Chief’s Briefs - Maine Edition

[Chief00]

What left us from the Miami game? We got away from guys cutting to and crashing the boards. That and shooting poorly in a cold building yielded a less than optimal proformance.

What did we do well?
- I was impressed with Adams. Both his game and his physicality have improved this year.
- Chief was impressed by Polley’s approach at the foul line but he went away from those opportunities the second half.
- We created turnovers but we transitioned to offense poorly and bottom line shot poor.
- Bouknight continues to show flashes of what he will do in the future more consistently.
- Overall, Chief believes Gilbert is starting to figure out his role this year.
- Unlike some, Chief likes Gaffney’s poise. He is going be just fine.

On the down side, we really did not exhibit a plan against a zone. We will need to do that better going forward, due to our reputation as a poor shooting team. We probably had about the same number of assisted baskets as Maine and we won by 24.

A 20+ point win in a fairly empty building is what it is. Tough to draw conclusions other than we need to play better against IU. But, we did win the game we were suppose to.

Update: Just compared eye test Briefs to the box score:
- Only player with more than 1 turnover was Vital, who had 4. Gilbert has tighten up that part of his game, Vital needs to do the same.
- Two starters (Polley & Gilbert) and two bench guys (Bouknight and Adams) were in double figures.
- We missed 36 shots and offensive rebounded 22% of them or 8.

 

[Kitaman]

Winning by 20 with Akok barely scoring shows me something. We've got a team, and not just a group of
good players.

 

[Travelman6]

At the start of the game, all I wanted to see was Maine being held under 45 and about a 25 point win. Was not so sure after the first half but UConn stepped it up in the second.

 

[aburks41]

To beat the zone we need to stick Bouk or Akok at the free throw line and just feed them the ball

 

[HuskyHawk]

Winning by 20 with Akok barely scoring shows me something. We've got a team, and not just a group of
good players.

Akok only averages 6 a game. So we don’t rely on him for many points, although I’d like to see us use him more.

Overall, we were more sloppy than we should be, and went cold outside but didn’t work to get the ball inside against the zone. Was pleased by the resilience and they tightened up the D, toughened up and made it an easy win. Will need to be better for 40 minutes against good teams.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

Winning by 20 with Akok barely scoring shows me something. We've got a team, and not just a group of
good players.

5 points out of Akok, Carlton, and Whaley underscores your point.
A game like this tests Hurley's flexibility: patience, roster management, in-game adjustment skills, ability to motivate.

Year 2, game 7.

Looking forward to what gets learned for Wednesday.

 

[Jaker]

Hope Sid is back

 

[Mister P]

Solid 2nd half defense with the press, pressure and taking away the passing lanes.

Superior talent took over.
POG are Adams and Gilbert.

 

[mussels]

Seem a little negative on this Chief. They did what they were supposed to against an inferrior team.

 

[amidagoat]

All we need is for our guards to be able to throw semi decent lobs and that’s an automatic 1-3 buckets for Akok a game

 

[gtcam]

the bigs were awful at best in a game that they could have been imposing will
JC was not looking for the ball and all, including Polley, are way too soft going to the rim
They were getting beat on the boards
Performances like this from the 4 and 5 is going to spell huge issues in the AAC
I dislike games like this but important to play some regional games especially vs UMaine and the long history between the 2 programs - 98 years
Overall a decent effort by the back court and defensive pressure
Again, no answer vs the zone - why can't they work on it during practices???

 

[NYtoCT]

Seem a little negative on this Chief. They did what they were supposed to against an inferrior team.

We were outrebounded 33-24...definitley some things to improve upon

 

[DaveHuskiesFan]

We were outrebounded 33-24...definitley some things to improve upon

Tough to get defensive rebounds when you turn them over 30 times.

 

[Kenny11]

Our half court defense from the guards and wings was good. It’s not easy to defend for 30 seconds and stay focused against that crap.
Nothing else to really say except Gilbert looked good, Carlton looked bad and it’s so strange that Bouknight is usually our 3rd or 4th sub off the bench.

 

[HuskylnSC]

Hurley's face said it all. It's going to be a rough film session and O what a practice

I'm thinking it may be time to reduce Polly's minutes. He is more suited as a situational 3 point shooter/zone buster. Bouk provides more efficient production. Polly had 26 minutes to Bouk's 19. Time to start incrementally moving more minutes to Bouk. We might lose a 3 pointer or two in a game, but overall offense could be better. It would not surprise me to see BA and JB begin to take minutes away from Tyler Phommachanh and CV. CV would be great off the bench.

 

[Hankster]

What left us from the Miami game? We got away from guys cutting to and crashing the boards. That and shooting poorly in a cold building yielded a less than optimal proformance.

What did we do well?
- I was impressed with Adams. Both his game and his physicality have improved this year.
- Chief was impressed by Polley’s approach at the foul line but he went away from those opportunities the second half.
- We created turnovers but we transitioned to offense poorly and bottom line shot poor.
- Bouknight continues to show flashes of what he will do in the future more consistently.
- Overall, Chief believes Gilbert is starting to figure out his role this year.
- Unlike some, Chief likes Gaffney’s poise. He is going be just fine.

On the down side, we really did not exhibit a plan against a zone. We will need to do that better going forward, due to our reputation as a poor shooting team. We probably had about the same number of assisted baskets as Maine and we won by 24.

A 20+ point win in a fairly empty building is what it is. Tough to draw conclusions other than we need to play better against IU. But, we did win the game we were suppose to.

Adams is a warrior Polley scored the first 5 points of the game. Bouk is special to say the least. Also Chief I like Gaffney. He will also be special.

 

[Purple Stein]

We were outrebounded 33-24...definitley some things to improve upon

Maine also outrebounded Virginia and Washington — give credit where credit’s due.

With the depth we have and the pace we play, we’re going to run away from a lot of teams in the second half this year.

 

[uchusky32]

Carlton has to play better. 5 points from our Bigs against Maine just doesn't cut it.

Like the efficiency from AG today. Drastic improvement. Big kudos to him.

Bouk is so smooth. To Smooth Bouk!!

CV needs to play within the game. Played better in second half. But still takes some shots that he shouldnt .

 

[DaveHuskiesFan]

Maine also outrebounded Virginia and Washington — give credit where credit’s due.

With the depth we have and the pace we play, we’re going to run away from a lot of teams in the second half this year.

They turned it over 20+ times in both of those games too.

 

[Caronimo]

What left us from the Miami game? We got away from guys cutting to and crashing the boards. That and shooting poorly in a cold building yielded a less than optimal proformance.

What did we do well?
- I was impressed with Adams. Both his game and his physicality have improved this year.
- Chief was impressed by Polley’s approach at the foul line but he went away from those opportunities the second half.
- We created turnovers but we transitioned to offense poorly and bottom line shot poor.
- Bouknight continues to show flashes of what he will do in the future more consistently.
- Overall, Chief believes Gilbert is starting to figure out his role this year.
- Unlike some, Chief likes Gaffney’s poise. He is going be just fine.

On the down side, we really did not exhibit a plan against a zone. We will need to do that better going forward, due to our reputation as a poor shooting team. We probably had about the same number of assisted baskets as Maine and we won by 24.

A 20+ point win in a fairly empty building is what it is. Tough to draw conclusions other than we need to play better against IU. But, we did win the game we were suppose to.

We need to play better against IU for sure, but let’s not look ahead of Iona. They can play. Can’t have a repeat of St Joes which is looking like an absolute resume killer right now.

 

[Madmannsucks]

This team in recent years and earlier this year, gave up too many points against weak opponents. Nice change. The attendance...??? WOW. This is UConn basketball.

 

[Ts5034]

Im old enough to remember in the losing seasons of the last few years, especially in the Ollie era, we used to struggle to beat teams like Maine, Wagner, Columbia, BU, and Monmouth. That was always a telling sign how we used to struggle and even lose against the weak competition in November/December. We just beat Miami by 25, and Maine by 24. Things are definitely trending upward.

By the way, I had a funny feeling about this game coming out of the emotional weekend in Charleston. After winning Maui in 2010, our first game back was vs New Hampshire and we only won that game by like 6 or 7 points.

 

[Chief00]

Seem a little negative on this Chief. They did what they were supposed to against an inferrior team.

Chief wanted them to built on the 25 point win against Miami. Instead we played down to Maine’s level in many facets of the game.

 

[formerlurker]

"More than that but yep!"

2022 Recruiting: - PG Zocko Littleton

Top 50 recruit practically begging to come to UConn “I want to visit UConn,” Littleton said. “That’s where I really want to go. My friend Alterique Gilbert goes there and my trainer went there.”...

the-boneyard.com

 

[zepfan]

Carlton is looking soft again. Hopefully Hurley will light a fire under him. He is just not good enough to not play with a fierce passion. As a previous poster said, we will be hurt by teams in the AAC with a better front line. if he doesn't step up. Better shooting from Gilbert - good to see. I was at the game a few rows back under the hoop, that put back dunk from Bouknight was crazy.... he is quite an athlete. Holding them to 40 was a good sign - our defense should help us overcome some of our limitations up front.