Kansas Post Game Thread

[Leebo]

sports-reference hasn't updated yet, but the team with the best undefeated record against us is now officially... Niagara

Hurley, get on the phone with the Purple Eagles, stat.

 

[TheHorde]

Karaban drives me crazy with those 30 foot shoots. But when he finally hit one and brought us to within three. It did change the game.

Fromm that point on he was brilliant.

That one took the air out of the building for a few minutes. If they had made a run off a miss there, it might have been a knockout blow. Huge shot.

 

[Dove]

 

[Excalibur]

Karaban drives me crazy with those 30 foot shots. But when he finally hit one and brought us to within three. It did change the game.

From that point on he was brilliant.

He was a major difference maker the last 12 minutes. I feel like he picked his spots better with the drives to the basket tonight as well.

Even during our last possession, he made the right play, passing up an OK shot that ended up with Demary having an open 6 footer. Even though the shot was missed, it was really good offense.

 

[superjohn]

Karaban drives me crazy with those 30 foot shots. But when he finally hit one and brought us to within three. It did change the game.

From that point on he was brilliant.

Karaban and Solo are really going to benefit when Tarris and Mullins are starting. They'll get a lot more open shots. It's going to be pick your poison.

 

[B1GEast]

Hey youngsters .....

This is what it used to be like playing Pitt back in the Jamie Dixon days. First team to 60 wins.

Those games were tough to watch. My blood would boil watching Dujuan Blair bumping up against our guys

The only comparison is to go a little farther back with us playing Mourning, or Mutumbo at Georgetown

 

[slepers]

Yes, enjoy the win. Hurley leaned heavily on Norman Dale in Hoosiers with playing the players he needed to play, not the players whose posters you have on your bed room walls.

Thanks chin

 

[RuffRuff]

This game was classic Hurley, death by a thousand cuts. His system makes you work, on both ends. And in this case it put Kansas in a coma. You have to execute for 40 minutes and not fall asleep. It forces you to keep your energy up, stay focused and execute. I'm not sure there are a lot of teams that can do that for 40.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

Yeah anyone comparing Reibe to Clingan needs to go watch the Illinois NCAA game again. Clingan singlehandedly shut down an entire teams offense

I wasn’t comparing the abilities. I was comparing the use. Didn’t mean for that to go on a whole tangent.

 

[Hunt for 7]

The only UConn player that I can think of that could make a 17 point game seem like it was easy was Rip. You would watch a game look at the box score afterward and Rip would have 17-19 points.

I think Mullins is going to be similiar. And he will have a 30 point game this year maybe more than one.

 

[HW611]

Mullins is legit. Every shot off his hands looked good and when they fell it felt like daggers. He also just has very natural basketball instincts to find the ball in his hands. Whether it’s a rebound, steal, loose ball, whatever the case may be. It’s a skill to know how to find the ball in your hands and he has it.

Also showed the ability to get to the rim and make layups. Effortless scorer. Could be the best freshman scorer we’ve had under Hurley.

The coaching staff is once again doing a great job of developing a center. Reibe is growing game by game and could be our best offensive center yet. He came and soft and you can see him getting tougher and tougher every game.

Wish Smith would focus more on being a playmaking guard than scoring. The team needs him to make plays for others.

Solo with another great plays bad plays game. He’s the guy for better or worse right now.

Karaban continues to be great when we don’t ask him to do too much. Let him get his in the flow and he’s probably the best role player in UConn history.

Ross seems to have found his flow. Loved the decisions he was making tonight offensively and actively wanted the ball in his hands to make those decision. Out of our wings he’s the best at finding others. Now that he’s actually looking to attack and be aggressive the skill can actually be useful to go along with his great defense. Nice to see him pull down a couple of boards too. Game is finally slowing down for him.

Mullins is going to start. I still love lineups with him and Mullins or him and Ball on the floor together as he is the wing defender that gives them less pressure defensively and on offense he knows how to create for these guys in ways that Stew can’t.

 

[Excalibur]

This game was classic Hurley, death by a thousand cuts. His system makes you work, on both ends. And in this case it put Kansas in a coma. You have to execute for 40 minutes and not fall asleep. It forces you to keep your energy up, stay focused and execute. I'm not sure there are a lot of teams that can do that for 40.

Switching to the dribble hand off instead of the high screen and roll was a nice, and very effective, adjustment. It drew the second defender away from the free-throw line area and open up space for us to have more freedom in how we used the off ball screens.

 

[uconngb]

That was the first game of the season.

2nd, but close enough

 

[Hunt for 7]

Wasn't me but I think the comparison was to freshman year Clingan

They are two different players. Clingan just shut down the lane like Thabeet. Reibe has offensive skills that I don’t think Clingan had or may not currently have after two years in the nba. Reibe will be a true stretch four at the next level.

Or maybe KAT would be a decent comp as Reibe can shoot and he is not skinny. He has some big arms on him.

 

[RuffRuff]

Mullins is legit. Every shot off his hands looked good and when they fell it felt like daggers. He also just has very natural basketball instincts to find the ball in his hands. Whether it’s a rebound, steal, loose ball, whatever the case may be. It’s a skill to know how to find the ball in your hands and he has it.

Also showed the ability to get to the rim and make layups. Effortless scorer. Could be the best freshman scorer we’ve had under Hurley.

The coaching staff is once again doing a great job of developing a center. Reibe is growing game by game and could be our best offensive center yet. He came and soft and you can see him getting tougher and tougher every game.

Wish Smith would focus more on being a playmaking guard than scoring. The team needs him to make plays for others.

Solo with another great plays bad plays game. He’s the guy for better or worse right now.

Karaban continues to be great when we don’t ask him to do too much. Let him get his in the flow and he’s probably the best role player in UConn history.

Ross seems to have found his flow. Loved the decisions he was making tonight offensively and actively wanted the ball in his hands to make those decision. Out of our wings he’s the best at finding others. Now that he’s actually looking to attack and be aggressive the skill can actually be useful to go along with his great defense. Nice to see him pull down a couple of boards too. Game is finally slowing down for him.

Mullins is going to start. I still love lineups with him and Mullins or him and Ball on the floor together as he is the wing defender that gives them less pressure defensively and on offense he knows how to create for these guys in ways that Stew can’t.

Was really impressed by his ups snatching rebounds - kid explodes off the floor. His baseline take was crafty as hell.

He came and soft sounds like something from 50 shades of grey.

 

[Excalibur]

They are two different players. Clingan just shut down the lane like Thabeet. Reibe has offensive skills that I don’t think Clingan had or may not currently have after two years in the nba. Reibe will be a true stretch four at the next level.

Or maybe KAT would be a decent comp as Reibe can shoot and he is not skinny. He has some big arms on him.

If you watch his highlights from the FIBA event this summer, he can also put the ball on the floor facing the basket against big defenders. He looked a little bit like Danny Wolff taking guys off the dribble.

 

[Hurleyman216]

I wish I could get a framed picture of Mullins at the line with the game on the line shooting his first ever free throws in college with AK looking over his shoulder from behind. It was little bit of a foreshadowing from what was our past to what may be our future glue guy.

 

[Palatine]

The only UConn player that I can think of that could make a 17 point game seem like it was easy was Rip. You would watch a game look at the box score afterward and Rip would have 17-19 points.

I think Mullins is going to be similiar. And he will have a 30 point game this year maybe more than one.

With Rip, it came so easy and then you look up and it's 25 points. I can't remember how many times that Rip would have a personal run of 8 points.

 

[PAHusky]

I dont know about Clingan-lite. I feel like Reibe is playing better than clingan as a freshman. More minutes, sure. But he just posted 12 and 8 (and good rebounds) at Kansas... in his 6th game

Clingan was MVP of the Phil knight invitational 8 games into his freshman year

 

[Scottobot]

if Silas can become the player we expected, then watch out.

really hoping he can gain confidence during our conference schedule. that talent is there so just seems mental at this point.

Silas had a monster game against BYU, and already has a triple double this year. Give him some time and he will be awesome consistently

 

[WillMadsDad]

Take it and move on!!! I though Kara, Solo were clutch. Welcome to stardom Mullins! The only thing that killed me tonight was Dems inconsistency (he'll be fine), too much iso from Smith, and Koroma was not his best.

 

[ec33]

Mullins is great, McNeeley was great. Why does it have to be a competition.

Same now going on with Reibe vs. Clingan.

I'm just glad we have had them all.

 

[JakeTheDog]

I wish I could get a framed picture of Mullins at the line with the game on the line shooting his first ever free throws in college with AK looking over his shoulder from behind. It was little bit of a foreshadowing from what was our past to what may be our future glue guy.

Mullins is probably going to be in the NBA next year and projects as much more than a glue guy. He’s the best player on the team.

 

[Excalibur]

Same now going on with Reibe vs. Clingan.

I'm just glad we have had them all.

Reibe and freshman Clingan will naturally be compared. They are both playing behind all conference centers, Both freshmen, both 7 feet tall, and both white

 

[Scottobot]

I agree. But it's like Newton early on. It took him a while to really settle in. So nice to beat Kansas at Kansas with so much upside on this team.

In January of Newton’s first year after the St John loss at home disaster, people were calling on AJ to be the Pg and were ready to run Newton out of town which torches and pitch forks. People need to have some patience.

 

[RuffRuff]

Kudos play of the game was Solo's drop down to Reibe for the easy two in the lane. Pass of the game, at a very key spot.

 

[TheChamps990411]

Nothing against McNeeley very good player. I think Mullins will end up being a great freshman. We won a title with Castle but he was never our first option on offense. Mullins will be. You could just see it with Mullins watching the tape on him. He just has special written all over him.

And at least some of the doubters about him being strong enough and able to defend now understand. This kid is just a great basketball player.

I think Castle was every bit as talented and likely a better defender as Mullins. The difference i Mullins looks like a natural scorer which he is clearly superior at this stage than McNeeley and Castle. Mullins looks like he can score 20 in his sleep. I dont think ive ever seen such a natural high level scorer as a freshmen in my 35 years of being a fan.

 

[Orc]

That turnaround from Braylon is a shot I’m pretty sure nobody else on our team could create or make… in his “second” game

Agreed. Thats an nba move. If he keeps this up, he’ll be one and done.

 

[bendm]

Duke beat the Gators tonight by only 1 at Cameron and Duke is impressive.

All that means is we’re better than both

 

[Drame]

Yeah anyone comparing Reibe to Clingan needs to go watch the Illinois NCAA game again. Clingan singlehandedly shut down an entire teams offense

Dude youre talking about a year and a half difference in their development.