Chief’s Briefs - PC Edition

[Chief00]

Both the UConn team and fans showed up at MSG today. But, the team showed up for 28 minutes and made turnovers throughout.

Having a 9 rebounding advantage against a physical team makes a statement. That along with 50%+ FG shooting and a defense only allowing 30% range shooting makes for a win.

A 17 to 2 foul shot advantage (before intentional fouls)! and 18 turnovers (some force and some unforced) made a 25 point blowout anyone’s game.

I don’t understand when we got up my 26 why Danny took out our 3 best players with still 13 minutes left and allowed PC to shave the lead to 18. What was he thinking? Rest the guys for the next game? Let’s win this one first!

Hawkins (19), Newton (15) and Sanogo (10) carried the scoring load. The only advantage to bias officiating is it took off time on the intentional fouls. Jackson did what it took to win with steals, assists, and passes.

 

[MTBingNinja]

How come Newton didn’t start?

 

[Chosen]

We got to stop fouling them and letting teams back in games. Wont work against Marquette. Go UConn

 

[uconntoatl]

This team is addicted to unforced turnovers and turnovers in transition

 

[CL82]

I said this in chat but I am so tired of a pattern where no fouls are called in the first half, and then through 3/4 of the second half fouls are only called against Connecticut, with refs moving to equalize in the last five minutes.

That said, it seems clear to me that this team needs to keep his foot on the accelerator. When it does, it looks unbeatable, but when it lays off, it looks inept

 

[GHSWolverines]

I felt they tightened up in an 8 min stretch towards the 3nd of the game. DH did a nice job with substitution in the first half. He got too cute with it in the 2nd half which made a 26 point lead evaporate. Nice job by TN.
Question I have is why he did not start?

 

[Fishy]

I don’t really put the collapse on DH necessarily - they started to pressure us and we do not have one guy who’s really comfortable handling the ball against pressure. Too often, it ends up in Sanogo’s hands and I think he turned it over three times during the 20-point incineration.

Bottom line…no one is good enough to turn the ball over 18-20 times and not have it kill them eventually.

 

[Ratso]

How come Newton didn’t start?

no idea, but it worked

 

[huskymedic]

How come Newton didn’t start?

no idea, but it worked

 

[GHSWolverines]

And the "small message" is?

 

[REB1094]

Agree on all points. When the guys try to burn clock by sleepwalking, they blow big leads. When the guys try to absolutely destroy the opponent, they go up big

There’s been an equal amount of both behaviors in the BE and I cannot figure out why

 

[huskymedic]

And the "small message" is?

 

[Spaceman213J]

This game was basically a summary of the importance of Andre Jackson and how much he affects the team. He was absolutely brilliant in the first half. During the bad stretch he had some really, really bad turnovers. When he values the ball and makes plays, this team is a force.

I do get why Hurley took the 3 guys out up 26. Your hoping the subs can hold down the fort for a few minutes and let you rest some guys. This is the BE tourney and you are potentially playing 3 days in a row. A rested team is a big advantage most of the time as you advance.

 

[Jay-Bone]

Even Joey C is hitting 3 in MSG.

 

[Hoops91]

Jackson and Diarra playing at the same time stales the offense so bad. I don’t know what Hurley is thinking. Newton has been fantastic during our winning stretch. I just don’t trust Danny’s decisions- sorry this would have been a great time to continue with the hot lineup. And yes subbing out the best 3 players was another head scratcher.

 

[Scottobot]

I don’t really put the collapse on DH necessarily - they started to pressure us and we do not have one guy who’s really comfortable handling the ball against pressure. Too often, it ends up in Sanogo’s hands and I think he turned it over three times during the 20-point incineration.

Bottom line…no one is good enough to turn the ball over 18-20 times and not have it kill them eventually.

I blame the first 8 points trimmed off the lead on very biased officiating, the next 4 points on Hurley for not calling timeout when Newton got hurt on the dunk, and then the next 9 points on some very sloppy turnovers. 3 or 4 time they just passed the ball to the wrong team. 3 of those by Andre Jackson.
But I give a lot of credit to the stellar play that built a massive lead, and their composure to knock down several big 3s when all the momentum was against them.

 

[SouleMan]

I blame the first 8 points trimmed off the lead on very biased officiating, the next 4 points on Hurley for not calling timeout when Newton got hurt on the dunk, and then the next 9 points on some very sloppy turnovers. 3 or 4 time they just passed the ball to the wrong team. 3 of those by Andre Jackson.
But I give a lot of credit to the stellar play that built a massive lead, and their composure to knock down several big 3s when all the momentum was against them.

Agree - we needed to get Newton out of the game during that possession. And Hurley's TO was 2-3 possessions too late at the end of that stretch.

 

[Chin Diesel]

Even Joey C is hitting 3 in MSG.

One of my biggest takeaways from the SJU win a few days ago is Joey C was making shots. Some arenas suit shooters eyes and I was very happy to see him making shots against SJU. Now we have a two game sample of Joey C making shots at the Garden. And he seems to enjoy feeding off the crowd's energy.

 

[AdamaNation]

I said this in chat but I am so tired of a pattern where no fouls are called in the first half, and then through 3/4 of the second half fouls are only called against Connecticut, with refs moving to equalize in the last five minutes.

That said, it seems clear to me that this team needs to keep his foot on the accelerator. When it does, it looks unbeatable, but when it lays off, it looks inept

Sadly we are more than deep enough to do just that

 

[Kitaman]

I notice in the 2nd half of games our passes are not sharp and more importantly telegraphed. It amazes me how we continually throw slow/lazy passes to men who are covered. Deflections and steals were happening too much.

Clean that up and we will stomp the field. It's our achilles heel.

 

[Umami Zen]

Perhaps why Newton did not start??

 

[Jay-Bone]

One of my biggest takeaways from the SJU win a few days ago is Joey C was making shots. Some arenas suit shooters eyes and I was very happy to see him making shots against SJU. Now we have a two game sample of Joey C making shots at the Garden. And he seems to enjoy feeding off the crowd's energy.

Joey C loves the energy when he hits the 3 in MSG!

 

[giddyup]

Agree on all points. When the guys try to burn clock by sleepwalking, they blow big leads. When the guys try to absolutely destroy the opponent, they go up big

There’s been an equal amount of both behaviors in the BE and I cannot figure out why

Every time we take the air out of the ball we get ourselves in trouble. Yet, we do it repeatedly.

 

[Palatine]

The team completely lost their focus for ten minutes starting with Newton going for a spectacular dunk instead of taking the lay up. Everyone say you need to play the full 40 minutes but it's hard to sustain it without lapses. You knew Pee Cee had a run in them. Every team does at tournamnet time. But the sloppiness and total lack of focus was disappointing. Scrappy bunch Cooley's kids.

 

[UConntLose]

I don’t really put the collapse on DH necessarily - they started to pressure us and we do not have one guy who’s really comfortable handling the ball against pressure. Too often, it ends up in Sanogo’s hands and I think he turned it over three times during the 20-point incineration.

Bottom line…no one is good enough to turn the ball over 18-20 times and not have it kill them eventually.

The reality is we had no business being up by 26 against a team as good as Providence in a Tournament game. It’s scary how good we are. But I think a lot of people were projecting a UConn win by around 7 points before the game. It’s just that no one predicted the game would go the way it did.