This is a difficult Brief to write. The reality was it was a close game, and Georgetown arguably slightly outplayed us the second half. We are a team that somehow knows how to win games but too often doesn’t play with the dominance we had hoped we had.
First, I love it when Karaban plays a tight effective game, rather than try to be a high shot volume scorer. Tonight he had 18 points, shot 63%, including 4-6 from 3pt. He went 4-4 from the line, including two key foul shots late. He also had 3 rebounds and 2 steals. While doing all that, he became the player, who won the most games in UConn history.
Solo Ball was our high shot volume scorer tonight, also hitting some key shots. He led the team with 20 points, shooting 41% FG (7-17) and 33% from 3pt. While their approaches were different, we needed both Alex and Solo’s end results. Solo also contributed 6 rebounds and 4 assists.
Reed had 5 fouls,1 rebound and 4 points tonight in 18 minutes. His fouls came from poor decisions but also from the high hedge putting him in a position to fail. When our opponent misses 31 FG shots and 8 FTs and our center gets just one rebound - you know it would be a long night. Thankfully Reibe was the one productive guy off our bench with 10 points (5-7) but still only 2 rebounds.
What concerns me, despite our wins is we have not fixed many of our problems this season and its mid February:
1) An inability to inbound the ball nearly cost us the game tonight.
2) Our coaching staff seems to be in denial regarding that many of our opponents now have the book on exploiting our high hedge defense. If we can’t fix it, we need to at least give our opponents other looks.
3) I always say preseason depth, as reported in the media, most often is overrated. Absent Reibe, our bench contributed very little tonight.
4) Demary had 15 points, 10 rebounds and 9 assists. He shot 50% from FG and 90% from FT (9-10). Exactly the type of foul shooting you want from your point guard late in the game. Smith was quiet tonight but we will need him too. How does that happen?
5) The crowd could have been better tonight, but I sympathize with many who had to make adjustments to watch a 8pm game on Valentine’s Day. Again, a schedule will never be perfect but we hopefully also address some lessons learned for future seasons so our team gets the support they deserve.
First, I love it when Karaban plays a tight effective game, rather than try to be a high shot volume scorer. Tonight he had 18 points, shot 63%, including 4-6 from 3pt. He went 4-4 from the line, including two key foul shots late. He also had 3 rebounds and 2 steals. While doing all that, he became the player, who won the most games in UConn history.
Solo Ball was our high shot volume scorer tonight, also hitting some key shots. He led the team with 20 points, shooting 41% FG (7-17) and 33% from 3pt. While their approaches were different, we needed both Alex and Solo’s end results. Solo also contributed 6 rebounds and 4 assists.
Reed had 5 fouls,1 rebound and 4 points tonight in 18 minutes. His fouls came from poor decisions but also from the high hedge putting him in a position to fail. When our opponent misses 31 FG shots and 8 FTs and our center gets just one rebound - you know it would be a long night. Thankfully Reibe was the one productive guy off our bench with 10 points (5-7) but still only 2 rebounds.
What concerns me, despite our wins is we have not fixed many of our problems this season and its mid February:
1) An inability to inbound the ball nearly cost us the game tonight.
2) Our coaching staff seems to be in denial regarding that many of our opponents now have the book on exploiting our high hedge defense. If we can’t fix it, we need to at least give our opponents other looks.
3) I always say preseason depth, as reported in the media, most often is overrated. Absent Reibe, our bench contributed very little tonight.
4) Demary had 15 points, 10 rebounds and 9 assists. He shot 50% from FG and 90% from FT (9-10). Exactly the type of foul shooting you want from your point guard late in the game. Smith was quiet tonight but we will need him too. How does that happen?
5) The crowd could have been better tonight, but I sympathize with many who had to make adjustments to watch a 8pm game on Valentine’s Day. Again, a schedule will never be perfect but we hopefully also address some lessons learned for future seasons so our team gets the support they deserve.
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