Post Game Thoughts

[huskymagic]

This is deja vu with the Georgetown game where we build a nice lead in the first half and completely crumble in the second half while our head coach is just watching as the team is pissing the game away. Our front court was not good this game especially Amida not doing anything, but the real culprit was our backcourt. Team defense was atrocious in the second half and team rebounding was just as bad.

Jalen Adams needs to play much better especially in the half-court, he plays very lackadaisical at times, and was not breaking his man down in the half-court. Kemba, Bazz, Boat, etc could all break their man down in the half-court. Jalen looks to avoid contact instead of looking to initiate contact and get the opponent in foul trouble. That is literally what Houston did to us and by being aggressive were rewarded by the refs. I am sure the high school court and basket didn't help our shooting touch also. Kevin Ollie needs to pick up that technical 10 minutes before the end of the game, and should have been hot with the refs for making many phantom calls. He keeps allowing himself to get punked repeatedly by Kelvin Sampson, needs to do and be better.

 

[Palatine]

It's the offense.

The defense played a poor second half but a merely competent second half offense wins the game.

 

[ctchamps]

This is deja vu with the Georgetown game where we build a nice lead in the first half and completely crumble in the second half while our head coach is just watching as the team is pissing the game away. Our front court was not good this game especially Amida not doing anything, but the real culprit was our backcourt. Team defense was atrocious in the second half and team rebounding was just as bad.

Jalen Adams needs to play much better especially in the half-court, he plays very lackadaisical at times, and was not breaking his man down in the half-court. Kemba, Bazz, Boat, etc could all break their man down in the half-court. Jalen looks to avoid contact instead of looking to initiate contact and get the opponent in foul trouble. That is literally what Houston did to us and by being aggressive were rewarded by the refs. I am sure the high school court and basket didn't help our shooting touch also. Kevin Ollie needs to pick up that technical 10 minutes before the end of the game, and should have been hot with the refs for making many phantom calls. He keeps allowing himself to get punked repeatedly by Kelvin Sampson, needs to do and be better.

Well I'll be buggered. I take everything back I said about you in the can't wait thread. A serious big apology.

 

[gtcam]

This is deja vu with the Georgetown game where we build a nice lead in the first half and completely crumble in the second half while our head coach is just watching as the team is pissing the game away. Our front court was not good this game especially Amida not doing anything, but the real culprit was our backcourt. Team defense was atrocious in the second half and team rebounding was just as bad.

Jalen Adams needs to play much better especially in the half-court, he plays very lackadaisical at times, and was not breaking his man down in the half-court. Kemba, Bazz, Boat, etc could all break their man down in the half-court. Jalen looks to avoid contact instead of looking to initiate contact and get the opponent in foul trouble. That is literally what Houston did to us and by being aggressive were rewarded by the refs. I am sure the high school court and basket didn't help our shooting touch also. Kevin Ollie needs to pick up that technical 10 minutes before the end of the game, and should have been hot with the refs for making many phantom calls. He keeps allowing himself to get punked repeatedly by Kelvin Sampson, needs to do and be better.

JA is ahead of Kemba and Bazz offensively at this point of their respective sophomore years. He is not the same player as either of them just as MW or AJ were different type PGs. I guess JA didn't break down his man in those final seconds vs Temple? Was that a first time? Boat couldn't hit the broad side of a barn his sophomore year.
We have been told that KO was schemed by Tubby and now punked by Sampson
Just watching a team pissing the game away?? Folks like you are either offering comic relief, fishing for likes or just plain ridiculous, Please let me know where you were sitting in that arena last night and observing KO sitting on his hands the entire second half. The Tech was unfortunate but sometimes all of us get to a boiling point
Just as Houston in the first half, UConn in the second - if you don't score you don't win. Missing so many chippies early in the half changed the complexion and Uncle Mo . I really wish KO hadn't told them to miss those shots as a halftime strategy
Rebounding was a killer and the real culprit of this game - KF became pretty ineffective halfway through the second half when he got PF#4 and Houston started to taking it to the hole. Not a genius move. Brimah let the team down big time last night.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Most frustrating game of a year filled with several. This one was lost due to lazy play, lack of rebounding effort, lack of hustle, poor decision making, and lousy officiating. So this team has now lost the following games that it really had no business losing: Tulsa, Georgetown, Houston, Auburn, Wagner, Northeastern. I'll give a pass for Ohio State on the road, but they should have won that game too. Very disappointing.

 

[huskymagic]

Hawk agreed, but that's the problems these losses are becoming a consistent pattern last 3 years now. We are rapidly becoming the new Georgetown.We have trouble beating Tulsa and Houston yearly in the AAC let alone SMU or Cinci. Coaching, recruiting, developing talent, etc are all problems. Only the blind don't see that we have a big problem in our program right now. TOUGHNESS is another huge problem. Our teams have become consistently soft since 2014. We have no tough guys, no enforcers, no bullies on the court who would take the opponents out of the game. Our point guard is not great physical shape, and not because he is "tired" or playing "37" minutes a game, but because he isn't in good shape, and he doesnt have Lamb or Napier, or Gordon or Rudy on the perimeter.

 

[mauconnfan]

Hawk agreed, but that's the problems these losses are becoming a consistent pattern last 3 years now. We are rapidly becoming the new Georgetown.We have trouble beating Tulsa and Houston yearly in the AAC let alone SMU or Cinci. Coaching, recruiting, developing talent, etc are all problems. Only the blind don't see that we have a big problem in our program right now. TOUGHNESS is another huge problem. Our teams have become consistently soft since 2014. We have no tough guys, no enforcers, no bullies on the court who would take the opponents out of the game. Our point guard is not great physical shape, and not because he is "tired" or playing "37" minutes a game, but because he isn't in good shape, and he doesnt have Lamb or Napier, or Gordon or Rudy on the perimeter.

Such an idiot. "Our PG is not in great physical shape"? Did you really say that? Of course you did because this is the same dope who has Brimah in the NBA - clueless as usual. But thanks for the continuous entertainment, never know what spew will come off the keyboard.

 

[Milo65]

1. Started the game going inside to our big men and scored points, moved away from it and started chucking up 3's. That's what you get when you have Freshmen and Sophomores as point guards. Even Bazz and Kemba frustrated us in their early years, 3's were not falling, Houston defended the perimeter pretty tight, which means we should have never stopped dumping it down low.

2. Brimah was Charmin Soft last night, Houston pulled him away from the basket and he had zero presence underneath. Combined with his usual careless fouls, inability to box out, and multiple dropped passes, I feel we would have been better off with Enoch and Durham in there

3. Adams looked tired, played sloppy and tried to do too much.

4. Two possession game and KO gets a technical, probably wouldn't change the game, but it's clear KO doesn't get the respect that Calhoun or Boeheim gets. I watched Jim Boeheim berate a ref in the early game. Absolutely lose his mind, nothing.

5. We need to come to the realization that this team has improved, but it is still not a good team. They lack depth, experience, and inside presence. These young players will be better off for it, as they are getting valuable playing time. In the grand scheme of things, this game meant nothing. The next 3 games mean nothing. This team isn't getting an at large bid, not in this conference and not with their terrible loses and absolutely no big wins outside of Syracuse, which isn't even a ranked team. The only games that matter from this point on are the conference tournament games. I know some people want to talk seating, reality is that they need to run the table, regardless of where they start, even if they earned a first round bye.

 

[Candyman]

My Thoughts:

• Houston didn't do much different in the 2nd half except they came out with tons of energy and wanted it more. They stepped up their defensive intensity, keyed on Purvis.
• Speaking of Purvis he was useless on O much of this game. Without the three he can't do anything else and it showed.
• We just couldn't make anything even when open, bad shooting day which is typical of a up and down shooting team.
• Vital was horrid but refused to stopped shooting, tons of bad shots, he reminds me a mini Purvis- Streaky shooter who can be deadly, plays hard and can't finish at the rim- buts hes only a freshman.
• Adams was off all game. 3 minutes left down 4 or 5 Adams shot a floater on a 1 on 3 break that needed to be kicked out for a good shot. Bad decision.
• Brimah was a non factor once again. I watched the play where they got three offensive rebounds in a row and he was out on the right side a few feet in from the three point line ready to run on the break and watching the action. He thought we were going to eventually get it instead of joining the fray. For the love of God please stop passing to Brimah on the block unless its an ally, he has no hands and no post moves.
• Their big white guy just bullied our bigs the whole 2nd half which has happened all season. Need tough interior players.
• Dotson was best player on court by far. Damn I wish we had him, most underrated player in the conference.

Bad loss in a season full of them. Good thing is season is ending soon, if people still think we can win the AAC tourney please wake up, we have yet to beat a team with an RPI below 100.

 

[huskymagic]

Rewatched the game and Rod's defense or lack thereof on Rob Gray and lack of defending of Dotson by Vance/Vital was the catalyst for Houstons run. Vital chucking bad shots and Jalen playing terribly in those first 10 minutes were the difference. They were able to stifle us playing a half zone and bullet passes and forced feeds to Amida by Kentan and Vital were also bad.
Kelvin Sampson had a clear game plan to take Amida out of the game and it worked including their big Myers who undercut Brimah on an attempted alley.

Enoch would have made no difference at that point because as soon as he was inserted with 14 minutes to go, Houston went on 5-0 run and never relinquished the lead when Brimah was reinserted into the game. Houston won the game due to Dotson and Gray their backcourt and our backcourt wasn't up to the challenge. That was the ball game. Blaming Brimah for this loss is foolish and misguided and completely incorrect.

Ask yourselves one question, why did Sampson make taking Brimah out of the game his teams goal for the game if he was such a bad player? Very crazy notion by that Sampson guy. Being soft is another reason we lost as Sampson said in his press conference " our toughness, and culture took over"

 

[Waquoit]

Such an idiot. "Our PG is not in great physical shape"? Did you really say that?

I don't think that subject is off-limits. I heard announcers say the guy was gassed more than once lately. Yesterday, they said it in the first half. Are you sure it's not an issue.

 

[blackbird]

I don't think that subject is off-limits. I heard announcers say the guy was gassed more than once lately. Yesterday, they said it in the first half. Are you sure it's not an issue.

Yes.

Jalen has to do too much for this team. I can't remember a player whose team was THIS dependent on them. (Even Kemba and the Freshman...)

There isn't another ball handler. There isn't another player who can create their own shot. There isn't another player who can create a shot for another player. If he isn't doing this at all times and doing it well, our team's offense goes to crap. (And it might anyway..because we can just go cold.)

And then to top it off, many times a game we have to stick him on the other team's best perimeter player, because Vital is a freshman and Purvis can get lost on defense.

That's a lot to ask of one player.

 

[mauconnfan]

I don't think that subject is off-limits. I heard announcers say the guy was gassed more than once lately. Yesterday, they said it in the first half. Are you sure it's not an issue.

Yes no one could play the point for UConn this year and play 36-37 minutes a game without being in good shape. He's gassed because.....well what blackbird says!!