Colorado Time Killing Preview

[UConnStats]

The waiting is killing me. Tom Petty was right. Let’s take a look at Colorado’s strongest players as we await tip off.


Josh Scott: .532 FG%, 8.7 REB, 1.9 AST, .6 STL, 1.6 BLK, 126.8 ORtg

This guy looks like a beast at 6’10, 245. Hopefully we can penetrate and get him into a bit of foul trouble, because he is easily their best player and at 3.1 BLK/40, is a good rim protector as well. He can hit midrange jumpers and 3s, and is over 70% from the stripe. Not a lot of holes in this senior’s game. Brimah and Nolan will have their work cut out defending him and staying on the court.


George King: .448 FG%, .456% 3P (4.5 attempts per), .761 FT%, 4.8 REB, .7 AST, 1.9 TO, .4 STL

This guy is a very good three point shooter with some size. Hamilton has to keep himself from ball-watching and get out and stick to his man on the perimeter, or he could light us up like Prince Williams of ECU did. On the plus side, King looks like a pretty poor passer (as do most of their guards), and he doesn’t play tough defense. Look for Hamilton to be able to penetrate on the defensive end and create some opportunities for Miller or our slashers.


Wesley Gordon: .413 FG%, .414 2P, .400 3P, .705 FT, 7.6 REB, 1.3 AST, 2 BLK

Gordon (6’9) is another rim protector who rebounds. He also has nice touch, but falls in love with his jumper and doesn’t have much of an offensive post game. He gets in foul trouble more often than Scott. Either way, we won’t want to let both bigs contribute a lot of minutes, or we will get killed on the boards. He doesn’t get to the FT line often, so Miller should be able to stay out of trouble if he avoids the silly touch fouls he has been prone to.


Side Note: Colorado’s guards really look bad for a tournament team. Nobody averages even 3 ASPG on the team, and while they can shoot the 3, they don’t do much else well. High turnover rates and low 2P% plague their guard core. In 2014, our guards didn’t allow much penetration or specifically entry passes. That type of defense is certainly possible against Colorado too. The tournament is a guards’ game, and we completely out gun them there. I’m looking forward to see if Adams and Purvis can play some tough defense and turn it into transition buckets. If those two play confidently, I expect a very nice performance from our team as a whole. Let’s get this W.

 

[jfuchs91]

Where Colorado worries me is on the boards. They're one of the better rebounding teams in the country, and we can be susceptible to being beaten on the glass. If we hold our own there, I'm confident we'll perform well. As you said, guards often win in tourney games, and we should have the advantage there.

 

[HuskyHawk]

The waiting is killing me. Tom Petty was right. Let’s take a look at Colorado’s strongest players as we await tip off.


Josh Scott: .532 FG%, 8.7 REB, 1.9 AST, .6 STL, 1.6 BLK, 126.8 ORtg

This guy looks like a beast at 6’10, 245. Hopefully we can penetrate and get him into a bit of foul trouble, because he is easily their best player and at 3.1 BLK/40, is a good rim protector as well. He can hit midrange jumpers and 3s, and is over 70% from the stripe. Not a lot of holes in this senior’s game. Brimah and Nolan will have their work cut out defending him and staying on the court.


George King: .448 FG%, .456% 3P (4.5 attempts per), .761 FT%, 4.8 REB, .7 AST, 1.9 TO, .4 STL

This guy is a very good three point shooter with some size. Hamilton has to keep himself from ball-watching and get out and stick to his man on the perimeter, or he could light us up like Prince Williams of ECU did. On the plus side, King looks like a pretty poor passer (as do most of their guards), and he doesn’t play tough defense. Look for Hamilton to be able to penetrate on the defensive end and create some opportunities for Miller or our slashers.


Wesley Gordon: .413 FG%, .414 2P, .400 3P, .705 FT, 7.6 REB, 1.3 AST, 2 BLK

Gordon (6’9) is another rim protector who rebounds. He also has nice touch, but falls in love with his jumper and doesn’t have much of an offensive post game. He gets in foul trouble more often than Scott. Either way, we won’t want to let both bigs contribute a lot of minutes, or we will get killed on the boards. He doesn’t get to the FT line often, so Miller should be able to stay out of trouble if he avoids the silly touch fouls he has been prone to.


Side Note: Colorado’s guards really look bad for a tournament team. Nobody averages even 3 ASPG on the team, and while they can shoot the 3, they don’t do much else well. High turnover rates and low 2P% plague their guard core. In 2014, our guards didn’t allow much penetration or specifically entry passes. That type of defense is certainly possible against Colorado too. The tournament is a guards’ game, and we completely out gun them there. I’m looking forward to see if Adams and Purvis can play some tough defense and turn it into transition buckets. If those two play confidently, I expect a very nice performance from our team as a whole. Let’s get this W.

Even their board acknowledges that the guards are a weakness, especially ball handling and creating. They can shoot though. Their board was hoping to keep turnovers under 20...20! I think the key to this game will be ball pressure by UConn and tight man D on the perimeter. If we can force turnovers or get defensive rebounds, we can turn those into transition baskets. A slow, halfcourt style game favors Colorado. We have to limit their offensive rebounds.

 

[mauconnfan]

Almost 3 offensive boards a game for Scott, he needs to be kept off. If he kills us their guards won't matter as much.

 

[James]

I see the same , I wonder how Scott deals with being 'fronted' or 3/4 in the post, because you know Nolan is not letting him catch the ball easily to start the game he will be fronted or immediately doubled.

If Colorado doesn't have good passers they're going to have a tough time making plays vs KOs man2man defense (the hard hedges confuse non creative guards).

I worry about king he looks like a fantastic slasher and shooter... But I think we match up well and so do the metrics (synergy)

 

[Danzz]

Where Colorado worries me is on the boards. They're one of the better rebounding teams in the country, and we can be susceptible to being beaten on the glass. If we hold our own there, I'm confident we'll perform well. As you said, guards often win in tourney games, and we should have the advantage there.

We usually lose the rebound battle and this game won't be different. We just can't get killed. The rebound difference can be made up by turning them over and fast break points. Oh yeah, and making our layups.

 

[Matrim55]

Where Colorado worries me is on the boards. They're one of the better rebounding teams in the country, and we can be susceptible to being beaten on the glass.

Yeah, and it worries me particularly on the offensive glass. If we use a big-to-big double on Scott, Godon will feast on pubacks.

No way we can win. We're doomed.

 

[James]

Yeah, and it worries me particularly on the offensive glass. If we use a big-to-big double on Scott, Godon will feast on pubacks.

No way we can win. We're doomed.

If we double haphazardly Scott will pass out of doubles like its nothing, leading to wide open threes. This is actually their play style ; not necessarily finish in the paint but kick outs to open shooters because of the attention drawn to the bigs.

(via synergy sports)

 

[CL82]

Pressure the guards. A turnover means no shots which in turn means not offensive rebounds. Pressure means less time to execute your offense leading to forced passes that can be picked off. If we exploit their weakness, we'll be fine.

We're Doomed!

 

[Tenspro2002]

If we double haphazardly Scott will pass out of doubles like its nothing, leading to wide open threes. This is actually their play style ; not necessarily finish in the paint but kick outs to open shooters because of the attention drawn to the bigs.

(via synergy sports)
View attachment 12569

Sounds like this game will be decided on the basis of perimeter play.

If we double the post lazily and fail to recover to shooters, we're screwed.
If our guys insist on contested forays into the paint rather than work the drive-and-kick game (Adams on the drive, Gibbs the recipient of the kick), we're screwed.

On the other hand, if Brimah can play solid 1-on-1 defense in the post, not need help, and can hold his own on the boards, we've got a great chance.
If Purvis and Hamilton are taking smart, open shots from the perimeter instead of head-faking themselves to death, we'll be fine.

 

[polycom]

If we don't close out on shooters we will lose this game.