Chief’s Briefs - UF

[David 76]

I was glad to see Vital say down in the first and AG sat in the 2nd.Cannot let them play out of control like the last game. Gaffney and N Adams were fine and a lesson seemed to be learned.
Much better coaching.

 

[cohenzone]

Gilbert is confounding. He almost shot us out of this game at the end the way he did v St. Joes. A drive and dish to a hot shooter like Polley was might’ve made things a little less tense at the end. But overall great effort. Absent those early tentative minutes the intensity was there from everyone.

 

[Excalibur]

There was one Akok play ... that I thought we would see the reincarnation of Doctor J. However, he got a slight bump and did not finish. That kid has more to show.

Next time he dunks that ball.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

gaffney Is bizarre. It’s not that he’s just not hitting shots, it’s that he looks so panicked and overwhelmed. Good thing is it’s only up from here...

2 rebounds, 0 turnovers

 

[huskyrob1]

Need new starting lineup. Something to shock system.

16-12 min best defense and flow all season.

Stop forcing Josh in to being a primary option. It's like they want to be the Bulls in early 90's giving Cartwright a couple of early looks.

Whaley is very springy. Quick twitch jumping. Weight hasn't been bad for him.

Polley sequence of rebound, sprint to 3 pt line, catch, dribble and dish cross court is what everyone hopes of him.

First extended amount of time of Gaffney, Vital and Gilbert. Has potential- until teams realize Gaffney can't score. At least not yet.

Liked the press after Vital FT coming out of TO.

Also, non-breaking news. Gilbert can't shoot.

3 shot clock violations in first half against Top-15 team.

Those Polley run outs and transition 3's are why his rebounding numbers are lower than some expect. Hurley wants him sprinting ahead of D before it gets set.
I'm still shocked any times a jumper by Sid or Adams goes in.

Sid's outside shooting seems to have regressed, but on a positive note his foul shooting and concentration at the line today looked solid.

 

[Chin Diesel]

There was one Akok play ... that I thought we would see the reincarnation of Doctor J. However, he got a slight bump and did not finish. That kid has more to show.

I was also thinking Donyell in early 90's. Seemed like he had one of those arm stretching baseline one-handers every game.

 

[GoDAWGS]

gaffney Is bizarre. It’s not that he’s just not hitting shots, it’s that he looks so panicked and overwhelmed. Good thing is it’s only up from here...

I liked hurley putting him in the second half during legitimate game time (about 7 minutes left) he looks terrified out there but at least hurley is giving him some confidence, itll come to him

 

[Hankster]

Gilbert is confounding. He almost shot us out of this game at the end the way he did v St. Joes. A drive and dish to a hot shooter like Polley was might’ve made things a little less tense at the end. But overall great effort. Absent those early tentative minutes the intensity was there from everyone.

I am glad you said. You are 100% correct. He took those unnecessary threes with 3-4 minutes left, which brought Florida within 1 when we were up 5. However, I called a Uconn win right after Florida almost lost 3 nights ago to a much lesser team than us. However great win, guys played hard.

 

[Excalibur]

The difference today was defensive energy from the start. We got lost and gave up some open threes, but we weren't standing there with our hands down like we were on Wednesday. We are going to struggle to score all year long. The intensity on defense needs to be there all the time.

We controlled the defensive boards, or at least it seemed that way.

The guards took fewer awful shots.

Hurley did some nice things out of timeouts to get us some open shots. He's going to need to do that going forward given how limited we are in the half court.

 

[ucp990411]

I really like having 2 point guards in at the same time. Gaffney looks to me that he can play. Just needs confidence

 

[SwingDog]

Great win. Could have rolled over. These wins build more winning.

That's a very succinct and accurate analysis. They need this kind of win sometimes. Rather than falling way behind early and playing catch up, which we've seen too many times over the past few years, they were essentially in the driver's seat for the entire game, even if barely; and that's part of what makes this win impressive. You're right; they could have rolled over and lost their composure and ended up losing when Florida made their runs but they didn't. The gritty, grind 'em out victories should pay dividends as the season progresses.

 

[David 76]

We still went 6 minutes without scoring. Still work to do here.
But I loved the defense. UConn dominating defense!

 

[HooperScooper]

Can't believe they were 4-22 from three and still won. Luckily Florida wasn't much better (5-20).

 

[firstnline]

I have not had that much fun at Gampel in a long time. Not to be too nostalgic, but that really felt like the “old days”. It just feels like it has been forever since we played a real big game at Gampel. A win is a win, and the best part is our team is about to have a whole new look with Bouknight back.

Awesome, I just got back from the game and it sounded like HUSKYMANIA revisited.

 

[Purple Stein]

Don’t look now everybody, but there’s something on the way in Storrs...

 

[ucawn]

Don’t look now everybody, but there’s something on the way in Storrs...

Spill it lol

 

[3RingsCT]

Can't believe they were 4-22 from three and still won. Luckily Florida wasn't much better (5-20).

I’ll take the W, but there are areas this team needs to improve on if it wants to compete for a tournament birth.

1.) Free throw shooting. Wasn’t good today. Thats where you have an opportunity to put an opponent away.
2.) Three point shooting and three point shot decision making. Could have been costly today. Many ill advised 3’s
3.) Hands up on D. I actually think the D was decent today.

Florida is way overrated. It counts as a win vs a ranked opponent, and we haven’t seen many of those in years, so I’ll take it!

I think if this team can continue to gel and find guys to hit shots, this could be a decent year. Way to early to tell tho.

 

[jayteeman]

Awesome turnaround with fire all over. Wasn't Florida's best shooting day but that was the result of some hungry Huskies. The guys need to work on their alley oop timing....they were available and would have brought the house down.....but no complaints. This was one of the best games at Gample in awhile, the fans were really into it.

 

[Chief00]

James who? your asking a freshman to lead the team? A little early for that.

Watch and you will see - he’s been doing it in practice.

 

[Stainmaster]

Watch in you will see - he’s been doing it in practice.

You definitely have an inside track into what goes on during practices. Sure.

 

[Kitaman]

Hurley's message seemed to be in effect all game. Vital was measured, Polley was aggressive along with Carlton (a bit overly aggressive) even AG like Chief said made changes.

It was like Hurley told them "win my way or lose your way!". It appeared they listened.

 

[Chief00]

I really like having 2 point guards in at the same time. Gaffney looks to me that he can play. Just needs confidence

Chief agrees. He missed lots of practice with injury.

 

[Edward Sargent]

Very good write up Chief. I thought Akok looked great once again today, but still raw. What’s up with Gaffney? Has he scored yet?

No but I thought he played well

 

[Chief00]

No but I thought he played well

Don’t worry about Gaffney - he will be fine.

 

[HuskyHawk]

I liked hurley putting him in the second half during legitimate game time (about 7 minutes left) he looks terrified out there but at least hurley is giving him some confidence, itll come to him

I thought he finally looked comfortable and confident on offense. Flashed some really nice ball handling in traffic, for those who keep saying he isn’t a PG. His defense on the perimeter needs to be better, but he made a great defensive play against Blackshear or another big holding perfect position and forcing a short miss.

He was a good HS shooter, that will come. I’m hopeful that his issues guarding on the perimeter may be related to that ankle.