Chief’s Briefs - Marquette Edition

[Scottobot]

Not normally an issue in our Big East play but poor foul shooting in a close game hurt us today, 60% doesn’t cut it in post season.

We did not seem to know our identity today. Our star Hawkins turned down shots and Joey C coming off the bench took the key shots at closing time. No knock on Joey but Adama, Hawkins and Karaban should take most of the key shots at closing time.

Our defense seemed poorly prepared and made bad choices. We left shooters open and we played left handlers as if they were right handlers.

I thought Clingan played well and our team suffered when he came out. Adama played well and tonight would have been a perfect double big night but we were not prepared to do it.

I thought we had learned that Andre would start the game by letting the game come to him on offense. Today he took a different approach and that led an Un-Andre type game that led to foul trouble and him being a non factor in the facets of the game he normally stars in.

One thing we limited was turnovers (9) but our offense seemed out of synced the entire night despite some good performances.

Our bench played well. Clingan, Alleyne and Joey over-all played well and totaled 25 points.

It was a winnable game that we did not win. Give Marquette credit for battling and hitting 3’s from downtown. We did lead the rebounding battle by 10, but they made 4 more threes and in a close game that made

As usual good analysis by Chief.
If we shoot 12-15 from FT we win.
Despite Hawkins having an unusual bad shooting night, and meltdown by Andre we still had 3 or 4 wide open 3s in last 2 minutes that would have won the game.
The loss highlighted the one weakness of this team which is the lack of a player that can find a way to score when nothing is working. I don’t understand why Hawkins can not use how tight teams play him to pump fake and draw fouls. Hawkins needs to get crafty at getting to FT line. Fake a 3, duck under the guy and draw a foul.
Karaban is the least tight player at crunch time. They need to run more plays get him shots at crunch time.
Clingan was on a roll in second half, why did Hurley pull him?
Especially with Andre in foul trouble.
Andre needs to attack rim for his points. I don’t like him as the passer out on perimeter even though it works sometimes. He needs to be on the baseline because it pulls the defense into him to block him dunking, which opens up the outside shot for the teams best shooters. Go inside to Andre and let him pass back out to shooter.
It seems like we regressed to January where Andre was PG hanging out on perimeter and not dunking the ball. It doesn’t work. Every time he dunks, he fires himself up and defense elevates to new level. Every time he misses a 3 he gets depressed and defense sucks. Get that man some dunks and we could win a championship.

UConn is the more talented of these 2 teams, yet we lost 2 out of 3.

 

[Scottobot]

I also think that Marquette doing full court pressure on Newton bringing the ball up the court led to Andre being assistant PG and hanging out on perimeter rather than in his “dunkers spot”. The pressure on the ball forced Andre out of position and that messed up our entire offense.

 

[hoophuskee]

Recurring theme losing again close
Don't know why Hurley is adverse playing 2 bigs.
The guards and Jackson got destroyed.
Sanogo should be playing more than 30 minutes in these type of games.

Bad coaching down the stretch - the last 2:14.

 

[Avon]

I do. Warm seat doesn’t mean fire. I think he’s the guy for the team, he’s shown annual improvement, multiple tournament appearances, and is bringing us our best recruiting class in a long time that should keep us nationally relevant for years to come. I have full faith in Hurley. I think the sweet 16 is our floor this year

But 3-3 BET and 0-3 NCAATs would mean a warm seat. I don’t think it’ll happen, but it’s my position if it does

That's entirely fair and reasonable imo

 

[StllH8L8ner]

There was a part of me that thought double bigs while playing 3-2 zone would have been interesting.

A lot of reasons why we lost but IMO the biggest was Marquette made wide (wide) open shots when they had them. We didn’t.

Newton seemed to be trying to get to the hoop but it’s tough to make shots when you have the ball in one hand and a defender grabbing onto the other without a foul call.

Some of Hurley’s in game decisions are questionable historically but last night was on the players. Ya gotta perform on the big stage. Hawk must have enjoyed NYC a little too much Thursday night.

I’m not going to harp on it but the reffing this year as been pi$$ poor. As in the worst I’ve ever seen in my 40+ years. Newt and Adama get mauled whenever they have the ball in their hands. If you want to “let them play”, fine but don’t call ticky tack stuff at one point of the game then let them mug each other at other points. Be consistent. Hopefully when we get to the NCAA tourney, things improve on that front. (*Says he won’t harp on it but then harps on it.)

I’m not as bearish (for all you fellow stock traders) on Hurley as some. The eye test tells me we’re improving every year despite some maddening losses. He has a top 3(?) recruiting class incoming. Next year should be really interesting if the recruiting experts got it right, but I’m still hopeful that we can make some noise in the next few weeks. Hopefully last night was a wake up call that you can’t have mental breakdowns in March. Teams will make you pay….
Onward.

 

[karstenkibbe]

This team looked like the indecisive bunch from the last 10 minutes of the PC game, just with a different type of boneheaded play from the day prior. Just a shame they wasted a great offensive performance from the bench. I agree with @Chief00 on foul shooting. It’s so critical in the postseason. The ‘14 team proved that. When Newton missed the front end of the 1-and-1, I had a really bad feeling about the effect on the outcome of the game, even though many minutes remained.

Andre’s play killed this team last night. There’s no denying it. Newton was getting mugged half the game, but there were moments he literally played like he was out to lunch. What sticks in my mind the most is the fact that Karaban simply isn’t getting enough shots. He scored 10 points on five shots. Despite the BS on this board about his lack of athleticism, this guy will go down as a complete scorer when his UConn career ends. The last few games, he had hit clutch shots with time running out in the half. It’s mind boggling that guys didn’t find him at the end of the game AND Hurley didn’t call a time out to run a play for him on that last possession.

Missed opportunity to grab a better seed, but I’m not dwelling on it. Onto next week, where I expect better results than our last two NCAA tournament appearances.

 

[Kitaman]

Why didn't AJ back down and abuse Kolek at the rim whenever he guarded him? That was an exploitation opportunity if we ever had one.

 

[NJHusky]

The last few games, he had hit clutch shots with time running out in the half. It’s mind boggling that guys didn’t find him at the end of the game AND Hurley didn’t call a time out to run a play for him on that last possession.

Exactly

Onto next week, where I expect better results than our last two NCAA tournament appearances.

Can’t do worse

 

[Kathy]

Yes it was - just watched the press conference

 

[Chief00]

The defense was mind blowingly bad, it’s was bad enough thinking we were getting killed on pick and pops, but 1/2 way through the game I realized they weren’t even setting picks. Just replacements , and we were still chasing ball with both players!

Good point, as bad as our shooting was late in the game, we lost this one on defense throughout. On how many of their made threes did we have two guys on someone, while leaving a better shooter open? But, also give Marquette credit, they made a few 25 foot type shots, even contested ones.

The lefties on Marquette also messed us up. We did not seem to make that adjustment.

The big city lights seemed to have the wrong impact on players and coaches. Our centers played well, but only split 40 minutes. They were a combined 10 -15 from FG (66%) and 6-8 from FT (75%). Compare that to 36% FG for the team and 43% FT for the team when you subtract Sanogo and Clingan out.
When all the analytics today, how do we miss understanding the impact of that simple math, all season long?

Last night our centers were 30% better than the rest of the team in both FG and FT but they only took 25% of our shots.

 

[hoophuskee]

Marquette cannot handle UCONN in the paint. No reason the last 2:14 to not get the ball inside. Even the last play/. Call the damn timeout and get the other big in. They are overmatched in the paint. Start the game and throughout using your size. You can see the last 2:14 that Sango was open and/or they just went away from him. Really baffling and poor decisions from both players and especially coaching.

 

[Hankster]

He took enough of shots but what I was disappointed in was that we did not seem to run stuff to get our star going using good percentage shots.

I agree, however, you have to admit, Hawkins was suffocated all game. Great defense. We had a few chances, didn't work out. The good news is we got the monkey off their backs. We had a streak, it had to end somewhere. Now it's fresh going to the dance.

 

[CONN78SEJ]

Not normally an issue in our Big East play but poor foul shooting in a close game hurt us today, 60% doesn’t cut it in post season.

We did not seem to know our identity today. Our star Hawkins turned down shots and Joey C coming off the bench took the key shots at closing time. No knock on Joey but Adama, Hawkins and Karaban should take most of the key shots at closing time.

Our defense seemed poorly prepared and made bad choices. We left shooters open and we played left handlers as if they were right handlers.

I thought Clingan played well and our team suffered when he came out. Adama played well and tonight would have been a perfect double big night but we were not prepared to do it.

I thought we had learned that Andre would start the game by letting the game come to him on offense. Today he took a different approach and that led an Un-Andre type game that led to foul trouble and him being a non factor in the facets of the game he normally stars in.

One thing we limited was turnovers (9) but our offense seemed out of synced the entire night despite some good performances.

Our bench played well. Clingan, Alleyne and Joey over-all played well and totaled 25 points.

It was a winnable game that we did not win. Give Marquette credit for battling and hitting 3’s from downtown. We did lead the rebounding battle by 10, but they made 4 more threes and in a close game that made the difference.

Chief, what I highlighted was all you had to say. Could’ve saved your metacarpals. I would’ve added, and Dan Hurley take note, Clingan on the floor with Sanogo, along with Hawk, Karaban and Newton, and the Marquette man to man falls apart rapidly. Even with only Clingan in the game and Sanogo sitting Marquette’s defense was stretched.

 

[FreeKlaiber]

"Marquette cannot handle UCONN in the paint"

to follow up on "hoophuskees" point....
1)their bigs were in foul trouble....
2)we have 2 real good bigs
3)we were playing a 2-3, so they couldve both been in the game
4)when clingan is in the game, on the block he makes things happen- i dont see Zavc edey spend entire game at 3 pt circle (OR THE BENCH!)

all of these are coaching issues

 

[Chief00]

As usual good analysis by Chief.
If we shoot 12-15 from FT we win.
Despite Hawkins having an unusual bad shooting night, and meltdown by Andre we still had 3 or 4 wide open 3s in last 2 minutes that would have won the game.
The loss highlighted the one weakness of this team which is the lack of a player that can find a way to score when nothing is working. I don’t understand why Hawkins can not use how tight teams play him to pump fake and draw fouls. Hawkins needs to get crafty at getting to FT line. Fake a 3, duck under the guy and draw a foul.
Karaban is the least tight player at crunch time. They need to run more plays get him shots at crunch time.
Clingan was on a roll in second half, why did Hurley pull him?
Especially with Andre in foul trouble.
Andre needs to attack rim for his points. I don’t like him as the passer out on perimeter even though it works sometimes. He needs to be on the baseline because it pulls the defense into him to block him dunking, which opens up the outside shot for the teams best shooters. Go inside to Andre and let him pass back out to shooter.
It seems like we regressed to January where Andre was PG hanging out on perimeter and not dunking the ball. It doesn’t work. Every time he dunks, he fires himself up and defense elevates to new level. Every time he misses a 3 he gets depressed and defense sucks. Get that man some dunks and we could win a championship.

UConn is the more talented of these 2 teams, yet we lost 2 out of 3.

I agree Karaban is one of our most poised players and we need both Sanogo and Clingan on the court together, especially since we played zone late anyways. Those two made their shots, but did not get enough touches.
Newton is our primary PG but given that, we have to learn to beat teams using the guys who are most likely to make shots other than through a PG breaking his man down.

 

[Chief00]

Marquette cannot handle UCONN in the paint. No reason the last 2:14 to not get the ball inside. Even the last play/. Call the damn timeout and get the other big in. They are overmatched in the paint. Start the game and throughout using your size. You can see the last 2:14 that Sango was open and/or they just went away from him. Really baffling and poor decisions from both players and especially coaching.

It was both player and coaching development opportunities, playing the 2 Bigs together and players getting them the ball. That would have opened up the 3 as well. It seems we were still celebrating the PC game rather than mentally adjusting to what we needed to do to win this one. Hopefully, lesson learned, but would have been nice going into this game giving Clingan/Sanogo over 50 minutes a game.
Donovan had an impact tonight and only played 10 minutes!!!!!!!!
When will we learn, it is March 11th.

 

[jorge34]

"Marquette cannot handle UCONN in the paint"

to follow up on "hoophuskees" point....
1)their bigs were in foul trouble....
2)we have 2 real good bigs
3)we were playing a 2-3, so they couldve both been in the game
4)when clingan is in the game, on the block he makes things happen- i dont see Zavc edey spend entire game at 3 pt circle (OR THE BENCH!)

all of these are coaching issues

Clingan had 5 rebounds and 7 points in 10 minutes; 10 mins

I’d there was EVER a time to play he and Sanogo together, it was last night, at least for a few minutes, in the second half when clingan was dominating.

 

[Drfla]

As usual good analysis by Chief.
If we shoot 12-15 from FT we win.
Despite Hawkins having an unusual bad shooting night, and meltdown by Andre we still had 3 or 4 wide open 3s in last 2 minutes that would have won the game.
The loss highlighted the one weakness of this team which is the lack of a player that can find a way to score when nothing is working. I don’t understand why Hawkins can not use how tight teams play him to pump fake and draw fouls. Hawkins needs to get crafty at getting to FT line. Fake a 3, duck under the guy and draw a foul.
Karaban is the least tight player at crunch time. They need to run more plays get him shots at crunch time.
Clingan was on a roll in second half, why did Hurley pull him?
Especially with Andre in foul trouble.
Andre needs to attack rim for his points. I don’t like him as the passer out on perimeter even though it works sometimes. He needs to be on the baseline because it pulls the defense into him to block him dunking, which opens up the outside shot for the teams best shooters. Go inside to Andre and let him pass back out to shooter.
It seems like we regressed to January where Andre was PG hanging out on perimeter and not dunking the ball. It doesn’t work. Every time he dunks, he fires himself up and defense elevates to new level. Every time he misses a 3 he gets depressed and defense sucks. Get that man some dunks and we could win a championship.

UConn is the more talented of these 2 teams, yet we lost 2 out of 3.

andre only played 15 minutes. That was a problem. Him committing silly fouls was a problem, not him as a passer on the perimeter or not running the baseline. He didn’t play enough to get into a rhythm. Bad fouls are on him, but he didn’t

Recurring theme losing again close
Don't know why Hurley is adverse playing 2 bigs.
The guards and Jackson got destroyed.
Sanogo should be playing more than 30 minutes in these type of games.

Bad coaching down the stretch - the last 2:14.

wrong
wrong
wrong
wrong

wrong

 

[Drfla]

Good point, as bad as our shooting was late in the game, we lost this one on defense throughout. On how many of their made threes did we have two guys on someone, while leaving a better shooter open? But, also give Marquette credit, they made a few 25 foot type shots, even contested ones.

The lefties on Marquette also messed us up. We did not seem to make that adjustment.

The big city lights seemed to have the wrong impact on players and coaches. Our centers played well, but only split 40 minutes. They were a combined 10 -15 from FG (66%) and 6-8 from FT (75%). Compare that to 36% FG for the team and 43% FT for the team when you subtract Sanogo and Clingan out.
When all the analytics today, how do we miss understanding the impact of that simple math, all season long?

Last night our centers were 30% better than the rest of the team in both FG and FT but they only took 25% of our shots.

The problem was that one of our centers couldn’t guard a lamp post last night.

 

[FreeKlaiber]

i love when they mic dannys huddles:

especially when he spent first bit imploring team to listen to only him, and then was interrupted by karaban lol

we missed a possible great coaching adjustment, like when he told the team that marquettes stifling defense at start couldnt possibly continue (it did- instead of telling them to start looking for backscreens, or penetrate their overplay or helping hawkins get prosper off him all night)

 

[Hunt for 7]

This team looked like the indecisive bunch from the last 10 minutes of the PC game, just with a different type of boneheaded play from the day prior. Just a shame they wasted a great offensive performance from the bench. I agree with @Chief00 on foul shooting. It’s so critical in the postseason. The ‘14 team proved that. When Newton missed the front end of the 1-and-1, I had a really bad feeling about the effect on the outcome of the game, even though many minutes remained.

Andre’s play killed this team last night. There’s no denying it. Newton was getting mugged half the game, but there were moments he literally played like he was out to lunch. What sticks in my mind the most is the fact that Karaban simply isn’t getting enough shots. He scored 10 points on five shots. Despite the BS on this board about his lack of athleticism, this guy will go down as a complete scorer when his UConn career ends. The last few games, he had hit clutch shots with time running out in the half. It’s mind boggling that guys didn’t find him at the end of the game AND Hurley didn’t call a time out to run a play for him on that last possession.

Missed opportunity to grab a better seed, but I’m not dwelling on it. Onto next week, where I expect better results than our last two NCAA tournament appearances.

AK is now my favorite player on the team. If we need a three to win the game I want AK to take it. He is a winner. And his athleticism is way understated. Maybe he is the next true UConn alpha that gives us the right type of leadership. When one of your captains AJ can’t control his emotions enough to stay on the floor because he is playing wack a mole defense and the other Sanogo although playing well on offensive is pointing and blaming teammates for his lack of defensive then getting yelled at by the coach….how do you win close games. Answer you don’t. Stop blaming Hurley he made good moves tonight the players lost this game not the coach.

 

[mauconnfan]

Danny did a good job finally going to zone it worked for the most part, much better than our man for sure. But the opportunity to shove it down their throats in the interior was there. I mean you went to zone on D and yet Marquette is still beating you up on the perimeter with good defense, making for tough shots. So how do you change that? Throw 7’2 and 6’9 on block and make them double down if they can’t stop the bigs. Add to that they had a bunch of guys with 4 fouls time to isolate AK on Kolek down low when he was guarding him and take it to the rim, he backs off or potentially gets number 5.

Too much weave for me make them uncomfortable on D throw a different look at them. The zone was working what better time for 2 bigs?

 

[MTBingNinja]

Joey took shots because he wasn't afraid.

We have a good team but not a clutch team. No one WANTED the last shot. It was forced on Hawkins.

Whished Karaban took a few more 3-pointers

 

[Hunt for 7]

i love when they mic dannys huddles:

especially when he spent first bit imploring team to listen to only him, and then was interrupted by karaban lol

we missed a possible great coaching adjustment, like when he told the team that marquettes stifling defense at start couldnt possibly continue (it did- instead of telling them to start looking for backscreens, or penetrate their overplay or helping hawkins get prosper off him all night)

Well AK was more accurate than what Hurley was saying. Not only did Marquette maintain the defensive pressure they increased it. That was just a wrong read and probably gave the team the wrong thought process. I understand what he was trying to do but he just used the wrong example. I agree there should have been more back door cuts as they were overplaying everything and we never made the right offensive adjustment. But we still lost because we missed four wide open threes that were taken by our best shooters,

 

[DMIL]

This one actually felt different for me. The other ones felt like TOs and fouls cost UConn the game. Tonight it was shooting. Still fumbled opportunities but it wasn't the same IMO. Before it was literally throwing the ball away, tonight was just missing shots.

I understand your perspective here. What I mean by too familiar is losing in the quarterfinals of the BET. A game that was winnable with a team that was talented enough to win the BET. We are all looking for those breakthrough wins, some different outcomes when it matters. The NCAAs will be the last opportunity for some of these guys to change the narrative. We all, at this point, are expecting deep tourney runs whether it’s BET or NCAAs.