Chief’s Briefs - Creighton Edition

[dogpause]

Andre shot better today than 3 of our guards.
Jackson 3-11
Newton 1-4
Joey C 0-2
Alleyne 1-6
And Hawkins shot a few % better at 3-13
The backcourt did not do their jobs.

Unfortunately, he also shot more often than any of those other guards, which should not happen. I do agree that he should be around the basket, especially if Sanogo is at the top of the circle. I'm amazed we were able to keep it close today.

We've been praised as a good rebounding team, but at times we seem very weak on the fundamentals of rebounding.

Would like to see Hawkins make some v-cuts rather than just running in an arc so frequently, and predictably.

I thought the refs were okay, committing only a normal number of mistakes.

Creighton game plans as well as any team in the country.

Will we ever start helping on defense when the ball is in the paint?

 

[uconntoatl]

Worst game I’ve seen Jackson play

 

[uconntoatl]

This team loves unforced turnovers…so many opportunities squandered this game

 

[Smp7598]

So Jackson’s man was covering the other four guards all at once - wow.

You have lost all credibility!

 

[JohnFSilver]

Lol no.

August. That is exactly what happens. Also, having a defensive player in the lane allows the defense to jump screens and sell out on the pick. You know you have help there.

I actually don’t think any of andre’s shots were poor shots. It just isn’t his game though, and ya gotta give credit to McDermott for exploiting Jackson’s weakness.

Hurley’s options are not great.

1. Bench Jackson and lose best defender, good rebounder , athleticism, speed and energy.

2. Okay Jackson for intangibles, but in half court go 4 on -5.

Neither are good options.

 

[Captbluefin]

Let Jackson shoot and have Kalk defend Adama 1 on 1 and live with it.

Shut off the lane with the extra guy not defending Jackson kills Newton.

Hinder Hawks movement.

Face guard AK

That’s Creighton’s plan and it was successful

 

[August_West]

August. That is exactly what happens. Also, having a defensive player in the lane allows the defense to jump screens and sell out on the pick. You know you have help there.

I actually don’t think any of andre’s shots were poor shots. It just isn’t his game though, and ya gotta give credit to McDermott for exploiting Jackson’s weakness.

Hurley’s options are not great.

1. Bench Jackson and lose best defender, good rebounder , athleticism, speed and energy.

2. Okay Jackson for intangibles, but in half court go 4 on -5.

Neither are good options.

Alleyne not answer because of all intangibles you just mentioned plus the same 3 pt shooting %

 

[JohnFSilver]

Alleyne not answer because of all intangibles you just mentioned plus the same 3 pt shooting %

yes. That the issue tbh. I will say they wouldn’t play Alleyne the same way, however.

Maybe go to a more classic offense and have Jackson play the classic 4-man on offense and be a wing defender on defense.

You can’t play 4-out if all 4 of your guys out on the perimeter can’t shoot from distance.

 

[SaeHusky]

@Chief00 I’m not usually a Double Bigs guy, but the second half today screamed Double Bigs. Sanogo and Clingan were both playing with high energy and Sanogo was showcasing his perimeter game. Seemed like a great opportunity.

And against Seton Hall who can’t shoot outside it’s a no brainer to go 2 -3 zone (not that 1-3/1 crap) and go Double Big.

 

[jpeakin]

This loss is not on Andre. We have no real PG. We held them to 0 field goals in the second half for almost 8 minutes straight! Andre does that. This is on our offense. The D was filthy today. Where was AK? Newton? Even Hawk played meh. Sanogo was the only one to show up.

Hawk and AK were probably being guarded by AJ's "defender". Lane was too clogged for Newtown to do what he'd been doing the last couple games but I still would've loved for him to drive more. More than half of Sanogo's points were from 3 because they left him alone out there while bunching everything up inside

 

[FlippinCrazy!]

Enough with Diarra. Especially with Jackson being a liability from 3, we can’t have Diarra out there too. He does not generate enough steals to ocercome his deficiency’s on offense. Alleyne and Clingan should be first off the bench, followed by Calcaterra and probably Samson in the end. I hate our offense everytime Diarra is on the court.

 

[August_West]

Enough with Diarra. Especially with Jackson being a liability from 3, we can’t have Diarra out there too. He does not generate enough steals to ocercome his deficiency’s on offense. Alleyne and Clingan should be first off the bench, followed by Calcaterra and probably Samson in the end. I hate our offense everytime Diarra is on the court.

Don’t hate the defense though

 

[storrsroars]

Andre is so in his head now that he takes the wrong shots. I wanted him to take more actually

Do we employ an analytics guy who actually talks to the players? It's not just Jackson, seems Newton and Hawkins also repeatedly shoot from areas where they suck and eschew the areas where they're actually effective. For instance, none of us should really have major issues with AJax taking a three from the right corner. And we should get on Hawkins for trying to shoot from the left corner.

Yeah, "small sample size" applies, but compiling 80 games worth of data isn't possible, so it's what we've got.

 

[Mooch82]

If you hesitate you lose. It’s probably 2/3rds mental.

100%. Xavier sagging off him got so much in his head. He needs to take open shots in rhythm within the flow of the offense. When he hesitates, he’s dead. He shot 36% from 3 last year! That’s very solid. He needs to remind himself of that and have an “” attitude when he’s left open and shoot without hesitation. He can make them.

 

[August_West]

100%. Xavier sagging off him got so much in his head. He needs to take open shots in rhythm within the flow of the offense. When he hesitates, he’s dead. He shot 36% from 3 last year! That’s very solid. He needs to remind himself of that and have an “” attitude when he’s left open and shoot without hesitation. He can make them.

It did

 

[SwingDog]

The high hedge highlighted its vulnerability again with Sanogo repeatedly being caught on a guard 23 feet from the hoop, while Creighton’s Big rolled unguarded to the hoop with UConn’s guard in no man’s land.

We were fortunate Creighton didn't exploit this more because there were a few instances where Sanogo was up high and Kalkbrenner was all by himself low in the paint and we could have been burned badly had they gotten the ball to him. Coach Hurley and company need to really take a look at this because it will cost us dearly if we don't fix it.

 

[gtcam]

Another road loss in a game vs a ranked opponent
Another loss in a much needed conference game on the road
Another final 2 minutes in a winnable game when the UConn runs a directionless offense
Another game when the opposing coach has answers and UConn is left with questions
Another game where DH plays one or two players too much while not playing one or too nearly enough
Another game when DH parades the same starting line up out there
Another where there is zero creativity on the offensive side of the ball
Another game of playing 5v4 when on offense due to one captain and 5v4 on defense due to another captain

Me thinks it's time for some changes from top to bottom.

 

[EnochRoot]

100%. Xavier sagging off him got so much in his head. He needs to take open shots in rhythm within the flow of the offense. When he hesitates, he’s dead. He shot 36% from 3 last year! That’s very solid. He needs to remind himself of that and have an “” attitude when he’s left open and shoot without hesitation. He can make them.

Hard disagree. Baiting Jackson into the "one of three" from beyond the arc means he's not taking it above the rim where he belongs. But it really doesn't matter now because he wasn't really developed to become that guy anyway.

 

[NEforceUConn]

We were fortunate Creighton didn't exploit this more because there were a few instances where Sanogo was up high and Kalkbrenner was all by himself low in the paint and we could have been burned badly had they gotten the ball to him. Coach Hurley and company need to really take a look at this because it will cost us dearly if we don't fix it.

I saw this too. It really put Kalk in great rebound position with our center 20 feet from hoop.

 

[August_West]

I saw this too. It really put Kalk in great rebound position with our center 20 feet from hoop.

How many offensive boards he have?

 

[businesslawyer]

Enough games have been played. I love AJ but it is time he comes off the bench. NA holds his own on D and is a way better on offense. It is difficult to run an offense in a half court setting ( which happens at least 90% of the time) and watch them sag off AJ.

We’ve gone too long unable to win games because defenses are playing us 5 versus 4 and friggin AJ is shooting push shots from the foul line because three years into his UConn career he literally can’t shoot a 10 or 12 foot jump shot. Not that he can’t shoot it well enough — he literally can’t shoot it at all.

I know we’re not getting great play from the bench these days but if I were coaching AJ’s minutes would be down and he wouldn’t be in when we’re behind late in the game and need to score.

 

[SwingDog]

We’ve gone too long unable to win games because defenses are playing us 5 versus 4 and friggin AJ is shooting push shots from the foul line because three years into his UConn career he literally can’t shoot a 10 or 12 foot jump shot. Not that he can’t shoot it well enough — he literally can’t shoot it at all.

I know we’re not getting great play from the bench these days but if I were coaching AJ’s minutes would be down and he wouldn’t be in when we’re behind late in the game and need to score.

I feel a little bad for the guy because I would assume he's probably shooting decent in practice otherwise I don't think he'd get the green light in games like he does. Obviously, his mechanics are unorthodox to begin with, and then when he's in a slump like this where teams are slacking off him as a non-threat, the choice for Hurley is to either let him be strictly a facilitator/rebounder/defender or let him do those things AND trust his ability to shoot. No question his poor shooting has been a liability. It was glaringly obvious today. We'll have to see what happens with Seton Hall, but Hurley might be using a tighter leash. Today, no one shot well except for Sanogo.

 

[CL82]

Just wanted to address Andre’s shooting. When they use his man to double, he should seldom be in the position to take bad shots. He controls where he is on the court and if he’s not comfortable shooting there, he should go where he is. Personally, I would like to see him on the baseline around the basket. Also, at the foul line but take a foul shot not a floater. He can make foul shots. Also he can shoot 3’s from two spots, so in the glow of the game he should do that.
If we had double bigs I would love to run him off that for drives.

Jackson needs to be cutting on offense not parked outside the arc. If he’s moving, his man will follow him or at least be forced to adapt. If you run him as a cutter, you have the option of throwing an alley oop to him.

 

[Scottobot]

Andre shot better today than 3 of our guards.
Jackson 3-11
Newton 1-4
Joey C 0-2
Alleyne 1-6
And Hawkins shot a few % better at 3-13
The backcourt did not do their jobs.

The other guards had someone playing defense on them and shot poorly. Andre doesn’t have anyone with 10 feet of him and shot poorly. It is not the same thing.

 

[businesslawyer]

Jackson needs to be cutting on offense not parked outside the arc. If he’s moving, his man will follow him or at least be forced to adapt. If you run him as a cutter, you have the option of throwing an alley oop to him.

Agreed but here’s the thing. If the only way for Jackson to play offense is to be in the low post, because until he’s there he doesn’t require being guarded, that means Sanogo is outside a lot in which case why aren’t we playing the two bigs together.