coach Pitino said some things to me. He fired me up…look, he was on us for every little thing, but I love that. I love how he coaches us.” pic.twitter.com/MaVjiHqsAl
— John Fanta (@John_Fanta) November 8, 2023

 

[Shamon30]

Roumoglou looked good in his limited time

 

[caw]

Roumoglou looked good in his limited time

I think his issue is on the defensive side. I hope he can fix his problems because he looks the part offensively.

 

[Sphinx]

Completely agree, last year in game 2 we shot 14/26 from the FT line against BU and it really highlighted the fatal flaw in FT shooting that kept us from winning a championship

If you mean that the improvement we showed in FT shooting after the BU game was key to our winning the natty, I completely agree. In fact, the need for such improvement was the point of my post. And a good day to you, too, my friend.

 

[ibleedhuskyblue]

If you mean that the improvement we showed in FT shooting after the BU game was key to our winning the natty, I completely agree. In fact, the need for such improvement was the point of my post. And a good day to you, too, my friend.

IIRC Donovan and Steph combined to miss their first 5 or 6 free throws, then hit 7 of their next 8 combined.
It's just as reasonable to think they were playing with some nerves, and needed time to work them out.

Also, none of the misses were bad misses. A hair long/short, or in and out. This is a premature conversation.

 

[ibleedhuskyblue]

I’m hopeful, I want him to be successful both defensively and shot making.

He’s 1-8 from 3 in his career here. It’s never looked particularly smooth in the process.

Defensive positioning should be something you’re developing in practice. I do think we can extrapolate a bit on where he’s at.

I’m a traditional scrappyist. I’m usually over positive. We don’t need Samson to shoot 3’s. He’s a real weapon on PNR dives. He will be great running the floor.

He had a big from Northern Arizona throw him so forcefully that he collided with another player and was whistled for a foul. He’s going to be challenged physically against big east 5’s.

He had a really bad “out of position” foul defending the PNR. He didn’t leave his feet at all on the help side in the paint with No Arizona scoring.

Yes he needs more minutes, but I think people need to temper expectations. There’s a lot of talk that Samson can be as effective off the bench as Clingan was. I think that’s a tall order. We had a once in a lifetime 1-2 punch at the 5.

Hurley is using the media to build the kid up. I’m glad he is. We definitely need him to be solid.

I’m worried people are going to get on the kid for not being what they are building him up to be instead of celebrating him for how far he’s come along.

He's the back up center. He only needs to be as good as a back up center is in college.
Our expectations will be fine.
He should jump high, run fast, and be 5 available fouls. That's all we need.

 

[Fan1978]

He's the back up center. He only needs to be as good as a back up center is in college.
Our expectations will be fine.
He should jump high, run fast, and be 5 available fouls. That's all we need.

He will be a lot better than most expect. He has a nice stroke. 1 for 8 is meaningless. Pretty hard to get in rhythm with 8 attempts over 3 years. 14 drives in 1 golf round for god sake.

 

[david]

Our per 40 minute stats after 1 game.

 

[dennismenace]

He's the back up center. He only needs to be as good as a back up center is in college.
Our expectations will be fine.
He should jump high, run fast, and be 5 available fouls. That's all we need.

This is a good conversation going on and while he is the back up center at the moment it may be that we will see more of Youssef when we are looking for defense, shot blocking and rebounding and Samson more for offense. Something like a two-headed backup center. He could also play at the same time as Yousef as one of the four outs with Yousef in. I whole heartedly trust in the staff to work all this out in the practice laboratory with Dan Hurley as the master chemist. There is just a ton of talent on that bench at any given time and they will forge that into a weapon giving them the time just like last year. It's like they've amassed all this talent and now they are going to unwrap it. Dan Hurley made some great moves down the stretch last year and he must be confident that together they can assemble the winning formula once they turn the burners on.

 

[CL82]

Our per 40 minute stats after 1 game.
View attachment 92912

The need to swap Andrew Hurley for Cam Spencer just LaSorsa off the page, doesn't it!

 

[david]

The need to swap Andrew Hurley for Cam Spencer just LaSorsa off the page, doesn't it!

A lineup of Andrew Hurley, Singare and Apostolous gives us 120 pts, 40 rebounds, 20 assists, 20 blocks a game just between those 3. Sadly Singare also would draw 20 fouls.

 

[ibleedhuskyblue]

From the Courant on Samson:

Confidence building for Samson Johnson​

Samson Johnson, shaping up to be the Robin to Clingan’s Batman, fell in love with the game of basketball when he was a kid back in Togo, running around blocking shots and dunking on a concrete outdoor court.

After sitting much of last season with an injury, Johnson, with 10 pounds of muscle added in the offseason, was a bit anxious before beginning in his new role and got into some foul trouble early. But he found his home at the rim and dunked five times to finish with 11 points, five rebounds and three blocks despite the four fouls.

“I feel like (Hurley) has been pushing me a lot during practices and my confidence has been going up. It’s just great for me to have the crowd getting involved when I’m dunking, blocking shots and stuff like that,” Johnson said. “I felt like I was a little too aggressive, too anxious to play, I feel like I can fix that really quick. And I’m working on my stance defensively, so yeah, I’ll fix that.”

Hurley, especially knowing Clingan’s minutes will continue to increase and that he could turn to a smaller lineup if necessary, wants him to stay aggressive.

“You can just do it without committing the bad ones,” Hurley said. “We want him to be aggressive and he settled in I thought nicely… It’s just I think getting comfortable on the court, getting more confident out there, having more success, feeling good about himself (Saturday) into next week before we head to the Garden.”

 

[uconnfan68]

Our per 40 minute stats after 1 game.
View attachment 92912

Andrew needs to frame that.