Marquette Post Game Thread

[UCan3]

There is no downplaying this loss folks. You have 3 things you can hang your hat on each year, BE Tourney, Regular Season Champ. and of course Tourney.

This was a big game to squander and it should Sting.

 

[Greathusky]

We should have drove the ball on the last two possessions.

 

[JMick]

And he didn’t use a head fake once from what I saw. All he wants is the 3.

Eh he drove a few times but yeah he fell back into bad habits. When he was hot it's because he was making moves in the paint

 

[upstater]

I wouldn't have removed Andre after his 4th foul. He was locking down that corner in the zone, 2 guys at once. Hawkins couldn't do the job Andre did, and Marquette immediately exploited us in Andre's absence.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

Yesterday didn’t happen? Those weren’t bright lights? The atmosphere was insane. And we played probably our best minutes of the season while hitting huge shots to close it out. Shots just didn’t fall when we needed them to. That Kam Johnson prayer was amazing coaching by Smart. And Hurley is an idiot for drawing up plays that got his best shooters WIDE open looks in the last 3 minutes, a raging idiot. Right?

He needed to call that timeout, that’s all. The move to zone was smart and successful. Even when the clock got to 5 and Newton couldn’t get anywhere, call a timeout and draw up a play. That is the stuff that he needs to fix, he tends to be an observer sometimes.

 

[SportsFan88]

We're a very good team.
But we are not a very clutch team.
And Marquette gave us chance after chance.

That was my thing, for as bad as that was, we STILL had a chance to win

 

[HuskyFich]

yup. You guys completely ignore the positives I post buts that’s fine. Haven’t been too many over the last 5 years but they’re there. We’ll be having this same conversation next year

Noones ignoring the positives my friend. I enjoy your takes very much.

Sometimes I just think your takes are a little too “glass half empty”

 

[kansashusky]

Hurley’s mouth writing checks!

 

[uconngb]

Yes.

Love to hear your case

 

[JMick]

We had two open threes from a 44% 3pt shooter. What’s a better shot than that?

How good was the shot on the last possessions?

 

[giddyup]

Agreed. This had zero to do with Hurley. Those players were put in a position to succeed . They didn’t.

You’re nuts. Why was Hawk on the floor down the stretch when he was stone cold and disengaged? Why wasn’t Clingan on the floor when he made a huge difference and shut them down? Why wasn’t Allyne, who was hot, not on the floor? Why no TO? Why playing for 3 instead of 2 when 99% of coaching days drive the lane? Yes, they got 2 good looks and missed. The last was atrocious and that last look mattered. You call TO, put in Clingan, you drive or dish to Karaban or Allyne, and puns the boards. Hurley is no clutch HC. Never has been.

 

[businesslawyer]

I was hoping that at least once Hurley would pull a Calhoun and get in Hawkins face and challenge him. Stop coddling all the time. At least once, challenge him to step up and be fierce!

That’s the biggest thing I miss about having a coach like Calhoun.

Calhoun himself said he had to treat different players differently. Some you could scream at and some you couldn’t. None of us has any idea how Hawkins would react to a JC type tirade.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

Eh he drove a few times but yeah he fell back into bad habits. When he was hot it's because he was making moves in the paint

Those are when he doesn’t have the initial 3. He doesn’t drive on hard closeouts, he settles for the 3 like 95% of the time. He needs to add to his game.

 

[Tfoyle]

They turned it around mid 2qt but not using the time out is really just stupid

 

[uconnbill]

Every team is flawed. There hasn't been a truly complete team in a while.

Jim Calhoun

That fits this team perfectly

 

[Husky Dad]

Tough to watch the team melt under the lights. The shots didn’t fall, missed foul shots, Jackson fouls out. Great players but one of them has to step up as the leader, someone who wants the ball at the end, who makes the shots when the others are missing. We need to move from group of talented players to a team with a willing leader. Jury is out on Hurly, he can recruit but it took him too long in the second half to get the defense to step up. Have to move from playing well within things going their way to being able to play when it isn’t all bouncing their way. UConn was more talented but well coached teams win.

 

[upstater]

I don't get the criticism on Hawkins shooting the 3 at the end. He had 2 seconds to shoot and did not get by his guy. Stepping back with 2 seconds left isn't the problem at the end of game. It's what happened before the 2 seconds that was a problem.

 

[UCfor3]

Lol are people really blaming Hurley for this? They lost because the core guys sucked. It happens - give us a 4 seed and let’s

To their credit they have been waiting for this

It was all about poor execution down the stretch.

Some of it of course, but not all. One of our best shooters bricked 2 open looks. That is not poor execution. Guy just missed. Sucks but it happens. Newton, Hawk, and Andre all didn't play well and we lost by 2 to #6, the conference champ. The last possession was a disaster on several levels for sure though.

 

[AntG168]

He needed to call that timeout, that’s all. The move to zone was smart and successful. Even when the clock got to 5 and Newton couldn’t get anywhere, call a timeout and draw up a play. That is the stuff that he needs to fix, he tends to be an observer sometimes.

Touchè. I don’t think he was observing there though. Newton missed Sanogo wide open in the paint. The play was there, they just didn’t execute. Hindsight is 20/20. Disappointing result though. I wanted this one. I still think we’re the best team and it sucks. Hawkins has to have a quick mental turn around. We have to get out of the 1st weekend

 

[Edward Sargent]

I did see him yell at his own guys at some points which is quite the rarity.

Yeah he gave Sanogo a WTFWT at one point when he was guarding Kolek

 

[Senor Blue]

Got a good shooter 2 wide open looks.

Joey Coldcuts needs to hit those.

 

[mike012]

We were favorites for a reason. Should have won but blew it. Why you play the game.

 

[SportsFan88]

I did see him yell at his own guys at some points which is quite the rarity.

Yea he definitely got in sanogo and newton’s face

 

[wingsfan055]

Disappointing is my feeling right now about this team. UConn has the best raw talent in the BE and came up "fourth" in both the BE regular season and Tourny. Definitely not one of Hurley's best games, especially down the stretch. There is a difference between Good and Great and thats where this team is at - just good. Cant pull out the close ones when it counts. We saw this numerous times during the losing streak and we see it again tonight. We were near 5 point favorites against Marquette for a reason . A great team would have won this game.

 

[NJHusky]

Hawk tried to get free the whole night but he was draped. He should have gone to the rim, that I fault him for.

Shouldn’t the coach tell him and run plays to do so?