Closing Ability

[MyDorona]

This team is very good at making games a rock fight and keeping things close, but I have very little faith in our ability to close out tight games. I know that I am not saying anything new on this board, but I pride myself in not overreacting to every game, so I've withheld judgment until today. At this point, though, I have seen enough to conclude it's a real problem.

A lot of people blaming Hurley. He does call some questionable plays out of a stoppage. But does he really deserve most of the blame?

From where I'm sitting, we lack an athletic playmaker and we don't have enough good decision makers. Cole cannot be counted on to call his own number and get a bucket inside the three point arc. Tyrese doesn't have a tight enough handle. Sanogo needs to be fed, and he can be contained in closing time with a double-team or a spying defender.

Cole seems to be the only good decision maker of the starters.

Unfortunately, I don't see this being something we can "outgrow" this year. Someone (AJax or Hawk) needs to emerge as the athletic, dependable scorer we need. And they both seem to be a long way off yet.

 

[kansashusky]

This is how you get bounced out of the tournament, quickly.

Glad we didn’t go after Kadary that hard in the off season. Lol.

Year 4 and still climbing that mountain.

 

[Durks07]

It really is amazing how many times we come out of a timeout and don't get a shot off.

 

[Chin Diesel]

Players follw the coaches and coaches get tight at end of game

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

We have no go to guy on this team. RJ Cole isn’t it or Tyrese even though they are good scorers when opportunity comes. Jordan Hawkins could be it but he’s getting the freshman treatment for this season.

 

[MyDorona]

This is how you get bounced out of the tournament, quickly.

Glad we didn’t go after Kadary that hard in the off season. Lol.

Year 4 and still climbing that mountain.

Again, I pride myself in not being overreactionary. But I am fairly confident this is a first-weekend team again this year. Unless something drastically changes

 

[Chin Diesel]

It really is amazing how many times we come out of a timeout and don't get a shot off.

No, it's not. It's the same coaches coaching the same players.

 

[UConn990411]

The problem, in this order, is in-game coaching, rotations, late-game execution…and in-game coaching.

Good teams will have a bad loss or two every year, especially on the road. But Hurley has watched these same issues play out half a dozen times this season and hasn’t done a single thing to change it. Believing in your system is one thing, but being stubborn is not a good trait for a coach.

He has some growing to do this offseason if he ever wants to take this team to the next level.

 

[BigFanCT]

We gonna admit that Hurley ain’t the guy to get us to the promise land? How many years of failed out of timeout plays will it take. He can recruit- but so can others.

 

[DaveHuskiesFan]

We have no go to guy on this team. RJ Cole isn’t it or Tyrese even though they are good scorers when opportunity comes. Jordan Hawkins could be it but he’s getting the freshman treatment for this season.

Hawkins shakes every time he touches the ball. I’ve never seen someone play more scared

 

[uconngb]

Players follw the coaches and coaches get tight at end of game

Our coach has proven he is clueless in game. I mean by now it’s enough evidence to declare that. He has the talent.

 

[kansashusky]

Again, I pride myself in not being overreactionary. But I am fairly confident this is a first-weekend team again this year. Unless something drastically changes

Danny never has made it out of the first weekend. He ain’t doing it with this team.

 

[Shamon30]

Sloppiness was the problem from wire to wire today.

 

[superjohn]

Closing ability? We don't have it. This team is far too talented for moral victories where we lose in the same ways over and over again. It's a pattern for many years now and it's unacceptable at this point in the rebuild, we're supposed to be rebuilt by now. There was that play with about a minute left in OT where we had something good drawn up and we executed it. It was shocking because it happens so infrequently. What we did in the last possession of regulation and the last possession of OT is the norm. Can't hold onto nice leads and can't close games out. Really disappointing in year 4 of Hurley.

 

[ASweet3781]

It is a huge problem. We are having victories literally snatched right under our noses in the final minutes of games.

Blame the coach. The players. The strength and conditioning. Whatever you want. I already see the usual suspects on UConn twitter using the COVID pause as their built in excuse. BS. We saw what we saw. We didn't lose because of "rust". We once again had a win taken from us.

It is the problem of this program right now.

 

[Tenspro2002]

It's on the players too.

You can have your initial read, but when it's not there, players have to adjust and try something else.

 

[aburks41]

The 4th time this year we've lost because of garbage final possessions. It's a legit concern now. Hurley needs to figure it out now - the 4th year of this same crap is getting old.

 

[BPT2Storrs]

We took #24 Seton Hall to OT at their place after a three week pause in which we barely practiced. Was the end of regulation and OT sloppy? Sure, does Hurley warrant all the blame? Absolutely not. We had Gaffney running point, which I think most on this board has criticized at some point this season.

Wasn’t Seton Hall ranked top 10 at some point this season? That’s a really good team. Why all the frustration?

Did I want a win. Yes. Does this mean our season is doomed? Not at all.

If there’s one thing I can say about Hurley is that he seems like the type to figure this out. It might take some time but I don’t think he’s putting this aside and not trying to become a better in game coach.

 

[superjohn]

It's on the players too.

You can have your initial read, but when it's not there, players have to adjust and try something else.

All that stuff is supposed to be figured out in practice so you don't look like a deer caught in the headlights in games. We're an old veteran team that looks like a bunch of freshman in winning time, that's on the coaching.

 

[aburks41]

We took #24 Seton Hall to OT at their place after a three week pause in which we barely practiced. Was the end of regulation and OT sloppy? Sure, does Hurley warrant all the blame? Absolutely not. We had Gaffney running point, which I think most on this board has criticized at some point this season.

Wasn’t Seton Hall ranked top 10 at some point this season? That’s a really good team. Why all the frustration?

Did I want a win. Yes. Does this mean our season is doomed? Not at all.

If there’s one thing I can say about Hurley is that he seems like the type to figure this out. It might take some time but I don’t think he’s putting this aside and not trying to become a better in game coach.

That's fair to say IF we actually lost because we missed a shot at the end. To not even get a shot off is inexcusable.

 

[Palatine]

Closing ability? What's that?

 

[UConn990411]

We took #24 Seton Hall to OT at their place after a three week pause in which we barely practiced. Was the end of regulation and OT sloppy? Sure, does Hurley warrant all the blame? Absolutely not. We had Gaffney running point, which I think most on this board has criticized at some point this season.

Wasn’t Seton Hall ranked top 10 at some point this season? That’s a really good team. Why all the frustration?

Did I want a win. Yes. Does this mean our season is doomed? Not at all.

If there’s one thing I can say about Hurley is that he seems like the type to figure this out. It might take some time but I don’t think he’s putting this aside and not trying to become a better in game coach.

Losing a conference road game to a good team is not a cause for concern.

Watching the same issues play out down the stretch for the fifth time this season is a concerning pattern.

Moral victories are all well and good, but only if you learn from them. Hurley and this team do not appear to be doing that.

 

[BPT2Storrs]

That's fair to say IF we actually lost because we missed a shot at the end. To not even get a shot off is inexcusable.

Is that on Hurley or the players?

 

[rip7774]

Hawkins shakes every time he touches the ball. I’ve never seen someone play more scared

umm. Like 1/2 the guys on the team esp Ollie guys and a backup guard I’d argue is the most scared player ever to play big minutes at point guard in 30 years of watching them.

 

[Brochacho]

We took #24 Seton Hall to OT at their place after a three week pause in which we barely practiced. Was the end of regulation and OT sloppy? Sure, does Hurley warrant all the blame? Absolutely not. We had Gaffney running point, which I think most on this board has criticized at some point this season.

Wasn’t Seton Hall ranked top 10 at some point this season? That’s a really good team. Why all the frustration?

Did I want a win. Yes. Does this mean our season is doomed? Not at all.

If there’s one thing I can say about Hurley is that he seems like the type to figure this out. It might take some time but I don’t think he’s putting this aside and not trying to become a better in game coach.

If Gaffney running the point is a problem it’s too bad we couldn’t add a top 50 PG to the team.

The frustration is because we’ve pissed away 4 wins because we are total deer in the headlights closing games. Would’ve lost to VCU too if they weren’t the worst offensive team in America and Marquette if that guy didn’t kill their momentum missing that open dunk.

I don’t understand why we call timeouts for bad iso plays.