Killing the clock at the end of the game.

[MTBingNinja]

…..makes me nervous the last few games. Need to do a better job or just keep the foot on the gas.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

Attacking is really never the wrong move. Free points are good.

 

[UConnTrumbull]

Poor free throw shooting, especially late in games, has made the issue worse. Feels like we've been missing every 1-and-1 lately.

 

[Blue Blood]

Once Donovan gets fully healthy I'd love if we'd get him the ball with about 8 to go in these situations start the action around 12 get him posted up and see if he can score. Worst case scenario he misses a hook with 4 seconds on the clock and since the ball is in the post no long rebound and setup the defense.

 

[kcc1442]

Salting away games is never for the weary but depending on the point differential and time of the game is still a high probability move. You never want to start doing it to early, you always want to maintain aggressiveness under 10 seconds and at worst look to get to the foul line and you always want to play good transition d and make the other team run offense but we've been in a lot of games recently with 12-15 point leads or so with 5 minutes to go against more then capable competition. This calls for bleeding the clock and limiting possessions in the game. What I am happy about is that we aren't turning the ball over against FC pressure and/or even in the half court, that's where you could blow a lead quick. I get 15 point wins look so much better but if you bleed the clock to assure an 7-8 point victory I'm fine with that. A win is a win against good BE comp.

 

[Palatine]

…..makes me nervous the last few games. Need to do a better job or just keep the foot on the gas.

I don't think that Hurley is very interested in how nervous he makes us. That's just a guess on my part.

 

[coachn]

These coaches and team are about the W and everybody has bought in and it's beautiful.
Still don't take your foot off the pedal. My biggest worry is the refs stealing the game.
It's up to the team not to let the steal happen.

 

[CL82]

I have no problem with burning clock with a lead in the last five minutes of a game or so, but, I'm not thrilled about standing around and waiting until there's 10 seconds on the clock to run your offense. You can still kill clock swinging the ball from side to side and making the defense work. I feel like that is going to give you a better opportunity of having an open look at the end of the possession.

Yes, burning clock is good, but burning clock and then scoring is better.

 

[husky429]

Prevent offense isn't really supposed to be pretty. We need to work on execution and timing a bit, but overall I have no complaints. Hasn't come back to bite us in the bum yet

 

[Beak7774]

Prevent offense doesn’t bug me as much as when the defense doesn’t match. Burn clock is the goal on both ends so don’t foul.

 

[Sibeerian]

In another universe we don't slow down at all, take quick shots, miss them all, they turn into three pointers at the other end, and suddenly it's a close game.

 

[McLovin]

Poor free throw shooting, especially late in games, has made the issue worse. Feels like we've been missing every 1-and-1 lately.

For a team that shoots 75% from the line as a whole, it does seem like we do miss the front end of like every free throw haha

 

[auror]

Prevent offense doesn’t bug me as much as when the defense doesn’t match. Burn clock is the goal on both ends so don’t foul.

Bingo. For example Xavier drove immediately after getting across half court and we just bumped and fouled them like 3x in a row.

Killing time when up double digits is almost never a bad thing. Letting teams score in like 5 seconds (whether from field or FT line)? That's bad.

But still our lowest win probability against Xavier at the end was 96%. Against Creighton it was 99%. We can shore up the end game defense and then it's no harm no foul.

 

[willie99]

I concur with the OP, I don't like it

But the GOAT did the same thing, and it helps teams keep their composure come March

 

[CardiacAndre7]

Bingo. For example Xavier drove immediately after getting across half court and we just bumped and fouled them like 3x in a row.

Killing time when up double digits is almost never a bad thing. Letting teams score in like 5 seconds (whether from field or FT line)? That's bad.

But still our lowest win probability against Xavier at the end was 96%. Against Creighton it was 99%. We can shore up the end game defense and then it's no harm no foul.

I was more worried about the killing time then a deep, inefficient shot. I think we have the ability in the last ~7 or so seconds of a shot clock to get a relatively good look.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

Prevent offense isn't really supposed to be pretty. We need to work on execution and timing a bit, but overall I have no complaints. Hasn't come back to bite us in the bum yet

So far, the season has presented a tremendous number of 'growth opportunities.' I doubt this has escaped the coaching staff's attention.

When Clingan went out, priority was shifted to an enlarged role for Samson and small ball before expanding the roster to include Stewart. Castle keeps getting the green light to shoot, and imagine if that clicks.

The Boneyard freakout threads after Xavier & Georgetown were concentrated on offensive rebounding and defense. The Creighton game strongly suggested that attention was paid.

Hurley's suggesting that Tristen needs to rethink what it takes to get to the foul line or shift attention elsewhere may pay dividends. Alex seems to have pulled out of his shooting slump.

Given what we've seen with in-conference games for all ranked teams, road game focus has to be on the high priority list this week, in addition to monitoring Clingan's injury recovery and managing his reintegration with what became a swiftly-reimagined team during his absence.

It's real joy to have so much to work with in responding to so much to work on.

I agree with you that a reinvigorated Ball is in order, but Saturday may turn more on testing & steadying the vision of a physically healthy team, looking for incremental improvement, sharper execution, and continued growth through experience.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Once Donovan gets fully healthy I'd love if we'd get him the ball with about 8 to go in these situations start the action around 12 get him posted up and see if he can score. Worst case scenario he misses a hook with 4 seconds on the clock and since the ball is in the post no long rebound and setup the defense.

Honestly, we bench Donovan in these situations because he can't make free throws.

It's the same argument as a prevent defense & running clock in the NFL. Does it work? Sort of. I think it often helps the other team trim the lead, but the goal is to ensure they don't have enough time to cut it all the way. I do think we probably start it too soon and don't execute well enough within it. Once 15-20 seconds is gone, score. Don't worry about more clock.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

Against Creighton it was 99%. We can shore up the end game defense and then it's no harm no foul.

I remember being surprised at this number when I checked after the Creighton game because it was so uncomfortable.

 

[HuskyHoosier]

the scariest game for me with prevent offense was BET PC game last year. We were playing beautiful basketball up nearly 30 in the second half and nearly blew it.

 

[Umami Zen]

Things are pretty good when you have a #1 ranked team to root for and you're worried about our end of game efficiency in taking the air out of the ball and keeping it of the hands of our opponents while still winning the game. Can think of a lot of teams(fans) who wish they had our problems.

Let's beat the Cats tomorrow in Philly.

 

[alphasigko]

Don't like in general and certainly do not like how they did it against X and Creighton. It reminds me of our offense several years ago when they would dribble out the clock, and be forced to shoot a bad/nasty shot w/2 seconds left on the clock. IMO nothing good can come of that plan. Reminds me of Dee Rowe in the NIT loss so many years ago.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

Don't like in general and certainly do not like how they did it against X and Creighton. It reminds me of our offense several years ago when they would dribble out the clock, and be forced to shoot a bad/nasty shot w/2 seconds left on the clock. IMO nothing good can come of that plan.

This team has an earlier-in-the-season chance to improve performance, and I think it'll get better.

 

[JMick]

It seems like we're playing prevent at 4 minutes. I think if we started it around the 3 minute mark we'd be better off but that's just my opinion.

I've been saying since early in the season that we're going to get done in by FT shooting at some point. Diarra is about the only one I trust right now to hit the ones we need. That kid is ice cold when we need a bucket.

 

[gsmooth]

the scariest game for me with prevent offense was BET PC game last year. We were playing beautiful basketball up nearly 30 in the second half and nearly blew it.

Yeah I was having a meltdown when the lead got cut to 5 points with 3 minutes left

 

[dogpause]

Running out the clock with a sizeable lead is tougher than one might think. Not something you probably spend much practice time on until later in the year when all the I's are dotted. It also runs counter to a team's normal competitive culture. UConn will get better at it late in the year because they know it's important, and that it needs work.