DePaul Post Game Thread

[TheShot1990]

I thought Ross showed nice improvement. Good cut to the hoop put back on a miss, and another nice loopdy loop layup on a feed from Mahaney. Couple nice blocks, but overly aggressive and committed a couple fouls.

Keep your hands in the air Jaden, you’re the superior athlete. No need to come down on his arm.

I think he has more upside. So does Stewie but for some reason, Stewie seems to go to sleep for long periods of time.

 

[uh-no]

hope for liam.

The second half D was atrocious even before he went out though. We are by far the worst power team in the country at putting the opponent on the line.

Even while we were holding their scoring low in the first half, we were not playing winning defense in the fouling game.

 

[housekeys]

Depaul, much improved. We are just better.

UConn takes everyone's best punch. No other team can make this claim.

 

[El Obrero]

Broke a bone in my foot a few years back, after it twisted a lot like that. (Wore the boot for a month.)

 

[UConnTrumbull]

 

[jibsey]

Praying on McNeeley.
Just tired of the Solo bashing here, 22 points and 6 rebounds. He is put defensively on their best driving guards and doing the damn best he can. Yes he’s going to foul them, but in case you didn’t notice so does Diarra!
Actually, Mahaney was aggressive going to the hole.
Love Karaban putting in daggers.

 

[Mets1432]

We won by 13. Stewart played 8 minutes and was -9. He was our only player in the negatives and this has happened more than once this year. In fact, he's been in the negatives in every game against a "major" team except for an even against Xavier. I really like Jaylin, but the +/- consistently shows that we give up more than we get when he is on the court. I get +/- can be misleading, but there is a major trend here.

DePaul - 8 min, -9
Butler - 6 min, -8
Xavier - 20 min, 0
Gonzaga - 19 min, -5
Texas - 8 min, -3
Baylor - 24 min, -4
Dayton - 7 min, -11
Colorado - 19 min, -4
Memphis - 17 min, -2 (He scored 16 this game)

Fair enough, never looked into the stats. I got rose colored glasses for Stewie I guess.

 

[El Obrero]

hope for liam.

The second half D was atrocious even before he went out though. We are by far the worst power team in the country at putting the opponent on the line.

Even while we were holding their scoring low in the first half, we were not playing winning defense in the fouling game.

I think the criticism of the defense is getting more than a bit overblown here at this point. Atrocious? Really?? With that whistle? Mahaney for example, he might’ve committed one actual foul the entire game, but was charged with his fourth just under the ten minute mark.
Relax. This is the best offense in the country. They’ll bring more than enough defense to win six games in March.

 

[dennismenace]

Don't forget to mention Solo's dead eye shooting and hitting the momentum breaking 3s to extinguish DePaul's comeback after cutting the lead from 22 pts to 8

He has tremendous upside. Speed, incredible leaping ability and wingspan. Just kind of comparing him with Hawkins in his sophomore year and he seems to be right on schedule. He already has an NBA body and he is gaining confidence with the playing time he is getting. Don't look now but he could be gone after this year. Coaches will get him to play smarter as the year goes on.

 

[dennismenace]

I think the criticism of the defense is getting more than a bit overblown here at this point. Atrocious? Really?? With that whistle? Mahaney for example, he might’ve committed one actual foul the entire game, but was charged with his fourth just under the ten minute mark.
Relax. This is the best offense in the country. They’ll bring more than enough defense to win six games in March.

Our old friend Brian O'Conner was reffing this afternoon so no surprise.

 

[uconn_jack]

Hope Liam's ankle is nothing serious, just a twist. His ball handling is dearly missed in our offense.

is there a working theory as to why Nowell gets no minutes at all? Is he still not in game status? Just baffling why Dan did not even give some minutes to him when Diarra is in foul trouble and he wanted Mahaney to play off-ball, as in Joe's role.

Their thought must be that there is more upside this season to getting Mahaney the opportunity to be a contributer than Nowell. There is logic there in that Mahaney has shown himself to be an impact player when at St. Mary's, especially in the big games when agaist high level competition.

I think he can be when off the ball and/or aggressive. He is crafty and a good finisher, and plays so much better when aggressive. Problem is, when he's running point, he's too slow and deliberate, seems to be thinking too much and hesitant to make a decision. And he picks up his dribble way too much. Either he is struggling to learn the offense or he simply is not an instinctual player in that way. Hopefully he can get there.

Nowell looks very promising, but he is still just a freshman. I trust Hurley and the staff are playing the best odds on which one will ultimately be the best option.

 

[uh-no]

I think the criticism of the defense is getting more than a bit overblown here at this point. Atrocious? Really?? With that whistle?

When it's one or two games, sure, a bad whistle.

When you are consistently among the worst in the country at putting opponents on the line...it's time to look in the mirror.
346th out of 364 teams in putting opponents on the line. 18th worst in the country. Game and game again. That's not on the refs (every game), that's on us.

We gave up 46 points in the second half to a mediocre offense....and it wasn't just after liam went out...that is atrocious.

 

[dennismenace]

Hope Liam's ankle is nothing serious, just a twist. His ball handling is dearly missed in our offense.

is there a working theory as to why Nowell gets no minutes at all? Is he still not in game status? Just baffling why Dan did not even give some minutes to him when Diarra is in foul trouble and he wanted Mahaney to play off-ball, as in Joe's role.

It's just how Dan Hurley handles freshman unless they're high recruits like Liam. I'd like to see Nowell and even Abraham get some minutes just to turn up the screws on defense but it is what it is. As long as we don't lose them.

 

[Hunt for 7]

I'll call this one early. Game time decision on Sunday.

Really hope you are right. I would more than take just him missing 2-3 games. Classic high ankle type twist (not rolled) ankle.

They hurt so much more when it first happens compared to the traditional roll.

 

[Hunt for 7]

Two takeaways.
1. UConn, at this point in the season, is screwed offensively without Diarra or McNeeley on the floor.
2. In 2055 Conor Enright will be good for 12 points and four charges drawn at his local YMCA noontime pick up game.

Made that exact comment in the chat. That’s why I really don’t understand giving Nowell a shot at it. Perfect game we were up double digits so we could survive a freshman gaff.

 

[Nick2005]

If it’s high ankle, he will be gone until March. We can’t fall apart when he’s not on court. Not playing Nowell or Singare is baffling to me. Ross and Stewart are bringing nothing to the table. 46 points in a half to this team is crazy awful. And the reffing is next level against us. BE just wants us to lose. If we are playing like this in February I will start to complain for real. We are going to lose games playing like this.

 

[jibsey]

Don’t wish to complain but DePaul had some serious home cooking today. We are 7-10 and they are 23-28? Yes we took away the 3 and they drove it in but still?

 

[djct1999]

Made that exact comment in the chat. That’s why I really don’t understand giving Nowell a shot at it. Perfect game we were up double digits so we could survive a freshman gaff.

Hurley and the staff see Nowell at practice every day. It’s clear they don’t feel he is ready.

 

[maineuconnfan]

We won by 13. Stewart played 8 minutes and was -9. He was our only player in the negatives and this has happened more than once this year. In fact, he's been in the negatives in every game against a "major" team except for an even against Xavier. I really like Jaylin, but the +/- consistently shows that we give up more than we get when he is on the court. I get +/- can be misleading, but there is a major trend here.

DePaul - 8 min, -9
Butler - 6 min, -8
Xavier - 20 min, 0
Gonzaga - 19 min, -5
Texas - 8 min, -3
Baylor - 24 min, -4
Dayton - 7 min, -11
Colorado - 19 min, -4
Memphis - 17 min, -2 (He scored 16 this game)

where do you find the +/- statistics?

 

[Greedo]

We won by 13. Stewart played 8 minutes and was -9. He was our only player in the negatives and this has happened more than once this year. In fact, he's been in the negatives in every game against a "major" team except for an even against Xavier. I really like Jaylin, but the +/- consistently shows that we give up more than we get when he is on the court. I get +/- can be misleading, but there is a major trend here.

DePaul - 8 min, -9
Butler - 6 min, -8
Xavier - 20 min, 0
Gonzaga - 19 min, -5
Texas - 8 min, -3
Baylor - 24 min, -4
Dayton - 7 min, -11
Colorado - 19 min, -4
Memphis - 17 min, -2 (He scored 16 this game)

Anecdotally, to me, it always seems he’s on the court when AM is running the point (and conversely guarding the point on defense). The team as a whole seems to struggle in those moments.

 

[UConnTrumbull]

We gave up 46 points in the second half to a mediocre offense....and it wasn't just after liam went out...that is atrocious.

We were up 20 when Liam went out...defense was fine in the first half. Surely the injury mentally affected the guys

 

[tennmike]

It's a long season and Diarra could use fewer minutes. Nowell should sub in for him. And same for Ball...Mahaney should sub in for Ball and then ride the hot hand.
But I will not be a Hall of Fame coach so there is that.

 

[RuffRuff]

Made that exact comment in the chat. That’s why I really don’t understand giving Nowell a shot at it. Perfect game we were up double digits so we could survive a freshman gaff.

Not sure why we keep talking about Nowell - until Dan Hurley is ready to use him, continuing to talk about him isn’t going to send a telepathic epiphany to the staff. Got to hope the guys actually playing get better.

Solo shot the 3 at a blistering level today - made up+ for his deficiencies elsewhere. Not sure we can expect 7-9 often. He did have his best rebounding game of the year. He also had a few takes that were well timed, just looks afraid in traffic.

There were moments in the first half where the offense being run had glimpses of 2024, and that was encouraging. You can see the core guys starting to find a rythym.

The foul imbalance was hard to discern in this one as while the refs did look bad in spots, the imbalance has been consistent all year. Most of what went bad in this one was in a second half when we lost our best player and during foul trouble. Hard to be too critical of that. Our bench guys are not interchangeable with our starters, they’re there for breathers. There is a cliff in quality other than Reed when we hit our bench.

 

[jibsey]

We were up 20 when Liam went out...defense was fine in the first half. Surely the injury mentally affected the guys

He brings so much to the team in all phases. We can’t replace him but maybe we can get by.

 

[Dogdeacon]

Held a 40% 3FG team to 25 today and only 12 attempts. Part of that was adjustment by them but credit to us for making that adjustment over the break.

Won on the road after a long break and never let it get close (despite their push at the end and foul trouble/lost composure after Liam went down). I’ll take it.

Now we pray Liam is alright, and if he needs to miss time, other guys take the opportunity to step up.

UConn practice/prep emphasizing 3pt defense was >50% of what the broadcast team had to say in the first half. Maybe DePaul listening to the broadcast prompted the adjustment to attack the basket in the 2nd.