Marquette Post Game Thread

[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.

 

[KingAG]

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.

 

[uconn_jack]

Mahaney was unplayable last night. He was playing like it was a noon time pick up game at the Y when it was a summer league game at Rucker. He wilted big time last night.

Well, he took a step closer the last couple of games, but he now needs to take another on against the quality of a Marquette. I think he can now after seeing the flashes, just hope it will be by March.

 

[drayenob]

 

[uconn_jack]

Solo scored 25, but it felt like he scored 40. What an awesome show he put on for the fans. Ross had a terrific game and his fadeaway J from the lane was amazing.

This season at Gampel I've stood on the concourse behind the basket a few times just to watch Ross play defense. What amazes me is his lateral movement, his side to side quickness, his incredible athleticism, all that combined is making him a killer on D. If anyone going to Gampel this point forward, go stand on the concourse for a couple of minutes behind the basket and watch Ross play defense. He is blanket coverage on steroids.

As long as he continues to resist every ball fake. He was better last night, but it was getting to the point where he'd jump every time I got up to get a beer.

 

[uconn_jack]

Couldn’t watch live but just caught a replay. Man. Outhustled all night, crushed on the offensive glass, 20+ turnovers, and we still beat a top 10 team on the road. How? 12-19 three point shooting led by THE BEST GAME OF SOLO BALL’S CAREER! He is growing up right in front of us. He answered every single Marquette run with a soul crushing three

We came out with great energy and built a huge lead early thanks to Stewart popping off. Tarris got involved, AK got involved, then Solo took us home

We played great individual defense in the first half. Switched pretty much everything and everyone held their ground. I was disappointed with Marquette. Their strategy was to flop and pray for whistles. The basketball gods punished them with 12-22 FT shooting. They made their runs when they started playing real basketball and it made for a really exciting second half

LETS. GO. HUSKIES.

I wouldn't say we were outhustled ALL night. They got a lot better after Danny tore into them about it during a TO.

 

[Scoe]

There is not an analyst alive that hasn't been trashed on the BY. They hate everyone except Bill Raftery.

Being a national broadcaster you can't please everybody, he talked good about us and Marquette. Was great to hear him go to bat for Hurley last night, him and Jimmy Jackson are a great duo.

 

[uconn_jack]

One thing I was really suprised about is that Marquette didn't press us late in the first half when we didn't have any PGs in there.

 

[ctchamps]

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

My euphoria comes from winning without having Liam and with HD being pretty much a non factor because he was injured. I came into this game thinking not having two of our best ball handlers against one of the better defensive teams in the country was a recipe for disaster. I came into this game thinking of our away game at Xavier, which isn't as good as Marquette particularly on the defensive end, and HD was healthier.

So count me in as one who is over the moon with this game. As far as despair, I started this season with Hurley's pre season comments so my anticipation was muted. Not the comments of the 3 peat. The comments that the only position he was confident in was the center position. He had concerns about the younger players. And he had major concerns about the point guard position.

Two years ago we only needed to fix one position. Last season there was no weakness. This season is a major overhaul season. I'm not focusing on the failures. I'm enjoying the improvements our players and team are making. Anything that happens positively with our record, our ranking, our postseason play is icing on the cake for me.

 

[Jaydumo20]

Being a national broadcaster you can't please everybody, he talked good about us and Marquette. Was great to hear him go to bat for Hurley last night, him and Jimmy Jackson are a great duo.

Agree 100%.Also, I will never criticize an analyst as it's a particular field where many armchair-fan-analysts secretly believe it's a job they themselves may be able to do just as well, until they realize it's one of the hardest, most competitive, most sought after jobs in all major athletic competition. Try recording yourself calling a game and listen back afterwards in shame and disgust at your own Ineptitude.
People may crap on Donny Marshall but there are only a very small number of people, especially former athletes, who can do what he does.

 

[FearThePups]

25 turn overs is ugly.

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

It could also be maybe Marquette just had an off game. It happens.

 

[EricSD]

That was a great game all the way around. the 3 point shooting at 63% was unconscious. Obviously we don't do that hardly ever, but it worked this game.

One thing I noticed is that when we built our big lead in the 1st half, Marquette was literally playing offense 100% 1 on 1. Their guard would bring the ball up, dribble around, drive to the basket, and look for a foul. In fairness, the announcers even said several of our guys fouled them but the refs didn't call it. As much as it was a great game, could have looked a lot different if those fouls were called.

Regardless, great result, great win, great for our resume, and a fun game to watch.