Finger pointing

[86.578]

May have been brought up already, but there seemed to be a lot of finger pointing among the players last night. Can’t have that. Win as a team, lose as a team. All in all, losing by 2 to a top 10 team isn’t shameful.

 

[UConnSwag11]

May have been brought up already, but there seemed to be a lot of finger pointing among the players last night. Can’t have that. Win as a team, lose as a team. All in all, losing by 2 to a top 10 team isn’t shameful.

Hurley was screaming at Sanogo and Newton at one point after their Harden-esque effort on defense. Sanogo ignored him and walked away so Hurley had to grab him. You could tell something was off mentally with some of the players

 

[husky99]

Hurley was screaming at Sanogo and Newton at one point after their Harden-esque effort on defense. Sanogo ignored him and walked away so Hurley had to grab him. You could tell something was off mentally with some of the players

I say that... rough

 

[martyn]

Hurley was screaming at Sanogo and Newton at one point after their Harden-esque effort on defense. Sanogo ignored him and walked away so Hurley had to grab him. You could tell something was off mentally with some of the players

Something was off mentally all around, including with Hurley. During the first timeout he told them the all out, in your face defense, of the first few minutes "can't be sustained". It was sustained, all the way to the end of the game, while we were gentlemen by comparison. At the end you had the sense Marquette had played a great game while we had been so so. Yet the margin was two points. Tells you what could have been.

 

[NJHusky]

Something was off mentally all around, including with Hurley. During the first timeout he told them the all out, in your face defense, of the first few minutes "can't be sustained". It was sustained, all the way to the end of the game, while we were gentlemen by comparison. At the end you had the sense Marquette had played a great game while we had been so so. Yet the margin was two points. Tells you what could have been.

Marquette played great D

 

[UConnSwag11]

Marquette played great D

And it’s more frustrating when their best players had 4 fouls majority of the second half

 

[Stinger92860]

Hurley was screaming at Sanogo and Newton at one point after their Harden-esque effort on defense. Sanogo ignored him and walked away so Hurley had to grab him. You could tell something was off mentally with some of the players

when this happens, moving these players to the bench may be the best course of action. Our 2nd unit was more productive last night and they should have gotten more minutes.

 

[UConnSwag11]

when this happens, moving these players to the bench may be the best course of action. Our 2nd unit was more productive last night and they should have gotten more minutes.

Agreed. The zone with Clingan put us in a position to take the lead and pull away.

 

[bluestreak]

That's been their Achilles heel all season. I had hoped they would have learned by now not to get rattled when pressure ramps up but I saw it last night.
It's kind of a headscratcher because each individual player seems to perform confidently under pressure but as a team the mental cohesion breaks down sometimes.

 

[yungdowork]

It was just a frustrating night for a ton of guys. When you're underperforming in a big game like that, there's gonna be plenty of signs of frustration.

-Hawkins' shots weren't falling,
-Joey didn't have a great shooting night and had to play more minutes (20) than Andre (15) because of foul trouble.
-Newton had a tough night finishing and was getting absolutely no calls when he was attacking the rim. I'm always surprised at some of the stuff refs let defenders get away with versus him


I also think it's very frustrating when you have a dude like Joplin go off for double his season average because he just isn't missing. Playing a zone let him get a lot of high quality looks from 3, and he made us pay for it. It's always tough to play a zone if a team is going to make 3's at a high rate

 

[MTBingNinja]

Hurley was screaming at Sanogo and Newton at one point after their Harden-esque effort on defense. Sanogo ignored him and walked away so Hurley had to grab him. You could tell something was off mentally with some of the players

Saw that for the first time this season. Hope it’s the last time. Survive and advance

 

[MTBingNinja]

when this happens, moving these players to the bench may be the best course of action. Our 2nd unit was more productive last night and they should have gotten more minutes.

Yup. Asked myself the same thing. Even sitting them both for a minute at that point would’ve been good medicine.

 

[Stinger92860]

Please don’t take this the wrong way. I love DH, he has turned the program around, plus he recruits well. However, he may not be a strong Xs and Os coach when compared to the larger coaching community. Someone has to be in the lower 50%.

I think a top notch tactician (e.g. McDermott, etc.) figures out a way to win that game last night. We needed one stop and one basket, and not necessarily in the last minute or two. The switch to pressure and zone was a good move, but 5-10 minutes late, and in the zone would you rather have DC or AS guarding the basket? Why no screeners for Newton bringing up the ball?

Do we not have someone on staff that can help? Does DH not listen?

 

[UCfor3]

Please don’t take this the wrong way. I love DH, he has turned the program around, plus he recruits well. However, he may not be a strong Xs and Os coach when compared to the larger coaching community. Someone has to be in the lower 50%.

I think a top notch tactician (e.g. McDermott, etc.) figures out a way to win that game last night. We needed one stop and one basket, and not necessarily in the last minute or two. The switch to pressure and zone was a good move, but 5-10 minutes late, and in the zone would you rather have DC or AS guarding the basket? Why no screeners for Newton bringing up the ball?

Do we not have someone on staff that can help? Does DH not listen?

I hear you but I will add that McDermotts team got housed by Xavier in game 2. Hes a good coach but it's not like he is a wizard. His team has slightly undetachieved in my book this year even with Kalk healthy. You could cite depth issues but lack of depth is on him. It's like everyone lusting after Cooley and Pikiell. Their teams get hammered at times and have rough patches also. I mean they are borderline bubble teams. It's like people turn a blind eye to their struggles. One thing you can say about both this team and Hurley this year. We have not been blown out or dominated once this year. Not even during the January swoon. We have been in every single game. Not many teams or coaches can say that this year.

 

[ctchamps]

I thought this was going to be a thread about Boneyard posters!

 

[auror]

Remember when Napier pushed Boatright into the spot in the champ game? Sometimes a healthy amount of competitive juices is a good thing.

Please don’t take this the wrong way. I love DH, he has turned the program around, plus he recruits well. However, he may not be a strong Xs and Os coach when compared to the larger coaching community. Someone has to be in the lower 50%.

I think a top notch tactician (e.g. McDermott, etc.) figures out a way to win that game last night. We needed one stop and one basket, and not necessarily in the last minute or two. The switch to pressure and zone was a good move, but 5-10 minutes late, and in the zone would you rather have DC or AS guarding the basket? Why no screeners for Newton bringing up the ball?

Do we not have someone on staff that can help? Does DH not listen?

McDermott lost in the same round by 20 and has underachieved with his team's talent this season.

 

[CTFIRERETIRED]

May have been brought up already, but there seemed to be a lot of finger pointing among the players last night. Can’t have that. Win as a team, lose as a team. All in all, losing by 2 to a top 10 team isn’t shameful.

I don't believe in "moral" victories. NOT NOW, not at tourney time. You had chances to take out Marquette, but let them slip away. Can't say...............we'll get'em tomorrow. Remember, it's win, or go home. They are going to have to play with more intensity, and purpose. One and done in the "big dance" is going to be a terrible disappointment.

 

[John]

I hear you but I will add that McDermotts team got housed by Xavier in game 2. Hes a good coach but it's not like he is a wizard. His team has slightly undetachieved in my book this year even with Kalk healthy. You could cite depth issues but lack of depth is on him. It's like everyone lusting after Cooley and Pikiell. Their teams get hammered at times and have rough patches also. I mean they are borderline bubble teams. It's like people turn a blind eye to their struggles. One thing you can say about both this team and Hurley this year. We have not been blown out or dominated once this year. Not even during the January swoon. We have been in every single game. Not many teams or coaches can say that this year.

Didn't feel like we were in the home St John's game, but agree with everything else.

 

[Avon]

It was just a frustrating night for a ton of guys. When you're underperforming in a big game like that, there's gonna be plenty of signs of frustration.

-Hawkins' shots weren't falling,
-Joey didn't have a great shooting night and had to play more minutes (20) than Andre (15) because of foul trouble.
-Newton had a tough night finishing and was getting absolutely no calls when he was attacking the rim. I'm always surprised at some of the stuff refs let defenders get away with versus him


I also think it's very frustrating when you have a dude like Joplin go off for double his season average because he just isn't missing. Playing a zone let him get a lot of high quality looks from 3, and he made us pay for it. It's always tough to play a zone if a team is going to make 3's at a high rate

They were killing us in our man to man defense all night. We played awful on ball D till Hurley finally relented and put in the zone. And we went from-10 to tied in short order. The Marquette PG was abusing us with his drives to basket at will. Never stopped his penetration . Allowed him to go off for 17 pts in 1st half alone. Hurley should have gone to zone with different zone looks much earlier in game imo.

 

[Hunt for 7]

This may be the most relevant post game thread. We missed shots that happens, just seems for us we miss them in close games consistently, but that is basketball. We lose concentration on defense, again it happens. Hurley is an acceptable coach but he is not in the same class as Smart, McDermott or Miller. All of theses items are relevant. But to the OP of this thread, we started poking fingers at each other. They have five days to learn how to respect each other and act like teammates not a group of guys in a pick up game. Here’s to wishing we can do that in five days.

 

[Magic32]

The frustration from 2nd half of Providence game carried over to this game. Even at the start, the body language wasn't good and definitely saw the finger pointing behavior coming out for first time this season as game progressed. Somehow we still had a chance to win despite everything.

 

[Ewekon]

Yup. Asked myself the same thing. Even sitting them both for a minute at that point would’ve been good medicine.

Should not have lost this one. MSG has been our 3rd home court forever.
Every player has rough nights. Hawk picked a bad time and yes it can be a game of inches.

The tourney will have its own separate meaning for Huskies. This is 100% Dan's team and he NEEDS to get to sweet 16, imho. '23/'24 is his last guarantee year, Earn it.

 

[UCfor3]

Andre Jackson played 15 freakin minutes. Doesn't anybody get it that we go as he goes. I put this squarely on his shoulders. How could he possibly reach in and commit his 5th foul in that situation. Dumb play.

We have 3 X-factors, although I think Hawkins shooting it well could be a 4th. 1.AJax-Sometimes Batman, sometimes Bruce Wayne. 2. Newton-some games he's amazing, others he struugles a bit, especially with ball pressure and quickness. Those deep 3's when they falling are nice. Will say refs bone him often. Haven't seen a player on floor so much since Brimah. 3. BENCH. i always feel like we need at least 2 of those 3 to really play relatively well. Last night we went 1 for 3 on that scorecard and if you include Hawkins shooting, it's 1 for 4.

 

[giddyup]

Should not have lost this one. MSG has been our 3rd home court forever.
Every player has rough nights. Hawk picked a bad time and yes it can be a game of inches.

The tourney will have its own separate meaning for Huskies. This is 100% Dan's team and he NEEDS to get to sweet 16, imho. '23/'24 is his last guarantee year, Earn it.

Hawk was not off. He was way, way off. Not playing D, not hitting the boards like he does and moping around. The second team dug us out of a hole and Hurley didn’t ride the horse to the finish that got him back in the race. Frankly, how you dont have your 7 footer in around the rim in the final 5 seconds is just stupidity or surrendering to the moment.

 

[UCTitleTown]

Joey C. yelled at AJ for a bad pass in the PC game as well. I guess as a 5th year, he has a leadership role.