Chief’s Briefs - SMU Edition

[Waquoit]

Imagine THIS effort in the first two games, could have been 3-0...
....oh well, on to Cincy ....

They had the effort in the UCF game. They didn't have the made shots like today. That's the difference.

 

[Waquoit]

Here's what I liked.

1. Keeping the lead during last 5 min of first half. Too many times a good half and solid lead were passed away just before half.

True, especially when SMU got the ball back with 7 seconds left. I was sure there was a 3 in our future.

 

[whaler11]

Hartford Huhwhaler hockey.

Chuck Kaiton

Good night from Le Collisee in Quebec City, your final tonight... The Quebec Nordiques 3, the Hartford Huhwalers 3.

(The NHL was a much better league when they had ties).

 

[Hurleyman216]

Good Briefs Chief...you should continue spending more time on “The Briefs” and cut back on some of the less popular content. Similar to our guys improving their defense tonight while cutting down on turnovers. More of the good and less of the bad makes the Yard a better place for everyone.

 

[Dibbie]

Hurley was really focusing on them keeping their energy and pace up when on offense. Each time he sensed they were slowing down, he pressed them to speed things up. Think that helped them be more decisive and aggressive.

 

[glastonbury50]

What did you think of the early Whaley minutes?

I think that thats probably not not going to happen anymore.

 

[glastonbury50]

They had the effort in the UCF game. They didn't have the made shots like today. That's the difference.

True, but they ran smooth tonight. Leading to better shots hence better execution.

 

[Towney007]

Well Jalen playing well makes a massive difference. We mixed up our looks and played intelligently in the first half - all things we just haven't seen in the last stretch of games.

I mean we don't rebound well - but I just don't expect that to improve much if at all this year. We just don't have that kind of ammo unfortunately.

 

[Coach J]

Quite frankly, the team connected the dots on what Coach Hurley has been emphasizing.
Chief believes it’s so important to have the foul advantage as I posted last game. In the first half we saw that. Getting into the bonus early while the other team isn’t getting those easy points makes the differences. Chief saw less silly fouls today, in part because we defensively handled the top of the key pick and roll action much better. When our defense breaks down and the other team has mismatches bad things happen. Unfortunately, we did not keep the foul advantage in the second half and our lead slipped at times.

Don’t forget the recent Jalen quote about feeling it, tonight he felt it. I thought Jalen played well, scoring easily while not forcing things. In part, we schemed so SMU couldn’t double team Jalen as much, another Hurley point of emphasis. It worked.

Vital and Gilbert knocked down outside shots. Shot 6 of 10 from the three line in the first half. I thought both played with poise.

Chief is still disappointed with our rebounding. That’s why we desperately need Bigs. Having said that Sid Wilson made a huge difference tonight with his shot blocking, which often led to points. It’s clear he will be getting more minutes and Polley less. Polley needs to value his minutes more and not put it on cruise control. When you do that silly fouls also follow. You are not out there to burn minutes but to produce with urgency.

Give SMU credit by switching to zone and mixing up different zones to keep our offense off balance in the second half. Chief thought they drove more, hence more foul calls.

Another one of Danny’s points of emphasis was to shut down McMurrary and they succeeded at that. A big key to the game.

Bottomline, when you make over half your shots the game becomes easier and you become more successful.

Liked " In the first half we saw that. Getting into the bonus early while the other team isn’t getting those easy points makes the differences."

This was a hallmark of the Kemba Walker and Shabazz Nappier eras - and they routinely did it in both halves. The fact that both of them and the others on the floor with them were exceptional free throw shooters made this a winning strategy.

Also both were very good at drawing contact, there's nothing like an 85%+ FT shooter going to the line for a 1 and 1 or double bonus after being fouled in the backcourt with 8 minutes to go. Almost makes it impossible to come back.

 

[Jimdish255]

Yes there were nice individual moments, but one Chief quote could have been the game summary.

"Bottom line, when you make over half your shots the game becomes easier and you become more successful."

It's nice when the shots go down.

 

[Chief00]

The best thing about tonight’s win was that literally everyone contributed in the fashion you expect
Except the fans.

I would criticize the inept XL management and UConn for failing to block off time while students were on break. Disney on Ice instead was given priority rather than the building’s key tenant. Better XL management would have scheduled Disney on Ice during another time slot. In CT, incompetence is too often readily accepted as that’s just the way things work in the public or quasi public sectors despite both being showered with money. It’s now time to change that antiquated thinking and hold folks accountable.

 

[Chief00]

Liked " In the first half we saw that. Getting into the bonus early while the other team isn’t getting those easy points makes the differences."

This was a hallmark of the Kemba Walker and Shabazz Nappier eras - and they routinely did it in both halves. The fact that both of them and the others on the floor with them were exceptional free throw shooters made this a winning strategy.

Also both were very good at drawing contact, there's nothing like an 85%+ FT shooter going to the line for a 1 and 1 or double bonus after being fouled in the backcourt with 8 minutes to go. Almost makes it impossible to come back.

Couldn’t agree more.

 

[Chief00]

Does @Chief00 see a lineup change with Sid entering the SL?

Chief has always looked at minutes and who plays late in a close game more than who starts. However, this starting lineup thing does matter to certain players and is a great conversation piece for fans. Anything that helps fan engagement Chief supports, even if it isn’t a big deal to Chief.

 

[Chief00]

Yes there were nice individual moments, but one Chief quote could have been the game summary.

"Bottom line, when you make over half your shots the game becomes easier and you become more successful."

It's nice when the shots go down.

There is nothing more deflating than to do everything else right on a play and miss an open shot. Knocking down FG shots and getting to the line and converting is a winning combination.

 

[Chief00]

Nice brief as always, Chief.

I’m not surprised the team shot the ball well tonight. It’s not a coincidence it came on a night where the team took better care of the ball and cut down on fouls.

Shooting is mostly about skill/touch, but rhythm and momentum are important too. It’s hard for shooters to get it going when the games are sloppy. Tonight had a good flow to the game for the most part.

Thanks and Chief agrees with the shooting comments.

 

[Chief00]

We gave up 23 offensive rebounds and they rebounded over half their misses. Have to do so much better.

The eye test told Chief our rebounding was bad, these numbers though are terrible. Another thing for the team to focus on and clean up.

 

[storrsroars]

Especially when the other team doesn't.

They were expected to make 8 on 23 attempts, we were expected to make 7 (with home court adjustment) on 19. We made 9, they made 3. That's a 21 point deviation. We won by 12. Hooray us.

We gave up 23 offensive rebounds and they rebounded over half their misses. Have to do so much better.

Didn't get to watch due to work, and while you can't tell everything from a box score, if SMU shot even 30% from three, it's a tie game. And while 10 TOs is great compared to what we've been doing, a measly 9 assists raises an eyebrow (not that we're great at that - 186th nationally at 13.6 apg). But hey, it's a win!

 

[JustbrewitMan]

Didn't get to watch due to work, and while you can't tell everything from a box score, if SMU shot even 30% from three, it's a tie game. And while 10 TOs is great compared to what we've been doing, a measly 9 assists raises an eyebrow (not that we're great at that - 186th nationally at 13.6 apg). But hey, it's a win!

From watching the game:

Our Very good perimeter defense played a big part in their poor shooting from three. Also, we did a good job of making their lower % 3pt shooters take more of the shots.

They did get points on many of their possessions where they missed threes due to the gross 23-6 ORebs stat in their favor. So it’s not just a simple “if they made 30% from three, it woulda been a tie game” kinda thing.

Eye test indicated we were in control pretty much the whole game and deserved to win based on overall team performance comparisons

 

[JustbrewitMan]

The other notable thing regarding the 9 assists is that we were abusing SMU off the pick & roll quite a bit. Two of Al’s threes were wide open looks due to effective high screens that were essentially uncharted assists. Jalen & Al also had some nice P&R-assisted drives for scores/trips to the foul line

 

[Kitaman]

A big step which I hope continues, was that I saw very very little 'hero' ball. Everyone seemed to stay in their lane only doing what they know they are capable of. AG did penetrate deep, but the outcome was never a turnover he was drawing fouls, while also enabling him space for his deadly outside shot. Even Tarin refrained from doing his circus medley. Just saying I saw a lot more discipline particularly when SMU was making a move in the 2nd half, cutting the lead to single digits. No panic in their eyes, and more importantly no sense of looming defeat.

 

[BuffaloHusky]

They had the effort in the UCF game. They didn't have the made shots like today. That's the difference.

I need to throw some cold water on the win while still applauding the effort. SMU tonight had similar shooting issues w/ us as we did against UCF or it would have been a different game. The last three games we were dramatically outmuscled and we have to hope our nightly effort negates our lack of rebounders.

 

[Storrs South]

Didn't get to watch due to work, and while you can't tell everything from a box score, if SMU shot even 30% from three, it's a tie game. And while 10 TOs is great compared to what we've been doing, a measly 9 assists raises an eyebrow (not that we're great at that - 186th nationally at 13.6 apg). But hey, it's a win!

The low assist total is only because they got hacked every time they got to the rim so all those assists (and points) were put at the foul line. There was good ball movement and sharing of the rock that is evident when watching this game.

 

[JB75]

- not many people mentioning it here but I thought AG was fantastic. Knocked down threes, drove well, made his free throws and played very good ball hawking defense. Definitely one of his better games.
-Jalen hit some huge shots and played very well
-Sid was a freak- dude trying to block everything. Love it. That bank put back and 1 was huge
-Carlton , Cobb and polley were serviceable last night. Especially Carlton
- still don’t kno what hurley sees in Tarin smith - awful free throw shooter for a guard.
- Vital was okay in my opinion. Only a couple turnovers Had a couple big threes but missed some open ones.
- bottom line: Gilbert starting to assert himself and Wilson starting to become a solid factor in games.
- happy cincy won vs Tulsa cuz no way I’d want to face them after a loss

 

[djct1999]

Quite frankly, the team connected the dots on what Coach Hurley has been emphasizing.
Chief believes it’s so important to have the foul advantage as I posted last game. In the first half we saw that. Getting into the bonus early while the other team isn’t getting those easy points makes the differences. Chief saw less silly fouls today, in part because we defensively handled the top of the key pick and roll action much better. When our defense breaks down and the other team has mismatches bad things happen. Unfortunately, we did not keep the foul advantage in the second half and our lead slipped at times.

Don’t forget the recent Jalen quote about feeling it, tonight he felt it. I thought Jalen played well, scoring easily while not forcing things. In part, we schemed so SMU couldn’t double team Jalen as much, another Hurley point of emphasis. It worked.

Vital and Gilbert knocked down outside shots. Shot 6 of 10 from the three line in the first half. I thought both played with poise.

Chief is still disappointed with our rebounding. That’s why we desperately need Bigs. Having said that Sid Wilson made a huge difference tonight with his shot blocking, which often led to points. It’s clear he will be getting more minutes and Polley less. Polley needs to value his minutes more and not put it on cruise control. When you do that silly fouls also follow. You are not out there to burn minutes but to produce with urgency.

Give SMU credit by switching to zone and mixing up different zones to keep our offense off balance in the second half. Chief thought they drove more, hence more foul calls.

Another one of Danny’s points of emphasis was to shut down McMurrary and they succeeded at that. A big key to the game.

Bottomline, when you make over half your shots the game becomes easier and you become more successful.

Chief, any thoughts on the charge our coach drew on the sidelines agianst our own player? Thought Danny had his feet firmly in place, although the flop was a bit over dramatic. Gotta love how he continues to lead by example.

 

[GuttyWolf]

I need to throw some cold water on the win while still applauding the effort. SMU tonight had similar shooting issues w/ us as we did against UCF or it would have been a different game. The last three games we were dramatically outmuscled and we have to hope our nightly effort negates our lack of rebounders.

We outrebounded UCF 37-23 and were 17-0 on the offensive glass.