Chief00’s Briefs - Nova Edition

[tentoes4rings]

Gilbert’s pass was bad but not why we didn’t win. We shoot 15% from 3.

The 15% doesn’t tell the full story though. The poor decision by Vital to shoot that 3 five seconds into the shot clock up 5 and 4 threes by Gilbert will lead to such a bad percentage. Gilbert did some things well today, but he should not be taking four 3s, especially several feet behind the line.

 

[kelde1wd]

What frustrates me, is we go from pushing, sharing, and running offense with purpose, to back-2-back possessions where we never get inside the arc and hoist something as the shot clock expires. How can that happen?

 

[mauconnfan]

In 2020 you have to be able to make threes at any basketball level.

question on Gilbert’s third foul: it appeared that he wasn’t even close to Gillespie and got called for a foul. I just saw Gillespie stumble and then ref blew the whistle. Am I wrong? Maybe it was my stream skipping and I missed it.

No you’re right. Gillespies a nice player who gets away with murder. Uses his off arm to gain separation almost always.

 

[jibsey]

The 15% doesn’t tell the full story though. The poor decision by Vital to shoot that 3 five seconds into the shot clock up 5 and 4 threes by Gilbert will lead to such a bad percentage. Gilbert did some things well today, but he should not be taking four 3s, especially several feet behind the line.

Right, it hurt in that spot but our lack of ability to make them in general affects the outcome overall.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

In 2020 you have to be able to make threes at any basketball level.

question on Gilbert’s third foul: it appeared that he wasn’t even close to Gillespie and got called for a foul. I just saw Gillespie stumble and then ref blew the whistle. Am I wrong? Maybe it was my stream skipping and I missed it.

That call was horrendous.

 

[polycom]

What frustrates me, is we go from pushing, sharing, and running offense with purpose, to back-2-back possessions where we never get inside the arc and hoist something as the shot clock expires. How can that happen?

we gotta ask Hurley

 

[Blaneylover]

A quick start, then 4 dead minutes at the end of the half followed by a good jump out of the gate in the second half. Later Villanova went to a zone and that challenged our weakness - hitting outside shots.

The three themes that killed us were allowing open threes after collapsing the defense, poor outside shooting and offensive turnovers. I thought we rebounded and blocked shots well.

Josh looked more fluid today - perhaps his haircut helped? Gilbert played better but CV took over the turnover machine. First half story was 10 UConn turnovers and 5 assists. Our senior guard Vital had 4 turnovers himself. Villanova was 6 for 11 from the 3 point line while UConn shot 16%. The last 4 minutes of the first half was a black hole.

Bouknight wasn’t strong with the ball. We also missed Akok numerous times when he beat his man down court.

Samuels and Gillespie killed us the second half along with good foul shooting. They are more polish and poised than our players. Turnovers consistently take us out of the game at critical times.

We battled hard but mentally did not execute. You can’t often beat good teams with 17 turnovers. We need shooters. Another missed opportunity.

I suppose Hurley will say this is year 2 of a rebuilt - being competitive against a good team but lose late in the game. However, we need to start actually winning games.

At this point, you can almost write the script for the Coach Hurley press conference. To his credit, he did acknowledge the fact that the ill-advised rifle pass from Al toward Akok down the stretch was a huge mistake that just can't be made. Without Polley, we don't shoot well. Hurley has said it repeatedly....when you struggle to score but work hard on defense, you are going to be in games but suffer some brutal, brutal losses. That is where we are right now.

My favorite part about the press conference was at the end when he looked up and said, "You better get us now".... He knows they are close.

As for the remaining 14 games, the goal needs to focus on playing some sort of postseason basketball. Beat Temple, UCF, South Florida, Tulsa at home. Beat Tulsa, East Carolina, and Tulane on the road. That's 17 wins. Pick up one more (Cinn, Houston, Memphis at home, SMU on the road...we get to the NIT. That would be fun and a real help to the program going forward.

 

[TRest]

He's good for what he is. A decent ball-handling kid who won't make too many mistakes while Nova's actually good players do their thing. Can shoot it some off the ball as well. But he's nothing special

I would take three of him on our team.

 

[Son of Robert]

Thanks @Chief00 , for The Briefs, a dedicated thread to air out the game. This forum has been missing this lately, and I for one am appreciative.

As for the game and the team, we are getting there. We should competitively be in every game from here on out, and I will agree with anyone on this board who stated that we really need to learn how to win. Those last 8 minutes, down to our final few possessions, we need to execute better, keep our composure and confidence, and close these tight games out with the W.

 

[housekeys]

While one can point to the FT discrepancy and some questionable calls, IMO, the officials where good. Compared to the AAC clowns who ref our games, they where much, much better. They allowed us to get physical and aggressive on a number of occasions, especially inside the lane (when is the last time we where so dominant inside against a good team?) There is no doubt, our desired style of play is more aligned with the way the refs in the BE call it, than in the AAC. Having said that, I look forward to bitching about them next year and beyond.

 

[LIuconn]

Looked like Gilbert was forced to take some late in shot clock 3s because of lack of half court offense and good Nova D. It's not like we're creating or taking many kickout open 3s

 

[uconntoatl]

I'll say it again, This TEAM is addicted to turnovers

 

[HooperScooper]

No you’re right. Gillespies a nice player who gets away with murder. Uses his off arm to gain separation almost always.

I think his opponents should watch Marcus Smart and learn how to flop and get an offensive foul call.

 

[Chief00]

Random thought but Did anyone else notice the lack of replays on certain fouls against UConn? I would’ve liked FS1 to show the replay of the block call against Sid, the pretty apparent no foul against Gilbert that got him his 3rd, there’s another that’s escaping me as well. Would’ve liked to seen a few of those plays replayed. Also thought that charge called against Sid was a tough call.

Calhoun always said Wright teaches his players to phony flop

 

[Chief00]

I'll say it again, This TEAM is addicted to turnovers

There is no reason for it other than guys not being immediately held accountable

 

[tentoes4rings]

he only had success against Gaffney in the second half and when he pushed off on gilbert. I know he’s well respected and his stats are very good but I think he kind of sucks. I’ve said this before and got roasted for it.

As you should have. It’s a really bad take. I’d take that kid in a heartbeat on our team.

 

[ucp990411]

How do you watch that game and come away from it saying Gillespie sucks? What game were you watching? I’m not saying he’s an all American or anything like that but he’s a poised, strong upperclassmen leader who can stroke it. He doesn’t make boneheaded mistakes and sets his team up for success. He’s certainly a player I’d take, kinda kid that doesn’t seem to get rattled. Weird take especially when comparing him to the play of our guards.

Doesn’t make boneheaded mistakes? I must be thinking of a different player that wears # 3 for the good guys.

 

[jdb50]

Game winding down and Coach took Sid out and put in Carlton. We then proceeded to not get the ball inside on several possessions wasting clock running weave/handoff nonsense leading to forced shots or turnovers.
Not being able to make 3's is a huge issue. Bouk has the size to be able to get the shot off. Sid had no attempts. Gilbert had way to many as Elmore noted.
Carlton had a nice game. Phantom foul on the 3. Tough miss on the hook late.
First half we had Akok behind the D more than once but no pass. Why no use of him in baseline as a threat all game?
Our entry passes to the post are not good. On many the passer would be better off shooting as we throw uncatchable passes. Our guards need to tighten this up. Our guards also need to throw passes for big men not midgets.

 

[Chief00]

One thing is true and that is when you can’t shoot the defense overplay the passing lanes and produces turnovers.

 

[willie99]

same people making the same mistakes, nobody benefits from this

listened to the game on XM as we headed to Boston to watch Kemba sit. Nova announcers, they couldn't get over how BAD Gilbert's turnover was with under one minute left

I obviously didn't see the play, but they did, and they had to mention how bad it was at least 5 times

I'm thinking, just another day at the office

 

[Chief00]

same people making the same mistakes, nobody benefits from this

listened to the game on XM as we headed to Boston to watch Kemba sit. Nova announcers, they couldn't get over how BAD Gilbert's turnover was with under one minute left

I obviously didn't see the play, but they did, and they had to mention how bad it was at least 5 times

I'm thinking, just another day at the office

One can only conclude, whatever Danny is doing to create accountability for turnovers, it’s not enough. It’s not hitting home and creating an impression. Ball security isn’t something the players seem to be concerned about. As has been mentioned, I think there is some relationship with having bad shooters, teams overplaying the passing lanes and our guys unconsciously figuring - why bother looking for the perfect open shot like Villanova does, when the guy will miss it anyways. But, so much of it is people performing a dysfunctional behavior they don’t seem to be held adequately accountable for repeating and to them it becomes the acceptable norm. That’s why seniors do it more than freshmen but let’s not fool ourselves, the freshman our caught up in it too.

 

[selles]

One can only conclude, whatever Danny is doing to create accountability for turnovers, it’s not enough. It’s not hitting home and creating an impression. Ball security isn’t something the players seem to be concerned about. As has been mentioned, I think there is some relationship with having bad shooters, teams overplaying the passing lanes and our guys unconsciously figuring - why bother looking for the perfect open shot line Villanova does, when the guy will miss it anyways. But, so much of it is people performing a dysfunctional behavior they don’t seem to be held adequately accountable for reipeating and to them it becomes the acceptable norm. That’s why seniors do it more than freshmen but let’s not fool ourselves, the freshman our caugh up in it too.

Kind of a delicate balance for Hurley though, isn't it Chief? If he harps too much on turnovers we'll spend entire possessions passing the ball on the perimeter and launch garbage threes with the shot clock running down.

Not generally a huge Elmore fan but I thought he made an astute point that our offense stagnated when we spent too much time moving horizontally on the perimeter. That hurts us just as much as turnovers.

Quite frankly, turnovers may be a cost of doing business with this particular squad.

 

[djct1999]

A quick start, then 4 dead minutes at the end of the half followed by a good jump out of the gate in the second half. Later Villanova went to a zone and that challenged our weakness - hitting outside shots.

The three themes that killed us were allowing open threes after collapsing the defense, poor outside shooting and offensive turnovers. I thought we rebounded and blocked shots well.

Josh looked more fluid today - perhaps his haircut helped? Gilbert played better but CV took over the turnover machine. First half story was 10 UConn turnovers and 5 assists. Our senior guard Vital had 4 turnovers himself. Villanova was 6 for 11 from the 3 point line while UConn shot 16%. The last 4 minutes of the first half was a black hole.

Bouknight wasn’t strong with the ball. We also missed Akok numerous times when he beat his man down court.

Samuels and Gillespie killed us the second half along with good foul shooting. They are more polish and poised than our players. Turnovers consistently take us out of the game at critical times.

We battled hard but mentally did not execute. You can’t often beat good teams with 17 turnovers. We need shooters. Another missed opportunity.

I suppose Hurley will say this is year 2 of a rebuilt - being competitive against a good team but lose late in the game. However, we need to start actually winning games.

Watching yesterday made me nostalgic as hell. Damn, I miss Ben Gordon and Rashad Anderson. Remember the days we had guys drain threes?

 

[HuskyHawk]

One can only conclude, whatever Danny is doing to create accountability for turnovers, it’s not enough. It’s not hitting home and creating an impression. Ball security isn’t something the players seem to be concerned about. As has been mentioned, I think there is some relationship with having bad shooters, teams overplaying the passing lanes and our guys unconsciously figuring - why bother looking for the perfect open shot line Villanova does, when the guy will miss it anyways. But, so much of it is people performing a dysfunctional behavior they don’t seem to be held adequately accountable for reipeating and to them it becomes the acceptable norm. That’s why seniors do it more than freshmen but let’s not fool ourselves, the freshman our caugh up in it too.

It is clearly a problem and I hate when our guys dribble into crowds and get stripped. But there was a good pass to Bouk, which he fumbled away. A good pass from Bouk to Akok which he missed.There were more and several like that last week too. AG made a great pass to Carlton and it went through his hands and hit him in the face. There was a lob where the target didn’t jump.

What that tells me is that we still aren’t a good TEAM, the guys don’t always see what the other guys see. The connections aren’t there. Is it all on the guards? I’m pretty sure a significant chunk of our blown passes are because the target wasn’t paying attention or wasn’t ready. I had hoped we’d start to become a more functional team and for parts of the last two games we were, playing well enough to win against ranked teams. But late in games we seem to revert to old habits.

 

[businesslawyer]

Looked like Gilbert was forced to take some late in shot clock 3s because of lack of half court offense and good Nova D. It's not like we're creating or taking many kickout open 3s

1000 times this. Early in the season, Gilbert was hoisting up poor shots early in the shot clock and was deserving of the criticism of this board and others. Yesterday, his forced shots were at the end of the possession where somebody was going to have to take a low percentage shot. He played an outstanding two way game yesterday, unfortunately marred by a huge and totally unnecessary mental mistake that really hurt us.

 

[imno1]

Looked like Gilbert was forced to take some late in shot clock 3s because of lack of half court offense and good Nova D. It's not like we're creating or taking many kickout open 3s

Villanova definitely has better shooters but they also get the ball in better scoring position than our team. UConn is not a good 3 pt shooting team but we do ourselves no favors with the shots we do take.

 

[billybud]

UConn shot 49% field goals to Nova's 38.8%

Had 35 rebounds to Nova's 23...

Had 6 blocks to Nova's 3

BUT....

Nova hit 48% of their three pointers to UConn's 13%.

Nova had 16 FT's to UConn's 3 (just 3?)

Nova had 9 steals to UConn's 1

Three pointers, free throws, and TO's allowed Nova to pull ahead.

 

[cohenzone]

Great summary! UConn definitely missing a knock-down shooter but also missing that player willing to run around through multiple screens without the ball to get open. Villanova moves the ball well on perimeter and hits from outside.
Even though we were owning the lane we were trading 2's for 3's.

Actually, Vital was doing a lot of that. I was watching him. The ball movement has to be aware of it. Nobody on the team is Richard Hamilton, one of the game’s best at moving without the ball, but CV was kind of knocking himself out.

The constant in our close losses to good teams has been a lack of poise leading to bad decisions. This team is so much more watchable than it was two and three years ago. I’d love to see our younger guys settle a bit more into what they do best and just play the game. Too much “should I do this” right now. I’m also in the ancient camp that kids should learn the pull up 10-15 footer that makes them harder to defend. But it ain’t as sexy as a dunk, reverse lay up or three pointer. Rip Hamilton made a career off the pull up and KEA used it to his advantage as a smaller guard.

 

[billybud]

Re those pull up jump shots....I wonder if the size of opponent's guards have any impact.

I noticed Nova's guards range 5'11, 6'0, 6'1...and to a 6'3 and 6'4. Would seem that you could get off a jumper or two.

Some teams are going with taller guards...could impact opponents jumpers.

FSU, for instance, has a 6'7, 6'6, and three 6'5 guards.

Michigan can put their 6'9, 6'7, and 6'6 guards out for a big lineup.

 

[Chief00]

Kind of a delicate balance for Hurley though, isn't it Chief? If he harps too much on turnovers we'll spend entire possessions passing the ball on the perimeter and launch garbage threes with the shot clock running down.

Not generally a huge Elmore fan but I thought he made an astute point that our offense stagnated when we spent too much time moving horizontally on the perimeter. That hurts us just as much as turnovers.

Quite frankly, turnovers may be a cost of doing business with this particular squad.

Chief doesn’t accept that level of turnovers. You could make some arguments as a running team that a few turnovers are healthy. Cousy use to say early in the game he would be a little aggressive putting the ball where the guys filling the lanes should be if they are running hard. That way they would run hard the rest of the game. This team doesn’t have that level of sophistication. But, most of our turnovers are in the half court offense anyways.
I do agree with the horizontal offense comment. It’s especially non productive when you lack shooters. We must of been doing some things right though or else the game wouldn’t have been so close.