Reason(s) Why UNC Lost The Game

[Demo Square]

Hey Guys,

Great tournament. Great season. I wanted to ask you hoops experts & former players here why you think that UNC "lost" the championship game after a 15-point half-time lead, rather than Kansas "winning" it? Did you see what I saw?

To me? Yes, Kansas' team second-half defense did get more intense. And UNC's star center Amando Bacot was really hurting, But Tar Heel AJ Davis quite literally shot his team out of contention. He went 5-23, & kept shooting!

Davis 'possessed' the ball unsuccessfully for most of every possession. He missed his cutters & his open outside shooters & his great center Bacot in rhythm. He dribbled the shot clock options away & froze his teammates through their routes then became a chucker.

UNC coach Hubert Davis seemed to give AJ Davis an endless 'green light' even though it was clear that he'd lost his touch & was making poor choices, forcing drives & missing. And, AJ Davis was a complete ball hog. When he was on, like against Duke, it worked. But he was not on today. Coach Davis should have changed that script in the second half. But never did.

That's the thing about shooting point guards - they really can shoot you out of games. And that's something for UConn coaches to keep in mind as they recruit for the consistent shooters & better outside threats the program desperate has needed for many years now (seeing is believing on that one Hurley).

Does anyone else agree with this assessment of the second half of today's championship game. I mean, was it any wonder that Love was so off on that final potential game-tying shot to end the game? He hadn't taken many all half because he was out of rhythm. Why? Because of AJ Davis taking all of the shots for UNC - & missing.

What do guys you think? I mean, how would you feel whenyour point guard gets really cold, but keeps shooting & missing, not passing in a championship game? And you don't see the ball?

When guards do that, it's usually rebounding that suffers. The Bigs feel shut out. No body likes a little ball hog. Coach Davis should know that. But then again - he was a chucker for UNC during his playing career.

Father Demo

 

[storrsroars]

Davis was 2-6 in 2nd half for 4 pts.
Love was 4-18 for 9 pts.
The problem was Love, not Davis.

fwiw, Bacot was also 0-6, but did get 4 pts on FTs.
Puff had the hot hand for UNC, 4-6 for 9 pts
UNC went 11-39, a 28.2% clip

On the other side...
Martin was 4-4 for 9pts
Braun was 4-6 for 8 pts
Wilson was 4-7 for 9 pts
McCormick was also 4-7 for 8 pts
Harris was 1-3 for 2 pts
Agbaji was 1-4 for 2 pts
In 2nd half, KU went 18-31, a 58% clip.

Seems Self made some adjustments to get his guys better shots.

 

[huskiesouth]

A factor in the outcome was UNC being completely exhausted in last 5 minutes of the game. Davis should have called timeout at the 4:15 mark, his players were barely making it from one end of court to the other.

 

[mauconnfan]

They were playing out of control guards were trying to get to the hole and make plays without trying to get the ball to anyone else. The magic for that actually just ran out. Hubert did a nice job of keeping these guys in it mentally but reality the actual x’s and o’s were lacking. Last 4-5 minutes Manek was open for looks a few times but guards elected to take the shots they had made quite often during the run. Too bad for them but they did need some coaching down the stretch, Hubert is still learning.

 

[auror]

It's RJ Davis, not AJ.

 

[uconngb]

Hey Guys,

Great tournament. Great season. I wanted to ask you hoops experts & former players here why you think that UNC "lost" the championship game after a 15-point half-time lead, rather than Kansas "winning" it? Did you see what I saw?

To me? Yes, Kansas' team second-half defense did get more intense. And UNC's star center Amando Bacot was really hurting, But Tar Heel AJ Davis quite literally shot his team out of contention. He went 5-23, & kept shooting!

Davis 'possessed' the ball unsuccessfully for most of every possession. He missed his cutters & his open outside shooters & his great center Bacot in rhythm. He dribbled the shot clock options away & froze his teammates through their routes then became a chucker.

UNC coach Hubert Davis seemed to give AJ Davis an endless 'green light' even though it was clear that he'd lost his touch & was making poor choices, forcing drives & missing. And, AJ Davis was a complete ball hog. When he was on, like against Duke, it worked. But he was not on today. Coach Davis should have changed that script in the second half. But never did.

That's the thing about shooting point guards - they really can shoot you out of games. And that's something for UConn coaches to keep in mind as they recruit for the consistent shooters & better outside threats the program desperate has needed for many years now (seeing is believing on that one Hurley).

Does anyone else agree with this assessment of the second half of today's championship game. I mean, was it any wonder that Love was so off on that final potential game-tying shot to end the game? He hadn't taken many all half because he was out of rhythm. Why? Because of AJ Davis taking all of the shots for UNC - & missing.

What do guys you think? I mean, how would you feel whenyour point guard gets really cold, but keeps shooting & missing, not passing in a championship game? And you don't see the ball?

When guards do that, it's usually rebounding that suffers. The Bigs feel shut out. No body likes a little ball hog. Coach Davis should know that. But then again - he was a chucker for UNC during his playing career.

Father Demo

Could have saved yourself a lot of time. They lost because Love was 5-23, 4 TOs and completely out of control at the most crucial times in the 2nd half. Live by the sword, die by the sword.

 

[gtcam]

UNC was getting through the holes in the Kansas D in the first half
Self made an adjustment and plugged those open lanes - UNC had to depend on more outside shooting and they weren't falling - there was a lid on that one particular basket - Kansas saw that in the 1st half.
Caleb Love who is am outstanding baller picked this night to be off on his shot

That interview with Hubert Davis during that 1st half when he was super hyped is a recruiting film made in heaven. What kid wouldn't want to play for that guy. He is going to see so much success going forward.

 

[Chin Diesel]

TL;DR.

Who cares?

 

[gtcam]

Could have saved yourself a lot of time. They lost because Love was 5-23, 4 TOs and completely out of control at the most crucial times in the 2nd half. Live by the sword, die by the sword.

A lot more than one guy, but since you seem to want to save time you chose the quick route - but he didn't have his best game - he was pressing too much at times. Everyone has a bad game. I'll bet Duke never wants to see him again. While he was a 5* guard, he made Duke's elite recruits look very average. He will be a very high draft pick after next season

 

[superjohn]

Hey Guys,

Great tournament. Great season. I wanted to ask you hoops experts & former players here why you think that UNC "lost" the championship game after a 15-point half-time lead, rather than Kansas "winning" it? Did you see what I saw?

To me? Yes, Kansas' team second-half defense did get more intense. And UNC's star center Amando Bacot was really hurting, But Tar Heel AJ Davis quite literally shot his team out of contention. He went 5-23, & kept shooting!

Davis 'possessed' the ball unsuccessfully for most of every possession. He missed his cutters & his open outside shooters & his great center Bacot in rhythm. He dribbled the shot clock options away & froze his teammates through their routes then became a chucker.

UNC coach Hubert Davis seemed to give AJ Davis an endless 'green light' even though it was clear that he'd lost his touch & was making poor choices, forcing drives & missing. And, AJ Davis was a complete ball hog. When he was on, like against Duke, it worked. But he was not on today. Coach Davis should have changed that script in the second half. But never did.

That's the thing about shooting point guards - they really can shoot you out of games. And that's something for UConn coaches to keep in mind as they recruit for the consistent shooters & better outside threats the program desperate has needed for many years now (seeing is believing on that one Hurley).

Does anyone else agree with this assessment of the second half of today's championship game. I mean, was it any wonder that Love was so off on that final potential game-tying shot to end the game? He hadn't taken many all half because he was out of rhythm. Why? Because of AJ Davis taking all of the shots for UNC - & missing.

What do guys you think? I mean, how would you feel whenyour point guard gets really cold, but keeps shooting & missing, not passing in a championship game? And you don't see the ball?

When guards do that, it's usually rebounding that suffers. The Bigs feel shut out. No body likes a little ball hog. Coach Davis should know that. But then again - he was a chucker for UNC during his playing career.

Father Demo

No, RJ Davis shot terribly but he kept them in it when they couldn't score at all. They were both bad but Caleb Love was way worse. He played out of control, missed a bunch of driving layups, and took a ridiculous three.

Scoring point guards are just point guards now, you need your point to be able to score the ball. UConn's biggest problem is that RJ was the only guy on the team who could handle and manufacture his own buckets. Hurley focused on two really good scoring point guards in Bones Hyland and RJ Cole but he completely whiffed on Gaffney and Diggins. UConn needs multiple guys who can handle and score off the bounce.

 

[Husky68]

RJ Davis looked like Gaffney's younger brother. Not many assists this game, got to have players who can get their own shots. Bacot tied for most for UNCheat @ 2.

 

[QDOG5]

Love lost the game. UNC killed them on the boards and at the free throw line. I will say I think Remy Martin's three 3pointers were the biggest shots of the game. UNC had two epic collapses in the tourney.

 

[Chin Diesel]

 

[UCFan1513]

Woah...

 

[alphasigko]

Could have saved yourself a lot of time. They lost because Love was 5-23, 4 TOs and completely out of control at the most crucial times in the 2nd half. Live by the sword, die by the sword.

Kansas also "quick doubled" him numerous times to prevent him from getting an open look or driving, and he passed the ball back to Davis, or forced him to take a bad shot.

 

[MexicoHusky]

I thought I saw that live. But then didn't quite see it on the replay.

 

[UncleSpliff]

As some have already mentioned here Love killed them. He got them to the title game basically but couldn’t drag them across the finish line. Kinda reminded me of Bazz actually in 2014 but just couldn’t get it done.

 

[freescooter]

A factor in the outcome was UNC being completely exhausted in last 5 minutes of the game. Davis should have called timeout at the 4:15 mark, his players were barely making it from one end of court to the other.

I agree with this. Al Maguire always said when guys were short on shots, it was a sign they were tired, especially tired legs. My friend who coached high school hoops in Massachusetts said that too. He always used to say he hated back to back tournament games because by the end, everybody was hitting the front of the rim because of tired legs. UNC was doing exactly that, especially in the second half.