Post Game Thread (merged)

[dennismenace]

Teams and players will have bad shooting nights. It happens. Most people understand.

Akok repeatedly being out of possession and not being able to put his body on an opposing rebounder is inexcusable. I've loved his potential since he arrived, but he can't simply be a shot blocking finesse player.

He quietly had 10 rebounds which was significantly more than anyone else. Don't remember him turning it over. Altered shots by keeping guys from driving to the hole. Take a look at the box score on ESPN. I think he's coming along fine with the minutes he's played. That place was a real pit. They were so loud (and the PA system) I could hardly here the announcers. I think Akok at least didn't seem rattled like a lot of our players. He did miss a bunny at the end of the game. But that was the only thing I saw that was poor.

 

[KingAG]

you must not have watched the game and how atrocious WVU’s offense is. They will be lucky to win 6 games in conference play.




It was a bad loss.

I watched the game with context. It wasn’t a bad loss by any metric or reasonable, objective eye.

 

[navery12]

Here's what I don't understand:

WVU: 3-22 13.6%
MSU: 2-16 12.5%
Auburn: 15-26 57.7%

Auburn has a tough D. What did our guys do differently that night to shoot 3s so well?

Got lucky. We're not a good shooting team

 

[Dibbie]

Losing sucks

 

[Dibbie]

Here's what I don't understand:

WVU: 3-22 13.6%
MSU: 2-16 12.5%
Auburn: 15-26 57.7%

Auburn has a tough D. What did our guys do differently that night to shoot 3s so well?

Polley had his one good game per year

 

[BigFanCT]

I watched the game with context. It wasn’t a bad loss by any metric or reasonable, objective eye.

What’s the context? That our offense was worse than theirs? Somehow?

Bad news: St. Bon is much better than WVU.

 

[Hankster]

Akok 2 points in 32 minutes. Not strong enough. Hawkins 2 points in 26 minutes. 3-23 from 3. Freshmen Hawkins and Johnson not ready yet.

Did Akok play? I must of missed it. Hawkins has a couple of nice shots, but a turnover machine. He is young and it hasn't sunk in yet. Not just this game but past ones. We were spoiled with Bouk. I agree with some Hurley has a long leash. JC would of yanked a player then meet him at half court while escorting him off while yelling in his ear.

 

[HooperScooper]

It's a problem when our shooters can't shoot and our "3 point specialist" can't make open 3s consistently.

How many of those 3s were absolutely wide open? Many of them. I don't think it's unrealistic to expect them to hit at least 40% of those wide open ones. This is high D1 college basketball.

 

[KingAG]

What’s the context? That our offense was worse than theirs? Somehow?

Bad news: St. Bon is much better than WVU.

So is Auburn. The context is being without 2 of your 3 best players. Lmaoo. You’re creeping up very high on my block-o-meter

 

[storrsroars]

Polley had his one good game per year

Take Polley out and it's still 9-17;

 

[superjohn]

WVU is not a good team. We should have beat them by 10+ points with the amount of open looks they gave us all night long. Another shattering loss because we cannot close out games. The ball needs to be in COLE'S HANDS ONLY under 4 minutes. Everyone else panics and does the most dumbazz crap with it

He almost had to try to lose that one when it looked like UConn took control of that game. He takes out our best player and hottest hand, giving up the lead and momentum and let's Jackson do any sort of ridiculous out of control things he wants in a tight possession game. They pulled the same thing against Auburn in what should've been a comfortable win and it took a minor miracle for them to get it to OT and they had to win it 3 or 4 times. Had total control against MSU and then the wheels inexplicably came off again.

 

[Hankster]

Polley had his one good game per year

He is being double teamed.

 

[BigFanCT]

So is Auburn. The context is being without 2 of your 3 best players. Lmaoo. You’re creeping up very high on my block-o-meter

Again- against an awful WVU offense. It’s really not that tough to comprehend.

 

[polycom]

If polley starts 0-2 I don’t see a reason to put him back in the game.

 

[HooperScooper]

Gaffney is scary with the ball in his hands.

Not as scary as Hawkins! I can't believe how poor his handle is for a kid who does a lot very well. Get that kid in the gym and make him do ball handling drills 30 minutes every day.

 

[Hankster]

How many of those 3s were absolutely wide open? Many of them. I don't think it's unrealistic to expect them to hit at least 40% of those wide open ones. This is high D1 college basketball.

And many of those were big time bricks. Embarrassing.

 

[navery12]

So is Auburn. The context is being without 2 of your 3 best players. Lmaoo. You’re creeping up very high on my block-o-meter

He's not a UConn basketball fan, don't even bother

 

[polycom]

He is being double teamed.

He’s not he’s missing open shots.

 

[Fatroony5]

We would’ve won with Sanogo and Martin.

Ya who knows. They didn’t play and they lost.

 

[superjohn]

Every loss is a bad loss to the boneyard. I’ve heard WV stinks…they’re 8-1. They don’t stink. We were down 2 of our top 3 best players. And had it not been for an uncharacteristic shooting night(yes uncharacteristic for this squad, despite the we can’t shoot a lick narrative) we win. Tough loss. Move on.

They haven't played anyone. Do you think they had more talent than UConn even without Sanogo and Martin? Do you think we should've closed it out when we had all the momentum?

 

[KingAG]

Ya who knows. They didn’t play and they lost.

Obviously. But choosing to ignore that important context is the only way you can walk away from this game outraged or discouraged. You have to view things in context. Had they been without 2 of their 3 best players out board would be lamenting how unimpressive of a win it was. Context is everything

 

[Hankster]

Not as scary as Hawkins! I can't believe how poor his handle is for a kid who does a lot very well. Get that kid in the gym and make him do ball handling drills 30 minutes every day.

Agreed. He did have one good game I think. Knocked down 15 if I remember correctly. However, I cannot believe I am saying this, but he is showing that he is a liability. You can't cheer when he sinks a three, then let it go when he over dribbles, bad passes.

 

[GruntCakes]

We’re on to Newark….

 

[HooperScooper]

Polley also can't be this streaky either. One game he doesn't miss, the next he's 0-6.

He's been like that his entire career at UConn. At this point he is what he is. I don't think you can expect a 5th year super senior to change at this point.

 

[kansashusky]

Every loss is a bad loss to the boneyard. I’ve heard WV stinks…they’re 8-1. They don’t stink. We were down 2 of our top 3 best players. And had it not been for an uncharacteristic shooting night(yes uncharacteristic for this squad, despite the we can’t shoot a lick narrative) we win. Tough loss. Move on.

Don’t look at their schedule!

 

[Dean Wormer]

Gaffney is scary with the ball in his hands.

Dre is a turnover waiting to happen. I do not trust him with the ball in his hands.

 

[Peacefrog]

Too bad, a missed opportunity. Many of the same bugaboos cost us again:

• Jackson with too many out of control plays leading to turnovers. I wouldn't mind Hurley trying some Calhoun quick hooks every time he does it to send a message. Hurley has verbalized the problem so maybe a different approach is in order.
• Streaky/bad outside shooting. Even a below average performance of 6-21 from 3 wins this game comfortably. Hard to win going 3-21 and plenty of those looks were good ones.
• Missed layups. Ugh. I have no explanation how we've missed so many bunnies over the last 3-4 years. Its incredible. Why can't a guy that is 6'8" and up just dunk the ball when standing right next to the basket?
• Horrid half-court offense in general but especially against ball pressure defense. Can't we just steal some stuff other people run? I missed most of the first half but we had 5 shot-clock violations in the second half alone and several other instances where we're left to throw up a prayer at the end.

I have little doubt we win with our two missing starters but this was still there for the taking.

 

[Tenspro2002]

If we're going to ever truly be "back" we're going to need a 26-4 type regular season sometime, which is going to require winning 70% of this type of game. It feels like the last few years we're about 30% in these games.

 

[HooperScooper]

UConns inability to close these games is concerning. They’ll have to figure out a way to get some bigger leads late into the game, tough to have confidence they can pull out tied games late after what we’ve seen.

In fairness they did close out the Auburn and VCU games that were in the balance down the stretch. So they have done it before.

 

[Kenny11]

Our coach tightens up in close games, it's a recurring theme. They were on a run and rolling and then he takes Cole out. Timeout under 8 minutes up 4 and he leaves Cole on the bench. WVU ties it up in an instant. RJ comes back in and is ice cold. I love Hurley as our program builder, I really dislike him in close games. We couldn't hit anything but we also don't run anything. That's a bad loss.

I find this to be undeniable.

But do any of our boneyard analytics people have stats on this. How have we done under Hurley in games we are tied or up a few points in the final 4 minutes? It seems like we collapse and lose most of them