Looked like a championship team first 8 minutes

[Scrappy3]

We need to show game consistency. There’s no way we should’ve have such violent disturbances in play. Jaylin Stewart needs to be a core 25-27 min player and Ross used as the back up pg. Make sure we keep alex at 30 or under to keep him fresh. Our defense and rebounding led to run outs and kept St. John’s from setting up. When they score we need more methodical set plays in halfcourt. If we can play more like our a team we can make a run

 

[uh-no]

20+ turnovers.

That's all you need to know.

And yeah, set plays definitely what brought us the last 2 titles /s

 

[Hunt for 7]

Alex sucked that out of us and the crowd with those three bricks he shot while attempting wide open threes. They had no chance and the whole place knew at that time winning was going to take something miraculous to happen. There are misses that are just misses but when AK gets three wide open looks from two feet behind the line and bricks all three……not good

 

[FfldCntyFan]

The turnovers were a massive problem but the problems began before that.

About seven minutes in, we were up 14 and kind of screwed up three or four consecutive possessions while still defending exceptionally well. We had the opportunity to make it a 25 point game ten minutes in and let that completely slip away.

I still don't know what Alex did that got called for a foul less than a minute in (there were a ton of contested shots far more physical than that throughout the game that didn't get called) but once he went out with his second (not a good play on his part), we had no on-court leadership for the final ten minutes of the first half. That played an enormous role in their comeback.

Those two items let them back in the game far earlier than what should have been possible.

Additionally, Mahaney had no confidence at all last night. There were three instances where he was very open, with the ball behind the arc but instead of shooting (which would have been a much better shot than what we had most of the night) he would dribble into traffic and pass the ball.

There were a couple plays over the final six minutes where Richmond pump faked from about 12-15 foot out, used the defender (Reed once, I think Stewart the other time) to get past him and dribble into the lane. I know instinct will have the defender contest the fake but with that guy the best move is to let him take that shot.

It's only one game. Granted, there have been too many where we've come up on the wrong end of games like that one this season but if this is part of the growing pains that this team needs, so be it. Our expectations, especially after factoring in what we lost from last season were obvioulsy too high and we appear to be somewhat snakebitten with injuries this year. All we can do is enjoy this season for what it is and realize that we can't just dominate everyone the way we did last season. We may never see a team that good again.

 

[TribecaHusk]

20+ turnovers.

That's all you need to know.

And yeah, set plays definitely what brought us the last 2 titles /s

20 plus turnovers and horrific from the Freethrow line

 

[UCTitleTown]

Too bad the game isn't 8 minutes long.

 

[gsmooth]

Alex sucked that out of us and the crowd with those three bricks he shot while attempting wide open threes. They had no chance and the whole place knew at that time winning was going to take something miraculous to happen. There are misses that are just misses but when AK gets three wide open looks from two feet behind the line and bricks all three……not good

you mostly nailed it. It wasn't that we in the stands thought it would take a miracle around the 10 minute mark of the first half, but we felt with the 26-10 lead UConn blew a valuable opportunity to blow that game open to a 20+ lead with Alex's 3 wide open 3 point shots that missed. And like you stated as soon as the shots were in mid flight we knew they were not going in and had no chance-he missed them badly. These were not shots that went in and out or were on line with the rim. Everyone sitting around me we saying or asking, "damn when is Karaban going to make these?!"

Whenever UConn loses there are always a few moments I wish went another way in their favor and that 1-2 min span where he badly missed those wide open 3s to really blow the game open are the missed opportunities I lament.

 

[Chin Diesel]

I've come to the conclusion thia team is the opposite of last year's.

This team needs to fire away when they get their first clean look and not try to wear down a defense with 25 seconds of motion.
Last year when the shot clock got down to 5 seconds, you might see 2 or 3 passes and then a clean look with one second left. This year it's hot potato and no one wants the ball with 5 seconds left.

 

[gsmooth]

I've come to the conclusion thia team is the opposite of last year's.

This team needs to fire away when they get their first clean look and not try to wear down a defense with 25 seconds of motion.
Last year when the shot clock got down to 5 seconds, you might see 2 or 3 passes and then a clean look with one second left. This year it's hot potato and no one wants the ball with 5 seconds left.

I didn't even like that much when last year's team did it, but last year's team is an all time great and they had high IQ players and guys that can create off the dribble like Newton, Castle, Spencer, and even Diarra.

This team, yes they need to shoot earlier. I know the comment that announcers make, "pass up a good shot for a great shot". Last year's team was a prime example of that with the aforementioned reasons I mentioned. This team is "passing up a good shot for a lousy shot or no shot". If you look at the lousy 2nd half from the St. John's game, there were many possessions the ball never got past the foul line extended, not good.

 

[Hankster]

We need to show game consistency. There’s no way we should’ve have such violent disturbances in play. Jaylin Stewart needs to be a core 25-27 min player and Ross used as the back up pg. Make sure we keep alex at 30 or under to keep him fresh. Our defense and rebounding led to run outs and kept St. John’s from setting up. When they score we need more methodical set plays in halfcourt. II don't remember a UConn team give up so many leads in the first half.f we can play more like our a team we can make a run

Been like that so far for most of the year. I don't recall a UConn team giving up the lead in the first half ever. as many times as this team.

 

[RuffRuff]

Many of the points in the first 10 minutes were in transition. The pace was fast, and unsustainable, and we got a lot of great looks. As soon as it was dialed back into a half court game, StJ ratcheted up the D and we couldn’t execute.

The wild part is that up 26-12, we even got the offensive rebounds off the first two missed threes and still couldn’t score. Was a lost opportunity. Once it settled in that we couldn’t sustain the shooting pace, StJ was out for blood.

Dan Hurley seems to want to live and die this year with Samson and Alex, perhaps out of gratitude. It was said much of the early season, but not starting and scheming Tarris into the offense more has felt all along like a missed opportunity. This is a soft team 1-4, physically. Tarris is the one guy on this whole roster that is imposing, an advantage, an offset to the rest of the roster. Rolling out a slight 5 to go along with our small PG, small SG and unathletic 4 seems only to compound the image. We are a very bully-able basketball team who has to outshoot you, which doesn’t inspire consistency.

 

[6Nattys4Us]

Many of the points in the first 10 minutes were in transition. The pace was fast, and unsustainable, and we got a lot of great looks. As soon as it was dialed back into a half court game, StJ ratcheted up the D and we couldn’t execute.

The wild part is that up 26-12, we even got the offensive rebounds off the first two missed threes and still couldn’t score. Was a lost opportunity. Once it settled in that we couldn’t sustain the shooting pace, StJ was out for blood.

Dan Hurley seems to want to live and die this year with Samson and Alex, perhaps out of gratitude. It was said much of the early season, but not starting and scheming Tarris into the offense more has felt all along like a missed opportunity. This is a soft team 1-4, physically. Tarris is the one guy on this whole roster that is imposing, an advantage, an offset to the rest of the roster. Rolling out a slight 5 to go along with our small PG, small SG and unathletic 4 seems only to compound the image. We are a very bully-able basketball team who has to outshoot you, which doesn’t inspire consistency.

100% agree - how is bringing in Maheney (and even slighter physical presence than Diarra) going to instill any urgency in our opponent?

Liam and Reed, Jr are the only ones asserting themselves, Reed, Jr because he's a monster out there, and Liam has instinctual rebounding skills - always in the right place and can jump to claim them. Hence our 2 double-doubles the other night were bench players.

Liam will return to the starting lineup and Stewart will lose minutes. But Ross should be coming in to spell Diarra - he at least has the PG skills and height to not be intimidated. Mahaney can come in to spell Ball, and why not use Singare to spell AK - would it really hurt to have Singare with Reed, Jr. or Johnson?

 

[Drame]

I clocked the change in the game when we were up 14 but then had multiple missed shots by Alex and a couple turnovers. We had been playing a faster tempo, taking the first good shot available within 12 seconds of our possession. Our offense was in flow and St Johns D could not set up. After those couple turnovers Hurley told the team to slow down and we never got our offensive rhythm the rest of the night. This team cant run the offense we've had the past couple years. I think we're better in an up and down game.