Chief’s Briefs - DePaul Edition

[Chief00]

Yes! The Double Big, which was delayed due to the coaching Covid period but given time to practice in a week off got rolled out tonight. It helped us late tonight, but we need more. Tough to get second shots against this combo. Not enought but a step in the right direction.

Sanogo, Hawkins and Newton led our offense but otherwise we had a grand total of 1 three. These three shot nearly 60% and almost 90% from the line. Sanogo was dominant offensively. Scored with ease. Along with Hawkins our big two combined for 50 points.

Give Tristen Newton credit that 3 and 1 he made with 9:30 left was huge.

Despite a 20 point lead careless turnovers, allowing second shots and sloppy fouls, allowed DePaul back in the game. Give Johnson credit, he made shots tonight. Jackson played good defense and rebounded but 5 turnovers are unacceptable. He looks down court well and made some passes passes well in that context. But on other passes he tried for degree of difficulty rather than simple efficiency.

Suggest we start practicing regularly with an official. I recognize Danny may think that takes away from our aggressiveness in practice - / but we have lots of sloppy type fouls to clean up.

 

[GHSWolverines]

We need Newton to play like every game. This will take some heat off of Hawk.
The double big looked OK. Need more practice with it.

 

[Hurleyman216]

The high hedge was disruptive tonight as well

 

[Tyler2Rings]

Suggest we start practicing regularly with an official

Chief, I am available weekends if you put in a word with coach

 

[caw]

We need Newton to play like every game. This will take some heat off of Hawk.
The double big looked OK. Need more practice with it.

The double big was OK tonight. It isn't worse than having Jackson out there for spacing, but Jackson provides more mobility defensively.

 

[SaeHusky]

Can't play a 1 3 1 zone with the double big. They aren't quick enough. IF we go zone with double big it should be a 2-3

 

[coachn]

Thought that Clingan was a difference on defense .Open a number of times on offense but didn't get the ball.
Big guy is such a team player that he was happy with defensive contribution.
He's going to have to carve out a roll on his own. He's the consumate team player .He and Sonogo should have looked for each other more on offense. Does the team know how important to winning it is to have them onthe floor together?

 

[Letsgohuskies11]

Defensive intensity needs to be way better. We played like Xavier tonight, ton of offense, not much defense. I'm encouraged that we know we can score. We were so sloppy with the ball. Too many carless turnovers from bad passes, kinda surprised that they've become so undisciplined since the start of the season

 

[JB75]

Even tho a small snapshot, it almost seemed like having Clingan in there freed up sanogo more on offense when he got ball at top of key(ironically, the opposite scenario of people who were saying DC and Adama couldn’t be on floor together because it would suffocate the offense- interesting) Clingan seemed to clear the paint out for him.

 

[Scottobot]

I liked the double big. Sanogo looked good starting from FT line and driving to hoop. I like having Sanogo out there for offense and Clingan in there to clear the defensive boards. It also really clogs up the lane on defense. Against teams that can’t shoot 3 well, I think it will be very effective.

 

[Chief00]

Thought that Clingan was a difference on defense .Open a number of times on offense but didn't get the ball.
Big guy is such a team player that he was happy with defensive contribution.
He's going to have to carve out a roll on his own. He's the consumate team player .He and Sonogo should have looked for each other more on offense. Does the team know how important to winning it is to have them onthe floor together?

Excellent observations. We need to get the high low activity going and be alert to pass to the Big rolling to the basket. Adama was instoppable last night.

 

[Chief00]

Even tho a small snapshot, it almost seemed like having Clingan in there freed up sanogo more on offense when he got ball at top of key(ironically, the opposite scenario of people who were saying DC and Adama couldn’t be on floor together because it would suffocate the offense- interesting) Clingan seemed to clear the paint out for him.

That is exactly correct. Having Clingan in there frees up Sanogo. The tough match up for Adama is not the quicker 4 guy but rather a Big who has a lot more length. Adama when not on the high hedge treadmill moves his feet relatively well. In short, just the opposition of what the anti Double Bigs predicted. The Double Big stabilized the game after DePaul had gotten some second shot opportunities and made them. That immediately stopped.

 

[Chief00]

Defensive intensity needs to be way better. We played like Xavier tonight, ton of offense, not much defense. I'm encouraged that we know we can score. We were so sloppy with the ball. Too many carless turnovers from bad passes, kinda surprised that they've become so undisciplined since the start of the season

Agree, our ball security needs to improve. Surprise we did not have even more turnovers. I guess though the thing that stood out was they were unforced.

 

[ucp990411]

Anybody notice that with the double big lineup they no longer tried drives to the basket. The double bigs denies that

 

[HailUConn]

Yes! The Double Big, which was delayed due to the coaching Covid period but given time to practice in a week off got rolled out tonight. It helped us late tonight, but we need more. Tough to get second shots against this combo. Not enought but a step in the right direction.

Sanogo, Hawkins and Newton led our offense but otherwise we had a grand total of 1 three. These three shot nearly 60% and almost 90% from the line. Sanogo was dominant offensively. Scored with ease. Along with Hawkins our big two combined for 50 points.

Give Tristen Newton credit that 3 and 1 he made with 9:30 left was huge.

Despite a 20 point lead careless turnovers, allowing second shots and sloppy fouls, allowed DePaul back in the game. Give Johnson credit, he made shots tonight. Jackson played good defense and rebounded but 5 turnovers are unacceptable. He looks down court well and made some passes passes well in that context. But on other passes he tried for degree of difficulty rather than simple efficiency.

Suggest we start practicing regularly with an official. I recognize Danny may think that takes away from our aggressiveness in practice - / but we have lots of sloppy type fouls to clean up.

Want to echo the sentiment for Double bigs! About the time! Any doubts or questions if double bigs would clog up the lane should dissipate now. Spacing looked good and execution fluid. Imagine if we had this in our bag of tricks in the beginning of season, and sharpened in the cupcake games.

 

[QDOG5]

Clingan needs to play 15+ minutes going forward. The only way to accomplish is to reduce Sanogos minutes or go double bigs. So, double bigs it is. Clingan affects the game in ways that don't show up on the scoreboard. Last night for instance, Adama had a real good game. He had 25 points in 26 minutes. He had 9 boards and 1 block. His plus minus was a plus 5. Clingan scored 5 points had 9 rebounds and 3 blocks in 19 minutes. He had a good game. His +/- was a plus 14! UConn plays better when he is on the court even if he is not scoring. Bottom line we need more Clingan on the court by any means possible.

 

[ucp990411]

Eating my words on the double bigs although lets remember this was DePaul. Something the double bigs did on defense last is that it took away dribble penetration from the opponents guards. All of a sudden our guards are better defenders.

 

[gtcam]

I enjoyed watching the two bigs line-up but they seemed to work against each other vs with each other at times. AS was not willing to look for DC offensively and was willing to have DC do the heavy lifting on D. AS needs to use his time in the 2 Big lineup to work on that mid range game. AS hit his layups and put backs at a high level last night which is a great thing.

Not sure anymore where AJax fits in with this team. On offense its like playing with 4 players and on D he has seemed to lose some of his mojo on that side of the ball.

Nice to see Newton step up to the plate - hope it continues - the team still needs a pure PG

The Hawk is the answer. If he doesn't score this team is going no where
It will be so unfortunate if he doesn't return next season because he needs some fine tuning but to be truthful, he won't get what he needs under the eye of this staff. He can get what he needs working out with a professional trainer and competing/practicing with and against top level talent. He needs a NBA mentor.

One league road victory under the belt - on to Gtown!!!

 

[TeasenDonut]

The double big was likely only used because Karaban was in foul trouble and Samson is not going to be trusted by Hurley this year

 

[Chin Diesel]

Can't play a 1 3 1 zone with the double big. They aren't quick enough. IF we go zone with double big it should be a 2-3

The 3-2, which nowadays is a modified 1-2-2 would work best where the wings on top are responsible for getting to corner jump shooters. Having Clingan on one block and Sanogo on the other block completely shuts down the lane.

 

[Chin Diesel]

The double big was likely only used because Karaban was in foul trouble and Samson is not going to be trusted by Hurley this year

Whatever the reason it was effective for parts of last night.

 

[JustbrewitMan]

Clingan needs to play 15+ minutes going forward. The only way to accomplish is to reduce Sanogos minutes or go double bigs. So, double bigs it is. Clingan affects the game in ways that don't show up on the scoreboard. Last night for instance, Adama had a real good game. He had 25 points in 26 minutes. He had 9 boards and 1 block. His plus minus was a plus 5. Clingan scored 5 points had 9 rebounds and 3 blocks in 19 minutes. He had a good game. His +/- was a plus 14! UConn plays better when he is on the court even if he is not scoring. Bottom line we need more Clingan on the court by any means possible.

FWIW, I have a love/hate relationship with unadjusted +/-. Sometimes, a good looking +/- is actually due to the player, sometimes, they inherit it from everything else the other players were doing at the time (basically, luck).

Last night, most of Clingan's good +/- came in the 1st half. He had 2-3 very nice hustle plays, but I really thought he struggled on his bread-and-butter value, which is tough interior defense, and getting easy buckets.

He seems to be biting on pump-fakes much, much more lately, and letting short guards get shots up that have no business getting to the hoop. Oftentime, committing fouls in the process. On offense, he seems to have lost his soft hands for passes, and is rushing more to get shots up. He's had 3-4 of those "I got the rebound, I'm gonna toss it back to the hoop ASAP even though I'm facing away from the hoop and need to twist like a pretzel to shoot it" shots. Instead of pivoting, and either putting it off the glass or stuffing it.

Just observations. He had to hit the "freshman wall" at some point. I think he's working through it & hopefully will be back to earlier-season Clingan as we push towards March.

 

[HuskyHawk]

I enjoyed watching the two bigs line-up but they seemed to work against each other vs with each other at times. AS was not willing to look for DC offensively and was willing to have DC do the heavy lifting on D. AS needs to use his time in the 2 Big lineup to work on that mid range game. AS hit his layups and put backs at a high level last night which is a great thing.

Not sure anymore where AJax fits in with this team. On offense its like playing with 4 players and on D he has seemed to lose some of his mojo on that side of the ball.

Nice to see Newton step up to the plate - hope it continues - the team still needs a pure PG

The Hawk is the answer. If he doesn't score this team is going no where
It will be so unfortunate if he doesn't return next season because he needs some fine tuning but to be truthful, he won't get what he needs under the eye of this staff. He can get what he needs working out with a professional trainer and competing/practicing with and against top level talent. He needs a NBA mentor.

One league road victory under the belt - on to Gtown!!!

I didn't see what you saw on D. Sanogo was super active in that 1-3-1 zone because DC could cover the rim. The "heavy lifting" was not the rim protection. Adama was all over the place expending a ton of energy. My takeaway was...wow, he probably can guard NBA 4s. He's quicker and more agile than we give him credit for. On offense, absolutely DC was a decoy. It makes sense, Sanogo normally gets doubled by a 5 and somebody else. DC kept the attention of the 5, and Sanogo just mauled the 4 for layups a couple of times in a row. It was a mismatch and we exploited it. It wasn't personal or a slight by Sanogo, it's just what made sense. I really hope we learned something from that. Sometimes the "two bigs clog the lane" notion is a myth. The reality is that two bigs occupy two bigs, so your bigs are going to be one on one, but yes, one needs to get out of the lane.

Side note on what @JustbrewitMan posted on +/-. Teams are adjusting to Clingan. He's still an imposing shot blocker, but instead of taking a smaller Big and trying to score from the paint against him, they are running quicker guys right at him, and all too often he fouls them. He's going to need to get better moving his feet instead of relying on his reach. It's an adjustment he will make to the way they are attacking him now. Freshman stuff indeed. Teams are playing Karaban differently now too, he's rarely getting those wide open looks, and teams are attacking him inside.

 

[Rico444]

I'd like to see how the double big works offensively against a defense that isn't a complete sieve (DePaul ranks around 190th defensively on KenPom) but I will say it looked better than I expected. Sanogo at the top of the key with Clingan on a low block has potential. I wouldn't mind seeing this lineup for a few minutes a night to see if it can work against legitimate teams.

 

[Mr. French]

Even tho a small snapshot, it almost seemed like having Clingan in there freed up sanogo more on offense when he got ball at top of key(ironically, the opposite scenario of people who were saying DC and Adama couldn’t be on floor together because it would suffocate the offense- interesting) Clingan seemed to clear the paint out for him.

Exactly what I saw…but it’s gotta be in the high-low situation. When they run standard wing side pick and roll it clogs everything.

There’s some unstoppable sets out there in the high-low if Adama is making good choices and able to put it on the deck.

 

[Colin G]

We talk a lot about "double bigs" on the yard, and it should be used more frequently, especially recently with Andre's struggles. I think we should go to it more, and use Andre distributing from the high post. When he lurks on the perimeter we're essentially playing 4 on 5 when the ball isn't in his hands. If defenses are going to completely leave him alone, make it more difficult by putting him in the high post more. Play Andre as a true point forward, the position he thrives in anyway. Rotate in Clingan for double bigs. It worked wonders even if Adama didn't pass to him once, makes it much harder to double either of them. Playing with clingan also masks some of sanogos struggles defensively as a 5. Just need to do everything possible to keep Clingan in the paint.

 

[Chief00]

Clingan needs to play 15+ minutes going forward. The only way to accomplish is to reduce Sanogos minutes or go double bigs. So, double bigs it is. Clingan affects the game in ways that don't show up on the scoreboard. Last night for instance, Adama had a real good game. He had 25 points in 26 minutes. He had 9 boards and 1 block. His plus minus was a plus 5. Clingan scored 5 points had 9 rebounds and 3 blocks in 19 minutes. He had a good game. His +/- was a plus 14! UConn plays better when he is on the court even if he is not scoring. Bottom line we need more Clingan on the court by any means possible.

Good analyzes, you are exactly right.

 

[mauconnfan]

The bigs looked decent together but it’s obvious they haven’t practiced much of this together. No way 1-3-1 ever with 2 bigs or even just Clingan it’s just not a good zone for this team. Actually I don’t think they’ve practiced much of any zone until of late, they don’t look really efficient at any time.

I do like that creativity is sneaking into our coaches thought process just a bit more.

Reality is DePaul was very careless with the ball last night, they didn’t play well. The fact we let them back in the game somewhat even is still scary. This one should’ve been 30, but we’ll take it. Let’s see what’s next.

 

[coachn]

On the double big Clingan got shut out on offense as Sonogo and others didn't look for him. Couldn't believe how open he was and didn't get the ball. Heartbreaking. Basketball is supposed to be an unselfish team game. Its about time they realized it's about the team winning. Coach H it's about time you put a stop to this.

 

[jdb50]

I hope we see the double big lineup against St Johns.