Red Storm ThoughtZ™

[RichZ]

1. Huskies started strong-ish, maintaining a lead of as much as 6 points for the first 5 minutes or so. They would retake their lead by a single slim point at about 10 minutes, but that would be their last lead of the game.
2. St J's lead remained manageable until about the 7 minute mark in the 1st half, when it started to grow, and from our perspective, the game just got very ugly during the last 6 minutes or so of the first half. Particularly the big swing surrounding Johnson's foul at 4:22.
3. We did make a bit of a 2nd half comeback, getting back within 9, but that single digit deficit lasted less than a minute.
4. Other than rebounding, we pretty much lost every column in the box score. In particular, our 3 point shooting was an atrocious. 26%.
5. The Husky positives from my POV were Karaban's best overall game in a while, Liam's foul shooting and rebounding & Reed's total game (save for a lack of defensive rebounds).
6. Oh, yeah, one more. Hassan's shooting was a bit off, but his rebounding, assists, and steals were definitely on the plus side of the ledger.

Well, I guess that was my shortest game ThoughtZ™ post in a while.

 

[SwingDog]

It was really good to see Alex knock down some 3's (I think he was 3-6). Unfortunately, they were kind of negated by his 6 TO's.

 

[Drfla]

It was really good to see Alex knock down some 3's (I think he was 3-6). Unfortunately, they were kind of negated by his 6 TO's.

Alex shot better. But I wouldn’t say he had a good all around game. If fact other than making some threes it was a pretty poor game. Need better from him. Hopefully if he starts making threes it will positively impact his all around game going forward.

 

[RichZ]

Alex shot better. But I wouldn’t say he had a good all around game. If fact other than making some threes it was a pretty poor game. Need better from him. Hopefully if he starts making threes it will positively impact his all around game going forward.

I was looking at if from where he's been of late and the only negative I could see was 6 TOs. He shot 2 of 5 from 2, 3 of 6 from 3 and 4 for 4 at the line. He had 7 boards (2 offensive), 2nd only to Liam's 9. He also contributed 3 dimes and 2 blocked shots. Other than the TO's I don't see anything to criticize about that effort. When you compare it to the way he's been playing for the past month, it was a serious improvement.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

I was looking at if from where he's been of late and the only negative I could see was 6 TOs. He shot 2 of 5 from 2, 3 of 6 from 3 and 4 for 4 at the line. He had 7 boards (2 offensive), 2nd only to Liam's 9. He also contributed 3 dimes and 2 blocked shots. Other than the TO's I don't see anything to criticize about that effort. When you compare it to the way he's been playing for the past month, it was a serious improvement.

He got pulled in the first half. Saying "other than the six turnovers" for a guy who isn't a guard is a pretty big "yada yada yada." I was happy to see him see some threes go down but he was pretty bad yesterday. I didn't even particularly mind the heat check as much as the backdoor cut he fumbled out of bounds immediately after and just the general softness of his approach. Not to pile on a kid who's going through it but jump shots aside he's just got to bring more to the table.

 

[HCCForever]

AK's fumble out of bounds and Liam's missed layup due to good defense along with AK's heat check at the rim were momentum killers IMO. UConn was starting to come back and whittled down to 9 but after those plays, the lead increased again. AK also had Ejiofor grab the offensive rebound over him and Reed and slammed it home.