How is Ball not getting more shots!?!?

[Spaceman213J]

The loss of McNeeley has really hurt Karaban and Ball. You don't have to double Johnson or Reed (the way he has been playing lately) and Diarra is not a guy you have to cling to outside. It allows for plenty of help on Ball and Karaban. Getting McNeeley back and out on the floor could help open things up and so could getting some consistent play from Mahaney.
I was hoping Stewart would be more consistent shooting from outside and provide another threat, but it hasn't happened. Tough to spread a defense out with only 2 real shooters.
Might be why Hurley recruited the guys he did this year, and thanks to him and the staff they landed 3 All-Americans in doing so.

 

[Waquoit]

I'm not prepared to say getting more shots for Solo was a key to the game. He had 4 wide open looks from 3 in the last 10 minutes and bricked all four. A go-to guy needs to make shots late.

 

[DogMania]

I'm not prepared to say getting more shots for Solo was a key to the game. He had 4 wide open looks from 3 in the last 10 minutes and bricked all four. A go-to guy needs to make shots late.

I started this thread after the Butler game and befire the Xavier game.

Against Xavier, he went 0 for the second half on I think 8 shots of which 5 or 6 were 3s. I posted the specific numbers in a different thread but I'm not going to bother to look at what those exact numbers were.

I still think they need to find more shots for him, especially when he's dialed in. But like all good players, he needs to learn to do other things to help his team win when his shot is not falling, like driving to the basket and hunting fouls. I agree with the person who posted that he needs to be more demonstrative when he's being held and bumped off the ball. I think it was Spencer and Newton who both were really good at adding a little measure of acting when they were interfered with while running through traffic. Maybe that's something the coaching staff needs to emphasize to draw more fouls and open up the freedom of movement which was an emphasis last year, which seems to no longer be the case this season at least with UConn.

I'm sure teams are keying (sometimes clutching, bumping and grabbing) on Ball to not let him get good three-point looks, but it seems that there are times where he's just standing at the perimeter not getting open, and after timeouts they're not exactly drawing up plays for him, or they're simply executing them poorly.

 

[Deleted at users request]

After a summer of Solo doing this, he’d be the best guard in the country.



Stop wasting money on those damn ball hog gloves that’s advertised at the beginning of highlight reels.

 

[dennismenace]

We are going to have a hard time if Mahaney doesn’t improve soon. He is a nonfactor in many offensive sets.

Also combine Johnson camping out at Ft line setting picks for no one and you’ve got 3 on 5.

I watched this over and over again last night.

I was glad to see Johnson finally figure it out and start cutting to the hoop. That led to some nice dunks!

If you are correct and I think you are this is a matter for the coaching staff. Why do they ignore this?

 

[UCan3]

If you are correct and I think you are this is a matter for the coaching staff. Why do they ignore this?

Great question.

They are ”on the clock” to get this addressed - hope it is sooner than later.

I am concerned about what looks like it could be an NIT like slide… Now of course we have Liam coming back and things should get better but we haven’t looked like a team that will go deep into tourney since he went out.

 

[ctbro1999]

I'm not prepared to say getting more shots for Solo was a key to the game. He had 4 wide open looks from 3 in the last 10 minutes and bricked all four. A go-to guy needs to make shots late.

Yeah, the shots just didn't fall for him in the 2nd half. Couple of them almost went in but rattled or lipped out. He makes just 1 of his 3's 2nd half and we probably win the game. Owell!

 

[mauconnfan]

How is Ball not getting more shots!?!?​

Good on Ball defense?

Pretty sure the other teams would prefer basically everyone else other than Solo to take shots so one easy answer is the other teams defend better than us. Along with the holding snd bumping allowed he will be the others team focus on that end. Mitchell of Marquette will be an issue.

 

[Waquoit]

Yeah, the shots just didn't fall for him in the 2nd half. Couple of them almost went in but rattled or lipped out. He makes just 1 of his 3's 2nd half and we probably win the game. Owell!

Yeah, no. None of them almost went. I don't any of them were even on target.

 

[JohnFSilver]

Solo Ball has averaged 12.3 FGA across the last six games.

Marquette's David Joplin averages 12.3 FGAs per game, which is good for 7th in the conference. Only three players (RJ Luis, Kam Jones, Eric Dixon) average 13+ FGAs per game.

Based on those stats, I don't think getting Ball even more touches is the answer. Other guys need to step up.

Agree here. How many shots is he supposed to get?

Play defense. UConn offense isn’t an issue.

 

[dennismenace]

Yeah, no. None of them almost went. I don't any of them were even on target.

Perhaps it was in the first half but he did have two that went completely in the hole and came back up and out. Someone else around the same time had one as well.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Solo Ball has averaged 12.3 FGA across the last six games.

Marquette's David Joplin averages 12.3 FGAs per game, which is good for 7th in the conference. Only three players (RJ Luis, Kam Jones, Eric Dixon) average 13+ FGAs per game.

Based on those stats, I don't think getting Ball even more touches is the answer. Other guys need to step up.

This is a great point. Ball’s shooting percentage is likely to go down on the incremental shots if he just takes more shots. Players generally find their own right level of shot attempts based on their ability to get open, and UConn’s offense is pretty friendly for a catch-and-shoot jump shooter like Ball. Trying to force another few shots into his hands when he is already a high volume shooter is likely going to result in those incremental shots being low percentage.

 

[ctbro1999]

Yeah, no. None of them almost went. I don't any of them were even on target.

As much as he was deadly accurate in the first half, he was off in the 2nd. Shake it off and on to the next game!

 

[husky429]

Agree here. How many shots is he supposed to get?

Play defense. UConn offense isn’t an issue.

We're a top-10 offense in the country, top-5 with Liam. I'm really confused why folks are complaining about offense at all. If we could defend at a CCC JV level, we'd probably be a top-15 team.

 

[UConniki]

The floaters by Alex weren't horrible looks. He just short-armed them all night

Then he should’ve stopped shooting them. He’s not the only reason they lost at least 3/4 other games but he’s had the ball in his hands at the end of games a lot and has been awful ( especially the Nova game ). JMHO

 

[dennismenace]

As much as he was deadly accurate in the first half, he was off in the 2nd. Shake it off and on to the next game!

Maybe reduce his minutes a bit to give him a breather at times since, as pointed out, it is in the second half. He might defend better as well. Our defenses in past years used continuous pressure on shooters and they responded in the second half with lower shooting percentages. This is nothing new. It was commonly referred to as shooters "losing their legs" in the second half. Meantime we were putting in fresh legs like Calcaterra and Hassan and running opponents out of the gym. The whole thing about effectively using a bench is to wear the opponent down. We also wear down opponents by making them chase guys running through screens.