Chief’s Briefs - Iowa Edition

[Chief00]

I said earlier today this would be a tough matchup for us and if anything that was an understatement.

What did Iowa have a 30 shot foul advantage?

Garza had 18 points the first half. We basically had one big who could hold his own deep in the paint (Cobb). Unfortunately, Josh is not strong enough or athletic enough to hold his own down low.
There’s just no excuse for the number of turnovers we are creating for ourselves. Give the defense credit for some turnovers but many are just sloppiness with the ball. Lots of lazy passes. While we had that margin of error last night due to great shooting, we don’t tonight or most nights against good teams. Danny needs to fix this ASAP.

Our overall lack of size hurt tonight. Iowa did not miss many shots and when they did the offensive rebounding was there. Cobb was the one front court player who played well.

The ball movement was poor and resulted in really bad outside shooting. True, there were some really, really terrible calls but, we did not rise above it.

Iowa had a great scouting report. The Big screen in the backcourt to scare off Gilbert with his shoulder problems from applying pressure.

Cook was the mismatch neither Polley or Yakwe could guard. Karza just schooled our Bigs. Their two PGs played very well.

Chief would like to see some time for Kwintin Williams up front. At least he has the ability to physically hold his own. True, he will miss an assignment too often.

Hurley will learn but when you are getting the short end of the calls - get the T the first half not toward the end. Too late for any make up calls and we have been so bad - we don’t deserve any calls st this point.

One positive, we kept working.

 

[Horatio]

Out muscled by a bigger, older, seasoned unit.
Seemed tired out the box.
Refs really did make me feel like they determined the outcome before the game started. They were horrible but we’ll be ok.

Syracuse fans are low lifes

 

[Son of Robert]

We came out flat, and Iowa was bigger and played well.

 

[Huskybass]

The only way we beat that fundamentally sound team is in a track meet. They are simply much better in a half court game.

One positive though, it was real nice to see Cobb follow up with another real good performance.

 

[deedougie]

Give Iowa credit. They ran back on every miss and clogged the middle of the floor with three defenders which stopped UConn's attempt to attack the basket quickly and force UConn to play half court.

 

[Blaneylover]

Perhaps a let down was inevitable. After the high of beating long time rival (and nationally ranked) Syracuse, they were left to face unranked Iowa instead of the sexier Oregon. They came out sloppy, turning the ball over continually. They came out shooting blanks, missing their first 13 3's.

I am going to dwell on the positive. They competed. They fought and cut the lead to the brink of single digits down the stretch. Last year's team would have rolled over. This program recharge wasn't going to happen overnight. There will be nights like tonight going forward, but there will be more nights like last night.

 

[gtcam]

I thought going into the game that UConn would struggle with their height but thought we could out hustle them-based on being one of the few who watched them play previous night vs Oregon. They are too big and physical for this UConn team. Don’t agree with your Hurley T thought because the refs were not going to T him in the 1st half. They had the opportunity but did not budge. To say the officiating was horrible at best would be an understatement when an Iowa player fouls intentionally and raises his hand and the ref standing next to the play ignore it that’s negligence but the officiating didn’t cost them the game. Iowa came out with a plan and UConn didn’t plus the team was flat. Hurley was outcoached but he will learn plus he has to get more physical players. Happy they beat Cuse but not happy with the plan and for the most part the effort tonight Let’s learn and go forward.

 

[Husk04ies]

Those cuse fans taunting Jalen was absolute bs. Adults who should know better screaming at a 21 year old kid. And their team not even playing.....

 

[jdb50]

Every guard had an off night from the field and the line. Positives are we kept playing as a team and did not wind up with any hero ball behavior from our returning players. Cobb continued to convert on offense and Jalen continued to play D. Despite the player frustration with the refs they let Hurley handle it for the most part. Good discipline by the players.

 

[bazz&boujee]

chief keeps it real. only dude to criticize williams dunk shows but calls for him to get minutes. i agree chiefy

 

[Chief00]

chief keeps it real. only dude to criticize williams dunk shows but calls for him to get minutes. i agree chiefy

The reason Chief wants him to get minutes is due to his ability to play physically and is not due to his dunkshow.

 

[bazz&boujee]

The reason Chief wants him to get minutes is due to his ability to play physically and is not due to his dunkshow.

yeah big body and can get boards. a breakaway to ignite the crowd never hurt either ;

 

[AdamaNation]

His

The reason Chief wants him to get minutes is due to his ability to play physically and is not due to his dunkshow.

dunk show pride +toughness would have made 25 think twice. Those Alaska folks don’t play.

 

[InKembaITrust]

They played a weird 1-3-1 defense the majority of the time that we simply could not figure out.

It really slowed down and frustrated our guards

 

[Danzz]

Have to give Iowa credit for playing excellent D. They were stronger and used their strength to push our bigs around. There is a downside to playing 3-4 guards and tonight Iowa exploited it. For the most part Iowa stayed in touch with our shooters (especially Jalen) and that is the biggest reason our outside shooting % was bad.
While all this is true we really beat ourselves with unforced turnovers. As Chief said Hurley has to fix this. Disagree on Kwintin. He gets beat off the dribble too easily and I believe the reason he isn't getting much PT is because of his defense. The coaches see these kids in practice everyday.
The positives we can take away from this tournament far out way the negatives. We saw intensity on defense that was lacking the past few years and the emergence of Cobb as a big who can finish inside. Eric played well in both games.
They never gave up. We are better this year and we will win more games but we will also have some stinkers along the way. The Huskies are a work in progress and we will be a much better team latter in the season.

 

[Chief00]

Against a good team, and that’s when it matters, Eric is our best big (by a lot). The scary thing is that he is a senior. That’s why recruiting multiple Bigs is our top priority. Without Eric we lose against Cuse and get blown out by 30 - 40 points last night. You simply need a physical presence on the blocks.

 

[ASweet3781]

I just watched the replay and agree with most of what you said.

Both teams came out flat but Iowa built a lead due to an onslaught of calls against us. Apparently Gilbert has forgotten how to dribble without traveling. That was the time to get the T. To put the refs on notice and wake up the team.

A lot of people focus on our front court but i was really disappointed in all of the guards. They could not figure out Iowa's D, missed layups, missed their first 14 3's, and turned it over. The guards are supposed to be the strength of our team. Jalen's picture should have been on a milk carton when the game was being decided in the first half. That can't happen. Most of the guards got their points late. Really really bad game for them.

Hope they don't let this loss boomerang like they did in years past. Use the next 3 games to get better and than try again vs Arizona. I'm just so sick and tired of being blown out by teams. I don't even think Iowa was playing an A game. And I really want Hurley's post targets to commit. Tired of being bullied by teams.

 

[Ukonnfan]

Gilbert had a tough game. Box score doesn’t show it. He had many more than 4 turnovers that i saw. Many wrong decisions with the ball. He’ll improve i hope. They will watch the film. They will get better. Hopefully this loss will help build some grit. Refs had a tough game as well. Hope they improve too...liking Eric Cobb. ...If he listens to Danny and acts on it, he can be a force as the season goes.

 

[jibsey]

Those cuse fans taunting Jalen was absolute bs. Adults who should know better screaming at a 21 year old kid. And their team not even playing.....

Cmon, those 60 years olds have nothing plus they have to live in Syracuse. Anyone who has to live there is one moment from throwing themselves off a bridge to end it all.

 

[Hankster]

Not blaming the ref's however, the foul's should go both ways while driving to the basket. We got our first foul 10 seconds into the 2nd half. Second foul less than one minute later. Hurley had a b****h about the difference in the whistle. Getting T'ed was another thing. Kind of took the shine out of beating the Cuse. Beating the Orange was a huge win. However, they lost another to Oregon and could be going down fast. I hope not, falling out of the T25 would not be such a huge win. My opinion only.

Cook scored at will. Did he miss a layup? It was amazing to watch him use the glass on almost all his drives. Layups from 10 feet out. I thought Garza was unconscious the first half.

Having a bad shooting night happens. But air balls and clunkers did not help the picture.

Iowa had what we call bigs. All beef. Cobb is doing very good and will only get better. What a fighter. But, maybe he should of lost 20 rather than 40 pounds? We have height but not the "built like a brick S***house"

UCF lost to Florida International. It happens. Our schedule looks easy for the next 5 games I believe. Something to build on.

 

[huskyrob1]

I said earlier today this would be a tough matchup for us and if anything that was an understatement.

What did Iowa have a 30 shot foul advantage?

Garza had 18 points the first half. We basically had one big who could hold his own deep in the paint (Cobb). Unfortunately, Josh is not strong enough or athletic enough to hold his own down low.
There’s just no excuse for the number of turnovers we are creating for ourselves. Give the defense credit for some turnovers but many are just sloppiness with the ball. Lots of lazy passes. While we had that margin of error last night due to great shooting, we don’t tonight or most nights against good teams. Danny needs to fix this ASAP.

Our overall lack of size hurt tonight. Iowa did not miss many shots and when they did the offensive rebounding was there. Cobb was the one front court player who played well.

The ball movement was poor and resulted in really bad outside shooting. True, there were some really, really terrible calls but, we did not rise above it.

Iowa had a great scouting report. The Big screen in the backcourt to scare off Gilbert with his shoulder problems from applying pressure.

Cook was the mismatch neither Polley or Yakwe could guard. Karza just schooled our Bigs. Their two PGs played very well.

Chief would like to see some time for Kwintin Williams up front. At least he has the ability to physically hold his own. True, he will miss an assignment too often.

Hurley will learn but when you are getting the short end of the calls - get the T the first half not toward the end. Too late for any make up calls and we have been so bad - we don’t deserve any calls st this point.

One positive, we kept working.

We used to have bigs like Iowa had, Josh Boone, Jake Voskul, Ed Nelson, Okafor, Travis Knight, and few more I'm forgetting.

Garza was a highly recruited player, turned down offers from Notre Dame and Georgia. He's only a sophomore and has almost three more seasons as a Hawkeye.

 

[Chief00]

I think the way the refs really hurt us was to take our pressure defense off the table because they weren’t going to allow it.

Occasionally, you are going to run into these types of crews - do we develop an alternative type of game - or do we just go with it?

Chief couldn’t help but think about the Pitt teams which killed it in the Big East but then almost every year would run into a referee crew from a different part of the country, who wouldn’t allow that level of aggressive defense.

Chief said before the game if they could get it to their Bigs in the right spots it would be a long night.

The disparity on how the refs called driving to the hoop contact fouls and travels was really perplexing and hard to explain.

 

[djct1999]

I think the way the refs really hurt us was to take our pressure defense off the table because they weren’t going to allow it.

Occasionally, you are going to run into these types of crews - do we develop an alternative type of game - or do we just go with it?

Chief couldn’t help but think about the Pitt teams which killed it in the Big East but then almost every year would run into a referee crew from a different part of the country, who wouldn’t allow that level of aggressive defense.

Chief said before the game if they could get it to their Bigs in the right spots it would be a long night.

The disparity on how the refs called driving to the hoop contact fouls and travels was really perplexing and hard to explain.

I agree Chief. There were a series of bad calls before the first tv teamout that completely deflated this UConn team. I won't go as far as to say we would have won otherwise, but the refs did impact the game early on.

How about the potential steal by Vital that hit the ref 3 feet in bounds. Thats a life ball, would have been 2 for the good guys, then who knows.......

 

[Son of Robert]

I said earlier today this would be a tough matchup for us and if anything that was an understatement.

What did Iowa have a 30 shot foul advantage?

Garza had 18 points the first half. We basically had one big who could hold his own deep in the paint (Cobb). Unfortunately, Josh is not strong enough or athletic enough to hold his own down low.
There’s just no excuse for the number of turnovers we are creating for ourselves. Give the defense credit for some turnovers but many are just sloppiness with the ball. Lots of lazy passes. While we had that margin of error last night due to great shooting, we don’t tonight or most nights against good teams. Danny needs to fix this ASAP.

Our overall lack of size hurt tonight. Iowa did not miss many shots and when they did the offensive rebounding was there. Cobb was the one front court player who played well.

The ball movement was poor and resulted in really bad outside shooting. True, there were some really, really terrible calls but, we did not rise above it.

Iowa had a great scouting report. The Big screen in the backcourt to scare off Gilbert with his shoulder problems from applying pressure.

Cook was the mismatch neither Polley or Yakwe could guard. Karza just schooled our Bigs. Their two PGs played very well.

Chief would like to see some time for Kwintin Williams up front. At least he has the ability to physically hold his own. True, he will miss an assignment too often.

Hurley will learn but when you are getting the short end of the calls - get the T the first half not toward the end. Too late for any make up calls and we have been so bad - we don’t deserve any calls st this point.

One positive, we kept working.

Lot of good stuff here Chief.

Their point guards played very well; at times they were both together on the floor in the 2nd half. The two bigs Cook and Garza are legit; they showed the current weakness in our frontcourt.

Our guards did not play as well as we have seen. Defense, shooting, ballhandling, Eric Cobb was our best player out there. One turnover in 23 minutes. 7/8 from the floor for 16 points, 7 boards.

Interesting stats: the boxscore reads UConn 15 turnovers, Iowa 18. 10 assists vs Iowa, 22 vs Syracuse. 9 more fouls than Iowa. Outrebounded by 12.

Isaiah Whaley needs minutes. Very good defender, rebounder, more playing time please.

Hurley played small ball most of the game; it wasn't working. We skewered our former coach for this.

These two games demonstrate to me the culture and team identity curve that this team is on. These 2 games show that we are in the process of becoming the team Hurley envisions. We played at a high level against Cuse with the mindset and effort clearly visible, but we were not able to sustain/reproduce that the next night against Iowa. I could tell in the first two minutes, never mind the refs foul calling, we did not have the juice.

A team capable of a tourney run will play with maximum zip night in and night out, the extra tough mindset and effort always there. I am confident we will get there.