Chief’s Briefs- Creighton Edition

[Chief00]

Give Creighton credit for their good shooting and defense. They hit 11 more threes than us accounting for a 33 points margin to overcome and made 50% of their threes vs.18% for UConn.

In a rare game, UConn’s opponent had ten (10) more assists. Our defense was not disruptive.

Despite the threes that Creighton made, we did not effectively extend our defense with our guards. Johnson again was ineffective with the high hard hedge as Chief had feared.

Newton and Clingan were our sole highlights tonight and Clingan got into early foul trouble. Newton had 27 points and mostly did it on his own. Alex is slumping again the last two games after playing well. He seems to play best this season when he starts off cutting a lot to the basket, making layups or getting to the line and then hitting threes.

One problem with the high hedge is the defense gets lost if the offense starts anywhere but the top of the key. So once Donovan left with two fouls, that got exploited and Creighton started hitting 3’s and ran on confidence the rest of the game.

There is a school of thought to get your bad performances out of the way in a late season game and that helps the players hear the coaches better at practice. Hopefully, this game is an example of that and not a start of a trend.

 

[dogpause]

I agree, Creighton played great and their shooting was lights-out. They also kept Spencer and Karaban from getting open looks. This might have been the one game where I was hoping Spencer would be more selfish. We didn't seem to have our usual energy either. In the long run it's probably better to lose a few. Last years losses didn't hurt us.

On a positive note, Newton showed once again he is a big game player.

 

[JohnnyJr]

Give Creighton credit for their good shooting and defense. They hit 11 more threes than us accounting for a 33 points margin to overcome and made 50% of their threes vs.18% for UConn.

In a rare game, UConn’s opponent had ten (10) more assists. Our defense was not disruptive.

Despite the threes that Creighton made, we did not effectively extend our defense with our guards. Johnson again was ineffective with the high hard hedge as Chief had feared.

Newton and Clingan were our sole highlights tonight and Clingan got into early foul trouble. Newton had 27 points and mostly did it on his own. Alex is slumping again the last two games after playing well. He seems to play best this season when he starts off cutting a lot to the basket, making layups or getting to the line and then hitting threes.

One problem with the high hedge is the defense gets lost if the offense starts anywhere but the top of the key. So once Donovan left with two fouls, that got exploited and Creighton started hitting 3’s and ran on confidence the rest of the game.

There is a school of thought to get your bad performances out of the way in a late season game and that helps the players hear the coaches better at practice. Hopefully, this game is an example of that and not a start of a trend.

I generally don’t like the hard hedge either but I don’t think SJ can do drop coverage. They’d probably be better off doing a full trap and at least get some turnovers. SJ shows for a second then runs back and the scramble begins.

 

[warbler1055]

As much as it pains me to post this, the truth is we are outcoached and outplayed. McDermott had a fantastic game plan with great execution from his players and bench. They were raining 3s. Once Karaban and Spencer were taken out and Clingan in foul trouble, the game was practically over. Newton was the only player who never stopped fighting and showed why he the best player on the team. Hopefully this is a much needed wake call.

 

[coachn]

Our defense was awfui. Gave up the open 3 everywhere. We were not ready to play. No excuses.

 

[ktuck911]

Give Creighton credit for their good shooting and defense. They hit 11 more threes than us accounting for a 33 points margin to overcome and made 50% of their threes vs.18% for UConn.

In a rare game, UConn’s opponent had ten (10) more assists. Our defense was not disruptive.

Despite the threes that Creighton made, we did not effectively extend our defense with our guards. Johnson again was ineffective with the high hard hedge as Chief had feared.

Newton and Clingan were our sole highlights tonight and Clingan got into early foul trouble. Newton had 27 points and mostly did it on his own. Alex is slumping again the last two games after playing well. He seems to play best this season when he starts off cutting a lot to the basket, making layups or getting to the line and then hitting threes.

One problem with the high hedge is the defense gets lost if the offense starts anywhere but the top of the key. So once Donovan left with two fouls, that got exploited and Creighton started hitting 3’s and ran on confidence the rest of the game.

There is a school of thought to get your bad performances out of the way in a late season game and that helps the players hear the coaches better at practice. Hopefully, this game is an example of that and not a start of a trend.

Solid post Sir...
I'm not concerned one bit about our squad... This L was coming... I think it was inevitable.. and notable reminder that we still have work to do... Creighton, IMO, had a magical night from 3... Magical... Tip your hat to them...

We'll be fine... Hurley and company will get in the lab... they will collectively (players/coaches) watch this awful film, maybe throw it in the garbage afterwards, then come out of this on top...

and, btw, folks keep downplaying our conference.. The Big East is still filled with a ton of talent (my opinion)... even though the P2/P5 schools are trying to buy it all away...

 

[Hunt for 7]

The problem is as much with their defense as it is with our offense. It’s one game so I am not ready to jump off a bridge. We all kind of knew this was going to be a hard win to get. But getting crushed like we did was not even a thought in my head. I thought they might come in shooting well but you could tell right from the beginning our defensive energy was not there. But even in the first half when they were making everything I thought it could be fools gold and we would at least make it close in the second half. One thing for sure, they have figured out how to slow down our offense. That’s two games where they kept us in the 60’s. We have always been able to deal with adversity. Now we find out how deep that championship DNA runs.
On another note because I am not feeling much like researching this morning, where there any games like this in our 1999 or 2004 championship season where we go blown out on the road.

 

[Edward Sargent]

I do think McDermotts game plan was better than ours and they executed it better. Defensively we were focused on their big three and were effective against Scheirman. We had no game plan for Ashworth, Farabello, Green and Miller who looked like the Splash Quadruplets out there.

 

[Fan1978]

Give Creighton credit for their good shooting and defense. They hit 11 more threes than us accounting for a 33 points margin to overcome and made 50% of their threes vs.18% for UConn.

In a rare game, UConn’s opponent had ten (10) more assists. Our defense was not disruptive.

Despite the threes that Creighton made, we did not effectively extend our defense with our guards. Johnson again was ineffective with the high hard hedge as Chief had feared.

Newton and Clingan were our sole highlights tonight and Clingan got into early foul trouble. Newton had 27 points and mostly did it on his own. Alex is slumping again the last two games after playing well. He seems to play best this season when he starts off cutting a lot to the basket, making layups or getting to the line and then hitting threes.

One problem with the high hedge is the defense gets lost if the offense starts anywhere but the top of the key. So once Donovan left with two fouls, that got exploited and Creighton started hitting 3’s and ran on confidence the rest of the game.

There is a school of thought to get your bad performances out of the way in a late season game and that helps the players hear the coaches better at practice. Hopefully, this game is an example of that and not a start of a trend.

Creighton played very well and had a good game plan. They clearly decided to not let cam or alex shoot the 3. The game was very physical and it was disappointing that clingan had the only 2 fouls in the first 8 minutes. The second foul was an absolute disgrace and changed the flow of the game entirely. Not sure why we need to double and leave good 3 point shooters open. Cam needed to punish them with quality 2’s. Their role players stepped up and ours did not. I would not want to be villanova on Saturday evening

 

[businesslawyer]

The problem is as much with their defense as it is with our offense. It’s one game so I am not ready to jump off a bridge. We all kind of knew this was going to be a hard win to get. But getting crushed like we did was not even a thought in my head. I thought they might come in shooting well but you could tell right from the beginning our defensive energy was not there. But even in the first half when they were making everything I thought it could be fools gold and we would at least make it close in the second half. One thing for sure, they have figured out how to slow down our offense. That’s two games where they kept us in the 60’s. We have always been able to deal with adversity. Now we find out how deep that championship DNA runs.
On another note because I am not feeling much like researching this morning, where there any games like this in our 1999 or 2004 championship season where we go blown out on the road.

Creighton had a better game plan than we did, no question. They weren’t going to let Spencer and Karaban beat them from 3. We needed more folks getting into the lane with the bounce and then either getting up a floater or, if Kalkbrenner committed, laying it off to a big.

Creighton also played great offensively. They are a really good passing team and when they go 20 minutes hitting over 60% of their 3s, to some extent what are you going to do. Some were open but some weren’t and some were open shots by players you’re going to give 3s to. And, when Clingan had to sit the ten minutes with 2 fouls, we needed help inside and something has to give.

Only Newton and Clingan kept their cool and figured out how to compete last night. No one else came out with the necessary intensity.

So add those up and we got our butts kicked. It is what it is. We’re still 2 up in the loss column with 4 to play, and we don’t have to win in Milwaukee to need help to win the conference outright. So just need to respond Saturday night at home. But we knew going into last night that the most likely path to a loss is Clingan getting in foul trouble or hurt. By the time the NCAAs come along, we need to be ready to play much better than that when DC sits.

 

[Icehawk]

So many blown assignments covering outside players I couldn't believe it. Credit to Creighton and UConn did claw back a bit near the end before it got extended to the final score but this was not our A game clearly and it was definitely theirs. I'm with the crowd, this wasn't totally unexpected and they should bounce back hard from it.

 

[gtcam]

Cam and Newton are poor on ball defensive players and I knew this was going to be exposed by a team with capable guards. This is something UConn has to fix - especially Cam.

There are going to be games where the other team shoots lights out and UConn does not. That will result in a loss. Time to regroup and forget this game completely.

Need a huge win vs Nova to show this was in fact an anomaly.

 

[AdamaNation]

Solid post Sir...
I'm not concerned one bit about our squad... This L was coming... I think it was inevitable.. and notable reminder that we still have work to do... Creighton, IMO, had a magical night from 3... Magical... Tip your hat to them...

We'll be fine... Hurley and company will get in the lab... they will collectively (players/coaches) watch this awful film, maybe throw it in the garbage afterwards, then come out of this on top...

and, btw, folks keep downplaying our conference.. The Big East is still filled with a ton of talent (my opinion)... even though the P2/P5 schools are trying to buy it all away...

Agree with all of this. Come down folks.

 

[Chief00]

I agree, Creighton played great and their shooting was lights-out. They also kept Spencer and Karaban from getting open looks. This might have been the one game where I was hoping Spencer would be more selfish. We didn't seem to have our usual energy either. In the long run it's probably better to lose a few. Last years losses didn't hurt us.

On a positive note, Newton showed once again he is a big game player.

Yes, Tristen Newton has that Big Game mindset.

 

[Chief00]

Cam and Newton are poor on ball defensive players and I knew this was going to be exposed by a team with capable guards. This is something UConn has to fix - especially Cam.

There are going to be games where the other team shoots lights out and UConn does not. That will result in a loss. Time to regroup and forget this game completely.

Need a huge win vs Nova to show this was in fact an anomaly.

That’s why Diarra on the ball defense is so important to us. However, like Donovan, Hassan picked up two quick fouls.

 

[Tyler2Rings]

Yes, Tristen Newton has that Big Game mindset.

If we had been able to keep it a little closer it would have been cool to see TNew battle with Scheierman down the stretch. Both guys were ready to put the team on their backs. Maybe in MSG...

 

[Chief00]

So many blown assignments covering outside players I couldn't believe it. Credit to Creighton and UConn did claw back a bit near the end before it got extended to the final score but this was not our A game clearly and it was definitely theirs. I'm with the crowd, this wasn't totally unexpected and they should bounce back hard from it.

Creighton wisely started their offense more in the elbow area than the top of the key. This makes the high hedge asymmetric and doesn’t provide the usual lanes for the defensive Big to readily retreat to the rim and be a backstop for penetrators from either side of the basket.

 

[Chief00]

Creighton had a better game plan than we did, no question. They weren’t going to let Spencer and Karaban beat them from 3. We needed more folks getting into the lane with the bounce and then either getting up a floater or, if Kalkbrenner committed, laying it off to a big.

Creighton also played great offensively. They are a really good passing team and when they go 20 minutes hitting over 60% of their 3s, to some extent what are you going to do. Some were open but some weren’t and some were open shots by players you’re going to give 3s to. And, when Clingan had to sit the ten minutes with 2 fouls, we needed help inside and something has to give.

Only Newton and Clingan kept their cool and figured out how to compete last night. No one else came out with the necessary intensity.

So add those up and we got our butts kicked. It is what it is. We’re still 2 up in the loss column with 4 to play, and we don’t have to win in Milwaukee to need help to win the conference outright. So just need to respond Saturday night at home. But we knew going into last night that the most likely path to a loss is Clingan getting in foul trouble or hurt. By the time the NCAAs come along, we need to be ready to play much better than that when DC sits.

When we play Karaban at center, it is kind of a concession that Johnson has not developed as much as hoped. There was one game where Alex turned the tables, and made the small line up work. But, against a team with good Bigs, the match ups work in our opponent’s direction and perhaps the physicality used to battle a bigger guy seems to make Alex lose some shooting touch. I stil think given the choices, against a team with good Big, I would like to see Johnson as back up center but playing significantly below hedging territory. I would rather use Diarra to pressure the ball handler.

 

[ctchamps]

Creighton had a better game plan than we did, no question. They weren’t going to let Spencer and Karaban beat them from 3. We needed more folks getting into the lane with the bounce and then either getting up a floater or, if Kalkbrenner committed, laying it off to a big.

Creighton also played great offensively. They are a really good passing team and when they go 20 minutes hitting over 60% of their 3s, to some extent what are you going to do. Some were open but some weren’t and some were open shots by players you’re going to give 3s to. And, when Clingan had to sit the ten minutes with 2 fouls, we needed help inside and something has to give.

Only Newton and Clingan kept their cool and figured out how to compete last night. No one else came out with the necessary intensity.

So add those up and we got our butts kicked. It is what it is. We’re still 2 up in the loss column with 4 to play, and we don’t have to win in Milwaukee to need help to win the conference outright. So just need to respond Saturday night at home. But we knew going into last night that the most likely path to a loss is Clingan getting in foul trouble or hurt. By the time the NCAAs come along, we need to be ready to play much better than that when DC sits.

We were up 11-5 when Donovan picked up his second foul five minutes into the game on the moving screen. That changed the entire complexity of the game. Three negatives resulted from this.

First, Samson was overmatched by Kalkbrenner necessitating one or more of our players to leave the player they were guarding to help out accounting for the open threes. He ended up playing many more minutes than was desirable. Second, once they started making their first uncontested threes confidence built up and not only individual Creighton players exceeded their normal performance it became infectious for the team. Once the lead built up the team played looser. It was the mirror of what happened to Xavier and Marquette when we played them at home. Third, the screening foul was legit but normally not called when the movement is as minimal as Donovan made. Our motion offense is predicated on having our bigs be screeners on the periphery to free up Alex and Cam. That was taken away with that second foul. Samson and Donovan were very hesitant to set picks. When we put Donovan back in at the end of the first half the lead did not increase because our defense did not have to help out but our motion offense was still stagnant.

The second half they increased the lead initially primarily because Creighton adjusted their defense with Castle. This allowed Cam and Alex to be overplayed and completely eliminated their ability to shoot mid range floaters, something we had success with in the first half because Castle's defender hung back. Stephon became the type of offensive liability we observed with AJ last season when he played out on the perimeter before we moved him to the baseline. I expect that we will be making a similar adjustment for Castle now that this weakness was exposed.

In spite of this, the ability to keep Donovan on the floor for most of the second half and the incredible will of Tristen to not surrender brought the lead down to ten around the 4 minute mark. I felt we had a chance to win the game when Tristen led a fast break and passed to a wide open Alex for a three that he normally makes in these situations. But Alex hesitated ever so slightly, the shot was blocked and the game was pretty much over at that point. He makes that shot things could have gotten very interesting.

 

[mlpavela]

Here's my take on what went wrong:

Cam Spencer is slow laterally. Tristan Newton is slow laterally. We tried to get Naheim Alleyne and Justin Timberlake but that didn't work out. We have the worst...

More seriously I think the team got used to winning by 25, and started believing the hype a little too much. Our HC spent much of the last week on a self congratulatory media tour, and some players too. I'm predicting the team will bounce back quite well, and am still very much all in.

 

[Fairfield_1st]

First credit to Creighton. That was quite a shooting display.
I had wondered if for some reason we were out of gas. Everything looked a little less active. The O wasn't cutting and slipping like normal and we seemed a step slow to cover shooters. It also seems like the bench has been shorter. I'm assuming Ball is unhealthy because I barely see him, if at all. Stewart got some time, but didn't seem like a lot.
For the stretch run, I'd like to see Donovan and Samson work on staying out of foul trouble, I'd like to see the bench get more run and, for my own enjoyment, I'd like to see Roumoglou get a little run. I'm intrigued to see how he looks versus second stringers as opposed to scrub time.

Edit: Same for Singare as Roumoglou. If the bigs are in trouble, we may need him for a couple minutes to get us to half time. I was real nervous when DC went back in with the 2 fouls. Can he be serviceable for a few minutes. Strictly defense.

 

[HuskyHawk]

When we play Karaban at center, it is kind of a concession that Johnson has not developed as much as hoped. There was one game where Alex turned the tables, and made the small line up work. But, against a team with good Bigs, the match ups work in our opponent’s direction and perhaps the physicality used to battle a bigger guy seems to make Alex lose some shooting touch. I stil think given the choices, against a team with good Big, I would like to see Johnson as back up center but playing significantly below hedging territory. I would rather use Diarra to pressure the ball handler.

I felt like this was mostly a concession that Kalkbrenner sitting in the paint and the pesky, quick perimeter defenders not allowing us to get anything off. The only way to break that defensive alignment is to have a 5 that Kalk has to defend shooting from outside. Remember McDermott famously ignoring Whaley, even when he was making 3s? He won't bring that shot-blocker out unless he has to. That includes out of the game against us, he never sat down.

Unfortunately, McDermott simply adjusted to the small lineup by having his 4 guard AK and putting Kalkbrenner on Castle, who was mostly a threat in the paint anyway. So that strategy failed and was short lived.

We were losing badly, I really don't understand Johnson having a red light to shoot when nobody was guarding him. It's the only way to break open that defense.

 

[Spaceman213J]

For whatever reason, the team just didn't have the same energy they have had in the past month. Take that and the fact that the Jays showed up ready to play and were tweeked up by the home crowd and they are a really good team, and it was not going to be a good night for the Huskies.
I think the team will be alright, but they did not communicate on the defensive end at all. I love Cam, but he looked absolutely lost on the defensive end last night. Karaban, Castle, Newton and Diarra were a little slow closing out on the perimeter. That group is usually very good at doing so.

DC has to understand how important his presence is just being out on the floor. He can get an aggressive foul here or there, but he just can't get the absent minded stuff like the foul for the illegal screen at that point in the game.

Finally, congrats to the Jays. They shot it great. Also, though it was in a loss, still gaining more and more respect for Newton every time he plays in a big game. He tends to show up regardless.

There was another thread about "could a loss actually help this team". We're about to find out.

 

[gsmooth]

I felt like this was mostly a concession that Kalkbrenner sitting in the paint and the pesky, quick perimeter defenders not allowing us to get anything off. The only way to break that defensive alignment is to have a 5 that Kalk has to defend shooting from outside. Remember McDermott famously ignoring Whaley, even when he was making 3s? He won't bring that shot-blocker out unless he has to. That includes out of the game against us, he never sat down.

Unfortunately, McDermott simply adjusted to the small lineup by having his 4 guard AK and putting Kalkbrenner on Castle, who was mostly a threat in the paint anyway. So that strategy failed and was short lived.

We were losing badly, I really don't understand Johnson having a red light to shoot when nobody was guarding him. It's the only way to break open that defense.

And this is why I think Sanogo is the best player out of last year's team and this year's team combined. When the offensive scheme gets locked up he can be given the ball and go to work in the post 1v1 or pass well out of the double team (late in season last year). Also his ability to shoot the 3 can pull Kalkbrenner and other opposing centers away from the basket to break open the defense you are talking about.

 

[Seamus84]

We lost defensive focus for a 5-minute span late in the first half (specifically from the 8:30 min mark when we were up 23-21 to the 3:30 mark) we were outscored 18-2 and down by 39-25. We were too aggressive on the double-teams/help defense and lost wing assignments (esp Cam and Steph) which resulted in 4 threes during that time. Btw, if you go back and look at the 1st half of the Marquette game, we had some of the same issues....Marquette just didn't hit their open looks. Need to clean that up.