Back with another game preview video, today with the 3 keys to getting the win at Allen Fieldhouse tonight.
VIDEO:
Highlights...
- Kansas not a good 3 point shooting team, thus they rely on getting to the rim (which brings me to Key 1)
- Key 1: Stay out of foul trouble. Seems obvious, but with Castle trending towards being out we are only rolling 7 deep into this one because relying on the freshmen off the bench to give big minutes at Allen Fieldhouse isn't a winning strategy
- Key 2: Move Clingan a lot on offense. Dickinson is a lazy defender. Make him decide if he wants to chase Clingan around the floor, especially in the screen game. If he doesn't, we should get good looks from 3 off screens. If he does, Clingan can beat him rolling back to the hoop.
- Key 3: Solo Ball decision making. He's been fearless shooting the ball so far this year, which is good. He hasn't been very efficient though, which is not so good. If his shots aren't falling early I'd like to see him play a little more within himself, defer to the hot hand and use his explosive athleticism to crash the offensive boards from the perimeter.
- X-Factor: Alex Karaban. Struggled so far this season consistently shooting the 3, but he is a guy who seems to do the best in the biggest moments. We will need him to have a vintage Karaban game, and I think he delivers.
Go Huskies!
this is well written.
Key 1: this is why UConn should not pack the paint entirely, but they should defend with some space between them and the Kansas players on the perimeter with or without the the ball and not be belly up on them selling out to completely deny them attempting to shoot 3s (like they should be on Steven Ashworth of Creighton or Kam Jones of Marquette). They need to be close enough to get a hand up and bother any outside shooting. Emphasizing helping on dribble penetration needs to happen but they don't need to close out too fast on kick outs to the 3 point shooters, only enough to make them uncomfortable, not to deny them shooting the 3 altogether because I think the Kansas guards are much more comfortable dribble penetrating.
Key 2: Dickinson will be tough to defend as he can draw Clingan out of the paint where he isn't as comfortable defending like Sanogo was (especially with the hard hedge). Dickinson won't be intimidated by Clingan because he has experience going against Zach Edey just like I wasn't worried about Sanogo going against Edey because he faced Clingan everyday, Edey's size wouldn't have bothered him. But yes, Dickinson's D is not good at all and his ball screen defense is terrible. If UConn can get Kansas rotating and scrambling on their help D this should enable a lot of offensive rebounding opportunities.
Key 3: I think Solo Ball shouldn't attempt a 3 in the beginning of any game until he makes some FTs or makes some baskets driving to the basket first. His shooting isn't good enough to allow him to keep firing away 3s until he starts making them because that isn't a guarantee he will start making them. His D on McCullar will be important considering Castle will be out.
X-Factor: Alex Karaban : his shooting, hell the entire team's shooting has to be better than it was against New Hampshire-that won't cut it. KJ Adams will be tough for him to defend because like HuskyHawk stated, KJ Adams attacks the basket and scores on lobs, 2 things Karaban has a tough time defending against. However, KJ Adams can't shoot a lick from the perimeter. Karaban should play off of him with some space cutting off any driving to the basket and dare him to shoot.
I wasn't worried about Kansas last year in the Sweet 16. KJ Adams was their center and as Shaq says, Sanogo and Clingan would've had BBQ chicken and feasted in the paint and they would've beat Kansas handily (maybe not the margin they did against Arkansas, who knows). But this year, without Castle, who would be immensely useful against Kansas' guards and with the game being in a pumped up AFH, UConn is the slight underdog. It will be the first game since the semifinals BET in 2022 against Nova where I am not expecting a win (not writing off UConn either). Every game last year and the first 7 games this year I fully expected UConn to win.
