Chief’s Briefs - PC Edition

[Chin Diesel]

The meltdown from 12 minutes to 3 minutes was 100% on peecee daring refs to call fould on every possession and the refs puckering.

Grab, push, shove on defense and just barrel to the hoop with head down. Locke was the only Friar who showed any skill.

 

[HCCForever]

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.

One of the worst was inbounding the ball from the sideline to the middle of the court in the second half. It was easily intercepted.

 

[Umami Zen]

How come Newton didn’t start?

Small message needed to be sent

 

[Scottobot]

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.

Re: Newton injury , up 18 or 20 at the time, Hurley should have used abundance of caution to immediately call timeout and get him out of game and have staff check injury.

 

[Hunt for 7]

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.

Agree I don’t think they should play together since it allows defenders to go under screens and the offense is not efficient. Wish it was different cuz Diara is Avery good defender, but both of them in the game hurts the offense more than it helps the defense.

 

[cohenzone]

The team is really talented but doesn’t seem to have a player who steadies them and slows them down a bit when they start to lose focus. Maybe they can get away without it. Maybe not. A coach can’t call TO every 90 seconds

 

[Hunt for 7]

Perhaps why Newton did not start??

His cousin Aaron Jones was in town something tells it could have been a curfew issue. Maybe Aaron took them to a real good steakhouse on Wednesday night

 

[caw]

His cousin Aaron Jones was in town something tells it could have been a curfew issue. Maybe Aaron took them to a real good steakhouse on Wednesday night

Then he needs to go to a "steakhouse" every night because Newton had one of his better games tonight.

 

[gtcam]

And the "small message" is?

Wink wink I punished you

 

[RichZ]

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

Bingo. The ability to burn clock is not in our DNA.

 

[jibsey]

St. John’s played tight to Marquette as PC did to us and both of those teams play a way that is closer to rugby or World wide wrestling than basketball. They go to the rim, push, shove, hammer you name it and get fouls called. We have a much more sophisticated offense with finesse and actual shooters. Marquette went 9-12 St.John’s 20-24 from the line. PC 17 attempts to our 2 until the end of game. Will this type of thuggery be allowed in the NCAA? The BE obviously condones it.

 

[uconnbill]

Way too much grabbing that wasn't called in the second half but UConn needed to fight through it better.

 

[Dove]

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.

Oh.

 

[gtcam]

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.

So DH isn’t responsible for making sure he has an adept ball handler. It wasn’t in AS’s hands in the backcourt when players were making cross court passes and lob passes. DH didn’t use his TOs to the best advantage and had 3 starters glued to the bench when PC was making its run. This team is fragile under pressure and it has been all year. No adjustments no plays just pray the ball gets in play and across the half court within 10 seconds. All the time DH stood with eyes wide open.
UConn played so well in the 1st half it was actually scary. In the start of the second half UConn came out strong but then the mistakes started. Yes those are not on DH at all- missed passes, failed catches, not grabbing rebounds and not recognizing the hot 3 pt shooter and leaving him open. DH needed to make adjustments but I recall no significant changes.
This time the clock was kind to UConn.
But a win is a win and to lose this game would have been horrible
Regroup and come out strong again tomorrow
BTW - the officiating was horrid and while I am sure it wasn’t the case, from someone looking from the outside it did seem biased in terms of non calls and calls

 

[HuskyHawk]

Classwork/grades is my guess.

 

[bcisco]

And the "small message" is?

Heard it was academic?‍♂️

 

[huskymedic]

Classwork/grades is my guess.

Heard it was academic?‍♂️

Alternate access assist <<

-> "Our culture is really important," Hurley explained afterwards. "It's a big responsibility in terms of all the things that you do. And it just felt like a small message needed to be sent to Tristen and Nahiem. Whether you're playing for the Big East Tournament or a regular-season game, you've got to have principles and try to teach some larger lessons."

"It was my fault I didn't start," Newton admitted. "I'm not going to come on the bench and hold my head down. (Hurley) told me I was going to get in there, so when I get in there, I'm trying to make an impact every time I'm in a game. Regardless if I start or come off the bench, I'm trying my hardest and trying to make an impact out there." <-

-> "I thought we did a really good job in the first half, just putting the pressure on them, attacking them, and when I came in, I thought I really contributed on the defensive end and made some big plays," said Alleyne.

As for the reason behind his discipline: "Just bad days at practice, that's all. We weren't really ready, that's all." <-

 

[HuskyHawk]

Alternate access assist <<

-> "Our culture is really important," Hurley explained afterwards. "It's a big responsibility in terms of all the things that you do. And it just felt like a small message needed to be sent to Tristen and Nahiem. Whether you're playing for the Big East Tournament or a regular-season game, you've got to have principles and try to teach some larger lessons."

"It was my fault I didn't start," Newton admitted. "I'm not going to come on the bench and hold my head down. (Hurley) told me I was going to get in there, so when I get in there, I'm trying to make an impact every time I'm in a game. Regardless if I start or come off the bench, I'm trying my hardest and trying to make an impact out there." <-

-> "I thought we did a really good job in the first half, just putting the pressure on them, attacking them, and when I came in, I thought I really contributed on the defensive end and made some big plays," said Alleyne.

As for the reason behind his discipline: "Just bad days at practice, that's all. We weren't really ready, that's all." <-

And? I still think it was most likely academic stuff. Alleyne has been better on court the last few games than at any point all year. Midterm stuff just landed, Butler benched two guys. Given our prior issues with APR, can‘t screw around with it.

 

[Hunt for 7]

Then he needs to go to a "steakhouse" every night because Newton had one of his better games tonight.

Yeah steakhouse was a metaphor….

 

[Chief00]

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

And in the last minute yiu got intentional fouls, so they don’t really count.

 

[Chief00]

The meltdown from 12 minutes to 3 minutes was 100% on peecee daring refs to call fould on every possession and the refs puckering.

Grab, push, shove on defense and just barrel to the hoop with head down. Locke was the only Friar who showed any skill.

Yes, that’s what happened and unfortunately worked.

 

[Excalibur]

Re: Newton injury , up 18 or 20 at the time, Hurley should have used abundance of caution to immediately call timeout and get him out of game and have staff check injury.

The officials should have stopped the game, just like they did when the DePaul kid started limping late in their game with Xavier tonight, and just like they do whenever there's a break in action when a player is clearly hurt.

 

[caw]

Yeah steakhouse was a metaphor….

I was aware

 

[Scottobot]

Watched the game again. Andre should not be the guy inbounding the ball in a tight game. He should be the guy catching the inbound. He is f quick, can jump, has good strong hands. All good for grabbing a ball in traffic on a contested inbound. Also, a close game is not the time for a mind blowing awesome but risky pass.

 

[mauconnfan]

Good post Chief. We were so enamored with our play in the first half we forgot how actually sloppy they were with the ball. With 4-5 less turnovers 1st half that 35-19 lead is 41-19.