Georgetown Post Game Thread

[NJHusky]

Nowel dribbled way too much hunting his shot. Not sure that was the gameplan.

He needs time on the court. He’s a frosh that has had limited playing time. I’m ok with him trying to figure things out in games that matter. I expect it to pay dividends in April

 

[RuffRuff]

He needs time on the court. He’s a frosh that has had limited playing time. I’m ok with him trying to figure things out in games that matter. I expect it to pay dividends in April

Wow - so you got us in the Final 4, love the confidence.

 

[my2cents]

When we were in super stall mode, we delayed picking up the ball after made GU baskets in order to let the clock run. Did anyone notice that the ref started the 5-second inbound count before AK actually grabbed the ball? And that forced AK to rush to grab the ball and make a quick pass, which resulted in a turnover (Hassan stole it right back).

The basket was made with 4:42 remaining in the 2nd half. The ref started his count at 4:36.

Can he start a count before the inbounder has possession of the ball? If anything, I feel like it warranted a delay of game warning.

Yes, if the nobody presents to take the ball in, the ref places it on the ground and starts his five count.

 

[Palatine]

I thought Diarra had one of his best defensive games. He was a pest all game and his live ball steals were an offensive catalyst. His aggression cost him in fouls but he was very effective disrupting the Hoyas.

Yes, he started the offense way too late when killing the clock. The whole team was bad in the last eight minutes but we need to help him by having some priorities.

 

[Palatine]

Does it really matter? Like, I never get concerned with garbage time

Any time they are on the court they should be committed to playing good basketball with a purpose. This wasn't the walk-ons out there, this was our core starters. No purpose, no connection, it was a sloppy mess. The only good thing about it is it gives Hurley teaching points.

 

[ctchamps]

The only drive to the basket he had today was a wide open path. Mahaney, that's actually one of the things we know he's good at, it's the PG play and decision making that's his issue. And Diarra is actually pretty good at driving to.the basket. I want Nowell to be good as much as anyone, and I think he's going to be great for us over the next few years, but he's not going to come close to replacing Diarra this year.

He won't replace Diarra but you would like to get him good enough to be an option if both Diarra and Mahaney get in foul trouble like happened in the first half.

 

[ctchamps]

No I mean the one he took from the corner with 15 seconds to go in the half instead of waiting for the last shot. Maybe you should do a better job of understanding what people say instead of looking for a fight. And I happen to like J Ross. With more experience I think he will a player. It was said his only mistake was pulling up for a jumper when he had a clear lane to the hoop. I was only pointing out another one which led to a made 3 pointer by Georgetown to close the half.

It was with 25 seconds remaining we had the lead and he was so wide open he has to take that shot. I bet the coaching staff will tell him that was a good look and encourage him to take these shots when they review tape.

 

[ctchamps]

It’s been happening a ton, somehow allowed by the refs vs PC, Nova and GTown. The most obvious is fighting through screens they are holding and bodying to stop any advantage coming off the screen for our guys. It’s been happening so consistently and allowed I’m now immune to screaming at the TV

They were holding Alex so much I thought they should have gotten a room. To be fair they let a lot of the pushing and shoving of the fives which neutralized Sorber. My only beef was with the ref who was quick with the double technical and the jump ball. That double T put both our ball handlers on the bench in the first half. Turned out fine because Nowell got some time on the court and for the most part handled the pressure. But it could have gone the other way.

Once we went on that run they started calling those holding fouls. No sense in keeping Georgetown in the game at that point.

Let's face it. If both teams are good, if there are supportive fans in the venue, the refs lean towards the home team. Additionally human beings tend to hold onto preconceptions or grudges even after someone changes. A reputation is hard to overcome. Danny and the team are still feeling the repercussions of Maui and that Memphis game.

 

[ctchamps]

I do wonder if Hurley was hiding the play book for the next game against Creighton which isn't till Saturday, McDermott always has us scouted out. Game was won on the road win and get out with no more injuries and less film for Creighton to see.

Nah. We were practicing for tournament time how to rest our players.

 

[JustbrewitMan]

No I mean the one he took from the corner with 15 seconds to go in the half instead of waiting for the last shot. Maybe you should do a better job of understanding what people say instead of looking for a fight. And I happen to like J Ross. With more experience I think he will a player. It was said his only mistake was pulling up for a jumper when he had a clear lane to the hoop. I was only pointing out another one which led to a made 3 pointer by Georgetown to close the half.

Oh man…you’re referring to the shot Ross took at ~23 sec?

You thought that was a bad shot???

Samson makes a steal, we push pace, get in transition, Ross gets to an elbow spot for an in-flow wide open three with literally no one within 10 feet of him…

And you want him to NOT shoot that, stop the fast break, pull it back and hold it for the last shot of the half?

Thank goodness you don’t coach our Huskies…

 

[jibsey]

The complaints about the last minutes of the road game win and Diarra are mind boggling. Ridiculously spoiled fan base.

 

[AntG168]

Love Hass. RJ Cole was better. Full Stop. What are we talking about .

 

[Gurleyman]

Watching the replay and got to the “Denis Potvin of the Big East” reference Calhoun had about Donny Marshall that I forgot about.

Cracked me up - not because it was all that funny, but more because what percentage of the viewing audience was going to get a reference to a 1980s hockey feud?

 

[Excalibur]

Speaking of Solo, if anyone is keeping track...

After 17 games sophomore season:
Solo Ball: 47 3PM at 43.9%
Jordan Hawkins excluding Stonehill: 52 3PM at 40.6%

Are we pretending that Ball has anything similar to the shot making ability of Hawkins? And didn’t Hawkins basically have two games with almost no minutes due to injury early in his sophomore season?

 

[Excalibur]

Love Hass. RJ Cole was better. Full Stop. What are we talking about .

I don’t know why this is a debate . . .

 

[Scoe]

I don’t know why this is a debate . . .

Comparisons are dumb we're trying to win.

 

[Matias]

I love how Donny and Brando kept complimenting the Gtown fans for something approaching a sell-out. Give those fans a participation trophy.

Far from a sell-out crowd, but definitely night and day difference from last year where there was pretty much only UConn fans cheering. I'll give them respect cause most of them stuck around to the bitter end and cheered their team even when it was way over. As a long time respected conference rival, it's good to see them getting back to it but they still got a ways to go.

 

[AllHusky]

He won't replace Diarra but you would like to get him good enough to be an option if both Diarra and Mahaney get in foul trouble like happened in the first half.

or Mahaney isn't getting the job done. He(AM) has made big steps the past 10 days, but he's not quite out of the woods yet.

 

[Mike Honcho]

The issue there and why the ref started counting was that all 5 UConn players set up inbounds to run the press break, and nobody picked up the ball to inbound it. They'll let it slide if the player is just being slow picking up the ball, but nobody at UConn was making any effort because they all thought someone else was going to

I understand the issue. I still think that's a delay of game warning.

 

[PAHusky]

Are we pretending that Ball has anything similar to the shot making ability of Hawkins? And didn’t Hawkins basically have two games with almost no minutes due to injury early in his sophomore season?

The crazy thing is I think Ball does actually have shot making ability to almost the same level as Hawkins. Yesterday he was hitting them off the bounce, around curls, etc. Both have nice strokes, decent mid range and struggle a bit to go the rim (solo worse at this). It’s not that far fetched

 

[REB1094]

Are we pretending that Ball has anything similar to the shot making ability of Hawkins? And didn’t Hawkins basically have two games with almost no minutes due to injury early in his sophomore season?

Eye test tells me that Hawkins is 100% a better shooter than Solo Ball, which is why it's crazy that it's so close. Hawkins' sophomore year was the 2nd most threes ever made in a UConn season, and yet Solo is right on his tail. I've been waiting for him to cool off, but he hasn't yet. Insane shot making from him so far

Hawkins got injured early against Stonehill (I didn't include that game because that's not his fault), and only played 6 minutes against Iowa St (I did include that game because it was due to getting benched from foul trouble/technical foul which is his fault). I didn't include any of the games he missed completely

 

[superjohn]

You're just wrong. Cole was the best player on our team for 2 years. One of those teams was about as good as this team. And he's a pro player. Don't see Diarra as a pro anywhere. Cole also never had as poor a game as Diarra yesterday, 2-8 fg, 4 turnovers, 3 blocked shots and just bad decisions. When Diarra is good he's a top 4 player on the team but he was really bad yesterday.

Cole wasn't the best player on UConn for 2 seasons. Bouknight was better than him his first year. You could make an argument for Cole or Tyrese in year two. I would probably go with RJ but it was close. Cole got the first team all-Big East honors and Tyrese got snubbed from any honors. Cole's stats in year two- 15.8 ppg, 42% fg, 33% threes, 4.1 assists, 3.4 rebs. Tyrese stats in year two- 13.6 ppg, 45% fg, 43% threes, 1.9 assists, 7.5 rebs. RJ was a volume scorer and a good general but was taken advantage of defensively a fair amount, he always gave it his all and took charges but Hass is a significantly better defender.

Cole definitely had games just as poor as Hass did yesterday and the poor play from Hass was in extended garbage time when Hurley told him to take the air out of the ball with 8 minutes left...

Cole went 2-13 with 2 assists in a loss against Creighton. Cole went 2-10 with 3 assists in a loss against Nova. Cole went 3-12 with 3 assists in a first round loss to Maryland. Cole went 6-17 with 3 assists and 5 turnovers in a loss to West Virginia. Cole went 4-13 with 4 assists and 3 turnovers in a loss to Seton Hall. Cole went 5-16 with 3 assists and 2 turnovers in a loss to Creighton.


Neither of Cole's teams were as good as this team.

RJ plays overseas, Hass will play overseas too.

 

[Classof87]

I'll never roll my eyes at a Big East road win, so I didn't really mind them going into "clock mode" up by 24.
Gtown coming back like they did to close it to an 8 pt game is purely a result of them having Cooley as their coach, he has that team on the right track and I have no doubt they are poised to become a top team in the BE.

All that being said... we are a terrible perimeter defending team. Gtown shot 46% on 7-15 shooting from three, on the season they shoot it at 32.5%. If they had shot better from the line (15 of 23) especially in the 2nd half when we put the game away, this might have played out much differently. We also keep allowing guards to dribble drive to the hole for layups.

I'll gladly take the win, but this team still has a LOT of work to do defensively to make a FF run. And yes, we need McNeeley back asap.

 

[superjohn]

Are we pretending that Ball has anything similar to the shot making ability of Hawkins? And didn’t Hawkins basically have two games with almost no minutes due to injury early in his sophomore season?

If I want someone taking a high degree of difficulty three I'm taking Hawkins. If I want someone taking an open three I'm taking Solo.

 

[Classof87]

Our best defensive game all year. I hope our defensive metrics actually get better after a game for once. Unfortunately, I wonder if our offensive metrics dip a bit by not trying to score the last 8 minutes and letting GTown claw back to within 8.

Maybe on the interior (maybe), but our perimeter D is still very suspect. We gave up 7 for 15 on 3's last night, and as a team we are ranked 354th in 3 pt defense at 38.4%. Our guards give up too many blow-by drives to the hole too.