Marquette Post Game Thread

[ColchVEGAS]

Samson Johnson was superb last night. Excellent on defense. He needs to bottle the intensity he played with last night and drink it before every game.

Mahaney, while still too hesitant, did exactly what is needed of him.

 

[JustbrewitMan]

Agree that I thought our defensive perimeter rotations were better yesterday. That said Marquette can’t shoot. They don’t have one plus 3pt shooter on the roster, other than maybe Gold at the 5. If they even shoot 25% from 3 last night they likely win.

Yea, and if we shoot better than 7-20, your hypothetical "better Marquette shooting wins the game" gets negated. We had a ton of clean looks from 3 from our better shooters that didn't go down.

By the way, Marquette averages 55% on 2pt shots for the year....they shot 22/35 (63%) which is well above prediction. A few less Joplin/Ross circus shots that found the bottom of the net and now Marquette loses the game again.

Similarly, we are a 57% 2pt shooting team on the year. We shot 19/45 (42%) last night. Well below our expectation. A few more Reed/Hass/Liam/Alex/Solo 2pt shots fall (as they should have), and guess what, we win the game again.


We can play this "woulda coulda shoulda" game all day long to make the narrative whatever you like.

The teams play the games because players aren't robots and variance happens. Some of which is controlled (effect of defense, quality of shots), some of which is human variance.

I know you love to play the role of "brutally honest takes guy", which I usually can appreciate, but you've upped it to 11 lately and its actually getting really annoying.

 

[superjohn]

They shot 12% from 3 and average 32.5%. If they shot their bad average, that would have netted 12 points. We were up by 1 with 20 seconds to go, you can do the math. We were 312 in country in 3pt defense, so it's not like we turned into a juggernaut overnight. Bad shooting happens and they happened to do it at an egregiously bad level and we were the beneficiaries. I'll take it.

I'm looking for building blocks to take into the tourney, didn't find too many there.

UConn shot 40% from the field, UConn shoots 48% from the field on the season. Marquette was right on their season average from the field.

We won because we outplayed them.

 

[JustbrewitMan]

lol they had so many wide open 3s.

Sometimes you play the analytics game and bait worse 3pt shooters to shoot since they're less likely to make it (even when wide open) vs. letting them get into the lane for a much higher % shot.

 

[Seamus84]

They shot 12% from 3 and average 32.5%. If they shot their bad average, that would have netted 12 points. We were up by 1 with 20 seconds to go, you can do the math. We were 312 in country in 3pt defense, so it's not like we turned into a juggernaut overnight. Bad shooting happens and they happened to do it at an egregiously bad level and we were the beneficiaries. I'll take it.

I'm looking for building blocks to take into the tourney, didn't find too many there.

If someone told me we'd get 25pts from Solo, Liam and Tarris combined, I'd say there's no way we beat Marquette. Samson's rebounding, AK's re-emergence, Diarra's health are all building blocks IMO.

 

[Inyatkin]

UConn shot 40% from the field, UConn shoots 48% from the field on the season. Marquette was right on their season average from the field.

We won because we outplayed them.

I thought people would be hard pressed to take something negative out of last night's game, but what do you know, someone found a way

 

[JustbrewitMan]

They shot 12% from 3 and average 32.5%. If they shot their bad average, that would have netted 12 points. We were up by 1 with 20 seconds to go, you can do the math. We were 312 in country in 3pt defense, so it's not like we turned into a juggernaut overnight. Bad shooting happens and they happened to do it at an egregiously bad level and we were the beneficiaries. I'll take it.

I'm looking for building blocks to take into the tourney, didn't find too many there.

The media talking heads love to parrot the "UConn 3pt defense is one of the worst in the country" (as are you), but this is just based off the raw 3pt% numbers.

There's more nuance to how it affects game outcomes than that.

The flip side is part of UConn's strategy is to deny total #'s of 3pt shots per game. For that metric, we are 17th in the nation (18.5 attempts per game).

The end result is we are actually 49th in the country in pts allowed from 3pt range per game.

 

[Gurleyman]

Huge win, but this board is so funny. Marquette was 3-22 from 3 on a bunch of open looks. If they were 6-22, which still sucks, we probably lose and Hurley and all the players would be getting destroyed, even though everything we did in the game would have essentially been the same.

Sure. But if Liam and Solo were 12-28, instead of 7-28, we'd have won by almost 20 and we'd feel like we're ready to take on Auburn.

Coincidentally, you know who else shot 3-22 from three? UConn vs. Northwestern last year in the second round (thanks to Andre Johnson knocking one down in the last minute when we had been 2-21). Outside shooting has a natural degree of variance - good teams take advantage of the other teams' bad days, or overcome their own. Or overcome the days when the other teams go on heaters for a while (i.e. Alabama's 8-11 first half).

 

[homunculus]

If the Queen had balls .........

That’s a major surgery. It doesn’t really apply.

Literally two free throws at Villanova and just one out of 3 blatant fouls is called at Seton Hall and everyone would be talking about how we find ways to win on the road in the face of adversity, we have the 2 seed locked up for the BET and we may even be in play for a 5 or 6 seed instead of hoping for a 7 at best. How is that not worth talking about?

 

[3rdbass]

He was far from bad.

That is your opnion. He definitely slowed the offense and it had issues running plays when he was in during the first half. That is when there run happened to regain the lead. He isn't even an adequate PG but we don't have a lot of options.

 

[jibsey]

The key reason to why we won last night is because Marquette shot 3-22 from 3. Joplin made it closer than it should have been with some unexpected heroics. It’s really hard to win when you shoot that poorly from 3, which has been an issue for Marquette for the second half of the season. Nice win and some good things happened, but didn’t walk away from that one thinking we turned some kind of corner. Samson played really well, won’t be repeatable against teams that run half court with real bigs, Alex had a really solid game. We protected the ball. Man Liam was not good.

I can see a mid major throwing a zone against Marquette first round and stifling them.

I disagree for a couple reasons. A lot of the close shots they just threw up there, crazy stuff, went in and many times they all don’t. So it works both ways. Also 44-29 rebounds for us. Liam missed shots but many were very close and a couple of makes would have changed our story too.

 

[willie99]

Our defensive FG% is hurt by the fact that teams have had their best shooting night of the year against us.

We're the two time defending champs, we're the circled game for everyone, we get better efforts than anyone else does

And all of that will be mitigated when it's one and done. We will match the intensity of our opponents because we don't want to go home either. It's impossible to play out of our minds against everyone Nov through Feb. That changes in March

 

[Umami Zen]

Our defensive FG% is hurt by the fact that teams have had their best shooting night of the year against us.

We're the two time defending champs, we're the circled game for everyone, we get better efforts than anyone else does

And all of that will be mitigated when it's one and done. We will match the intensity of our opponents because we don't want to go home either. It's impossible to play out of our minds against everyone Nov through Feb. That changes in March

To your first point-Its almost been comical how frequently that has happened. March is a different time of year for us. Think we're gonna surprise some over-confident higher seeded teams.

 

[Excalibur]

I can appreciated a fleet of foot 6'10" guy guarding the 3pt line but I cannot continuously be happy seeing our 6'10" center so out of position that Marquette had 5-6 layups with no one home under the hoop.

This also opens up the 3 as Liam or AK have to cover the middle and the wing if Johnson is not down low.

So as amazing as he was switching to cover their shooters at the perimeter, they weren't shooting anywhere near concerning from 3 anyway and we gave up plenty of layups.

I'm always puzzled by statements like this. Seems some people are stuck in 1955 and think that bigs should just stand under the basket. Find me a team that leaves guards out on an island on ball screens.

You realize, of course, that our defensive strategy made it so that their best shooter, who is also the closest thing they have to a center, to zero three point attempts?

 

[Excalibur]

lol they had so many wide open 3s.

LOL their two best % three point shooters had 1 attempt in total.

 

[Icehawk]

That put back by Stewie was sweet! Loved seeing some pretty tough defense all around too. AK hitting treys like we know he can was a great thing. Let's crush the Hall and see where the BET takes us.

 

[6Nattys4Us]

I'm always puzzled by statements like this. Seems some people are stuck in 1955 and think that bigs should just stand under the basket. Find me a team that leaves guards out on an island on ball screens.

You realize, of course, that our defensive strategy made it so that their best shooter, who is also the closest thing they have to a center, to zero three point attempts?

2 different things here:

1. Big should be around the hoop, but not necessarily just standing under the basket. Let them go 5-6 feet if they can get back quickly. I don't recall seeing Edey patrolling the 3 pt line nor Ayton or KAT, etc...not nearly to the level that Johnson does.
2. Leaving guards out on an island doesn't necessitate the Center is involved. Plenty of teams can use 2 guards and a wing to handle this. We struggle with Ball and Diarra and taller guards setting screens, and PnRs.

But Johnson vacates the paint for extended periods of time and that does leave the lane open and does make AK or Liam have to guard the wing 3 and the paint. How many layups or open 3s because AK or Liam have to hedge simply because there's no one in the paint?

It's more concerning that we need Johnson to cover high screens and pick and rolls for 3s.

 

[CTFAN4LIFE]

I was there & I didn't hear any crickets. Is that how it sounded on TV? My ears are still ringing.

Were the loud parts wicked loud? Yes.

Were the quiet parts wicked quiet? Yes.

Both were true last night. Our crowds at both of our home courts gotta step it up next year. I think as compared to other big time environments, our percentage of the wine and cheese crowd reduces the bedlam effect. A "cost" of high priced tickets, I suppose.

 

[StllH8L8ner]

Were the loud parts wicked loud? Yes.

Were the quiet parts wicked quiet? Yes.

Both were true last night. Our crowds at both of our home courts gotta step it up next year. I think as compared to other big time environments, our percentage of the wine and cheese crowd reduces the bedlam effect. A "cost" of high priced tickets, I suppose.

Watching the late game free throws taken by MU, I was a bit disappointed with the student section behind the hoop when the camera panned out. Need some more $2 beer nights perhaps.

And unless it was D’Amelio, Burton or some other major donor, the guy in the neon pink shirt sitting mid court about 10 rows up during a Whiteout game should have his seat license revoked.

 

[navery12]

2 different things here:

1. Big should be around the hoop, but not necessarily just standing under the basket. Let them go 5-6 feet if they can get back quickly. I don't recall seeing Edey patrolling the 3 pt line nor Ayton or KAT, etc...not nearly to the level that Johnson does.
2. Leaving guards out on an island doesn't necessitate the Center is involved. Plenty of teams can use 2 guards and a wing to handle this. We struggle with Ball and Diarra and taller guards setting screens, and PnRs.

But Johnson vacates the paint for extended periods of time and that does leave the lane open and does make AK or Liam have to guard the wing 3 and the paint. How many layups or open 3s because AK or Liam have to hedge simply because there's no one in the paint?

It's more concerning that we need Johnson to cover high screens and pick and rolls for 3s.

This entire post is just reinforcing his point, you're stuck in 1955. Not to mention that his ability to guard guys at the 3 point line is a large part of what makes Samson Johnson so effective

 

[RuffRuff]

The media talking heads love to parrot the "UConn 3pt defense is one of the worst in the country" (as are you), but this is just based off the raw 3pt% numbers.

There's more nuance to how it affects game outcomes than that.

The flip side is part of UConn's strategy is to deny total #'s of 3pt shots per game. For that metric, we are 17th in the nation (18.5 attempts per game).

The end result is we are actually 49th in the country in pts allowed from 3pt range per game.

How much is that our overall pace of play? Otherwise the more meaningful data point is % of 3s taken to overall shots. If our 3s taken is low too, due to pace, then generally negates this being a viable data point and the % is more important.

 

[UCan3]

2 different things here:

1. Big should be around the hoop, but not necessarily just standing under the basket. Let them go 5-6 feet if they can get back quickly. I don't recall seeing Edey patrolling the 3 pt line nor Ayton or KAT, etc...not nearly to the level that Johnson does.
2. Leaving guards out on an island doesn't necessitate the Center is involved. Plenty of teams can use 2 guards and a wing to handle this. We struggle with Ball and Diarra and taller guards setting screens, and PnRs.

But Johnson vacates the paint for extended periods of time and that does leave the lane open and does make AK or Liam have to guard the wing 3 and the paint. How many layups or open 3s because AK or Liam have to hedge simply because there's no one in the paint?

It's more concerning that we need Johnson to cover high screens and pick and rolls for 3s.

I didn’t see it as much last night but there are time our center is roaming around the perimeter on Defense trying to double team a player 20 ft from the basket, opposing teams send a player cutting to hoop and we’re dog meat.

We don’t need the center on the perimeter unless there is clean shot to get a turnover.

They can stray a bit as people drive to the hoop to cut down angles / go for block but please Samson no more trying to double team a player at the top of the key. It never seems to work and too often leads to easy baskets for the other team.

 

[Palatine]

Hurley has used the high hedge going back to the wrench. Still we have these posters who constantly complain about it. Why? Make peace with it.

 

[7774]

Sometimes you play the analytics game and bait worse 3pt shooters to shoot since they're less likely to make it (even when wide open) vs. letting them get into the lane for a much higher % shot.

Funny how no one had that comment after the St Johns game even though they're worse shooting 3s than Marquette. If people want to pretend we defended the 3 well that's cool. Those exact same people will be here saying Hurley and all the players suck if some team takes the same type of 3s Marquette took but makes them.

 

[RuffRuff]

If someone told me we'd get 25pts from Solo, Liam and Tarris combined, I'd say there's no way we beat Marquette. Samson's rebounding, AK's re-emergence, Diarra's health are all building blocks IMO.

I'd agree that AK getting hot (as well as Liam & Solo), the 3 of them generally just figuring out how to architect their scoring triage is huge. We need our three best scorers to understand how to work together to get good shots and make them. Liam was downright combustible in this one and playing so iso/reckless and Solo was taken away for large chunks.

Hassan's health is huge, but I'm just not sure how something plaguing him all year can spontaneously get better unless they decide to inject him before the tourney.

While an amazing game from Samson, once we go into the halfcourt games against talented front courts, it's Tarris that we need to be core. Samson will always be a better matchup in a track meet, which are few and far between. He was that last year vs StJ.

Things I loved as building blocks. Tarris's pass to AK for the sealing 3, feel like the inside out offense could be consistently effective. That we took care of the basketball, 8 TO's after 25 last game was a coup.

Marquette is a bad rebounding team, almost by design. StJ outrebounded them 43-21 in their last game. They are 4-5 over their last 9 with their last good win in the first week of Jan. It's basically Kam Jones, who has a serious case of the yips, and a bunch of jags.