PG Play

[Spaceman213J]

I know the game isn't technically over, but considering the scrutiny that Coles and Gaff have been under by the board (me included at times), I have to say I think this may be their best combined performance of the year. They have been under control and hitting open shots. They should have a few more assists and their defense has been pretty darn good.

If they play this way in any game in the future, UConn will be pretty tough to beat.

 

[Captbluefin]

Gaff can really pass the ball.. He is the only guy who knows how to feed the post and set the other guys up.

Hopefully he gains some confidence

 

[HuskyHawk]

They both played well. Neither were bad at all before this. They just weren’t Kemba, Shabazz or even Jalen Adams. We need to calm down. Gaffney needs some confidence that he can assert himself. He is slowly getting there.

 

[superjohn]

I know the game isn't technically over, but considering the scrutiny that Coles and Gaff have been under by the board (me included at times), I have to say I think this may be their best combined performance of the year. They have been under control and hitting open shots. They should have a few more assists and their defense has been pretty darn good.

If they play this way in any game in the future, UConn will be pretty tough to beat.

It was, both played really well. Moved the ball great made some great bullet passes for layups/should be dunks that were missed, hit their shots.

 

[Tenspro2002]

Gaffney's craftiness was on display here. He's probably our best pure distributor in terms of setting guys up off the dribble. And he shot it well to boot.

 

[Njalum1422]

I’m convinced that if we can get Gaff to get rid of the undershirt and put on a shooting sleeve or a wristband that the confidence would skyrocket

 

[JakeTheDog]

Even after nailing his second 3, Gaff just looked so timid and unsure of himself. The dude has game and has shown a lot of flashes. Plus he can hit his free throws. Him and RJ were solid tonight and passed it well.

 

[SaeHusky]

Gaffney needs some of Adams minutes until Bouk gets back.

 

[Palatine]

Gaffney needs to develop an elbow jumper and the world will open up for him.

 

[MexicoHusky]

No Bouk is going about as well as we could hope. These two are critical and as we've discussed, they've been our biggest weakness. Past few games have been good for both.

 

[3rdbass]

Gaffney needs some of Adams minutes until Bouk gets back.

Yeah Adams is giving us next to nothing but the occasional drive to the basket. He can't shoot at all.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

Gaff can really pass the ball.. He is the only guy who knows how to feed the post and set the other guys up.

Hopefully he gains some confidence

Your best point guard isn’t necessarily your better player but rather the guy who makes the team better.
I think that’s Gaffney.

 

[ClifSpliffy]

I know the game isn't technically over, but considering the scrutiny that Coles and Gaff have been under by the board (me included at times), I have to say I think this may be their best combined performance of the year. They have been under control and hitting open shots. They should have a few more assists and their defense has been pretty darn good.

If they play this way in any game in the future, UConn will be pretty tough to beat.

whoomp. there it is.

 

[ucawn]

Gaff and Cole had really good games... I hope it isn’t a 1 time deal.

 

[Mister P]

The guards had more floor space tonight to run the offense. Player spacing was well executed which led to great ball movement and a lot of open looks, especially in the first half.
There was basically no weave tonight.
I wish it would stay this way going forward but I would expect to see the weave back against Villanova to try and slow the game down and limit them possessions.

 

[87Xfer]

Yeah Adams is giving us next to nothing but the occasional drive to the basket. He can't shoot at all.

Through this whole game, every time Adams touched the ball, i yelled "just don't try to do ANYTHING". It largely seemed to work.

 

[Hoophound]

We need to play our game on offense and not slow the game so much. We have to win with D and then hope we are shooting fairly well. I don’t like telling the players to hold back on offense to burn clock and limit possessions. It sends a message that they suck on offense and it isn’t fun for them either. These guys get going and enjoy themselves out there and they loosen up and shoot better. You can’t do that slowing the game down and making it a rock fight.

 

[87Xfer]

Everybody has a plan when they're hitting shots

 

[superjohn]

We need to play our game on offense and not slow the game so much. We have to win with D and then hope we are shooting fairly well. I don’t like telling the players to hold back on offense to burn clock and limit possessions. It sends a message that they suck on offense and it isn’t fun for them either. These guys get going and enjoy themselves out there. You can’t do that slowing the game down and making it a rock fight.

Agreed, Nova will out execute us in the half court. They are an excellent team and probably the smartest team along with the Zags. They don't tend to run you out of the building though and we like a ragged freewheeling pace. Whoops not looking ahead, we need to give St. John's payback for the game that got away.

If you could combine Cole and Gaff you would probably have a very good point guard. Cole only seems to get into trouble when he goes into a little Howard mode and tries to do too much but he is a scorer who has a lot of confidence in his abilities. Gaffney almost never tries to do too much and needs to be more confident in his abilities. Adams always gets into trouble when he tries to do too much.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

Cole for me is a much better passer than Gaff, at least much craftier. Not sure what some of you guys have seen.

 

[ucawn]

Cole for me is a much better passer than Gaff, at least much craftier. Not sure what some of you guys have seen.

Both are great passers but I think Gaff gives way better passes to the paint, could be because he’s taller

 

[alphasigko]

Neither can drive w/o losing the ball in the paint....how many TOs did each have this evening? Cole 3; Gaff 1. Plus Cole had 2 offensive fouls while attempting to drive into the paint; during one, he was completely out of control.

 

[ucawn]

Neither can drive w/o losing the ball in the paint....how many TOs did each have this evening?

ESPN says Cole had 3 turnovers and Gaffney 1.

 

[alphasigko]

ESPN says Cole had 3 turnovers and Gaffney 1.

I had just added those stats to my post. Thx.

 

[ThabeetDown]

The guards had more floor space tonight to run the offense. Player spacing was well executed which led to great ball movement and a lot of open looks, especially in the first half.
There was basically no weave tonight.
I wish it would stay this way going forward but I would expect to see the weave back against Villanova to try and slow the game down and limit them possessions.

This. We played a lot more tonight with only one of Whaley/Adama/Josh than we had recently (since Bouk got hurt). With the two bigs that weave you mentioned comes out and it eats the shot clock and forces bad shot selections a lot of times.

Hurley’s half court offense has always been most successful with 4 guards/wings and 1 big, due to the spacing it presents especially when the big can be a successful point forward (Whaley). You saw the benefits of that tonight in that 1H run when it was raining 3s and things were clicking.

Being down two wings and a stretch big has really hampered this ideal Hurley offense but you can see it is successful when the right personnel is on the court.