Chief’s Briefs - Creighton Edition

[Chief00]

Turned into the James Boutnight show but a tough loss, as he goes so will UConn. We definitely belong towards the top of this conference talent wise. James is definitely our leader. It’s funny how just a couple months ago there was debate about who the leader would be.

Give Creighton credit, very well coached team. They knew where the double was coming from and made UConn pay early on. In the second half we doubled less and the defense was better. The UConn guards did a good job defensively on their point guard.

The energy level looked really poor at the beginning but warmed up toward the end of the first half. It’s clear that Cole can’t break a good defense down off the dribble so unless someone posts well with a high low pass or Boutnight gets hot, we are in trouble given our poor three point shooting.

Fortunately, Boutnight caught fire and that's when our offense looked good because it’s individual talent and not reliant on a system that appears not to work or is it that anyone else can’t finish it off with an outside shot?

The other players get their confidence off of James. Chief thought Josh had some good moments. Whaley, Martin and Sanogo had their moments. The guards did a good job on Creighton’s point as stated earlier.

Good foul shooting the second half and only a few bad fouls helped UConn’s cause. Big job by Gaffney from the foul line towards the end of FT’s during regulation and on a FG in OT. Cole missed two big FT’s ones in contrast.Good basketball by both teams late in Chief’s opinion. Cole though had some bad plays late.

Tough loss. Lesson here, come out with more fire. More individual shooting practice. We are better on defense when we double by surprise not predictably and often. Whaley fouling out hurt too. Run better offense in overtime. We need another scoring option besides James.

 

[MexicoHusky]

I was really impressed with the switch the team seemed to flip at some point in the first half. The offense looked clueless. Then a little bit of a glimmer. Then quite good to start the 2nd half.

We really need a bit more out of the pg on offense. At the very least a break that leads to layups. I'm pretty sure that will come. We have guys that can run and finish pretty well.

 

[Mister P]

Gut wrenching loss.

I just wish there was a raucous crowd on hand to witness Bouknights performance and maybe help us get the win.

 

[Jbirdp5]

Gaffney hits two free throws to go up 4 and we literally let the kid walk to the basket and make a layup. I understand not wanting to foul, but you have to challenge there, no?

 

[HHusky]

Last year it took us ~2/3 of a season to learn to finish games.
Hopefully less this year. Also by putting 4 guards on the floor late we lost our rebounding advantage at a crucial time.

 

[Palatine]

Gaffney hits two free throws to go up 4 and we literally let the kid walk to the basket and make a layup. I understand not wanting to foul, but you have to challenge there, no?

I agree that was a huge turnning point. Hurley's fault. Carlton was not in the game. Hurley should have put him in as the basket protector.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

Hurley’s coaching boggles me, or whoever is responsible for this offense. This isn’t a rec league in the 70’s, the weave offense doesn’t fool anyone. You can mix it in, but it should NEVER be the go to. The only reason it looked okay in the early 2nd half was because we have an all american who makes tough shots like its his job.

Gaff and Cole at this point are not players at this level. Gaff literally cannot hit a wide open 3, can barely dribble, and plays matador defense half the time. The only saving grace for Cole is his on ball defense. Missing those two free throws is unforgivable for an upperclassman guard who is supposed to be a shooter. And then at the end of regulation we literally gave up 3 straight point blank layups with no paint help. Martin had no clue what to do down there. Hurley should have put Sanogo down there to at least challenge a shot.

This is how I felt whenever we had a lead when Ollie was coach unfortunately. We just don’t know how to finish out a game. I don’t want to hear about the USC game either, we did not finish that off, we didnt make a shot for something like 8 minutes and USC couldn’t hit the ocean from the beach. Bouk not getting the ball at the end after making like 8 straight free throws is ridiculous. Just a sad game in general.

 

[Kenny11]

Gaffney hits two free throws to go up 4 and we literally let the kid walk to the basket and make a layup. I understand not wanting to foul, but you have to challenge there, no?

yeah. This is true. I don’t mind giving up points in that situation but not so easily. It only took them 6-7 seconds to score an uncontested layup

 

[selles]

This is how I felt whenever we had a lead when Ollie was coach unfortunately. We just don’t know how to finish out a game. I don’t want to hear about the USC game either, we did not finish that off, we didnt make a shot for something like 8 minutes and USC couldn’t hit the ocean from the beach. Bouk not getting the ball at the end after making like 8 straight free throws is ridiculous. Just a sad game in general.

This part of your post is really silly. We finished off plenty of games toward the end of last year. Hurley lost because his veteran guard missed two free throws. If you had to do it again would you make Cole the out of bounds man, throwing to Gaffney? Yes, we all would. But to pretend this is like the OIlie era where we found every way possible to lose down the stretch is nuts.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Chief pretty much has it covered. As a UConn fan, I’m trying to remember the last time we had a good half court offense that wasn’t entirely reliant on winning one on one battles. Maybe 2005-06?

Something has to change. My concern that Hurley’s offense looked too much like Ollie’s offense is being confirmed to too great a degree. He talks about wanting the ball to move without the dribble but then they don’t do it. Instead they run endless weaves and ball screens that render our bigs useless on the offensive end. It’s ugly as sin.

If that’s all we have in half court, then play Jackson a lot, press, trap and run. We looked our best today in transition. Even when Polley is back, he is at his best hitting 3s in transition.

Our defense was mostly pretty good, if hurt by some perplexing lineup choices.

 

[Zissou]

You get to play a number 9 team in conference, right out of the blocks. Welcome back.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

This part of your post is really silly. We finished off plenty of games toward the end of last year. Hurley lost because his veteran guard missed two free throws. If you had to do it again would you make Cole the out of bounds man, throwing to Gaffney? Yes, we all would. But to pretend this is like the OIlie era where we found every way possible to lose down the stretch is nuts.

I didn’t say it was just like Ollie’s time, just that this reminded me of it. No one wanted the ball while our star was getting doubled non stop. At some point someone has to hit a shot, draw a foul, or get a big stop. We rarely did that under Ollie and didn’t do that here. I appreciate we aren’t getting blown out by good teams, but a loss is a loss and these ones hurt the most.

 

[husky429]

Hurley’s coaching boggles me, or whoever is responsible for this offense. This isn’t a rec league in the 70’s, the weave offense doesn’t fool anyone. You can mix it in, but it should NEVER be the go to. The only reason it looked okay in the early 2nd half was because we have an all american who makes tough shots like its his job.

Gaff and Cole at this point are not players at this level. Gaff literally cannot hit a wide open 3, can barely dribble, and plays matador defense half the time. The only saving grace for Cole is his on ball defense. Missing those two free throws is unforgivable for an upperclassman guard who is supposed to be a shooter. And then at the end of regulation we literally gave up 3 straight point blank layups with no paint help. Martin had no clue what to do down there. Hurley should have put Sanogo down there to at least challenge a shot.

This is how I felt whenever we had a lead when Ollie was coach unfortunately. We just don’t know how to finish out a game. I don’t want to hear about the USC game either, we did not finish that off, we didnt make a shot for something like 8 minutes and USC couldn’t hit the ocean from the beach. Bouk not getting the ball at the end after making like 8 straight free throws is ridiculous. Just a sad game in general.

No offense is going to make anyone but Bouk finally hit a 3 point shot. No set is going to look good without spacing.

But I catch your drift... the offense doesn't look cohesive.

I thought Hurley's rotations were better today. And I thought the timeout calling was better minus 1 head scratcher in the 1st half.

B- from Hurley in my report card. Not terrible, but some weak spots.

 

[Glastonhusky]

Turned into the James Boutnight show but a tough loss, as he goes so will UConn. We definitely belong towards the top of this conference talent wise. James is definitely our leader. It’s funny how just a couple months ago there was debate about who the leader would be.

Give Creighton credit, very well coached team. They knew where the double was coming from and made UConn pay early on. In the second half we doubled less and the defense was better. The UConn guards did a good job defensively on their point guard.

The energy level looked really poor at the beginning but warmed up toward the end of the first half. It’s clear that Cole can’t break a good defense down off the dribble so unless someone posts well with a high low pass or Boutnight gets hot, we are in trouble given our poor three point shooting.

Fortunately, Boutnight caught fire and that's when our offense looked good because it’s individual talent and not reliant on a system that appears not to work or is it that anyone else can’t finish it off with an outside shot?

The other players get their confidence off of James. Chief thought Josh had some good moments. Whaley, Martin and Sanogo had their moments. The guards did a good job on Creighton’s point as stated earlier.

Good foul shooting the second half and only a few bad fouls helped UConn’s cause. Big job by Gaffney from the foul line towards the end of FT’s during regulation and on a FG in OT. Cole missed two big FT’s ones in contrast.Good basketball by both teams late in Chief’s opinion. Cole though had some bad plays late.

Tough loss. Lesson here, come out with more fire. More individual shooting practice. We are better on defense when we double by surprise not predictably and often. Whaley fouling out hurt too. Run better offense in overtime. We need another scoring option besides James.

Your last sentence says it all. We can't depend on James to get 40 for us every game. I hope Polley gets back to last years form soon.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

No offense is going to make anyone but Bouk finally hit a 3 point shot. No set is going to look good without spacing.

But I catch your drift... the offense doesn't look cohesive.

I thought Hurley's rotations were better today. And I thought the timeout calling was better minus 1 head scratcher in the 1st half.

B- from Hurley in my report card. Not terrible, but some weak spots.

No I know, our “shooters” aren’t actually shooters, or haven’t shown themselves to be. But the weave does nothing for us. Gotta get something creative in the sets, double screens, back cuts, etc. The offense is so vanilla, and it has been for years. You’d think they could figure something out.

 

[VA Blue Dog]

Poor guard play down the stretch. No one was able to take control. Shooting too early with the lead. Butterfingers on uncontested rebounds. How many "awkward bounces" off the rim can you have.

 

[husky429]

No I know, our “shooters” aren’t actually shooters, or haven’t shown themselves to be. But the weave does nothing for us. Gotta get something creative in the sets, double screens, back cuts, etc. The offense is so vanilla, and it has been for years. You’d think they could figure something out.

Hurley is not a good offensive coach. He needs to hand that off to Kimani or Tom. No coach is good at everything... the best coaches recognize that and delegate.

 

[Hankster]

Turned into the James Boutnight show but a tough loss, as he goes so will UConn. We definitely belong towards the top of this conference talent wise. James is definitely our leader. It’s funny how just a couple months ago there was debate about who the leader would be.

Give Creighton credit, very well coached team. They knew where the double was coming from and made UConn pay early on. In the second half we doubled less and the defense was better. The UConn guards did a good job defensively on their point guard.

The energy level looked really poor at the beginning but warmed up toward the end of the first half. It’s clear that Cole can’t break a good defense down off the dribble so unless someone posts well with a high low pass or Boutnight gets hot, we are in trouble given our poor three point shooting.

Fortunately, Boutnight caught fire and that's when our offense looked good because it’s individual talent and not reliant on a system that appears not to work or is it that anyone else can’t finish it off with an outside shot?

The other players get their confidence off of James. Chief thought Josh had some good moments. Whaley, Martin and Sanogo had their moments. The guards did a good job on Creighton’s point as stated earlier.

Good foul shooting the second half and only a few bad fouls helped UConn’s cause. Big job by Gaffney from the foul line towards the end of FT’s during regulation and on a FG in OT. Cole missed two big FT’s ones in contrast.Good basketball by both teams late in Chief’s opinion. Cole though had some bad plays late.

Tough loss. Lesson here, come out with more fire. More individual shooting practice. We are better on defense when we double by surprise not predictably and often. Whaley fouling out hurt too. Run

Well Chief, I cannot be on the Josh bandwagon. He is a senior and just doesn't have it. He has his spurts and "yea Josh". Sorry Good read Chief but not into the Josh thing. Sonogo put in a nice soft turn around in traffic for two. I thought that move there would of bought him most of the game. It didn't. It seems that Whaley is always having good moments. He is 100% into the game.

 

[Justin M]

On the ball screens at the top of the key Creighton hedged super hard with their bigs and the window was too small to throw it into our bigs cause the week side defender was making the correct rotation and coming over. If we skip to the opposite corner it’s wide open, problem is none of the guys who played today make that shot consistently enough. We desperately desperately need someone to be able to catch and shoot on the perimeter, will open everything up...Fingers crossed Polley returns to form.

 

[MexicoHusky]

This is the best we've looked in years. Particularly this early. Despite our lack of practice. I think we are just missing a more efficient fast break. People want Cole and Gaffney to be better. We all want that. At the moment I just want the fast break to be more efficient. Which is largely on Cole and Gaff. And the lack of practice.

Cole and Gaff both played solid D. If they played like everyone wants them to play on offense we wouldn't be a team that should make the tournament. We'd be a team with final 8 and final 4 expectations.

I'm a bit surprised Gaffney has not won the starting job easily. I mean, I get it.. he hasn't played great. Doesnt really deserve to start. I just thought his game was progressing last year. A bit of an off season jump would of been cool. Thus far not much improvement yet. Maybe a bit of regression.

 

[BlueDogs]

Hurley’s coaching boggles me, or whoever is responsible for this offense. This isn’t a rec league in the 70’s, the weave offense doesn’t fool anyone. You can mix it in, but it should NEVER be the go to. The only reason it looked okay in the early 2nd half was because we have an all american who makes tough shots like its his job.

Gaff and Cole at this point are not players at this level. Gaff literally cannot hit a wide open 3, can barely dribble, and plays matador defense half the time. The only saving grace for Cole is his on ball defense. Missing those two free throws is unforgivable for an upperclassman guard who is supposed to be a shooter. And then at the end of regulation we literally gave up 3 straight point blank layups with no paint help. Martin had no clue what to do down there. Hurley should have put Sanogo down there to at least challenge a shot.

This is how I felt whenever we had a lead when Ollie was coach unfortunately. We just don’t know how to finish out a game. I don’t want to hear about the USC game either, we did not finish that off, we didnt make a shot for something like 8 minutes and USC couldn’t hit the ocean from the beach. Bouk not getting the ball at the end after making like 8 straight free throws is ridiculous. Just a sad game in general.

The was confounding. How the ball isn’t in his hands 80% of the time at the end is beyond me. Just mind boggling how DH is so unaware of real time situational basketball.

 

[Spaceman213J]

Hurley is a good coach, but the team was outplayed/coached the last 7 minutes. The layup can't happen the quickly, with no challenge. Cole missing the free throws is unfortunate, but it happens. You cant huck a 3 8 seconds into the shot clock, with a lead in the final minutes, especially when you have struggled with your shot all day. I didn't like Bouk's quick 3 with the 4 point lead either, but I can live with it with all he did.

I've said it before on here. Calhoun said the hardest thing for a good team to become elite is to learn that killer instinct and how to finish games. They started doing it at the end last year, and remember, Creighton is a top ten team for a reason.

 

[CL82]

Gut wrenching loss.

I just wish there was a raucous crowd on hand to witness Bouknights performance and maybe help us get the win.

I have to think a crowd would have made the difference.

 

[Ts5034]

Im not as mad at the loss as I am about the situation the last few weeks with the Covid pause. Im not making any excuses, we should have won that game with the free throws at the end to ice it, but Im going to take a different approach and say that if we didn't come out so flat in the first half, this is a 8-10 point win. I think the slow start was 100% because we have not played an actual game in 17 days. Also, playing our fourth game of the season four days before Christmas does not help either. The crowd would have made a huge difference too. We just have to come to realize this is going to be a very fluky year.

 

[UCDaveD]

Missing 2 free throws with the game on the line is inexcusable. I don’t care who you are. Can’t happen.