On the surface, a gritty win in a tough place to play. Beneath it all, more positives than negatives. Castle is still getting acclimated to high major basketball. He is showing improvement each game, this one included, and come March he will almost certainly be that lottery pick. The team definitely showed what coach said was a champions heart. Cam and Tristan were clutch when we needed them the most. Alex is back. Maybe the biggest positive tonight was Diarra. If can continue to play like this, he makes us that much tougher. The only negative I saw was for the first time in a while, at times the offense was to stagnant. No movement, holding until way to late in the shot clock to then force a bad shot. Overall, Donovan’s absence is showing its impact. Without him, UConn is much easier to defend. To still win, and give minutes to guys, albeit closer than what we expect will help us tremendously in the long run. For UConn to repeat, we will need to be healthy. If we are, I don’t think there will be a team that can beat us. Games like tonight will be part of the reason why.
