Chief’s Briefs - PC Edition

[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 Dan Hurley 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 Dan Hurley 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 Dan Hurley 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. Dan Hurley 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 Dan Hurley 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 Dan Hurley at all- missed passes, failed catches, not grabbing rebounds and not recognizing the hot 3 pt shooter and leaving him open. Dan Hurley 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.

 

[huskypantz]

Yeah steakhouse was a metaphor….

Ahhhhhh, so he had beef with someone. Got it.

 

[Conndog]

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

Too many games UConn starts to rack up fouls, especially in 2nd half, which puts other team in bonus early. Don’t know why this is happening, but it’s going to hurt us one of these games.

 

[alphasigko]

To quote Yogi, the last 10 minutes of yesterday's game was "deja vu all over again", while appearing to watch a replay of the 2nd half of the 1st SH game: complete breakdown in offense including bad passes resulting in TOs, missed shots, hack fouls by PC not being called, and missed contested rebounds/loose balls; all resulting in another loss of 17 points in about 7 minutes.

Needless to say I was screaming at the TV while watching in astonishment. Thankfully they had a 26 point lead, righted the ship and prevailed.

On to Marquette later today.... GO HUSKIES!

 

[MTBingNinja]

I didn’t like how early Hurley started pumping the brakes on the team to start killing the clock. Took the team out of their momentum and started playing too conservative. I can see where he wanted to save their legs a bit. But playing conservative and tentative aren’t a good recipe. ….survive and advance. But would rather dominate and advance.

It’s a W. 6:30 boyz!!!!!!

 

[Tiamat7]

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.

"The only advantage to bias officiating is it took off time on the intentional fouls. "

Can we please just stop with the incessant commentary on 'biased officiating '?! It doesn't add any value to the discussion, and we can do better as UConn fans. Beyond that, I always enjoy reading your briefs.

 

[ucp990411]

You guys that think we should call time outs every time something goes south. You do realize that each team gets 4 time outs per game and one needs to be called in the first half. And a good coach should save one for end game situations.

 

[Chief00]

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

That is the thing that tapers my March optimism. And of course, one of them was a guy standing out of bounds when he received a pass. George Blaney years ago now, said he never recalled doing that as a player, how does that happen at least once per game?

The other thing is, the best pass is one that’s caught and leads to a score. You don’t get extra points for degree of difficulty.

 

[Chief00]

"The only advantage to bias officiating is it took off time on the intentional fouls. "

Can we please just stop with the incessant commentary on 'biased officiating '?! It doesn't add any value to the discussion, and we can do better as UConn fans. Beyond that, I always enjoy reading your briefs.

Until it changes in the numbers, you will hear it from me. Danny changed several games ago now and it is time for some integrity not personal animosity by the stripes. Very unprofessional.

 

[AzHusky]

I asked a question earlier in the season when there was a lot of guys stepping out of bounds about a change in the court, and was told that the 3 point line was moved closer to the side line and I believe it is causing guys to miss judge the court.

 

[gsmooth]

I am glad UConn won, but I hated the last 12 minutes of that game and playing like that could get this team bounced in the NCAAT. Look at what Seton Hall did in their game at PC where they blew them out by 24. No I am not saying I wish UConn is Seton Hall or that Seton Hall is better than UConn, that's laughable.

But Seton Hall when they built the big lead of 20 + points at PC, they never took their foot off the gas. So they never got out of rythmn from running their offense and the big thing was they didn't turn the ball over (UConn had way too many). Also, they packed the D into the paint and forced PC to shoot from beyond the arc where they clearly didn't have their shooting touch, Shaheen and the players recognized this. This prevented Hopkins and others from doing their usual kamikaze drives into the paint and initiating contact and doing their flopping and flailing to get foul calls and go to the line. If UConn did this, they would have won by 20+ as well