Marquette Post Game Thread

[TheHorde]

Ball’s rebounding adds a facet of the game we’ve had the past two years in above average rebounding from our guards. Coupled with his obviously impressive shooting behind the arc, that makes him one of the most valuable players in the league, if not the country. We desperately needed it to help take the pressure off of our frontline with rebounding.

 

[storrsroars]

In honor of Solo going off:

Ray had Jesus. If Solo went Hollywood, his looks make him perfect for a biopic on the dead guy from Milli Vanilli.

 

[RuffRuff]

Solo just jumped past Dixon and just behind Brea in 3pt % nationally - around 7th.

 

[TroyHall98]

Ross was much better on defense tonight but I’d pump the brakes on the NBA talk. He’s still a non entity on offense

Do you mean a non-entity on defense? Offense seems fine particularly when he is running curls around the 3 point line.

 

[WhereistheDove?]

Ball’s rebounding adds a facet of the game we’ve had the past two years in above average rebounding from our guards. Coupled with his obviously impressive shooting behind the arc, that makes him one of the most valuable players in the league, if not the country. We desperately needed it to help take the pressure off of our frontline with rebounding.

He was really mixing it up with some of the bigs on the boards, especially in the second half yesterday. He is wildly athletic and if he keeps that, it will be a huge lift to our rebounding struggles.

 

[uh-no]

Do you mean a non-entity on defense? Offense seems fine particularly when he is running curls around the 3 point line.

Ross? he has 2 made threes in all of league play and is a career .189 shooter.

 

[ctchamps]

I dunno. Obviously the final chapter has to be written in Solo’s season before we can make a full judgement - given how Hawk’s season ended, it might be hard for Solo to match that. But Solo’s percentages are a lot higher and he’s shooting 50 percent from three since the new year (36-73) - since a bad game at Butler before Christmas - and that’s a good sample size.

Hawkins was better at squeezing off contested threes since he had a textbook high release. But, man, most days when Ball gets an open look, I’m sure it’s in, and Hawk had more of a tendency to miss the clean looks and somehow make the tougher ones.

Hawk needs to prove himself to others. It's harder for him to dismiss bad plays. He does better when he doesn't have time to think. The fear of making a mistake is greater when he doesn't act reflexively. Solo stays in the moment. He doesn't let his poor play in a previous play impact the next play. He not only tunes out the background noise, he loves critical moments. He doesn't have the anchor of "what if I fail" dragging him down.

Solo is a linear thinker. He assesses what he needs to improve upon and makes adjustments to his skills. It's a challenge for him and he loves the challenge. He doesn't let those weaknesses get into his head so they don't impact what he does well while he works on them. It's good to be a critical thinker but Hawk will struggle if he keeps looking outside himself for approval.

 

[TroyHall98]

Ross? he has 2 made threes in all of league play and is a career .189 shooter.

My bad. Thought the post was talking about Ball.

 

[yungdowork]

I gotta show some love to Samson. Another double digit scoring effort, and a perfect 5 for 5 from the line. He hit some big ones when it counted including that big and-1

 

[RuffRuff]

Hawk needs to prove himself to others. It's harder for him to dismiss bad plays. He does better when he doesn't have time to think. The fear of making a mistake is greater when he doesn't act reflexively. Solo stays in the moment. He doesn't let his poor play in a previous play impact the next play. He not only tunes out the background noise, he loves critical moments. He doesn't have the anchor of "what if I fail" dragging him down.

Solo is a linear thinker. He assesses what he needs to improve upon and makes adjustments to his skills. It's a challenge for him and he loves the challenge. He doesn't let those weaknesses get into his head so they don't impact what he does well while he works on them. It's good to be a critical thinker but Hawk will struggle if he keeps looking outside himself for approval.

Good take - see exactly what you’re talking about.

 

[TheHorde]

I gotta show some love to Samson. Another double digit scoring effort, and a perfect 5 for 5 from the line. He hit some big ones when it counted including that big and-1

He had a huge block late in the second half in the midst of one of Marquette’s runs that really shifted momentum back to the Huskies.

 

[Travelman6]

At least as far as Big East regular season, is this one of UConns best wins? Maybe even top 10 regular season overall...

Huge win. I didn't expect this till St John's.

 

[RuffRuff]

He had a huge block late in the second half in the midst of one of Marquette’s runs that really shifted momentum back to the Huskies.

Yesterday may have been the best game of his career. 4-4, 5-5 from FT line. 4 boards. The opposing 5 doing nothing.

 

[ctchamps]

Ross? he has 2 made threes in all of league play and is a career .189 shooter.

He's not demonstrated much to talk about his offense. I'm extrapolating a lot but I predict we are going to see great things from him in the future. He was our best ball handler in the Marquette game. I don't know about you but he was the only player I felt confident with bringing the ball up court. That's a rapid improvement from his previous games.

I know it's not a game situation but he won the 3 point contest pre season. He had a beautiful stroke under that pressure situation. I contend his poor performance in games is a lack of experience plus being the player who knows/thinks he's the last offensive option so he hesitates. He needs a couple of games like Stewart had at the start of this game to make the leap we are beginning to see with his defensive ability.

 

[TheHorde]

At least as far as Big East regular season, is this one of UConns best wins? Maybe even top 10 regular season overall...

Huge win. I didn't expect this till St John's.

As a Patriots fan, this has the feel of the Patriots winning the “we’re on to Cincinnati” game against the Bengals about 10-11 years ago. Huge win that shifted the outlook for the remainder of the season.

 

[FearThePups]

Has an underdog team ever won against a top 20 team on their home court, while having 25+ turnovers? A historic first?

As an aside, 25 turnovers is a huge concern regardless of the win. Most of them were self inflicted. We still have a massive problem with teams taking it to the basket from the top of the key. That’s how Marquette closed out large lead. This really has not been rectified yet.

 

[FearThePups]

This team is going places ! Watch out as Gus said at end of game

Crazy that the yard goes from utter despair to euphoria in one game’s time.

 

[Travelman6]

As an aside, 25 turnovers is a huge concern regardless of the win. Most of them were self inflicted. We still have a massive problem with teams taking it to the basket from the top of the key. That’s how Marquette closed out large lead. This really has not been rectified yet.

25 turn overs is ugly.

But 25 turnovers on the road and winning by 8 against a top 10 team isn't.

 

[AntG168]

Solo please come back. We won’t have trouble scoring next season, that’s for sure lol . We get a veteran guard who can create a little and get to the basket on his own. Watch out.

 

[TheHorde]

Crazy that the yard goes from utter despair to euphoria in one game’s time.

I think Hurley’s postgame comments expecting Liam to be a full go for St. John’s contribute to the euphoria. I for one am giddy to see opposing defenses have to contend with a healthy Liam/Ball duo. We understand the ball handling and on ball deficiencies. But the offense is about to get a major boost.

 

[HCCForever]

As an aside, 25 turnovers is a huge concern regardless of the win. Most of them were self inflicted. We still have a massive problem with teams taking it to the basket from the top of the key. That’s how Marquette closed out large lead. This really has not been rectified yet.

There was even one play where Marquette took the ball rim to rim with little defense. UConn took too long getting back on D. Fortunately they rectified that issue.

 

[bendm]

Hawk 2 years ago was better than Solo this year.

You keep saying that but How? Hawk shot it 38.7% from 3 as a sophomore and Ball is at 45.6%

 

[connVA]

Solomon Ball and 25 turnovers

And Marquette shooting free throws worse than my daughter’s middle school team

 

[navery12]

I have not watched a lick of St Johns, so genuinely asking here, if they are a bad perimeter defense AND have no one to matchup with Samson down low, how are they winning games? Simply outscoring opponents vs relying on defense?

Their defense is still really good, I just think there are some things we do well that we can take advantage of. They like to create turnovers and get out and run, and they play a bigger more traditional center like Reed. So I think this is a game we need Johnson to show up

 

[ctchamps]

As an aside, 25 turnovers is a huge concern regardless of the win. Most of them were self inflicted. We still have a massive problem with teams taking it to the basket from the top of the key. That’s how Marquette closed out large lead. This really has not been rectified yet.

Kam is a candidate for BE player of the year. Kam got to the rim late, but outside of the easy drives past a hobbled HD he had to work hard to score and Ross neutralized him several times. In the first half he had to make circus shots to score against our bigs. With some players it's a win to play defense like we did against him.

That lead was primarily cut by them making difficult threes, our inability to keep them to one shot on defense, and our sloppiness on offense. It was primarily the offense, outside of Solo's incredible performance, that impacted the large lead. We lose if he doesn't make those critical threes.