Florida Post Game Thread

[SwingDog]

A gritty, slugfest. Not pretty, but these are the games you have to be able to win. We were overmatched inside, and once again lost the battle of the boards, but what's encouraging is the team had great resolve and was determined to get the win. I love how unselfish this team is and how everyone stepped up in moments when they needed to. Defense was tenacious. With Hurley's culture, every minute a player plays counts- and I love that.

A side note- I find Todd Golden really grating and annoying. I thought he should have been whistled for a T after his tirade when Solo was clearly fouled by being grabbled around the waist. On the other hand, we have to be impressed at how Hurley has really practiced restraint for the most part thus far.

 

[thekollieman]

Might be tough getting teams to play us in MSG in the future. It’s literally a home game. What’s are MSG record the last 4 years?

Seems like we have a thing going with the neutral advantage tradeoff type of thing (e.g., UConn vs. Illinois in Chicago next year, and I think did this with Gonzaga at MSG and in Seattle in years prior).

 

[Milo65]

Got to give Florida credit, they played really, really hard. Golden gets those bigs active and tenacious. As poor as their backcourt has looked, that 3 man combo down low is elite and makes them a very good team.

Stew played his best minutes of the year in the first half, as was a great matchup for him defending Haugh. Not sure why his minutes got slashed in the second half.

Starting to become a little concerned with Silas. I know we always compare him to TNewt in figuring this out, but for the moment, he's look startingly bad. Poor decision making is the main concern. Malachi has fully outplayed him against good competition. Thank goodness for the depth on this team. It's 100% our strength.

I know it was his first game back, but after the first few minutes, Tarris played like he was drunk. I don't get it with him sometimes. His inability to maintain consistency & intensity is always puzzling. Especially when Florida has three bigs that can.

We should now get to that 5-1 mark we were aiming for, likely would have been 6-0 if at full strength. Now we can take that into the BE to figure out how the rotations should look with Mullins being more deeply integrated.

I think for Tarris, it may be a conditioning issue. He has been out a while.

 

[uconnyankee]

Mullins seems to get the fouls they never call on other teams. Cheap stuff. For instance, Lee pushes Solo Ball in the back on a late shot that rolled out (floater). If that were Mullins, the foul gets called.

Yeah. Noticed a lot of shirt tugging by Florida that didn’t get called.
Calls seemed to be more even later in game, which helped Uconn get to the line finally.

 

[Hey Adrien!]

Something about MSG brings out the magic in Malachi Smith. That cross-court Euro poured the juice into UConn’s favor and he was so key tonight as a facilitator with Demary having an off night.

I freakin’ love the ceiling of this team with a healthy Reed and Mullins. Mullins is giving me Hawkins vibes a bit.

 

[EBonz30]

Karaban is having a hell of a season so far. Between the big drives, huge shots he’s been hitting in these games, as well as his overall defense- he’s been guarding quick guards off switches & doing an outstanding job & also taking on bigs much bigger & stronger than him & making it tough for them- another phenomenal performance by Alex!!!

 

[homunculus]

Mullins seems to get the fouls they never call on other teams. Cheap stuff. For instance, Lee pushes Solo Ball in the back on a late shot that rolled out (floater). If that were Mullins, the foul gets called.

Yeah I keep seeing people saying “5 dumb fouls” but I still have no idea what his 2nd and 3rd fouls were for, after rewinding several times. For being in the general vicinity of a Florida player? In a game this physical?

His 4th was entirely Reed’s fault and even so Mullins looked pretty straight up and down to me.

For the record, Fland seemed to get some ticky tack fouls too.

 

[Magic32]

*UConn losing by 1 point to a very good team with 10 minutes left

The Boneyard -" This team isn't great , our offense sucks , this isn't a championship team , we're soft " ..etc etc
Spoiled
This team is very , very good

The very reason I no longer visit the chat room during games, negativity feeds negativity.

 

[cp176]

Stewart is becoming a fairly reliable player. He was involved in a number of big plays last night.

 

[navery12]

For some reason Karaban alwasys throws the ball to the ref when we face pressure, it allows the defense to get touch tight and it is then much harder to get it in. Notice the easiest inbound was the one time he didn't do it and Ball was able to get open.

They are coached to do that because it takes an extra few seconds off the clock before the 5 second inbound/shot clock start

 

[WhereistheDove?]

They are coached to do that because it takes an extra few seconds off the clock before the 5 second inbound/shot clock start

End of game situations the clock stops on made baskets so it doesn’t impact that. I’m sure it’s intentional, I’m just not sure why. It did feel a few times like they could have gotten it in quicker before the press set and missed the chance.

 

[navery12]

End of game situations the clock stops on made baskets so it doesn’t impact that. I’m sure it’s intentional, I’m just not sure why. It did feel a few times like they could have gotten it in quicker before the press set and missed the chance.

End of game yes, but these press situations are starting with 3-4 minutes left and the clock doesn't stop until it's under 1 minute

 

[uconnyankee]

It sounded like it was 80 percent UConn, but the camera made it look different, but zooming in on the Florida fans every time they made a play.

Watching end of Clemson-BYU, you could definitely hear the UConn faithful.

 

[Umami Zen]

Tarris grinded out a gritty performance. vs a tough/energetic/physical front court.. Even at 75% he's a load. Good to see him bangin' on the boards and D. Looks like he's trending towards 100% as we exit our OOC schedule.

Florida's front court is/was formidable-A great test for our Bigs. Elite Eight/FF level competition.

 

[Eleven]

One thing seemingly lost in the discussion about Silas’ adjustment is the defensive end. I believe he came in with the reputation as a good, if not elite, defensive player. There have been multiple instances where he gets himself behind the play. Frequent foul trouble may be indicative of a player who is not yet processing the D as quickly as he should, and hopefully will. No doubt he has the game to adapt to the complexities at both ends. I can’t wait to see it!

 

[navery12]

One thing seemingly lost in the discussion about Silas’ adjustment is the defensive end. I believe he came in with the reputation as a good, if not elite, defensive player. There have been multiple instances where he gets himself behind the play. Frequent foul trouble may be indicative of a player who is not yet processing the D as quickly as he should, and hopefully will. No doubt he has the game to adapt to the complexities at both ends. I can’t wait to see it!

Silas currently grades out as our 2nd best defensive player, he's been fine on that end

 

[uconnyankee]

https://dalydoseofhoops.blogspot.com/2025/12/uconn-closing-out-florida-shows.html

Going 10-1 against this schedule has to be one of the best starts ever for UConn. One loss coming against a Top 3 team and 4 or 5 wins against Top 20? And all with injuries and missing players..

I think this team has all the makings to be very special. In 2023, UConn was a little under the radar in terms of how special they were. Especially in the early season. I remember talking to friends, not UConn fans, saying this team is good almost having to convince them a NC was possible.

This team is right there, full spotlight, and taking everyone’s best shot. Not perfect but you know this team is only going to get better with more games played…

 

[RuffRuff]

Going 10-1 against this schedule has to be one of the best starts ever for UConn. One loss coming against a Top 3 team and 4 or 5 wins against Top 20? And all with injuries and missing players..

I think this team has all the makings to be very special. In 2023, UConn was a little under the radar in terms of how special they were. Especially in the early season. I remember talking to friends, not UConn fans, saying this team is good almost having to convince them a NC was possible.

This team is right there, full spotlight, and taking everyone’s best shot. Not perfect but you know this team is only going to get better with more games played…

Went as good as it could have gone, they ground it out. Path to a 1 seed looks really solid as you’d think the other 3 will be winner of B10 and B12 and then Duke.

Right now to me that looks like Michigan, Arizona, Duke and UConn.

 

[ucp990411]

He wasn’t nearly as bad in the first half as some would lead you to believe.

I thought he played very well in the first half. 4 assists and one turnover

 

[mauconnfan]

A gritty, slugfest. Not pretty, but these are the games you have to be able to win. We were overmatched inside, and once again lost the battle of the boards, but what's encouraging is the team had great resolve and was determined to get the win. I love how unselfish this team is and how everyone stepped up in moments when they needed to. Defense was tenacious. With Hurley's culture, every minute a player plays counts- and I love that.

A side note- I find Todd Golden really grating and annoying. I thought he should have been whistled for a T after his tirade when Solo was clearly fouled by being grabbled around the waist. On the other hand, we have to be impressed at how Hurley has really practiced restraint for the most part thus far.

Agree on Golden and whines even when wrong. (This is why other teams fans don’t like our guy too lol). He was up 18-4 in free throw attempts and was bitching.

By the way great call on Haught late game when he moved out a would be help defender by boxing him out before there was even a shot attempted which would’ve left a wide open lane for a lay up. Chimbeyu and the other big dude got away with a couple of those clear outs prior.

 

[ucp990411]

For some reason Karaban alwasys throws the ball to the ref when we face pressure, it allows the defense to get touch tight and it is then much harder to get it in. Notice the easiest inbound was the one time he didn't do it and Ball was able to get open.

When I coached my thought process inbounding after a made shot was whoever is closest to the ball grab it immediately and inbound it to whoever is open so the defense can’t set up.

 

[HCCForever]

Yeah. Noticed a lot of shirt tugging by Florida that didn’t get called.
Calls seemed to be more even later in game, which helped Uconn get to the line finally.

Mullins scored on a nice drive while his shirt was being held. It might have been his last points of game.

 

[Jaydumo20]

Was that supposed to be BYU instead of buy?

We call them BUY

 

[blkknight1]

What I like about this team is that they seem to be having more fun this year as opposed to last year team.

Last year the pressure of being two time defending champs the huge target on theirs and the coaches back was too much. This years team seems to be more relaxed and loose. They feel some sense of freedom. The guys they brought in have brought that energy

 

[BGesus4]

I thought jstew had a great game. Heard very little from haugh when stew was on him.

Also had a few really tough plays on offense—boards, tip outs, finishes