Chief’s Briefs - DePaul 2 Edition

[Fatroony5]

Glad to get the win (and cover). Hoping Bouk can get back for the next game, great to get some wins without him, but it puts a strain on the backcourt rotations without him. The defense continues to be impressive. They had a few lapses but overall, their defense really wins them games.

Two other thoughts: they need to stop forcing passes into the paint from the top of the key. A few times our bigs are trying to throw passes into the paint from that area and it’s a turnover like every time. I’ve seen that action enough to say, please stop forcing those passes. Secondly, they need to cut down on unnecessary turnovers/possessions in transition. If a layup isn’t there, we need to hunt Polley for 3s, he’s deadly in transition. All in all, take the win and move on. Certainly happy to get another win.

 

[UCLJ0211]

I had a funny feeling about this game since we just played DePaul. I had a feeling they were going to come out a lot tougher this time. It’s hard to beat a team multiple times in a season, especially on their floor.

Also, as it’s been said multiple times but shouldn’t be understated, this team just played 3 games in 3 different cities in 6 days. That’s a lot on even the most well-conditioned athletes and I’m sure there was some fatigue setting in this game.

 

[Madmannsucks]

Got outrebounded. Not surprising, as 2 of the better rebounders didn't get much action.

 

[BrassBonanza]

I'm giving Coach Hurley props for reading the situation here against DePaul in the closing minutes, and calling Martin's number again and again. That, plus some really stellar defense were the deciding factors in the last few possessions.

I really liked the late inbound play to get Ty a layup with about 90 seconds left - great design, needed the easy bucket there.

 

[Kolumbo]

The tour through B1G Country was a smashing success.

 

[Colin G]

I'd take Gaffney over Cole.

In what world?

 

[Ts5034]

Also, as it’s been said multiple times but shouldn’t be understated, this team just played 3 games in 3 different cities in 6 days. That’s a lot on even the most well-conditioned athletes and I’m sure there was some fatigue setting in this game.

Exactly. That is actually very rare to play 3 road conference games in a row. The fact they were all played in less than a week makes it even stranger.

 

[Bezzz]

Also, as it’s been said multiple times but shouldn’t be understated, this team just played 3 games in 3 different cities in 6 days. That’s a lot on even the most well-conditioned athletes and I’m sure there was some fatigue setting in this game.

Tyrese looked gassed at the end, but he powered through.

 

[Chief00]

Tyrese looked gassed at the end, but he powered through.

I think we need to work on guys routines and breathing rhythm when at the line late in the game. Too many guys appeared to rush their first foul shot.

 

[M.S.G.]

Charlie Moore stinks out loud, and so does his fishing show.

The fact he was on preseason 1st team All Big East and Bouk wasn't drives me into uncontrollable rage every time I think about it!

 

[Hankster]

I had a funny feeling about this game since we just played DePaul. I had a feeling they were going to come out a lot tougher this time. It’s hard to beat a team multiple times in a season, especially on their floor.

DePaul adjusted well since the last game. Many here said we played bad. Well, the way I see it, DePaul was ready and their defense was relentless. They out rebounded us. Many times they penetrated with ease. We didn't. Our guys fought the heck last night. Great win. I give DePaul a lot of credit. Did I notice that Butterfingers Carlton and Sonogo did not get much time in the second half?

 

[Edward Sargent]

Tyler days of playing in obscurity are over. Especially with Boutnight out and just off Big East player of the week - he will now get defensive attention. We will see if he is clever enough to create scoring opportunities. He made a couple of 3’s in the first half but needs more consistency.

Probably the surprise of the game is that we got out rebounded. Given our difficulty scoring we need to win in this category. We also had more turnovers than assists, a metric Chief watches.

While we got out to an 11 point lead our offense isn’t pretty and that’s been Chief’s concern when well intended Casual Fans started talking top ten ranking.

Again, we did a good job on Moore.

Josh played a step slow and a thought late. Several times he did not appear to be ready for the ball or a plan what to do with it. In the post he needs to create distance for his shot by using a jump hook with his shoulder creating separation.

Martin had a very good game but still needs to work at finishing around the rim. Chief needs to study better the reasons for that deficiency. It’s not readily apparent. He’s strong, has fairly long arms and plays aggressive. It may be a mental matter of concentration.

DePaul came out with a good run to start the second half. UConn was playing very tentative offensively and DePaul did not overthink their offense. I thought Whaley played with energy but not much focus or with awareness of where his man or responsibilities were. He was running around without much purpose to his activity and lost his man or was late to an assignment several times.
I would like to see Polley come in at 17 minutes mark rather than 15 minutes. Our offense really struggles. Gaffney is turning down shots while Cole is rushing his play on offense.

We don’t have an offense that can afford lots of turnovers, since our shooting isn’t that good either. Another game and Akok doesn’t look even remotely ready. Our half court defense is really good, and I think it wore DePaul down and led to the win. Martin had 5 steaks snd Cole 4.

A win is a win especially without your star.

Forgot to mention defense in the last4 minutes. I think forcing 4 or 5 TOs and holding scoreless deserves mention

 

[Slick]

I'd take Gaffney over Cole.

Gaffney would be much better in the days before there was a shot clock.

 

[Husky25]

Gaffney would be much better in the days before there was a shot clock.

Speaking of the shot clock, UConn ran the weave on probably greater than 80% of their offensive possessions in the half court. The ball never leaves the top of the key for 20 seconds through multiple handoffs.

The offense has to start with more than 9 seconds left on the clock and has to end with something other than a rushed, out of control drive into the Land of Giants.

 

[ucp990411]

I think we need to work on guys routines and breathing rhythm when at the line late in the game. Too many guys appeared to rush their first foul shot.

Good point, Martin has a hitch just before he shoots that he should lose.

 

[CL82]

Achilles is a really tough injury to cone back from. We need to be really patient.

Any idea when he’s minutes cap is going to look like on a game by game/week basis? How much more time can we expect ?

 

[Dabutlerdidit]

There was a point in the game, where I felt like Polley was WIDE OPEN .. several times and the person with then ball didn’t even look his way. Several times in a row. We then settled for bad shot or turnover. It’s a shame.

 

[husky429]

Kenpom:
#21 overall
#36 offense
#19 defense

Seems about right if you factor in a healthier Bouk.

 

[Improviser]

There was a point in the game, where I felt like Polley was WIDE OPEN .. several times and the person with then ball didn’t even look his way. Several times in a row. We then settled for bad shot or turnover. It’s a shame.

Shouldn't Polley have pointed it out at the time with a code word , to make the person with the ball aware he was open? Players do talk to each other on the court. Quarterbacks in football call it out, like saying "Omaha" or some other word before the play.

It can't take that long for the ballhandler to process this.

 

[Chief00]

Any idea when he’s minutes cap is going to look like on a game by game/week basis? How much more time can we expect ?

I don’t know with any confidence. It will really depend on his performance frankly, how others do and how he feels after he performs. I am sure there’s some short term plan that I am unaware of that probably blows up each game due to immediate circumstances. LOL Thus far, he’s looked really lost, but Tyler had a really bad start for a couple of games and he was up to 28 minutes last game. However, there’s a lot more depth for Bigs minutes than perimeter 3 point scorer minutes right now.
Chief is always a pessimist about Achilles
injuries. Generally, there’s a recovery season. It’s both mental and physical.

 

[HuskyHawk]

DePaul adjusted well since the last game. Many here said we played bad. Well, the way I see it, DePaul was ready and their defense was relentless. They out rebounded us. Many times they penetrated with ease. We didn't. Our guys fought the heck last night. Great win. I give DePaul a lot of credit. Did I notice that Butterfingers Carlton and Sonogo did not get much time in the second half?

Agreed. Depaul knew that without Bouknight our offense was going to start inside, and that our primary guards weren't great penetrators. So they played very aggressively, smothering the guards and disrupting their ability to distribute. They picked up Cole and played him tight just over half court. That made us waste about 15 seconds a trip. Very effective unless the guards beat that man and create a mismatch. Neither Gaff nor Cole did (or could). Later we started running the offense through Martin or Adams up top with Cole and Gaff on the wings and had better success. That defense will foul a lot if you attack it, but it took us too long to force them to do that.

It exposed something Hurley will need to address. Yes, Bouknight would make a difference, but it's similar to what Marquette did that frustrated him. The best response would be a passer with size and bigs cutting. Andre Jackson would fill the bill, and one of our bigs attacking the rim. We don't really have the players to consistently beat that defense with dribble penetration. We need to do it through the air. We tried with Whaley a few times, passing inside, but the passes and catches weren't as good as they could be. I suspect we will be practicing that a lot.

 

[mauconnfan]

Agreed. Depaul knew that without Bouknight our offense was going to start inside, and that our primary guards weren't great penetrators. So they played very aggressively, smothering the guards and disrupting their ability to distribute. They picked up Cole and played him tight just over half court. That made us waste about 15 seconds a trip. Very effective unless the guards beat that man and create a mismatch. Neither Gaff nor Cole did (or could). Later we started running the offense through Martin or Adams up top with Cole and Gaff on the wings and had better success. That defense will foul a lot if you attack it, but it took us too long to force them to do that.

It exposed something Hurley will need to address. Yes, Bouknight would make a difference, but it's similar to what Marquette did that frustrated him. The best response would be a passer with size and bigs cutting. Andre Jackson would fill the bill, and one of our bigs attacking the rim. We don't really have the players to consistently beat that defense with dribble penetration. We need to do it through the air. We tried with Whaley a few times, passing inside, but the passes and catches weren't as good as they could be. I suspect we will be practicing that a lot.

Yeah well said HH. It's brutal to watch our guards "walk" it up court get over with 22 seconds then be harassed by a defender who makes them back down and throw their first actual pass from the hash mark at 15-17 seconds on the shot clock left. Happened way too much last night and the inability for Cole or Gaffney to take their man off the dribble hurts that. Adams did ok a couple of times, was more aggressive but he's scary with the ball and just isn't a PG. I would consider Bouk taking it up against certain defenses and having Cole off the ball as it will be more effective. And the bigs have been ok until this game feeding each other from the FT line to the low post but last night yikes, awful. Whaley is a solid passer but had a rough night, the others just aren't that good.

I mean it's nice to have concerns after a win isn't it, but they will be magnified vs better teams if improvements aren't made.

 

[Rico444]

Agreed. Depaul knew that without Bouknight our offense was going to start inside, and that our primary guards weren't great penetrators. So they played very aggressively, smothering the guards and disrupting their ability to distribute. They picked up Cole and played him tight just over half court. That made us waste about 15 seconds a trip. Very effective unless the guards beat that man and create a mismatch. Neither Gaff nor Cole did (or could). Later we started running the offense through Martin or Adams up top with Cole and Gaff on the wings and had better success. That defense will foul a lot if you attack it, but it took us too long to force them to do that.

It exposed something Hurley will need to address. Yes, Bouknight would make a difference, but it's similar to what Marquette did that frustrated him. The best response would be a passer with size and bigs cutting. Andre Jackson would fill the bill, and one of our bigs attacking the rim. We don't really have the players to consistently beat that defense with dribble penetration. We need to do it through the air. We tried with Whaley a few times, passing inside, but the passes and catches weren't as good as they could be. I suspect we will be practicing that a lot.

Hurley's response came kind of late, but it was to get Martin the ball inside the 3 point line. It had a lot of success and I think it's something that we're going to utilize more moving forward, even when Bouknight comes back.

 

[navery12]

One lineup I hope is just a result of no Bouknight is the one with a PG, Martin, Polley, Whaley, Carlton. That was brutal to watch us try to score

 

[QDOG5]

The weave is driving me crazy. Someone explain to me where the shots are supposed to come from? There are no cutters, no screen and roll to the basket, no screening away. Big men catch the ball up top never square up to the basket. Occasionally we'll get a slip screen from Whaley but the ball rarely gets passed to him. It seems like it is designed as an equal opportunity offense but no one ever seems to be in position to take advantage of it. I know a lot of teams start with some screening action up top, ours just seems to last for the majority of the shot clock. Btw, I'm happy we won the game.

 

[evmore]

Tyler days of playing in obscurity are over. Especially with Boutnight out and just off Big East player of the week - he will now get defensive attention. We will see if he is clever enough to create scoring opportunities. He made a couple of 3’s in the first half but needs more consistency.

Probably the surprise of the game is that we got out rebounded. Given our difficulty scoring we need to win in this category. We also had more turnovers than assists, a metric Chief watches.

While we got out to an 11 point lead our offense isn’t pretty and that’s been Chief’s concern when well intended Casual Fans started talking top ten ranking.

Again, we did a good job on Moore.

Josh played a step slow and a thought late. Several times he did not appear to be ready for the ball or a plan what to do with it. In the post he needs to create distance for his shot by using a jump hook with his shoulder creating separation.

Martin had a very good game but still needs to work at finishing around the rim. Chief needs to study better the reasons for that deficiency. It’s not readily apparent. He’s strong, has fairly long arms and plays aggressive. It may be a mental matter of concentration.

DePaul came out with a good run to start the second half. UConn was playing very tentative offensively and DePaul did not overthink their offense. I thought Whaley played with energy but not much focus or with awareness of where his man or responsibilities were. He was running around without much purpose to his activity and lost his man or was late to an assignment several times.
I would like to see Polley come in at 17 minutes mark rather than 15 minutes. Our offense really struggles. Gaffney is turning down shots while Cole is rushing his play on offense.

We don’t have an offense that can afford lots of turnovers, since our shooting isn’t that good either. Another game and Akok doesn’t look even remotely ready. Our half court defense is really good, and I think it wore DePaul down and led to the win. Martin had 5 steaks snd Cole 4.

A win is a win especially without your star.

 

[evmore]

We muffed the high/low entry twice.. Josh and Isaiah both. If they are both playing at the same time we need to exploit the mismatch & this is the easiest way to do it, so we need to execute this...

I completely agree w/ Martin finishing. My thought is that he plays so fast and hard that he has trouble slowing down at the backboard where touch is important.

AS is fitting in better than well.. his presence and activity level are huge for us.

TP is more than a catch n shoot player but he isn't able to get his own shot off the dribble so we need to set better screens for him, and he needs to work off screens better.. too much space between he and the screener in the first half.

With Bouk out RJ needs to look for his shot more than he is.. Currently it feels like he is looking for his shot only when bail out is needed. He has a great pull up game and can shoot the 3 better than BA. I'm concerned with BA.. I imagine its tough on him this year, trying to adapt and finding that his role this year is less than last year.

Akok is being eased into the lineup.. Dan Hurley needs to pay attention (more attention) to who Akok is on the floor with in these next couple weeks.. He needs opportunities to build confidence again...

 

[Chief00]

Yeah well said HH. It's brutal to watch our guards "walk" it up court get over with 22 seconds then be harassed by a defender who makes them back down and throw their first actual pass from the hash mark at 15-17 seconds on the shot clock left. Happened way too much last night and the inability for Cole or Gaffney to take their man off the dribble hurts that. Adams did ok a couple of times, was more aggressive but he's scary with the ball and just isn't a PG. I would consider Bouk taking it up against certain defenses and having Cole off the ball as it will be more effective. And the bigs have been ok until this game feeding each other from the FT line to the low post but last night yikes, awful. Whaley is a solid passer but had a rough night, the others just aren't that good.

I mean it's nice to have concerns after a win isn't it, but they will be magnified vs better teams if improvements aren't made.

Speed kills and we don’t have that in the backcourt right now.

 

[Chief00]

We muffed the high/low entry twice.. Josh and Isaiah both. If they are both playing at the same time we need to exploit the mismatch & this is the easiest way to do it, so we need to execute this...

I completely agree w/ Martin finishing. My thought is that he plays so fast and hard that he has trouble slowing down at the backboard where touch is important.

AS is fitting in better than well.. his presence and activity level are huge for us.

TP is more than a catch n shoot player but he isn't able to get his own shot off the dribble so we need to set better screens for him, and he needs to work off screens better.. too much space between he and the screener in the first half.

With Bouk out RJ needs to look for his shot more than he is.. Currently it feels like he is looking for his shot only when bail out is needed. He has a great pull up game and can shoot the 3 better than BA. I'm concerned with BA.. I imagine its tough on him this year, trying to adapt and finding that his role this year is less than last year.

Akok is being eased into the lineup.. Dan Hurley needs to pay attention (more attention) to who Akok is on the floor with in these next couple weeks.. He needs opportunities to build confidence again...

Still waiting for someone talented in slicing videos to do one so Chief can analyze how Martin finishes.

 

[Chief00]

Shouldn't Polley have pointed it out at the time with a code word , to make the person with the ball aware he was open? Players do talk to each other on the court. Quarterbacks in football call it out, like saying "Omaha" or some other word before the play.

It can't take that long for the ballhandler to process this.

I think the guards struggle so much just moving the ball forward - they are not seeing the court as they should. But, with no fan noise, there’s no excuse to not have good verbal communication.