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Nova Scouting Report

UConnSwag11

UConnSwag11

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I haven't watched a lot of their games this year and the one I watched the most they got blown out by Creighton. I know they space the floor with all 5 guys and their bigs, primarily their 5 has given us fits in the past. Gillespie likes to get his defender in the lane and backs him down to either a quick jumper over him or a lay-up.

What have you guys seen offensively and defensively from them?
 
Gillespie likes to attack and pass out frequently. Need to stay on the shooters without helping too much.

Last year in the game vs Nova, Bouknight scored just 5 points on 5 shots (1-5). This time Bouk should be able to get more than 5 pts. Need to play tough defense without too much fouling.
 
It was an ugly game last year, the team now is way better in my opinion with newer/deeper talent. 3 bench guys last year were Adams, Gaffney, Wilson with Carlton and Gilbert starting. Still feel like UConn should’ve won. Nova seems to be the same with another year of experience under their belt. They are good and I expect it to be close, but I like the good guys chances. Interested in seeing what the line will be
 
It's not a good game for Carlton to be playing in. If Sanogo is in, he'll have trouble guarding and we have to use him offensively in the low blocks to make up for it. having said that, it's a game where I expect to see whalley play mostly at center, and if Akok can give us 12 good minutes that keeps us more mobile than with Adama and Josh.
 
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The few times ive seen them this year Jermaine Samuels is a guy we need to stop. Scores in bunches and is a great rebounder. Hopefully Martin will draw that assignment and keep him in check.
 
They are awful at defending the 3.

Their opponents average 37.8% from 3, which defensively is in the 9th percentile in the nation. Reason #1 why Creighton demolished them. Fire up Bouk/Polley/Cole/Martin from three but don't just settle for threes because their two-pointer D is poor too (52% is just the 28th percentile nationally). An offensive style like the Xavier game would be lovely.

On offense, they do not turn the ball over.

They generate turnovers in only 13.5% of their offense possessions, which is the 2nd lowest rate in college basketball. This poses well for UConn's defensive style: they do generate turnovers (19.7% of possessions, good for 126th in the nation), but UConn's D is more about staying square, helping only when needed and making it really hard for teams to take good shots.

I honestly don't see Sanogo playing a lot. The Huskies need Whaley/Akok/Polley to be the athletic bigs to follow Robinson-Earl, Samuels and Swider to the perimeter. In fact, I love Polley as a defensive matchup on Swider: they're essential the same players: tall shooters who don't do a ton else. ~73% of Swider's shots are three pointers and Polley doesn't have to worry about his dribble drive (just 6 FTAs all season).

I expect Martin/Jackson to lock down Moore and Daniels, their two bigger wings. I do worry a bit that Cole might be a defensive liability against Gillespie.
 
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In close wins and losses they only go 7 or 8 players deep. We should be playing at a breakneck pace to tire them out, get to the line to put their short rotation in foul trouble.

I want to see the small ball lineup unleashed as well - Cole, Bouknight, Jackson, Martin, Whaley

Adama will be a great presence to go to if we get a few early fouls on JRE. Agreed, as already stated, that Akok could give us a huge boost if he's able to give us an energetic 15 minutes.

Every game is a big opportunity for Polley to go off from three.
 
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They don't foul, so the foul trouble idea is a hard sell.

To play fast we need to get stops. High pressure D sounds good to me. Just don't overhelp off shooters when guys get beat/
 
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Nova is well coached and confident. They love the 3 and run good offense to get open shots. The Wildcats don't turn it over much so if they are hitting their 3s they are tough to beat. We are a better defensive and rebounding team and we have Bouk. If he is on this is going to be a hell of a game.
 
They shoot a billion threes and they all shoot them. Gillespie likes to penetrate and kick, he always keeps his dribble and will even go all the way under the hoop and dribble back out like Nash, he also loves to back guards down in the post...

They don't have a traditional big, instead a bunch of 6'4-6'8 guys who dribble and shoot. Jeremiah Robinson-Earl is their best and most versatile player, he'll be a first round draft pick after this season. They kill teams with halfcourt execution and the three, we're more athletic than them and should look to run and get buckets down low with drives and post ups.

Trey Patterson who was a high schooler at the start of the school year is probably going to suit up for his first game Saturday.
 
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CTBasketball said:
Stick Whaley on Robinson Earl and shut him down.
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Maybe a better strategy is have Sanogo get 2 fouls on him early. One thing we need to do is attack the paint early, get a guy or 2 into some foul trouble, then look for our 3s. I think this is a game where we distance ourselves from a 2 big starting lineup. I would like to see: Gaffney, Bouknight, Jackson, Martin, Sanogo out the gate.
First off the bench would be Cole, Whaley, and Polley. If Polley doesn’t have it give all his minutes to Akok from that point out.
Going to need pristine execution for this one.
We’ve struggled to come out quick offensively but I think a combo of getting Sanogo and Bouknight their touches would work. Martin would do his offensive work undercover per usual.
 
auror said:
Another thing. They're one of the best FT shooting teams in the country. They don't go out of their way to draw them, but we absolutely cannot get handsy and get into the bonus early.
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wow, DOOMED, unless the zebras call it evenly
 
Sure would like to see Bouk start this one, to help avoid another of our glacially slow game starts.
 
ucawn said:
Maybe a better strategy is have Sanogo get 2 fouls on him early. One thing we need to do is attack the paint early, get a guy or 2 into some foul trouble, then look for our 3s. I think this is a game where we distance ourselves from a 2 big starting lineup. I would like to see: Gaffney, Bouknight, Jackson, Martin, Sanogo out the gate.
First off the bench would be Cole, Whaley, and Polley. If Polley doesn’t have it give all his minutes to Akok from that point out.
Going to need pristine execution for this one.
We’ve struggled to come out quick offensively but I think a combo of getting Sanogo and Bouknight their touches would work. Martin would do his offensive work undercover per usual.
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The percentage chance that Whalley doesn't start for basketball reasons is John Blutarski's GPA. Not going to happen.
 
We
huskyfan224 said:
It was an ugly game last year, the team now is way better in my opinion with newer/deeper talent. 3 bench guys last year were Adams, Gaffney, Wilson with Carlton and Gilbert starting. Still feel like UConn should’ve won. Nova seems to be the same with another year of experience under their belt. They are good and I expect it to be close, but I like the good guys chances. Interested in seeing what the line will be
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Carlton shot 6-9 and we were .639 from the two.
We also outrebounded them
We definitely out muscled them inside and Whaley played zero minutes
They made a bunch of threes
But actually won from the FT line we were 3-3
Bouk’s the only Huskie to get to the line
They were 12-16
 
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ucawn said:
Maybe a better strategy is have Sanogo get 2 fouls on him early. One thing we need to do is attack the paint early, get a guy or 2 into some foul trouble, then look for our 3s. I think this is a game where we distance ourselves from a 2 big starting lineup. I would like to see: Gaffney, Bouknight, Jackson, Martin, Sanogo out the gate.
First off the bench would be Cole, Whaley, and Polley. If Polley doesn’t have it give all his minutes to Akok from that point out.
Going to need pristine execution for this one.
We’ve struggled to come out quick offensively but I think a combo of getting Sanogo and Bouknight their touches would work. Martin would do his offensive work undercover per usual.
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I feel like we’ll see Sanogo at the opening tip, and then he’ll get very few minutes outside of the first TV Timeout. Unless of course he starts scoring and playing great defense.

I think the better matchups will be found using our athleticism (Whaley, Jackson, Martin, and Akok) vs. our big strength (Sanogo and Carlton).
 
How the game is called by the stripes will be an impact no doubt. Our guys just need to reach a lot less and move their feet a lot more. As we move on offense if the refs see the holds, grabs it will help us, Samuels is like an assault weapon agains good offensive players, gets away with a lot.

But play through that and make shots we will be ok. Sanogo could eat them up but could be a problem of the defensive side as they play small often with Swider being the big guy with Robinson Earl. Tough match up we may want to make them bring in their big guy because Sanogo is tearing them up on O?
 
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AZHuskiePop said:
We

Carlton shot 6-9 and we were .639 from the two.
We also outrebounded them
We definitely out muscled them inside and Whaley played zero minutes
They made a bunch of threes
But actually won from the FT line we were 3-3
Bouk’s the only Huskie to get to the line
They were 12-16
Expand ...

I am not a part of the team, so I do not say “we” ...I’m old school I guess. UConn/they (hopefully that’s the proper noun/pronoun I can use Is this soft era) is what I use for reference
 
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