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I was at the game yesterday and needed a little time to digest this loss before commenting. Here's a few observations:
SMU is the top defensive team in the AAC and they showed it. They knew our strength is at the perimeter and they really closed out on our guards and wing.
#12 - Nick Russell is a 6-4 guard and managed to smother Bazz in both games. He's very athletic and tough to drive by or shoot over. Their guards as a whole did a great job on help-D preventing UConn from driving to the basket for most of the game. Bazz and Boat began to have some success in the latter part of the 2nd half, but it was too-little-too-late.
It's hard to beat a very good team when you don't get plus-production from two of your 3 key offensive players. Boat had a solid to very good game. For whatever reason, Bazz struggled shooting the ball. He might have been a tad banged up. But the key misfiring player was Daniels.
Most will remember that missed critical 3 when we were down 5 late in the game which would have closed the gap to 2 points. Instead, he missed the wide open 3, then SMU immediately knocked down a 3 of their own, stretching the game to 8 points and out-of-reach. DD also missed the next wide open 3, plus the wide open 3 at the end of the first half that would have put UConn up by 1 instead of down 2 at the half. If DD had hit all three of those shots, it might have been a completely different outcome. Please note I'm not hating on DeAndre. He was playing very well right before the high ankle sprain and the subsequent back issues. He's not been the same, but I expect him to get back to where he was within a couple weeks or so. Hopefully the team will be healthy and playing it's best ball leading into the post-season.
Falling behind at the beginning of both halves. No points till the 13:49 mark of the first half where they fell behind 7-0. At no point in the game did we ever take the lead putting any significant pressure on the SMU, which is where the home court crowd can also become a factor. The only tie was 25-25 just under a minute to go in the first half and had a chance to take the lead on DD's missed 3 pointer at the buzzer. SMU had a 6-2 run at the beginning of the 2nd half. UConn didn't hit their 2nd FG till the 10:34 mark of the second half. There were a bunch of FTs between Bazz's lay-up at the 18:37 mark, but you're simply not going to win many games when you only knock down 2 shots over the first 10 minutes of any half, especially the 2nd half when you're down.
Now I give SMU a lot of credit. They contested just about every shot, especially during the first 30 minutes of that game.
As for our D, I thought our Huskies did a solid job most of the game. I continue to be irked though with Boatright's inability to stick close to his man as he runs him through traffic. Reminds me so much of Ben Gordon who would constantly allow too much separation with his man, causing our D to completely implode. He was able to correct that during the NC run late that season. I just wish KO would get through to him to make sure he sticks close to his man. If I'm the opposing team's coach, I'd have RB's man run through traffic and get him the ball on the other side and have him immediately drive the lane. Once that happens defenders are forced to leave their assignments and our whole D goes to h*ll. IMO, he's the weakest link in our D. He's usually good at keeping his man in front and helping out on the perimeter. He has his bad moments there from time to time, but is usually solid. It's sticking with his man when he doesn't have the ball is something he needs to improve.
Their rebounding has apparently improved. We're no longer giving up large number of second and third chances as we were earlier in the season, though I believe twice we couldn't secure a missed FT giving SMU another go at it.
That pretty much sums up my observations. Hopefully over the next few weeks they'll play a little better on D and a lot better shooting the ball.
SMU is the top defensive team in the AAC and they showed it. They knew our strength is at the perimeter and they really closed out on our guards and wing.
#12 - Nick Russell is a 6-4 guard and managed to smother Bazz in both games. He's very athletic and tough to drive by or shoot over. Their guards as a whole did a great job on help-D preventing UConn from driving to the basket for most of the game. Bazz and Boat began to have some success in the latter part of the 2nd half, but it was too-little-too-late.
It's hard to beat a very good team when you don't get plus-production from two of your 3 key offensive players. Boat had a solid to very good game. For whatever reason, Bazz struggled shooting the ball. He might have been a tad banged up. But the key misfiring player was Daniels.
Most will remember that missed critical 3 when we were down 5 late in the game which would have closed the gap to 2 points. Instead, he missed the wide open 3, then SMU immediately knocked down a 3 of their own, stretching the game to 8 points and out-of-reach. DD also missed the next wide open 3, plus the wide open 3 at the end of the first half that would have put UConn up by 1 instead of down 2 at the half. If DD had hit all three of those shots, it might have been a completely different outcome. Please note I'm not hating on DeAndre. He was playing very well right before the high ankle sprain and the subsequent back issues. He's not been the same, but I expect him to get back to where he was within a couple weeks or so. Hopefully the team will be healthy and playing it's best ball leading into the post-season.
Falling behind at the beginning of both halves. No points till the 13:49 mark of the first half where they fell behind 7-0. At no point in the game did we ever take the lead putting any significant pressure on the SMU, which is where the home court crowd can also become a factor. The only tie was 25-25 just under a minute to go in the first half and had a chance to take the lead on DD's missed 3 pointer at the buzzer. SMU had a 6-2 run at the beginning of the 2nd half. UConn didn't hit their 2nd FG till the 10:34 mark of the second half. There were a bunch of FTs between Bazz's lay-up at the 18:37 mark, but you're simply not going to win many games when you only knock down 2 shots over the first 10 minutes of any half, especially the 2nd half when you're down.
Now I give SMU a lot of credit. They contested just about every shot, especially during the first 30 minutes of that game.
As for our D, I thought our Huskies did a solid job most of the game. I continue to be irked though with Boatright's inability to stick close to his man as he runs him through traffic. Reminds me so much of Ben Gordon who would constantly allow too much separation with his man, causing our D to completely implode. He was able to correct that during the NC run late that season. I just wish KO would get through to him to make sure he sticks close to his man. If I'm the opposing team's coach, I'd have RB's man run through traffic and get him the ball on the other side and have him immediately drive the lane. Once that happens defenders are forced to leave their assignments and our whole D goes to h*ll. IMO, he's the weakest link in our D. He's usually good at keeping his man in front and helping out on the perimeter. He has his bad moments there from time to time, but is usually solid. It's sticking with his man when he doesn't have the ball is something he needs to improve.
Their rebounding has apparently improved. We're no longer giving up large number of second and third chances as we were earlier in the season, though I believe twice we couldn't secure a missed FT giving SMU another go at it.
That pretty much sums up my observations. Hopefully over the next few weeks they'll play a little better on D and a lot better shooting the ball.
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