Let's Be Honest

[4in16]

How about the one the missed on McQuaid crossing half court? Refs were putrid, both ways

That’s the one that sticks in my mind because it ended up being 3 points when we were down 5 or 7 at the time.

 

[WhereistheDove?]

They were. They didn’t call
Clear fouls, they gave Michigan two extra points, they missed some obvious Ricky tack calls they threw at Uconn.

Believe it or not, it’s possible for the refs to be awful and the team who played better to still win.

There were missed calls that helped both sides. We certainly got some awful second half drives bailed out by questionable calls and had some travels that weren’t called on us (AGs layup comes to mind). Invoking the refs after a game in which there was no real beneficiary just reeks of saltiness. Tough game but let’s not be this fan base after every loss.

 

[zepfan]

Michigan State is bigger and stronger with several good shooters. Only way to beat a team like that is to shoot at a reasonably high percentage. We shot around 35% and they shot around 47-48%. Rebounds we only lost by 6 and turnovers by 5. The shooting percentage was the biggest factor in my opinion. Going against bigger, stronger athletes with decent skills... can't win without shooting well. We'd have to play at our best to beat them. Didn't happen tonight but agree with those who say this was a good test to see where we are. Arkansas would be a great win. Let's see what happens.

 

[champs99and04]

That's not arbitrary. We got them in foul trouble. We just didn't make shots down the stretch and they made shots a top five team makes.

I don't know. Foul trouble tends to be random, at least with most players (Brimah, for example, would be an exception). It's not something you can replicate from game to game, especially when those same guys come back and put it on you in the second half. If Adams and Gilbert collect two early fouls against Oklahoma and we get outscored by 15 in the half, maybe I can blame them for poor execution, but I also can't really consider it a great representation of what we are as a team.

 

[superjohn]

We knew we were not a top 10 team coming in.

However, we just went blow for blow with the number 4 team in America and given better breaks and better finishing it could've come down to the last few possessions.

I am more confident in this team today than I was three days ago.

Just wait till they gel.

They ran us of the court second half and got every single rebound, we didn't at all go blow for blow with them.

 

[zls44]

They ran us of the court second half and got every single rebound, we didn't at all go blow for blow with them.

The number of teams who can go blow for blow with that one probably only fits on one hand.

I wanted them to be a tournament team. Based on what I've seen so far, I think they can be that. Fringy Top 25 team with a few nice wins. Will have some WTFs- this certainly wasn't one of them.

Some folks wanna climb mountains, some folks wanna get helicoptered to the top.

 

[AdamaNation]

Really? That "pro set" with Carlton at the 4 and Onuorah at the 5 didn't rebound, didn't prevent anyone from scoring, and committed fouls on both ends. That allowed MSU to expand a lead that we never really threatened to re-take.

That did happen but I see it working down the road as a real way to match up with bigger teams. The 3 guard or duo point/combo guard is our thing, but I loved the old Rudy,Boone and Hilton line up from 06.

 

[August_West]

I refuse to read to much into our Battlestar Gallactica "rag tag fugitive fleet" of a team after this loss.
I will say the following two things:

1. I would have liked to see more Christian Vital.
2. MSU is a very, very good team. We may have just played the future 2018 national champs. That good.

Christian vital simply didn’t belong on the floor tonight. Not against that team. He’s too much of a tweener. If he brings energy and does the small things, mucking it up for rebounds , hustle plays, ok. But his first touch in tonight he went chucker again and took a contested 3 4 seconds in shot clock after one pass. Ko knew. Then followed that up with more unsolid decisions. And he simply wasn’t big enough to matchup defensively with Gilbert and Adams in too. Bad matchup for him tonight.

 

[superjohn]

I don't know. Foul trouble tends to be random, at least with most players (Brimah, for example, would be an exception). It's not something you can replicate from game to game, especially when those same guys come back and put it on you in the second half. If Adams and Gilbert collect two early fouls against Oklahoma and we get outscored by 15 in the half, maybe I can blame them for poor execution, but I also can't really consider it a great representation of what we are as a team.

Dude, our next game is against Arkansas.

 

[superjohn]

Christian vital simply didn’t belong on the floor tonight. Not against that team. He’s too much of a tweener. If he brings energy and does the small things, mucking it up for rebounds , hustle plays, ok. But his first touch in tonight he went chucker again and took a contested 3 4 seconds in shot clock after one pass. Ko knew. Then followed that up with more unsolid decisions. And he simply wasn’t big enough to matchup defensively with Gilbert and Adams in too. Bad matchup for him tonight.

Our three best players and our only guys with big recruiting reps belonged on the court against that team.

 

[Leebo]

We had like a 5 minute stretch where MSU scored on every single possession. And we were already trailing. You just can't survive that. The game got away, but it would have been a big upset to pull off a win, so it's not really that big of a deal.

 

[willie99]

lmao, blow for blow? Game was over 2 possessions into the 2nd half. Was obvious to anyone with eyes.

LMAO @ "over after second possession of the 2nd half", it was a five point game with 10 minutes left, and that's still a game to anybody that can sniff a clue

We have a live one here, he probably thought the same thing when OR went up 5 in the second half, but he didn't get the chance to hate much after that game

 

[willie99]

MSU played better and pulled away late, that's OK, there's still a lot of growth coming. Looking at the box score, the only significant thing that stands out is shooting %, and them hitting 10 straight shots late in the game had a lot to do with that, and even that run was all about one guy going off. Winston was scorching us.

Team is ahead of schedule, and we won't know how good they can be for another two months. It takes time to jell, and they showed they have potential

PS: maybe Cobb could have helped tonight, and we do have to run better offense to beat the best teams in the country. It's that run better offense part that will take some time

 

[Milo65]

Too many turnovers, too many one and done missed shots, no inside offensive game from our bigs, no three point threat, Gilbert shot 33% from the field and 0-5 from three and Vitale sits for most of the game? Onuorah, Polley, Carlton, Diarra combine for 2 points 0-1 shooting.

With that being said, the team is much better than last year. The kids will grow, and will get better as the year goes on. They are a scrappy group that plays very hard.

 

[Huskybass]

LMAO @ "over after second possession of the 2nd half", it was a five point game with 10 minutes left, and that's still a game to anybody that can sniff a clue

We have a live one here, he probably thought the same thing when OR went up 5 in the second half, but he didn't get the chance to hate much after that game

This guy doesn't like reality much.

 

[BPT2Storrs]

I had a busy day yesterday so I didn't stay up to watch the entire game, but I saw bits and pieces of the 1st Half and a part of the 2nd half. I will say this, when I turned the game on in the 2nd half, we were down 6 or 7 or something like that with about a little under 10 minutes remaining, and I thought to myself, this is not bad against the #4 ranked team in America and a team full of top talent. It was at that moment, they showed the 2nd half statistics and MSU was shooting 64% vs. our 41% and it was the same time Winston went off and had 10 points in a matter of 3 1/2 -4 minute run. Adams came down and went to the rim two or three times and was successful. We went back on the other end and were playing some solid D, but MSU could not miss.

We were down, MSU couldn't miss and we couldn't run an offensive set. When Adams or Gilbert couldn't drive the lane we settled for bad shots, some from behind the arc. You can't beat an MSU with that kind of offense. Gotta play smart.

Still think we are light years ahead compared to last year. If we can beat Arkansas and come away 2-1 i think it's a success.

 

[Rico444]

That offense was ugly. We can't go all playground ball against good defensive teams and expect to have success. Jalen, Alterique and Terry can all win in those situations, but it's not a winning formula for 40 minutes.

I like what I saw overall. This team isn't ready to hang with the best quite yet, but I could see them getting there by the end of the year.

 

[mauconnfan]

This guy doesn't like reality much.

What is reality bass and what's wrong with willie's assessment? The fact that Winston played completely out of his a** or that we are just plain awful?

 

[Mr. French]

Comparing Oregon to this MSU team is incredibly disingenuous.

He didn't, he compared the games.

People love making up things to argue about.

 

[mauconnfan]

To be honest:

Our offense is very stagnant and dependent upon one-on-one players for now, needs to stop have to run a semblance of offense.

We have 3-4 players we can rely on to score the basketball, that's where they need to be setting screens and making the plays.

Our bigs were outplayed dramatically last night - Carlton work hard but was outmanned, David plays hard but has no offensive potential clogs the middle on that end, Diarra is lost has a long ways to go, Whaley wasn't physical enough to go against that line yet and we could have used Cobb no doubt - wouldn't have made a huge difference but would've checked the big guys a bit better.

Don't think KO should've given up on Polley last night he came out nervous but I thought we needed his length on D and he can rebound it too. Also when Vital came out nervous too why not try Tyler again?

Jalen played ok but missed some bunnies and forced some shots, a couple ugly ones to boot. He's our guy but needs to be a calming force during these games, he's not there yet. Still needs to be a lot better on defense he's a wanderer and that needs to stop. Never wanders when we need him to, like leaving Watson open for a late game because he didn't leave his man. Hate to say it but he's a bit lazy on that end until he needs to be.

Gilbert was solid on both ends, made some nice offensive moves but we can't have hm taking lots of 3's in key parts of the games. Couple excellent steals. He's getting there I pray for all of our sakes he stays healthy.

Anderson had a rough game I thought for him as he's been good so far, was due to be a little off.

Vital went back to his ways thus far came in they there whim the ball opposite corner guy ruhing his to defend in his face but he just needed to chuck it up - came out fast right after he dropped a pass OOB's. Needs to bet back to basics and let things happen naturally he's not that 30 point scorer he was the other night.

Larger shot it well in the 2nd half, he's our only shooter who looks like he's going to make shots I'm afraid - when it comes out of his hand it usually looks good not so much with the others. He needs to defend and rebound a lot better for me a little lax in those area's if wants to be complete. They look to him and he needs to show them he's working as hard to stop his guy and box him out as he trying to create a shot. So far I don't see that.

Team needs a bit more pride too. I mean Winston was laughing at them the last 4-5 minutes and they took it. No one stepped up and guarded him in his face or even physically to let him know it's not always going to be fun you little . Didn't like that he was open or getting lay ups a lot the last 2 minutes. I also wonder how he even goes to the rim up 20 with 40 seconds left but that's up to Izzo - guess he doesn't like the 0-2 record prior vs KO.

Long way to go with this team but they need more physical people out there no doubt. Recruiting needs to be better as mentioned but think it's going in the right direction already just may be too late for this year. MSU is good but not unbeatable so 20 point loss not really acceptable to me guys need to be better. Arkansas will tell us a lot more although I really hope we don't run up and down the court with them, they have the horses we don't for 40 minutes of that havoc.

 

[jibsey]

We knew we were not a top 10 team coming in.

However, we just went blow for blow with the number 4 team in America and given better breaks and better finishing it could've come down to the last few possessions.

I am more confident in this team today than I was three days ago.

Just wait till they gel.

No.

 

[willie99]

This guy doesn't like reality much.

another dumpster fire fan who evidently thinks "the game was over after two possessions in the 2nd half"

enjoy the season

 

[Jaker]

Fans who constantly complain about college ref's need to just stop watching.

 

[CL82]

I refuse to read to much into our Battlestar Gallactica "rag tag fugitive fleet" of a team after this loss.

Kudos for the most random reference of the day. At 2 AM it's pretty much all free association, am I right?

 

[YearoftheHusky]

A few weeks ago I watched Michigan State and Duke play at the same timeI watched UConn play Colgate.

Duke and MSU appeared to be playing a whole other level of basketball. At the time I remember being sad that I hadn't seen UConn play at that level in quite some time. I also remembered thinking we would get smeared by teams at that level.

What I saw last night in UConn was a team that was already much improved from just two weeks ago. That bunch that struggled with toothpaste was down only 5 with the ball with 10 to go against that same MSU team that looked amazing against the top team in the nation.

Basically, my perception of this bunch now compared to just two weeks ago is much, much higher. I think we can at least play the same brand as the big dogs and make some noise come March.

 

[UconnFanDC]

lmao, blow for blow? Game was over 2 possessions into the 2nd half. Was obvious to anyone with eyes.

I cannot agree with you more then all the other stuff I read! The fact that the home team Oregon went into overtime with Depaul still does not give me a great read on this team. Let's see what they do with Arkansas

 

[Waquoit]

UConn looked like they belonged for a good long stretch of the game. That's better than I expected going into the season. Heck, I assumed this game would be against DePaul.

 

[UCDaveD]

LMAO @ "over after second possession of the 2nd half", it was a five point game with 10 minutes left, and that's still a game to anybody that can sniff a clue

We have a live one here, he probably thought the same thing when OR went up 5 in the second half, but he didn't get the chance to hate much after that game

Did you even watch the game? Your response is one of someone who simply looked at the ESPN Game Flow after the fact. Was it past your bedtime?

 

[willie99]

Did you even watch the game? Your response is one of someone who simply looked at the ESPN Game Flow after the fact. Was it past your bedtime?

sophomoric idiocy, what do you have against simple math? and when did Mich St make 10 straight shot to finally earn separation?

you sound like some kid that has no clue what he's looking at, even less about competition, and I'm simply not going to interact with you going forward

enjoy the 2 minutes of attention I've given you

 

[UCDaveD]

sophomoric idiocy, what do you have against simple math? and when did Mich St make 10 straight shot to finally earn separation?

you sound like some kid that has no clue what he's looking at, even less about competition, and I'm simply not going to interact with you going forward

enjoy the 2 minutes of attention I've given you

At least I actually watched the game. Keep dissecting those box scores. They'll tell you all you need to know.

Bye Felicia.