JHawk | The Boneyard

JHawk

Great game for him. Looked much more confident.
8C4D77D0-5926-47C2-B059-430F8642B5EB.jpeg
 
Encouraging to see him play well and make some shots. Confidence starting to return.

When I saw the box score I was surprised that he had 14 pts... I would have guessed 8 or so. Quietly our 2nd leading scorer tonight.

He seems to be hitting the harder shots and missing some open looks. When he stops pressing and starts to hit more of those open shots, his confidence will take off and this team will go to another level.
 
.-.
WeAreUCONN said:
Hawkins needs to get much stronger in the legs and everywhere else. He falls down on any contact and normally can’t finish at the rim. He played a nice game tonight but he also forces shots. His shots need to come within the flow of the game.
Expand ...
I agree with the first part but disagree with the second.

His shot selection has been fine, but he needs to get much stronger with the ball and through contact.
 
After that dunk, I swear you could see the flip switch in his brain. He got UBER aggressive and started playing angry...
There was one play on the left wing where he did the hardest jab step dribble drive I've seen anyone do since Boatright...thought it was a really really impressive game for him.
 
HuskyFich said:
After that dunk, I swear you could see the flip switch in his brain. He got UBER aggressive and started playing angry...
There was one play on the left wing where he did the hardest jab step dribble drive I've seen anyone do since Boatright...thought it was a really really impressive game for him.
Expand ...
I agree! He was itching for a go at the rim for some time now. Switch turned on. Maybe Hurley can make a play for him earlier in the game to flip a switch earlier like we used to do for JAdams and Bouk.

I agree with @WeAreUCONN too he needs to build a little more strength heading into his sophomore year. It will help him a lot getting through traffic and keep him safe, especially in the big east.
 
Most exciting thing for me was, oddly enough, that he did it without shooting the 3 very well. I'm fully confident in his ability to shoot over the course of his college career. I am very worried about his ability to do anything at the rim. The more he sees his layups go in, the better it will be for him in the long run. He needs to develop touch and body control.
 
Austin316 said:
I agree! He was itching for a go at the rim for some time now. Switch turned on. Maybe Hurley can make a play for him earlier in the game to flip a switch earlier like we used to do for JAdams and Bouk.

I agree with @WeAreUCONN too he needs to build a little more strength heading into his sophomore year. It will help him a lot getting through traffic and keep him safe, especially in the big east.
Expand ...
He's the perfect 6 man off the bench, impacts the game more than Polley when he's playing well. I agree though, some upper body strength is necessary for him.
There was no second guessing from Hawk yesterday. His first shot was without a dribble or even the look to pass, just pure aggression...he's starting to get it.
 
.-.
Great that we play Butler again tomorrow, a perfect opportunity to further his confidence. I think we'll see his first 20-point performance. Two things to note from the Box Score: he only played 18 minutes; 14 points while only 1-5 on 3-pt shots. He's close, real close.
 
Sanogo had one assist last night. It was the beauty for Hawk to dunk. Hawk still has to hit the wide open three pointers. He did knock one down last night but had other opportunities. Hit a couple of those and the lane to rim will open.
 
Once his light goes on it won’t turn off. Gonna be special and fun to watch. Any day now.
 
HuskyFich said:
He's the perfect 6 man off the bench, impacts the game more than Polley when he's playing well
Expand ...
I think Polley had a really strong game as well though. Got going from the midrange twice early to get into the groove. Had a solid 3pt shooting effort, crashed the offensive glass and rebounded better than usual. Had a couple putback chances
 
.-.
The Butler game was going to be one where Hawkins could get on the floor and have some success. The stakes per possession were lower and the game was pretty much a lock to be in hand early. His confidence playing against the upper half of the BE is still an issue. Also, Polley files a stat sheet better than Hawkins and can also shoot the ball.
 
I saw a switch flip on that dunk. Seemed like he caught the ball in slow motion & was debating whether to lay it in quick or dunk it. Alpha mode turned on & he said, "@#%^ it" & threw it down.

We need that mindset from him in every game going forward.
 
As one of Hawkins biggest fans I was very happy with his play. He didn't let his outside shot not falling bother him. He played pretty good D and was aggressive going to the basket and picking up fouls or making a couple nice shots. Hopefully we see more of the 2nd Half Hawkins going forward this season. His outside stroke is very smooth but he sometimes forces it and shoots off balance. His outside shot will start to foul more and at least he can be another guy who could potentially take his man off dribble occasionally as we are lacking with this in only RJ and to lesser extent Martin and AJ(Both can't finish at the rim).
 
WeAreUCONN said:
Hawkins needs to get much stronger in the legs and everywhere else. He falls down on any contact and normally can’t finish at the rim. He played a nice game tonight but he also forces shots. His shots need to come within the flow of the game.
Expand ...

He didn’t force any that I saw actually would like to have seen him make a couple of the other open 3 looks. He does need to try to finish stronger as even when he was fouled driving to the hoop he was falling away rather than driving the left shoulder in. Overtake a pretty decent game, needs to guard better keep his guy in front but kid has the goods.
 
.-.
ucawn said:
I think Polley had a really strong game as well though. Got going from the midrange twice early to get into the groove. Had a solid 3pt shooting effort, crashed the offensive glass and rebounded better than usual. Had a couple putback chances
Expand ...
This. I truly believe that we will go as far as our bench can take us. I would love to actually see Hawkins take fewer threes and be more aggressive going to the basket for higher percentage shots. There will be nights when some starters don’t perform well (Martin’s brain farts at the rim) and they will NEED the bench to come through. The importance of Hawkins and Polley should not be overlooked the rest of the season.
 
He really needs to improve his defense. The word on him as a recruit was he was a + defender. He seems to be playing too tight outside, and letting people get by him. I think his offense will come. Would like to see him do the little things. Rebound better. Take care of the ball. Make some passes. He's going to be very good, just needs to dial in some of the fundamental things and have confidence.

Side Note: JHawk is not a good nickname for reasons that should be obvious.
 
A bench of Akok, Polley, and Hawkins is pretty darn good. It's really too bad Gaffney or Diggins cannot not provide dependable backup minutes for RJ. We are probably that one player away from being elite
 
Agree that he needs to clean up his defense more as one part of getting more minutes. It will happen.

I was very curious to see how he would respond after the one inbounds play where he took the pass on the sideline and bounced it off his leg out of bounds.

Didn't seem to have as much negative response as per usual. Though the stakes at that point were not as high, as we were comfortably ahead.

Still, maybe a sign of progress of not letting those things derail him.
 
imno1 said:
At whose expense? I think Coach is bringing him along just fine. Hawkins entered early last night, played well and got extra minutes. This is a stretch of games where Jordan can prove he's ready for extended minutes.
Expand ...
And, coincidentally, this is the time of year when things start to click for freshman.
 
HuskyHawk said:
He really needs to improve his defense. The word on him as a recruit was he was a + defender. He seems to be playing too tight outside, and letting people get by him.
Expand ...
This. He and AJax (though he's calmed a lot of of this down recently), play super tight on the outside to the point that they just can't move their feet quick enough when the guy they're guarding makes the first move. There have been way too many blow-bys or fouls caused by letting their man get the first step on them. They're both pretty long players. Take a step back and contest if they go up for the shot.
 
.-.
You must log in or register to reply here.

Forum statistics

Threads
168,632
Messages
4,587,030
Members
10,497
Latest member
Orlando Fos


Top Bottom