RichZ
Fort the ead!
- Joined
- Aug 26, 2011
- Messages
- 5,348
- Reaction Score
- 22,923
- We got very careless with the ball as the middle of the first half approached. 3 TOs on 4 possessions? Against a team that hasn't tasted success in the last month? That's not UConn basketball.
- Hawkins is on fire.
- Clingan's size isn't the only thing going for him on the boards. His hand strength is impressive. Once he's got a grip on it, you ain't knockin' the ball free.
- Ajax seemed super involved in the game early, and then he went to the bench and never came back in the first half. I think he only played about 20 minutes overall. Think Hurley wanted the other points to get in some extra work.
- Start of the second half, ref called a magical mystery foul on Hawkins. Announcers said it was a late whistle for contact on the initial move. But they gave the guy two foul shots, so it had to be on the shot. But Hawkins was flat on his back by the time the kid shot the ball. Rewatched it twice and never saw an actual foul by Hawk.
- Broke 100 with 6:20 left in the game.
- 38 to 18 rebound advantage
- 29 to 5 assist advantage. All starters at least 2 assists. Ajax and Newton 70 cents apiece.
- Ajax only took 3 shots. Made 'em all, plus a couple FTs in addition to his 7 dimes, 3 boards, 2 blocks and a steal.
- We shot a higher percentage from the field than LIU did from the foul line, and a higher percentage from 3 than LIU did on all FGs.
- Alleyne's best game as a Husky. 21 minutes, 66.7% shooting, 11 points, a dime and a steal. Once he got it rolling, you could almost feel the confidence coming back to him.
- Emmet Hendry finally touched the ball during a game! I recall this kid "announcing his commitment" at a ceremony of sorts with the rest of the Montverde team, and the Boneyard collectively wondered who the hell he was. He's the cheerleadingest walkon in history, that's who he is.
- In a new, and most likely one-time-only ThoughtZ™ feature, here's my highlight reel plays...
First half
19:45 Jackson dunk off Tristen's lob.
15:06 Hawkins drive and no-look layup
13:35 JoeyC comes into the game and 5 seconds later, swishes one from deep. Shooting just comes natural to that kid.
13:07 Ajax steal, 360 spin at full tilt boogie to lose the defender, then a behind the back dribble to avoid another Shark and finish with a stuff.
9:13 Hawkins rocket pass to Clingan for the stuff.
7:36 Great pass from Ajax to Adama in the paint. He's double covered, tries to turn right, no opening. Spins left, same deal. That extra defender that followed the ball in to Sanogo left Karaban unguarded in three point territory. Sanogo passes out to him for the uncontested three.
5:21 Sanogo rebounds the missed FT and goes coast-to-coast for the layup.
5:07 And he jumps out to the perimeter to steal the next possession and take it all the way to the rim for another deuce.
0:57 JoeyC's 3/4 court pass to Clingan on the fly for an easy layup.
2nd half
13:08 Broken play. JoeyC picks up the loose ball and fires it to an open Ajax in the paint, but a foot behind the backboard. I was ready for a spectacular, back hand dunk. But Ajax saw Clingan 5 feet away, and flipped the ball to him for the sure two instead of the highlight reel move.
11:32 Karaban to Diarra to Karaban for the stuff. Almost looked like a set play.
10:35 Hawkins drive and over the shoulder flip to Clingan for the dunk.
6:33 Ajax block grabbed by Karaban. To Ajax at full stride. Drop back bounce pass to Karaban, to Alleyne for the three.