Kansas Post Game Thread

[Scottobot]

Newton should have taken the shot at the end of the game not Spencer. Spencer is good and I admire him playing through injury, but Newton was Superman tonight and win or lose should have been his shot even if the entire Kansans team was on top of him.

 

[Mike Honcho]

We played like absolute dogisht and had a chance to win the game. I hate that we lost but it’s hard to be too upset about it.

Credit to KU, I thought their defense, especially in the first half, was tremendous. They seemed to get some confidence offensively from their crowd, too, but I wasn’t particularly blown away by them on that end.

Newton was a stud. The kid just shows up. I thought Karaban was terrible. Just really bad. I know people will look at the 10-6 or whatever it was to say he had a good game but that was a complete no-show from my vantage point. Clingan was about what I expected. Dickinson didn’t win them the game.

I hope Spencer’s injury is not too serious. I’ll be honest, I hated that shot at the end. If he’s playing a normal game that’s one thing but he’s on one foot and that shot looked short as soon as it left his hand. Let Newton attack the rim and make something happen.

Free throws. Ridiculous.

All things considered the fact that they can play a C- game at Allen Field House and still have a shot at it says something about this team’s ceiling. Heart of a champion as Bilas said.

Lot of new posters tonight, to no one’s surprise.

Nearly all of Cam's threes were short tonight.

 

[superjohn]

We’re not very deep. Samson and Diarra only. Ball is not close to being a starter

That's because Ball isn't supposed to be a starter. We have a guy who is going to be a top 10 pick, possibly top 5 coming back very soon from what we've been told. That makes us deeper and probably significantly better.

 

[superjohn]

The game felt like a win when it isn’t.
I’m proud of this team, it has heart of champion. We are right there to take it at the end in a hostile environment when Kansas shot out of their minds.

Tristen Newton is our best player.

100% agree. You can just tell this team is nothing like the team we'll have later in the season and yes it felt like a win even with the loss. Tristen is our best player right now. Can't say for sure he's our best player though. We have a lot of good players and we're getting one of those guys back shortly. What we know is Tristen is a dog. He's really good and he's a straight up dog.

 

[superjohn]

That first half was TERRIBLE but these boys showed that we are legit again. Losing by 4 to Kansas in Kansas when Castle was out and Clingan and Stewart were gimpy...thus was a great game. If wr drop lower than #5 I'm gonna be p1ss3d...and I'm on meds to keep me from getting angry.

Best team in the country when we're fully healthy and Hurley has it all figured out, the pieces are all there. Purdue lost to North Side of Chicago tonight.

 

[superjohn]

I’ve seen flashes of offensive ability from both of them. What makes you think they are completely incapable of contributing in a big game? They are both Top 100 recruits. They have skills that warranted that ability. I think Dan was coaching a little too tight. JMO.

You have Cam hobbling around and can’t hit the broadside of the barn, you give Stewey a chance to see what he can do. You have nothing to lose in that situation, literally

Stewey ain't ready for that moment. Come on man. You roll with a dinged up Cam.

Come on man.

 

[TerryBoyz]

Better than losing to Northwestern.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

Clingan simply doesn’t seem ready for the lime light and all that comes with it.

It sucks to all the DC truthers out there, but he was fully out of his element. He needs a ton of work.

 

[storrsroars]

End of the day, for me, anyway, the only thing I truly was angry with was the missed FTs. Closing out games at the stripe has been a strength the past 25 years.

I don't recall UConn playing in any arena that was as loud as Phog. I believe DH when he says it shook them. But I also kinda believe Tristen saying it didn't - at least him. But another couple of made FTs by him would've mattered.

Refs had little to nothing to do with the outcome. I'm glad they let them play. I counted at least 3-4 times we could've been called for a foul, but weren't. Game could've become unbearable if they called everything.

Also disappointed in the number of simpletons in the chat and this thread.

 

[superjohn]

Clingan simply doesn’t seem ready for the lime light and all that comes with it.

It sucks to all the DC truthers out there, but he was fully out of his element. He needs a ton of work.

This made sense in your head? Clingan controlled the paint that second half.

Dickinson the 5th year national player of the year candidate blitzed him early with threes and then Clingan pretty much shut him down the rest of the game. We knew Dickinson drawing him out and making threes would be a problem and it was. What would you have Clingan do there? He's not a good defender of the three point line, he may never be. Dickinson is also the only 7 footer in the country who shoots like that. Put Karaban on Dickinson?

Sometimes it seems like you don't even watch the game and rely on the narrative you have in your head.

I don't put that loss at any of our players feet and it's bogus to do that but Karaban has trouble guarding athletic 3/4's. It's been a problem several times. I've yet to see Clingan have trouble controlling the paint defensively in his career.

 

[Leebo]

For all the negative points you can think of, we still had a shot to win the game that bounced off the rim. Our ceiling is way higher than Kansas's.

 

[FreeKlaiber]

Need to run higher percentage of clingan on the block, especially if kamsas overplaying perimeter.

7-2 guy shouldnt playmajority of sets at top of key when we are struggling to run the 5 out set. They were just switching on all our handoff weave action. Driving, backdoor cutting, posting up was needed. But we feed donovan last game, & then he only gets 8 shots tonight.

 

[Khal Drogo]

Every game is different dude. Different games call for different performances. Stop with these definitive evaluations.

I have the First Amendment behind me

God bless America. Land of the free. Unless you meet up with Drame

 

[Edward Sargent]

Yep. Lots of mutual respect in the arena. Except maybe for Hurley who went a but nuts for no reason I could see. We can’t rely on Newton having games like that. We need to fix that. Some issues were exposed, Castle fixes some of those.

KU had issues and was looking for solutions. I said before Hunter and Harris can shoot, they need to take more 3s until Jackson or Timberlake contribute. Well they did. Donovan forced that in many ways.

It was a fantastic college basketball game. Both teams will benefit from having played it. Our guys got to play someplace louder and more hostile than they will ever face again. That’s useful. It’s no coincidence that Cam missed two FTs in row after missing none and Newton misssed too. We are tougher now and better prepared for Gonzaga.

The report that Kansas can't shoot was way off the mark

 

[freshler40]

That was an impressive defensive team we played.

KS stuck to us in the half court. Our good high picks were out 5' from normal. They also switched very well and we got caught missing picks in the first half for a lot of open shots by KS. No harm, this was a good experience for us.

Our replacement for Castle needed to look for his shot more. Too often we had two or three players that never looked for their shot especially in the first half. Donavan needs to get more shots up along with K.

 

[CTBasketball]

Onwards and upwards gentleman.

 

[Sky ball]

Hurley can’t win close games. He’s something like 2-23 now. This is a pattern and it’s not acceptable. On the bright side, if Castle had played we probably win by 10.

Yea...he should have won his 25th in a row by double digits. Fire Hurley!

 

[willie99]

The last shot by Spencer was the difference, and it was a great look. We were in position to win with a great shooter shooting. He missed, they win, and I wouldn't change a thing in that spot

Great game, we're good, we'll grow from this.

No excuses, they played better, we lost.

Next

 

[UConnSwag11]

I’ve seen enough of Kansas to say that their team is poorly constructed. Dickinson is great but their guards are horrible shooters. They are my pick to get upset early in the tourney. They will not shoot over 60% from threes in a game again.

Or hit free throws like they did. They played above themselves and had the crowd get them over the finish line. The game plan was very good. Kansas just played unlike they have in previous games. A healthy Castle and a healthy Spencer and we win. I think Castle would be playing D on Adams and not Karaban

 

[UConnSwag11]

KS stuck to us in the half court. Our good high picks were out 5' from normal. They also switched very well and we got caught missing picks in the first half for a lot of open shots by KS. No harm, this was a good experience for us.

Our replacement for Castle needed to look for his shot more. Too often we had two or three players that never looked for their shot especially in the first half. Donavan needs to get more shots up along with K.

If you mean Karaban getting more two point close to the basket shots, yes. They denied a ton in the first half limiting Clingan.

Once we started feeding Clingan and he took away Dickinson by the basket we started rolling.

Very tough loss but I’m hoping we’re healthy going forward. UNC is very very beatable but we’re going to need everyone

 

[UConnSwag11]

Clingan simply doesn’t seem ready for the lime light and all that comes with it.

It sucks to all the DC truthers out there, but he was fully out of his element. He needs a ton of work.

lol played very well for the last 22 minutes or so. That and Newton are what kept us in that game

 

[UConnSwag11]

Our crappy offense and nerves in the first 10 minutes was their offense. Once we settled this down we played much better on both ends

 

[UConnSwag11]

He was fine before the last 2 games. Some people always overreact to the very recent game or games. I'm confident he will get it back together shortly.

His game by game stats. He was pretty good the first 6 games.

2023-24 Men's Basketball Cumulative Statistics - University of Connecticut Athletics

The official 2023-24 Men's Basketball cumulative statistics for the University of Connecticut Huskies

uconnhuskies.com

He needs to snap out of it at MSG which he should because three straight games is a trend

 

[Bonamassa]

Simply the ebb and flow of the season as we develop into an ass kicking juggernaut.

 

[husky429]

This made sense in your head? Clingan controlled the paint that second half.

Dickinson the 5th year national player of the year candidate blitzed him early with threes and then Clingan pretty much shut him down the rest of the game. We knew Dickinson drawing him out and making threes would be a problem and it was. What would you have Clingan do there? He's not a good defender of the three point line, he may never be. Dickinson is also the only 7 footer in the country who shoots like that. Put Karaban on Dickinson?

Sometimes it seems like you don't even watch the game and rely on the narrative you have in your head.

I don't put that loss at any of our players feet and it's bogus to do that but Karaban has trouble guarding athletic 3/4's. It's been a problem several times. I've yet to see Clingan have trouble controlling the paint defensively in his career.

Clingan's defense was dynamite 90% of the game. The 3s early and when he got winded late were the only times he was outmatched. Totally shut down Dickinson insids the 3-point line (3/8 inside), got 3 blocks and contested a bunch more. It was good stuff bit obviously not perfect.

Offensively he looks much better with a bit of space rolling or moving towards the hoop on a catch.

His touch is still rather bad on layups.

Considering the NBA doesn't care a lick about post-up skills, and he's the age of a freshman playing a 23-year-old NPOY candidate, I thought he actually looked pretty good for scouts tonight.