Game thoughts - Monmouth (an extra long one tonight)

[RichZ]

1. 1st possession turn over seems to be our modus operandi of late.
2. Onuorah's performance kind of confirmed that he is not particularly good.
3. Early on, it appeared that we were moving the ball with a sense of purpose. No windshield wiper offense so far. The guards and Larrier moving well, making crisp cuts and going very tight on screens. Passing looks sharp as well. Now score some points, dammit!
4. 12 minutes left in the first half and suddenly I am getting nervous about the whistles. Monmouth in the bonus on the next one.
5. Jalen looks like he's focused and enthusiastic. That's a good sign.
6. 10 minutes in, we are playing our best basketball of the season, and we still can't get any separation.
7. 8 minutes left in the half - Mamadou's long arms! Great intercept to start the break.
8. Nice run augmented by CV with some great D!
9. Lead gets up to 9. Better, but how can any Husky fan relax unless we can go into the half with a double digit lead?
10. And just like that, a 9 point lead is gone. Ollie should have called a TO when it got down to 5.
11. There go the whistles again. Three possessions in a row.
12. Larrier's floaters are awful tonight, but other than that, he seems engaged and is putting in some work on the boards.
13. Jalen with a 3 at the buzzer. Not sure how he stayed airborne long enough for a fake and a complete position shift, but he did, and still beat the clock. Hope it gives us some momentum. On replay, I think he should have been shooting a foul shot, too, but the refs are too busy making sure they credit Monmouth with a 3 from earlier.
14. Can't believe how badly we were out rebounded in the 1st half. It didn't feel like we were being abused on the boards, but evidently, we were.
15. Nice start to the 2nd half.
16. It's pretty clear that our most effective lineup right now is Adams, Vital, Anderson, Larrier and Diarra. And I'd be more than fine with Carlton as the first big off the bench.
17. Foul on JA at 10:18 was an awful call.
18. As was the call on Polley on the block 20 second later.
19. Can't let questionable whistles take us out of our game like they did in the first half.
20. Too late. Now we're down again. Playing very hesitantly on offense now. The crisp ball movement has disappeared.
21. DO out, Carlton in. Diarra's been our most effective big by far. Can we safely buy him a few more minutes at this point?
22. 5:11, Diarra back in. Best lineup is together again.
23. JA got called for an invisible foul on Seaborn, then Larrier tipped in Seaborn's missed FT.
24. After Tillman scored the lay in with 2:14 left, he slapped the ball down court as he headed back up. Should have been a technical. He didn't bump into the ball, he reached out and slapped it down court.
25. JA just doing it at the end offensively again. Amazing how easily he gets to where he wants to be, and how much control he has in putting the ball in at odd angles with varying degrees of English required.
26. Up 1 with a minute to go.
27. OT. Against a mid-major. Again.
28. CV really off from 3 tonight, but money at the line, and providing good D and effort on the glass.
29. MD done for the night -- good call, bad foul.
30. Getting ugly now with 2 and a half to go in OT.
31. At first, I was infuriated on that call on Vital's steal. Replay showed that it was a good call. The hesitation between him getting bumped from behind and him bumping the guy was too noticeable to ignore.
32. 1 point game with a minute to go. Didn't I say that a few minutes ago, too? Deja Vu!
33. Good call on Tillman when he hooked Carlton to go to the rim. That could be called all night in most games when a big makes a move on the baseline. But Welsh called it a chicken wing. That would be keeping his elbow pretty fully bent, and just using his upper arm. He extended his whole arm around Carlton to make room. That's just a hook. No chickens involved.
34. After being down by 6 boards at the half, we ended up outreboundng them, which is encouraging.
35. Antoine's D on Seaborn in the 2nd half was every bit as important to this W as Adams 31 points. He looked a little Ricky Moore-ish tonight!
36. Diarra's reach absolutely came into play on 5 separate occasions. Of course without a strong effort, the wingspan would just be a number.
37. 9 Steals is impressive.
38. Overall, the game wasn't called poorly, except for about 10 minutes in the middle of the 1st half, when we were playing our best ball, and the whistles took our aggressiveness away.
39. It wasn't the prettiest thing in the world, but we've got to take our joy where we can find it, and 6-2 is way better than the 3-5 we would probably be if we still had last year's squad.
40. Still too many lapses, but I see improvement over the last couple games. We can't expect mediocrity to be instantly replaced by greatness, but we can demand incremental improvement toward that goal, and I think we're seeing that.

TLDR version: Some improvement, some encouraging moments, a win is better than a loss.

 

[joober jones]

I was wondering if anyone else noticed #24

 

[jibsey]

Question, and I’m being serious. How does Monmouth have better big men than we do?

 

[Glastonhusky]

Question, and I’m being serious. How does Monmouth have better big men than we do?

I was at the game and thinking the same thing. Their bigs weren't exactly all americans , but they were more mobile than ours and had some back to the basket skills.

 

[Chin Diesel]

#16. Rotation at the 5 has to be Carlton, Cobb and Diarra (No particular order). 8 games in to season and it's apparent those are the three who can play at this level.

 

[3rdbass]

#16. Rotation at the 5 has to be Carlton, Cobb and Diarra (No particular order). 8 games in to season and it's apparent those are the three who can play at this level.

I would like to see a little more of Whaley at the 4. He is very active. Just don't want to ever see David O in there if Cobb is healthy.

 

[intlzncster]

Even though I knew it was coming the build up to 9.--followed by the thud of 10.-- had me chuckling.

 

[Greathusky]

Question, and I’m being serious. How does Monmouth have better big men than we do?

Larrier is a powerpuff underneath. He does not box out and has no hands.

 

[BaZZnBOAT]

Great points made. I think the team gets better each week if the scoreboard doesn't show it. Luckily, it does show a victory which is all that matters.

Question, and I’m being serious. How does Monmouth have better big men than we do?

Maturity, experience, etc. That being said, it's mind-boggling that Big Dave can't stay on the court, like, AT ALL.

 

[Chin Diesel]

I would like to see a little more of Whaley at the 4. He is very active. Just don't want to ever see David O in there if Cobb is healthy.

I'd like to see both Polley and Whaley get some time at the 4 to spell Larrier. I don't have anything against either one; I do think Polley is a bit better on the perimeter and has a slight edge right now. Regardless, I'd rather have Polley or Whaley play the four than put two of Cobb/Carlton/Diarra in the game. I don't think any of those three are offensive threats and UConn can't afford to have zero threats at two positions going forward.

 

[3rdbass]

Larrier is a powerpuff underneath. He does not box out and has no hands.

He has been our top rebounder the last two games. He is great in the high post and shouldn't be settling outside at he 3 pt line all game.

 

[intlzncster]

hat being said, it's mind-boggling that Big Dave can't stay on the court, like, AT ALL.

I don't want him on the court anyway so that doesn't seem like an issue to me.

 

[Greathusky]

He has been our top rebounder the last two games. He is great in the high post and shouldn't be settling outside at he 3 pt line all game.

That is a misleading stat because KO has gone to a small lineup many times in the past few games.

He may be the only big man in there at times.

That tip in tonight on the missed foul shot by the Monmouth player made me scream. He did nothing on that play but stand there.
Plus there were two plays in the Columbia game where he let Meisner outmuscle him for the rebound that resulted in two baskets.

Watch him closely during the game. He plays with a lackadaisical attitude. Reminds me of Stanley Robinson.

 

[BaZZnBOAT]

He has been our top rebounder the last two games. He is great in the high post and shouldn't be settling outside at he 3 pt line all game.

I agree with you. Larrier is great in the high post. Let the guards shoot... you get in position.

 

[BaZZnBOAT]

I don't want him on the court anyway so that doesn't seem like an issue to me.

After Big Dave's first game where he was setting screens like a machine I instantly fell in love. It's like finding out your crush isn't all you thought them up to be, you know?

 

[3rdbass]

I agree with you. Larrier is great in the high post. Let the guards shoot... you get in position.

Yep, than he can do a fast 1-2 dribble move and take a great high percentage shot where he is most effective and then pop out when they are crowding him there.

 

[BaZZnBOAT]

Yep, than he can do a fast 1-2 dribble move and take a great high percentage shot where he is most effective and then pop out when they are crowding him there.

I think, in general, our team is at it's best working the paint and high post. All shots should be close to the basket (Larrier posts, Adams drives). Once those start to draw the defenders in, then we can start to kick it out and get open, more effective 3 pointers.

 

[3rdbass]

I think, in general, our team is at it's best working the paint and high post. All shots should be close to the basket (Larrier posts, Adams drives). Once those start to draw the defenders in, then we can start to kick it out and get open, more effective 3 pointers.

Totally agree. I haven't totally given up on UCONN as I still like Terry Larrier and believe he is the key for us having good season. We need someone else besides JA consistently scoring and TL can definitely create his offense at the high post.

 

[BaZZnBOAT]

Totally agree. I haven't totally given up on UCOON as I still like Terry Larrier and believe he is the key for us having good season. We need someone consistently scoring and TL can definitely create his offense at the high post.

I think while the wins weren't pretty, we've seen some noticeable improvements each game. As long as we continue down that path, I will remain optimistic. Even the players have said that it's more so about their shots falling than their execution, which I don't totally agree with, of course, but there is some good perspective this season from both the players and staff.

 

[Kitaman]

I was at the game and thinking the same thing. Their bigs weren't exactly all americans , but they were more mobile than ours and had some back to the basket skills.

I really think that big dude would do well in the NFL as an offensive lineman. Mobile and active and ran real well. Even as a defensive tackle. He also looked strong as he'll moving our bugs like they were tree branches.

 

[intlzncster]

Larrier is a powerpuff underneath. He does not box out and has no hands.

I saw him boxing out a couple of times but just getting tossed aside like a rag doll.

Disagree on the hands thing; I'd say that's one of his better traits.

 

[BaZZnBOAT]

Larrier is a powerpuff underneath. He does not box out and has no hands.

He's a SF playing PF because we need him to, basically.

 

[Greathusky]

I saw him boxing out a couple of times but just getting tossed aside like a rag doll.

Disagree on the hands thing; I'd say that's one of his better traits.

I should have referred more to his handle. I cringe when he is dribbling through traffic.

 

[NielsisGood]

That is a misleading stat because KO has gone to a small lineup many times in the past few games.

He may be the only big man in there at times.

That tip in tonight on the missed foul shot by the Monmouth player made me scream. He did nothing on that play but stand there.
Plus there were two plays in the Columbia game where he let Meisner outmuscle him for the rebound that resulted in two baskets.

Watch him closely during the game. He plays with a lackadaisical attitude. Reminds me of Stanley Robinson.

You can nitpick anybody though. Anderson, for the solid defense he played, was absolutely brutal on our possessions the last 10 or so minutes of game time. Almost turned out to be a zero sum game out of him late in the game.

 

[David 76]

He has been our top rebounder the last two games. He is great in the high post and shouldn't be settling outside at he 3 pt line all game.

Maybe a "powerpuff" is a compliment.