Cole's three was a game changer.

[Palatine]

DePaul had the momentum had just gone up by four. No one on our offense seemed to be stepping up. RJ hit the the three. Martin stole the ball and scored. Ad we were ahead. DePaul responded with a dunk --- then never scored again. Big shot by RJ stemmed the tide. Stopped the roll. Whatever. Big shot.

 

[Huskybass]

Last night I realized that Cole seems to be more effective playing off the ball. That was a back breaking shot. Nice to see Martin and Cole both contribute down the stretch.

 

[Kenny11]

Yeah that was a catch and shoot three from the corner. He’s made a couple of those this year and looks very confident when he shoots it. He looks much less confident shooting off the dribble yet at Howard that’s what he was known for.

 

[willie99]

Big Shot Cole

 

[ucp990411]

I really like RJ. Once again he shut down the opposing point guard, considered one of the best in the Big East. Huge 3 from the corner. Big free throws.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

Cole Cole world

 

[mauconnfan]

That was a huge shot the timing was a must as a miss and another DePaul score could’ve made it a half dozen. Big shot.

But he can’t be dribbling off his foot without hardly being guarded and can’t have 3-4 throws hoping to get foul calls. Having said all of this he’s our best option at PG as Gaff is lost. Anyone else notice this sudden underhand pass he has which somehow he believes is “pretty” but instead he delivered to Polleys knees once so he couldn’t get a shot off? A guy who is struggling so much shouldn’t be trying to look anything but steady when he gets in no mustard required. Listen based on the early reviews it’s not going to be pretty at guard all that often. Neither PG can take their guy off the dribble and create they’re both slow. Brendan can’t play the point unless the other team doesn’t have a great defender who can break him down so it’s up to those 2 for the most part. Scary but real. Keep working and defending the best they can, keep the turnovers down and with Bouk back at some point we’ll be ok. Just wish we had a dynamic point this team could be special.

 

[UCLJ0211]

Funky Cole Medina

 

[Mooch82]

Last night I realized that Cole seems to be more effective playing off the ball. That was a back breaking shot. Nice to see Martin and Cole both contribute down the stretch.

Yup...he seems to be a much more effective shooter with his feet set on kick outs rather than off the dribble. Unfortunately, this isn't an ideal situation for a 5'11" PG, but it is what it is. Occasionally, he'll pop a three off the dribble in a 1:1 type situation but it almost always seems off balance and misses. If I were Hurley, I'd try to set up a few situations early on in the game where he can get open for a kick out 3 and hopefully get him in a bit of a shooting rhythm early on.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Cole is actually shooting a little better from 3 than Bouknight is. He leads the team in attempts (wouldn't if Bouknight didn't miss time). He's a decent shooter out there when he's getting open looks. Shooting .342.

He has disappointed with the floater. That should be going in at a higher percentage. I can only guess that when he's in that intermediate area he's facing more length than he usually did a level down. His 2 pt. percentage is under 32%. That is awful. Too many missed layups as well.

 

[UConnSwag11]

DePaul had the momentum had just gone up by four. No one on our offense seemed to be stepping up. RJ hit the the three. Martin stole the ball and scored. Ad we were ahead. DePaul responded with a dunk --- then never scored again. Big shot by RJ stemmed the tide. Stopped the roll. Whatever. Big shot.

Yup. A big adjustment that helped change the momentum in our favor was getting the ball out of our guards hands and letting Martin run the point/bring the ball up the floor

 

[mauconnfan]

Cole is actually shooting a little better from 3 than Bouknight is. He leads the team in attempts (wouldn't if Bouknight didn't miss time). He's a decent shooter out there when he's getting open looks. Shooting .342.

He has disappointed with the floater. That should be going in at a higher percentage. I can only guess that when he's in that intermediate area he's facing more length than he usually did a level down. His 2 pt. percentage is under 32%. That is awful. Too many missed layups as well.

Much like AG at 5'9-5'10 they get swallowed need to have a pull up and use it. And need to make the floater as you stated, once in a while. Still have faith his confidence and creativity will allow that soon but it's needed.

 

[andy34]

DePaul had the momentum had just gone up by four. No one on our offense seemed to be stepping up. RJ hit the the three. Martin stole the ball and scored. Ad we were ahead. DePaul responded with a dunk --- then never scored again. Big shot by RJ stemmed the tide. Stopped the roll. Whatever. Big shot.

Huge shot, and an awesome job by Martin to drive and kick it to him. Facilitating isn't Martin's strength, but he did just enough to draw a defender and get it to an open RJ.

 

[Austin316]

Cole is actually shooting a little better from 3 than Bouknight is. He leads the team in attempts (wouldn't if Bouknight didn't miss time). He's a decent shooter out there when he's getting open looks. Shooting .342.

He has disappointed with the floater. That should be going in at a higher percentage. I can only guess that when he's in that intermediate area he's facing more length than he usually did a level down. His 2 pt. percentage is under 32%. That is awful. Too many missed layups as well.

Remember, he took 18 FGA per game at Howard. I agree with the floater, that was his bread and butter in his highlights (from a casual on-looker). It seems, based on FGA that Hurley wants him shooting 3’s and is letting Bouk and Martin slash to the hoop. IMO that’s good coaching.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

He’s been more under control the last couple games. I was concerned he was going to try to do too much without Bouk but he hasn’t been too bad there.

 

[BParkDog]

DePaul had the momentum had just gone up by four. No one on our offense seemed to be stepping up. RJ hit the the three. Martin stole the ball and scored. Ad we were ahead. DePaul responded with a dunk --- then never scored again. Big shot by RJ stemmed the tide. Stopped the roll. Whatever. Big shot.

This at least the second time that Cole has hit a 3 pointer in the last 10 minutes in a game where we were floundering and not scoring. I remember thinking that at the time last night when he shot it. I thought, "we can rely on this guy to hit big shots when they are available, no fear." Some guys have that, some don't. He shoots the open 3 very well, and with Bouk and Polley in games late, we have 3 guys who are big time shot makers who will not be affected by the moment.
I'm very happy with Cole. Doing a great job for us.

 

[Huskybass]

When Bouk comes back we will have lots of scoring options with Cole, Martin, and Polley emerging. Add Whaley to the mix and that's a lineup with lots of firepower. Unfortunately, Cole seems to be best playing off the ball so perhaps have Bouk or Martin with the ball in their hands more.

 

[Tenspro2002]

I said in another thread that this shot was the turning point of the second half. It was getting away from us and that shot kept us in contact, and our defense took over from there.

Everyone keeps making the wrong comparisons here.

Cole is not Gilbert, Donnell Beverly (come on), or Antoine Anderson (now you're just being a d___).

Cole is Sterling Gibbs. He's miscast as a break-you-down-off-the-dribble guy. He's a steady PG who can set up your offense and help with spacing. But he's better as a spot-up shooter than taking it to the rim.

What Hurley did down the stretch having Martin on the ball and Cole available on kickouts is what we should be doing more of. In the future it will be Bouknight, even better.

 

[Greathusky]

I am hopeful that Gaffney's problem is his confidence. I have seen him physically make plays that were of the "why can't he do more of that" variety. I believe that the lack of practices and games has hurt him mentally.

 

[auror]

This was a 4-out PnR play with Martin on the ball (Whaley, Cole, Martin, Polley, Adams). Whaley slipped the pick, dragging his help defender early, Martin used the space and drove and got a step and leverage on his man, forced the help and kicked to the open Cole without charging. I give Martin even more credit than Cole on this play.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

That was big but my god there wasn’t a DePaul player within 10 feet of him
Their whole team collapsed on Martin

 

[UconnU]

An equally big play for us was that Martin wide open layup off the inbound with around 2 minutes left. That put us up 2 possessions at a critical time. Must have been some kind of defensive breakdown by DePaul to allow that.

 

[Waquoit]

I love how he made Adams Moore dribble out of bounds while falling on his face. That was Boatrightesq.

 

[raf46]

DePaul had the momentum had just gone up by four. No one on our offense seemed to be stepping up. RJ hit the the three. Martin stole the ball and scored. Ad we were ahead. DePaul responded with a dunk --- then never scored again. Big shot by RJ stemmed the tide. Stopped the roll. Whatever. Big shot.

Adams bringing up the ball has helped Cole. But where does Gaffney fit in to this rotation?

 

[CTisballers]

Much like AG at 5'9-5'10 they get swallowed need to have a pull up and use it. And need to make the floater as you stated, once in a while. Still have faith his confidence and creativity will allow that soon but it's needed.

And stop leaning into his shot and just shoot straight up