January - Other Big East Games

[CaptainRon]

yes.

With Moore back, they are going to be an issue.

 

[Billy Jack]

Great defense in the second half?! I'm not sure I would call it that, lol. There were spurts of it but the bottom line is that we gave up 43 points in the second half (after giving up 39 in the first half). Xavier only put up 2 free throws in the last three minutes of the game so there was not a piling on of last minute points due to us fouling to stop the clock/hope they miss.

Our defense HAS to improve over the next two months our we'll peter out in conference play/BE tourney and will be limping into the big dance. Period.

LOL at you saying that giving up 82 points to Xavier was bad defense. They are 7th in the country in ppg. We held them BELOW their current scoring average. Anywhere else that’s considered a good day by the defense.

 

[pj]

A Q1 home win is top 30 NET

They're talking about a road win which hasn't happened yet. They are counting February 11 eggs before they hatch.

 

[CTFAN4LIFE]

LOL at you saying that giving up 82 points to Xavier was bad defense. They are 7th in the country in ppg. We held them BELOW their current scoring average. Anywhere else that’s considered a good day by the defense.

You might think it's OK, but I don't settle for better than average defense. I want elite defense.

 

[Billy Jack]

You might think it's OK, but I don't settle for better than average defense. I want elite defense.

Stop. You called it bad defense. It wasn’t bad defense. Didn’t you watch the game? They generated their offense in the 2nd half off that “bad defense”. Without that “bad defense”, you don’t get 55 2nd half points. This isn’t football, offense & defense are integrated in basketball, they go hand in hand.

 

[UConnSwag11]

Stop. You called it bad defense. It wasn’t bad defense. Didn’t you watch the game? They generated their offense in the 2nd half off that “bad defense”. Without that “bad defense”, you don’t get 55 2nd half points. This isn’t football, offense & defense are integrated in basketball, they go hand in hand.

It was bad defense and Xavier scored more in the second half than they did in first. We also lost the game. Since Big East play, teams are scoring 20 more ppg than prior to Big East play. So yes, our defense was and has been bad, horrific, terrible, or whatever other word you want to describe not good, not great defense

 

[Lnd5]

Floyd with 8 and 2 huge 3s. Kinda weird considering he sucks according to the stat nerds here.

He definitely does not suck.

 

[CTFAN4LIFE]

Stop. You called it bad defense. It wasn’t bad defense. Didn’t you watch the game? They generated their offense in the 2nd half off that “bad defense”. Without that “bad defense”, you don’t get 55 2nd half points. This isn’t football, offense & defense are integrated in basketball, they go hand in hand.

Yes, I watched the game and it was bad defense overall with a spurt of good defense, which was predominantly off of the press (which was short lived and should have been used a bit more because it was really the only effective stretch of "defense" we put forth).

We got those 55 second half points predominantly off of very good shooting (50% FG, 60% 3PT, and 16 made free throws). Perhaps you should go back and rewatch the game, especially the second half and actually do some objective counting of how we scored those 55 points.

 

[pj]

Stop. You called it bad defense. It wasn’t bad defense. Didn’t you watch the game? They generated their offense in the 2nd half off that “bad defense”. Without that “bad defense”, you don’t get 55 2nd half points. This isn’t football, offense & defense are integrated in basketball, they go hand in hand.

Tempo also matters for points. Faster tempo may work to UConn's advantage, at least against some teams.

 

[UConnSwag11]

Tempo also matters for points. Faster tempo may work to UConn's advantage, at least against some teams.

Yup. When we were able to get stops we were getting out and scoring much more

 

[BGesus4]

You might think it's OK, but I don't settle for better than average defense. I want elite defense.

Out of curiosity, as a fan posting on a message board, what do you mean by you won’t settle for average defense? Will you not stop posting negative things until the team reaches elite defense or are there other actions you are planning on taking to make them to elite defensively, at which point you can finally settle?

 

[auror]

 

[CTFAN4LIFE]

Out of curiosity, as a fan posting on a message board, what do you mean by you won’t settle for average defense? Will you not stop posting negative things until the team reaches elite defense or are there other actions you are planning on taking to make them to elite defensively, at which point you can finally settle?

Haha, well, it's all in my mind right? Just like any fan. I'm not the coach so I can't bench someone or coach them up or out. I was referring to the poster who seemed to indicate he was good with above average defense. We're UConn and given our history and aspirations, being just above average in any aspect of the game won't cut it, right?

 

[Billy Jack]

Yes, I watched the game and it was bad defense overall with a spurt of good defense, which was predominantly off of the press (which was short lived and should have been used a bit more because it was really the only effective stretch of "defense" we put forth).

We got those 55 second half points predominantly off of very good shooting (50% FG, 60% 3PT, and 16 made free throws). Perhaps you should go back and rewatch the game, especially the second half and actually do some objective counting of how we scored those 55 points.

I don’t know what game you were watching or if you understand just how good a shooting team Xavier is. Their team FG% is 3rd best in the country!

 

[CTFAN4LIFE]

I don’t know what game you were watching or if you understand just how good a shooting team Xavier is. Their team FG% is 3rd best in the country!

Stop changing the narrative. At least I am watching the games and use real data as opposed to just winging out thoughts.

Yes, Xavier is a very good to excellent offensive team. They also shot in their very next game against Creighton 48% on FG and 28% on 3PT as opposed to the 53% on FG and 50% on 3PT against us just the game before. So, you can easily see real examples of other teams playing better defense against them (and in general) than we did (are in general).

 

[auror]

Stop changing the narrative. At least I am watching the games and use real data as opposed to just winging out thoughts.

Yes, Xavier is a very good to excellent offensive team. They also shot in their very next game against Creighton 48% on FG and 28% on 3PT as opposed to the 53% on FG and 50% on 3PT against us just the game before. So, you can easily see real examples of other teams playing better defense against them (and in general) than we did (are in general).

Random shot variance is a real, real thing. It's why the NBA finals is a 7 game series.

 

[CTFAN4LIFE]

Random shot variance is a real, real thing. It's why the NBA finals is a 7 game series.

Sure, there is randomness to shooting and to defense but you gotta use relevant data to do comparisons and draw conclusions.... the NBA Finals are 7 games due to money and tv.

 

[auror]

Sure, there is randomness to shooting and to defense but you gotta use relevant data to do comparisons and draw conclusions.... the NBA Finals are 7 games due to money and tv.

If you want to use reliable data, you have to use a lot more than 2 games.

 

[CTFAN4LIFE]

If you want to use reliable data, you have to use a lot more than 2 games.

I was using the most recent data to prove a point to someone that was using no data. I wasn't trying to show how our defense has not performed well in the past month.

 

[UConnSwag11]

Nova is going to be a problem for us End of Year

 

[Billy Jack]

Stop changing the narrative. At least I am watching the games and use real data as opposed to just winging out thoughts.

Yes, Xavier is a very good to excellent offensive team. They also shot in their very next game against Creighton 48% on FG and 28% on 3PT as opposed to the 53% on FG and 50% on 3PT against us just the game before. So, you can easily see real examples of other teams playing better defense against them (and in general) than we did (are in general).

You said “examples” and then you gave one. I’ll wait for the rest.

And how am I not using real data when I posted X’s season FG% and national scoring rank?

 

[CTFAN4LIFE]

You said “examples” and then you gave one. I’ll wait for the rest.

And how am I not using real data when I posted X’s season FG% and national scoring rank?

Yes, you throw out data that isn't tied to your actual arguments but I digress lol.

 

[JustbrewitMan]

Stop changing the narrative. At least I am watching the games and use real data as opposed to just winging out thoughts.

Yes, Xavier is a very good to excellent offensive team. They also shot in their very next game against Creighton 48% on FG and 28% on 3PT as opposed to the 53% on FG and 50% on 3PT against us just the game before. So, you can easily see real examples of other teams playing better defense against them (and in general) than we did (are in general).

Look, I'll be the first one to say we need to step up our defense and that it's regression has been a big contributor to this skid...that said...riddle me this:


DePaul is one of the worst defensive teams in our league, giving up 1.10 PPP (pts per possession). Only G'Town is worse (at 1.17).

But yet Xavier shot 27/71 (38%) on FGs and 4/20 (20%) on 3s in their loss to DePaul.

How much of this was shooting variance vs. defense?

 

[CTFAN4LIFE]

Look, I'll be the first one to say we need to step up our defense and that it's regression has been a big contributor to this skid...that said...riddle me this:


DePaul is one of the worst defensive teams in our league, giving up 1.10 PPP (pts per possession). Only G'Town is worse (at 1.17).

But yet Xavier shot 27/71 (38%) on FGs and 4/20 (20%) on 3s in their loss to DePaul.

How much of this was shooting variance vs. defense?

I watched the entire game. Here is how it went down:

Xavier goes 5 for 5 and hit their first 2 FT's in the first 3 minutes as DePaul was playing soft man and getting beat constantly. DePaul then tightened up their man defense, did some pressing in the back court, and then some switching man to man which produced a 7 minute dry spell for Xavier. Does that sound like a microcosm of our game with them or what? Xavier ends the half with 40 points but it was largely on the back of that first three minutes... Second half is a blend of rag tag play, good defense, some open looks/some contested shots and they mostly hit the open ones and miss the contested ones.

My bottom line on Xavier is if they get open they make shots (they feast, actually); if they are rushed and contested (yes, you need to do both to hinder their shooting proficiency) then you can contain them and compete on the scoreboard...

I sure as hell wish that we had put more pressure on them, used more hard man to man, thrown in a decent amount of zone to confuse them, etc. and we might have beat them by 5 points on our home floor.

Hurley seems reluctant to use zone (yes, some stubbornness showing through) but I think if we do blend both increased pressure and some zone to rest our guys then we will confuse Xavier in a potential future matchup at the BE tourney. Same can be deployed against other opponents as well. We shall see.