Nova

[Hamms30]

Hurley's pregame speech to the team on Tuesday.

Tonight, we stay with 'em, and we shut them down because we can!

Tonight, we are the greatest college basketball team in the world.

You were born to be basketball players -- every one of ya.

And you were meant to be here tonight.

This is your time.

Their time -- is done. It's over.

I'm sick and tired of hearin' about what a great basketball team Villanova has.

Screw 'em!

This is your time!!

Now go out there and take it!

​

This is crazy Herb!!!!

Pregame speech to Cole should be "forearm forearm forearm stepback head fake shoulder lean, don't jump" Or put it on a 24 hour loop for him to listen to starting tomorrow.

 

[MTBingNinja]

This game should be played at Gampel and not in Hartford.... Just sayin'...

 

[CTBasketball]

Tuesday at XL is officially a sell out, no tickets left on UConn’s site.

In Mike Anthony’s world that equates to 300 giraffes and 5,000 unscanned ghosts in the building.

 

[Icehawk]

Gampel was only 70% occupied for Xavier? On TV it looked pretty much full - a few spots here and there but I didn't notice any large areas at least.

 

[Viet Vet]

Foul trouble will be the biggest factor in this game. Nova is great at getting their opponents in foul trouble. They back their guy down and force the opposition to defend one on one while they spread the floor. They are always moving without the ball as well. They are not the Nova teams of years past. They are a good team that does everything well. Every small detail is done to perfection and those add up. Every guy knows their role and does it well. I'm hoping we impose our will on them with Sanogo and can dictate the game. Not the other way around.

No Excuses

"Moving without the ball". A non sequitur to the UConn offense.

 

[Ports21]

Gampel was only 70% occupied for Xavier? On TV it looked pretty much full - a few spots here and there but I didn't notice any large areas at least.

Was there. Certainly was not 70% full. I’ll give ya 95%

 

[Watchdog]

I want to see UConn do what Georgetown did on at least one occasion with Gillespie (only watched 10 minutes or so).
Back him down, bumping his chest with a shoulder three to four times and the ref calling Gillespie for the foul. He was REALLY upset at the call and I'd like to see us do that to him a few times and get his arse in foul trouble for a change.

 

[CTFAN4LIFE]

I’m curious as to which nova player is going to go off for a career high Tuesday.

Hopefully not Gillespie because that means he'd score around 40, lol.

 

[UConnSwag11]

If we hit our threes, especially Polley and Hawkins, that changes everything. They can't sag on Sanogo and double him. We also won't be trading their three's for our two's

 

[Mots010]

I want to see UConn do what Georgetown did on at least one occasion with Gillespie (only watched 10 minutes or so).
Back him down, bumping his chest with a shoulder three to four times and the ref calling Gillespie for the foul. He was REALLY upset at the call and I'd like to see us do that to him a few times and get his arse in foul trouble for a change.

We don’t really have any guards that post up, unless we get him switched on one of our forwards somehow. On the flip side, Gillespie is going to post up Cole all game.

 

[BrysonDeMan]

This is crazy Herb!!!!

Pregame speech to Cole should be "forearm forearm forearm stepback head fake shoulder lean, don't jump" Or put it on a 24 hour loop for him to listen to starting tomorrow.

How does the game plan change from last time?
what does marquette do that so frustrates Nova (elite defender on Guillespie)?
or was it just early foul trouble that doomed uconn?
A little more pressure to get Nova out of rythym?
or is it just hope we play better this time

 

[UConnSwag11]

Jacked up

 

[UConnSwag11]

We can’t allow Nova to go on a run, extend their lead or cut into ours without taking a timeout. We can’t go for periods of time playing horribly and not call a timeout. We’re going to need to play Hawkins and or Polley in place of sanogo or Whaley. We’re going to need to space the floor. Preferably we go with sanogo as long as possible

 

[Calhoun's Court]

We have them in our sold out building. Crowd should be very very good. And somehow we are favored in the game too. No excuses.
Biggest game for Coach Hurley at Uconn.

This is the game we've wanted for years. We'll here it is.

Cut down the turnovers, good shot selection and bring the defense.

Let's Do This !!! #Bleedblue

 

[UofCT]

We can’t allow Nova to go on a run, extend their lead or cut into ours without taking a timeout. We can’t go for periods of time playing horribly and not call a timeout. We’re going to need to play Hawkins and or Polley in place of sanogo or Whaley. We’re going to need to space the floor. Preferably we go with sanogo as long as possible

We might need Cole to give us 40-minutes.

 

[Incursio007]

Hurley's pregame speech to the team on Tuesday.

Tonight, we stay with 'em, and we shut them down because we can!

Tonight, we are the greatest college basketball team in the world.

You were born to be basketball players -- every one of ya.

And you were meant to be here tonight.

This is your time.

Their time -- is done. It's over.

I'm sick and tired of hearin' about what a great basketball team Villanova has.

Screw 'em!

This is your time!!

Now go out there and take it!

​

Hurley going full Leonidas is something I'm here for lol.

 

[UConnSwag11]

 

[UConnSwag11]

 

[wheelerdog]

We need to hit some 3's, establish Sanogo, and stay out of foul trouble.

This is pretty much it right here.

 

[UConnSwag11]

 

[Dooooooomed]

Any word on recruits attending tonight's game?

 

[HeGotGame]

Hurleys quote of "you better get us now, because, it's coming" was after a loss to Nova a few years back.

While the team has steadily improved since then, we still haven't managed to beat Nova.
I expect Hurley to have the guys fired up for a statement win at home to show that it's no longer "coming", but it's here.

I also have faith in the staff that they have some game film from the earlier matchup to better prepare and gameplan for Nova's unique offensive system.

The key is going to be staying out of foul trouble. Last game vs Nova, Sanogo and Cole, arguably our 2 most important players, picked up 2 fouls each early and we never really recovered.

We need to play solid man to man D without fouling. Sometimes our guys are too aggressive on D, going for blocks, yet falling for pump fakes. They need to play disciplined but tough D.

They also have not played Nova at home during DH's time here. This is his first chance at home and finally with a somewhat comparable talent level.

Expecting UConn to win those games at Nova in years past was a pipe dream.

 

[Hoops91]

UCONN needs to make 3's and prevent Nova from killing us with 3's. Everything else will balance out with home court advantage

 

[gsmooth]

I really hope Hurley watched games of Baylor vs Nova and both Marquette vs Nova games. When Nova has any player backing down UConn's defender, contrary to popular belief, the defense can help and without completely commiting to a double team and exposing themselves wide open uncontested 3s. The help defender can linger and jab step towards the Nova player backing down and at random times double or back off-it can unsettle the post up player as they don't really know if the double is truly coming or not (Daryl Morsell is excellent at this). Boy I wish UConn could've gotten Morsell.

Side note: In fact, UConn should've been doing this in the first game against Seton Hall when Richmond was killing them.

Marquette usually had Igaudaro or OMax Prosper lingering around the Nova player who was backing down their defender in the post, while still being able to guard Dixon if the pass goes to him. The bottom line is to make the pass out of the paint area as difficult as possible and slow as possible (not a crisp pass with velocity) so the defenders can recover on their rotations. I watched both Marquette games, their length, their communication connection on D, and their fast rotations really bothered Nova. It was not a fluke that they beat Nova twice-they flummoxed Nova's offense . Calhoun's team in the past were effective with this, too against 5-out or 4 out-1 in offenses, but they also had insanely strong guards (Taliek and Ricky Moore) who were difficult to back down.

Communication on D and knowing the scouting report is key. Samuels is a reluctant 3 point shooter will only shoot if wide open, defenders don't need to close on him closely (belly up) when he catches the ball behind the 3 point line. But they do have to close on him with a soft close out with a hand up-that will bother him enough not to shoot. Same goes for Dixon, it doesn't have to be hard close belly up close out and to some extent Brandon Slater. Gillespie and Moore need belly up and fast close outs.

And for God's sake overplay Dixon to his left. He cannot go right and finish and if he does happen to do it once, which I have never seen, it surely won't be consistent to the tune of 24 pts like the first meeting. If he drop steps to the right side of the basket it is an attempt to get his post defender to slide with him to the right so he can go left and finish.

For offense, Nova will surely pack the paint and dare UConn to beat them from the outside. Solid off-the ball screen setting and crashing the boards will be key.

 

[gsmooth]

I want to see UConn do what Georgetown did on at least one occasion with Gillespie (only watched 10 minutes or so).
Back him down, bumping his chest with a shoulder three to four times and the ref calling Gillespie for the foul. He was REALLY upset at the call and I'd like to see us do that to him a few times and get his arse in foul trouble for a change.

I remember that play, too. If the crowd can intimidate the officials into calling that, that would be great. You know Calhoun was good at intimidating the officials.

Read my post above about how Marquette stymied Nova's offense. UConn has the length and personnel to do it, maybe not as much as Marquette, but the bigger thing is how the players are coached to play this defense. Usually UConn doesn't commit any help for fear of leaving 3pt shooters open when they play these 5 out or 4 in 1 out offenses.