Northwestern Post Game Thread

[IndyLives]

near a 100% win percent by the 10-minute mark in each game. DOMINANCE.

 

[Doctor Hoop]

Not the kind of 2nd half you want, but it didn’t matter. The 3 shooting was universally terrible, by everyone. That’s not likely to happen again, but something to focus on. The games only get tougher from here.

Dominating the paint against Northwestern wasn’t difficult, it’ll be harder against most of the potential future matchups, and we’ll need those 3’s.

 

[slepers]

The second half was completely irrelevant. The game was over 5 minutes into the second half and Hurley put UConn in cruise control.

Northwestern really sucked, and it was a travesty that they got a bid with two key players injured while other more deserving teams stayed home.

So fau didn’t belong either?…

 

[Devland]

So strange how fired up people get bc we let our lead get down to 16.

I wasn't worried about the game. I was a little worried about the spread.

 

[phillionaire]

If we had hit 3 more garbage three pointers and won by 26 would people still be bellyaching? (Yes)

 

[EnochRoot]

They didn’t shoot the ball well today, I get it. But this stuff seems weird to me. When they have a 30 point lead with less than 15 minutes left a 15 point win accomplishes the same thing as a 50 point win.

For the people who want every game to be a 40 point mopping the goal is to be ahead when the clock hits 0:00 no matter how you get there. They had a ton of open shots down the stretch. They just missed them. And still were never in danger of losing that game.

I'm not saying they should've won by 50 points. My point is the team was outscored by 13 points over the final 13 minutes. I get that its a game of ebbs and flows, but had UConn matched Northwestern down til under the 8 minute mark, then you start thinking about pulling your starters around the 6. That wasn't at all possible tonight.

 

[temery]

A decent coach can burn the clock up 20+ points in the second half, and that is exactly what most decent coaches do. Hurley ran the game right in the second half.

Apparently he told them to start missing shots.

 

[Edward Sargent]

This is a 30 point win if we even only shoot slightly below average .

Y'all need to chill in the chat about stall ball. We missed some shots but executed pretty well. It is supposed to be ugly.

Actually we started taking random threes in the first half and continued throughout the game. 3 pt shooting was a hot mess

 

[tzznandrew]

They didn’t shoot the ball well today, I get it. But this stuff seems weird to me. When they have a 30 point lead with less than 15 minutes left a 15 point win accomplishes the same thing as a 50 point win.

For the people who want every game to be a 40 point mopping the goal is to be ahead when the clock hits 0:00 no matter how you get there. They had a ton of open shots down the stretch. They just missed them. And still were never in danger of losing that game.

It was a well-played game by us. We were up the whole time, never in danger. No one got hurt.

If we made 3s at a normal clip, the score would have been uglier.

 

[WhereistheDove?]

 

[Scoe]

You will have games where the 3 pt ball won’t fall even in the tournament. We hit let’s say 2 3s in each half we’re looking at a 26-30 pt win, other rarities were Newton missing a front end of a 1 and 1, Karaban missing a ft and Diarra missing 2, Clingan hit all of his fts btw and so did Castle so seeing improvement there. Clingan did get a long rest in this game because he could and we still put our walk ons in up 16 with like would’ve if we were up 25.

 

[Kolumbo]

Cling Kong is in an elite company!

Everyone watching the game is thinking, "only 8 blocks? wth was I watching?!"

 

[HuskyFich]

Shout out to Andre Johnson for securing the spread. Hopefully you don’t get reamed out by coach too bad.

Husky Nation salutes you!

 

[housekeys]

The only one that is a concern is Karaban. His shooting slump has been prolonged.

Keep shooting Alex. That is the only way to get out of a slump. It happens. They are human.

 

[TheRealKBuks]

Hopefully this cold shooting night was an aberration. Get it out of the way in an early round game. Hopefully their hot thursday/Saturday

On the other hand, we proved we can beat really good teams even if we can't make a three to save our lives

 

[awfuldan]

Castle had by far the best 1 on 1 perimeter defense performance I’ve ever watched. Boo Buie is 4 years older, a superstar P5 scorer, and Steph gave him nightmares all game long. Diarra did great too

Agreed! Except Boo Buie is 5 (!) years older than Castle. 24 vs 19.

 

[James]

if an nba scout decides reed sheppard a better fit, they should be fired immediately. no guard on castles level as far as upside, and i know ainge knows it

 

[VAHuskyFan]

Seriously, how great was that first half?

 

[HuskyHawk]

This is a 30 point win if we even only shoot slightly below average .

Y'all need to chill in the chat about stall ball. We missed some shots but executed pretty well. It is supposed to be ugly.

We stopped running offense for a long stretch. Made a lot of circus layups, but I wasn’t real happy with the execution in the 2nd half. Shooting was terrible but stopped trying to run our usual stuff, which is more concerning. Props to Northwestern, knew they wouldn’t stay cold.

 

[NatiHuskiFan]

The second half was completely irrelevant. The game was over 5 minutes into the second half and Hurley put UConn in cruise control.

Northwestern really sucked, and it was a travesty that they got a bid with two key players injured while other more deserving teams stayed home.

Quite a hot take here about NU. Who would you have in over them?

 

[CTBasketball]

Haven’t shot that poorly since…?

 

[nomar]

 

[Deleted at users request]

Draftexpress counting those extra 2 blocks for Don.

 

[jibsey]

Playing against Castle is like having a steel defender glued to you. He’s very solid and strong. Must be painful.

 

[HailUConn]

How about TNewt’s two acrobatic and-1 finishes around the rim? Hope he can garner more interest from NBA this time around.

 

[JustbrewitMan]

Especially in the tournament. There are at least “style points” in some of the regular season metrics. It’s all meaningless now. Win or lose. Those are the two outcomes.

I understand that a win is a win at this point, but you need to have every edge that you can get to win it all...

We've shown upcoming better teams twice now that we're capable of letting our foot off the gas with a lead in the 2nd half. And also that we can go dead-arse ice cold for long stretches.

That's hope for a team that may be desperately trying to come back from a big deficit. We want teams to be deflated and hopeless when we stretch the lead to 15-20 pts.

Nitpicky rant, but need to strive for 40min of perfection. Tough to get it, but need to try!

 

[blkknight1]

There were a couple of things I did see in that second half of the second half. They really didn't attack the basket with the same aggressiveness, second some of the 3's taken were rushed out of rhythm of the offense type of shots(like they were looking for the kill shot 3) third just some sloppy uncharacteristic play. Cams attempted cross court pass up 25, tristans attempted lob to Diarra instead of a hard pass.

One thing that didn't let up was the defense on Bouie they let the other northwestern player get theirs but not Bouie.

 

[Rocktheworld]

Locked in....until they weren't.

Saving the 3's for a rainy day.

It’s supposed to be rainy here in Boston Thursday

 

[WhereistheDove?]

He was just so in control. Not fouling. Keeping the blocks in play. Pure domination.

 

[Hunt for 7]

The story of the Newton post game towel continues. Tonight after the game Steph came over and signed the towel and the Danny came over to sign the towel as well.

I am not certain but there could be power in the positive posts. What are the chances Hurley picks my son out of the 50 kids that were asking, he chooses my son and one other. I just feel compelled to thank the BY.

Other than that as a dad who hears his 15yr old son say best trip ever I am beyond words.

Towel pic below: