Marquette Post Game Thread

[spudzj6]

The reffing in this game was bizarre and something we’ve seen a couple this year. The first 10-12 minutes they basically just let them play through almost any contact. Then at some point it just switched and all of a sudden the most ticky tacky fouls are getting called. It seemed pretty consistently inconsistent between both teams but just odd to see it change that drastically.

And as most games, bad calls keep coming from the ref away from the play. Drives me nuts.

 

[Psolo12]

This is the 2nd or 3rd time this year we’ve gone up double digits and Hurley sits Cole and Martin and the lead immediately evaporates. That cannot happen again. We do not have the offensive firepower to sit our 2 best scorers at the same time and frankly I’m not sure what Hurley thinks when he does it??

They can’t play every minute of the game. They need a minute or two to rest, especially when we’re consistently pushing in transition.

 

[polycom]

Calling Marquette a “bad” team is wild. They’ve beaten Illinois, Ole Miss, and West Virginia this year and played UCLA to the wire. They’re not the elite of the conference but calling them “bad” is the weird take.

He said better teams… they aren’t bad but there are much better teams

 

[Kolumbo]

We can absolutely sit Gaff. In fact, we need to. We found our ball handles off a press- it’s Martin and Cole. They are just fine passing it off to a big on the other side of the court.

Nothing good happens when Gaff is in. Give Gaffs little minutes to Diggins.

And Jackson. He did his share of bringing the ball up and he can distribute.

 

[BigFanCT]

Absurd. Polley and Gaffney will continue to play significant minutes. And nailing them to the pine would be coaching malfeasance.

I’d actually like to see their minutes continue to be used at a minimum- especially Gaffney’s. We have 3 guys now plus Sanogo that can score (I’m counting AJax first half- no idea where he went in the second half, but he needs to find it). Hurley talks a big game about being deep but we don’t need to be- we’re forcing being deep just to play a few guys that don’t bring anything to the table. If Polley can get hot in the first half with a few threes, play him more, if not- we roll like we did tonight with hopefully Sanogo giving us more offensively. Seeing Gaffney play in big boy games and then clammoring that he needs to continue to see the floor is silly.

 

[Candyman]

This is a weird take… better teams would thrash us the way we’ve been playing. We won on the road it’s important but we need to play a lot better

I get what you’re saying but no team is going to thrash us. Sanogo played 13 minutes. Whaley had a tough defensive game which doesn’t happen often. Shaka Smart is a good coach and spread us out and really pick and rolled us to death. Our problem is missing threes.

 

[uconngb]

They’re not “bad,” they were short-handed tonight however. The game would have been much closer if Morsell played though. Martin wouldn’t have gotten whatever he wanted if he played.

Silly! Don’t you know that losing games while missing key players is only an excuse for US???

 

[kansashusky]

Absurd. Polley and Gaffney will continue to play significant minutes. And nailing them to the pine would be coaching malfeasance.

How do they help us?

 

[Kolumbo]

Thank God. Hurley didn’t put the young immature Hawk in for a lot of minutes to fall apart. Hawk needs to play but if we have a safe lead. Hawk will develop but he needs to get over the lack of confidence first.

He looked very frustrated when he went to the bench because he knew that was it. That sucks.

 

[Psolo12]

He said better teams… they aren’t bad but there are much better teams

We haven’t gotten thrashed this year and have played plenty of good teams.

 

[Waquoit]

UConn won a conference game on the road and covered. That's called a good game.

 

[uconngb]

How do they help us?

There’s not a chance he can substantiate this argument.

 

[Hungryhusky99]

Calling Marquette a “bad” team is wild. They’ve beaten Illinois, Ole Miss, and West Virginia this year and played UCLA to the wire. They’re not the elite of the conference but calling them “bad” is the weird take.

I mean they are ok, but didn’t have arguably their best player tonight. They also beat Illinois without Cockburn and not sure where you saw that they played UCLA “to the wire”. That was never a game.

 

[karstenkibbe]

Polleys dunk at the end was the only one, I believe.

Polley hit a 3 on his first shot of the game.

 

[MexicoHusky]

I'm rooting for Gaff hard. He's actually one of my favorite players. I'm not sure why, but he is.

Sadly, this was one of his better games against non-cupcakes. Hopefully he makes some strides in the coming games.

He's a spring semester guy. I'm confident

 

[Kenny11]

Sanogo gained some serious weight in the last few weeks. I imagine with that injury he was told to just rest for most of the time.

 

[Spaceman213J]

Cole has to be rested at some point during the game.
I would have like to see a clear out underneath or two for Gaffney when Kolek was on him. I know people are down on him but it looked like he could take him any time.
Sanogo needs more practice.
Akok was very solid again.

I'm tired of the shouldering by the other team. Refs have been awful all year at calling or I should say not calling it. Whaley, Gaff and Martin seem to get it the most. Whaley, the most however, gets penalized for being in position and being strong. He doesn't flop and the offensive player gets rewarded for it. Can't wait to see the Nova PG bull his way in on Cole and Gaff on almost every possession.

 

[Ricker]

AJax 37 min w 1PF with these refs is impressive. He had trouble staying in games last year. Hurley isn't playing Diggins but at least Gaffney only got 7 min and wasn't in the game down the stretch. In 7 minutes still got 2 turnovers and gave up a drive to the hoop and committed 3 PF. Nice pocket pass to Adama on the positive side. Gaffney can have a good game but when he doesn't, I'll give hurley credit for limiting minutes. Also Hurley pulled Adama when rust was clearly showing. Lewis got great position and outmuscled Whaley a bunch, but Whaley got some tough rebounds and loose balls. I don't think Whaley was giving up that low post position every time, it seemed like Lewis was frequently taking it while we were switching. I'll rewatch for that. We played hard. 12 turnovers vs Marquette is great, especially with 5 between Sanogo and Gaffney. That means only 7 Turnovers for all the guys that were playing a lot of minutes. I like AJ pushing the ball. RJ got out of the corner traps but we still passed there. Refs didn't have a good game. Counted the basket AFTER review, and I hated the call against Whaley when he was displaced, as well as the foul on Akok at the rim. Also bad calls here and there for us. Special thanks for the missed dunk and layup essentially back to back.

 

[karstenkibbe]

Can't agree more with that. What does Hurley see that everyone I know doesn't?

Answer is pretty obvious. Hurley is loyal to the steaming pile of poor play that he trusts (compliments of Polley) over the steaming pile of poor play he doesn’t trust (compliments of Hawkins). By the way, Hawkins is 11 of 41 from the field in his last seven games. Other than a solid showing against Grambling, he hasn’t made his presence known on either side of the ball in the last month.

 

[UconnFanDC]

You'd think we'd wear teams down with all the guys we have. We tend to wither away at the end of games. But yeah that Polley Gaffney conversation has been ongoing since last week. I don't see it changing.

 

[ThabeetDown]

Hawkins is the x-factor for this team to take the next step. You’ve seen what he can do vs Auburn and in Newark but damn his confidence is just at zero most times during a game. He had flashes of aggressiveness tonight but they need to go back to creating some designed 3s for him early when he checks in like they did when he was starting. He needs more than 3 looks a game.

Enjoyed the energy Akok brought on the glass tonight but he looks lost on offense when he’s not taking a 3. Some weak finishes at the rim. I’d actually like to see him take some mid range shots, especially if a team goes zone vs us (I thought we handled the Marquette zone very well tonight for the few possessions they used it).

If Jackson can take that first half and extend it over a full game that will be massive. Baby steps but progress none the less. You can already see the improvement from Game 1 to now. Slowly but surely he’s becoming the player we know he can be…

 

[TheChamps990411]

Bare witness to Andre Jackson’s 18 foot , 1 on 3 floater. That took place for absolutely no reason at all. SMH

When he could have and should have just gone to the bucket. smh

 

[Horatio]

Can we please discuss that that 18 foot, 1 on 3, missed floater that Andre Jackson gifted us with this Evening?!?!?

 

[HooperScooper]

Absurd. Polley and Gaffney will continue to play significant minutes. And nailing them to the pine would be coaching malfeasance.

Please explain why. I need an explanation on what you're seeing that I'm not.

 

[Horatio]

When he could have and should have just gone to the bucket. smh

I haven’t stopped laughing yet. Classic

 

[Ts5034]

UConn won a conference game on the road and covered. That's called a good game.

The team needed this. To bounce back and get a good 8 point win on the road, and playing well for most of the game should help their confidence a lot. In my opinion, I think confidence was an issue with the way some of these games have went. Tonight it seemed like things finally went right for them in a close game down the stretch.

 

[BigFanCT]

I'm rooting for Gaff hard. He's actually one of my favorite players. I'm not sure why, but he is.

Sadly, this was one of his better games against non-cupcakes. Hopefully he makes some strides in the coming games.

He's a spring semester guy. I'm confident

One of his better games? 7 mins, 1 assist, 2 points. Oof.

 

[TheChamps990411]

You'd think we'd wear teams down with all the guys we have. We tend to wither away at the end of games. But yeah that Polley Gaffney conversation has been ongoing since last week. I don't see it changing.

Right now this team is 6 deep at best. Sanogo,Whaley, Ajax, Tmart, Cole and Akok with the possibility of Hawkins eventually becoming a solid contributor.

 

[UncleSpliff]

They can’t play every minute of the game. They need a minute or two to rest, especially when we’re consistently pushing in transition.

Ya they can rest. Not at the same time however. That necessitates Polley and Gaffney being on the court at the same time. See the problem??

 

[Hi-Low]

I just wish in post game Dan Hurley wouldn't say if we were at full strength in 3 loses we would have won those games. Should have won a couple of them regardless, and Dan Hurley didn't help put them in win column.

So by that token Marquette was down one of their best, so we're the Bonnies...it's a stupid game to play, most games a team is down a player. Win the game or you lose, don't make excuses especially in games still should have won.

I like Dan Hurley just annoys me always talking about past, like the stupid 45 min thing from end of last year our rallying cry this year....freshman have no idea what you're talking about. Just put crap behind you and move on to next opponent.

Anyway....nice road win guys!