Solo Ball’s minutes last night? | The Boneyard

Solo Ball’s minutes last night?

MTBingNinja

MTBingNinja

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Why was Solo Ball on the bench for the latter portion of the game last night? Was his wrist injury acting up?
 
Hurley benched him because he was playing bad defense and wasn’t bringing enough offense to make up for it

Reminded me of Jordan Hawkins against Iowa St in 2023. We all know how that ended so hopefully Solo uses this to improve
 
Ball was getting burned left and right on drives and turned his back on a 3. His defense was poor.

Uconn was terrible on 3 point rotation defense all night long. They were kind of casual in closeout, leading to wide open 3s all night long. When a team gets 24 wide open clean looks they are going to hit them. Karaban and Reed were slow on closeout. Probably some of the worst Uconn 3 point defense they have ever played.
 
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We are close to the point where the net of what Stew provides exceeds the net of what Solo provides. We are clearly better defensively with Mullins at the 2 and Stew (or Ross) at the 3. It would take only a little more consistent offense from Stew and Ross to, seal the deal. This is saying a lot since Solo Ball is not chopped liver. His value, though, might be more as instant offense off the bench.
 
husky429 said:
-17

He didn't defend. Coach made the right decision to go with Stewart down the stretch.
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Its getting very hard to keep Stew off the floor. He is so smart and does all the things we need desperately- timely 3s, versatile and usually clean defense, a dog on loose balls (just as good as Hass imo), a good rebounder, a phenomenal passer and absolute ice in his veins in crunch time. If you compile a video of some of our most crucial moments this year he'd be on the floor in most of em.
 
Jaydumo20 said:
Its getting very hard to keep Stew off the floor. He is so smart and does all the things we need desperately- timely 3s, versatile and usually clean defense, a dog on loose balls (just as good as Hass imo), a good rebounder, a phenomenal passer and absolute ice in his veins in crunch time. If you compile a video of some of our most crucial moments this year he'd be on the floor in most of em.
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Yup. And Mullins makes up for the offense Solo provides. Let’s see how much this lineup plays together. Solo coming off the bench?
 
Vancat said:
Also interesting were Donny’s comments about the NBA getting into players heads.
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He got a little too far into the weeds though when he rationalized that AK wasn’t quick to defend a three point shooter who had only make 6 threes this season. Actually Donny, when you’re down 8 points, get out and defend the shooter because you’re also disrupting his ability to rotate the ball around the perimeter.
 
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NJHusky said:
Yup. And Mullins makes up for the offense Solo provides. Let’s see how much this lineup plays together. Solo coming off the bench?
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Its tempting. I think we both know that Dan Hurley wont sit Solo for one bad game. He's been our most consistent scorer and has been way better on the defensive side compared to last year. But man...
 
Although he's been better this year, it's no secret that Solo is not a great defender. Solo was struggling a bit on that end all night. But I don't think he was "benched" as some have said. I think Hurley was simply trying to substitute Offense (Solo) & Defense (Stewart) at the end of regulation as coaches often do. Sometimes game action doesn't allow for substitutions on all possessions and sometimes you may not (want to) call a timeout just for player changes...you only get so many and you may not want to let the opponent set their D. So I think it just worked out that Stewart played the last 2 or 3 minutes of regulation over Solo based on how the flow of the game went; (very few stoppages where we'd be on 'O'.)

Once we made the comeback with the JStew lineup, Hurley kept with it in OT. JStew was making hustle plays and is the better defender. We had enough offense on the floor. There was no reason to mess with what was working at that point.

I wouldn't read anything more into it as far as a benching or as far as future games go. Hurley has plenty of confidence in Solo.

I do think it's interesting though that at least the eye test seems to show that we often play a bit better with either Ross or Stewart on the floor. Having Solo, Mullins, and Karaban on the floor together is a ton of firepower but it's not a great defensive unit. They are 3 of our best players but I personally think that lineup also makes Silas too deferential because there are so many other offensive options. I won't be surprised if we see a little less of Solo and Mullins sharing the floor as the year goes on, at least against bigger teams.

It was a great and fortunate comeback win! Just enjoy it!
 
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EnochRoot said:
He got a little too far into the weeds though when he rationalized that AK wasn’t quick to defend a three point shooter who had only make 6 threes this season. Actually Donny, when you’re down 8 points, get out and defend the shooter because you’re also disrupting his ability to rotate the ball around the perimeter.
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Donnie mentioned more than once PC shooters were shooting well above their averages. He then followed up with comments about in a game like last night, you have to defend not against the average, but rather like they're going to make every one. Almost like match play in golf, where you assume your opponent is going to stick every iron shot and make every putt.
 
Something to note. PC played much faster than they had to at the end of regulation. If they had burned the clock in the last five minutes, they may have won. As it was we got just enough possessions to tie it up. Their inability to play as a slower pace was their downfall.
 
Palatine said:
Something to note. PC played much faster than they had to at the end of regulation. If they had burned the clock in the last five minutes, they may have won. As it was we got just enough possessions to tie it up. Their inability to play as a slower pace was their downfall.
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100%, although playing fast is what got them there. Up 10 with 3 minutes to go, you can burn the entire shot clock and exhaust half that time if Uconn doesn't foul.

The 2 on 1 breakaway blunder on their end was fate. Tarris' foot was on the line too when he got that loose ball.
 
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Palatine said:
Something to note. PC played much faster than they had to at the end of regulation. If they had burned the clock in the last five minutes, they may have won. As it was we got just enough possessions to tie it up. Their inability to play as a slower pace was their downfall.
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At first I thought it was CFJ making a bad decision. But Kim was actually yelling at CFJ to go as soon as the ball crossed halfcourt. I get that playing fast is what got them there, but you need to understand score and time

He did get a really good look because Braylon flopped, but a turnaround CFJ jumper with 5 seconds left is not the shot you want

It’s a moot point because UConn won anyway, but they left enough time for Silas to come 1 inch off of the most heartbreaking buzzer beater imaginable
 
Not only bad D, but 3 turnovers in limitedntime in a game where posessions were critical late.
 
RuffRuff said:
100%, although playing fast is what got them there. Up 10 with 3 minutes to go, you can burn the entire shot clock and exhaust half that time if Uconn doesn't foul.

The 2 on 1 breakaway blunder on their end was fate. Tarris' foot was on the line too when he got that loose ball.
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And we were lucky PC missed a close one at the end of regulation that would have won it.
 
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There will be enough minutes to go around. Last night was one of the rare games where we were not really in foul trouble - specifically the guards. I think Malachi’s benching was more notable than Solo’s who just didn’t seem to match up well definitively and was off offensively. Silas is playing 35min going forward if he stays out of foul trouble.
 
A lot of you are insisting that Stew is the better defender. He certainly has more length, but he has trouble keeping guys in front of him as much as any of our guys do. Ball is quicker and more athletic. He has improved a lot as a defender. He is still a work in progress. I agree with the assessment that Hurley just found a combo that was working and he stuck with it. Let's not read too much into it. Ball will be fine. I hope. My only concern is whether this motivates him or gets him down. Clearly Stew has shown he doesn't let those things get him down. He is a great team player. I think Ball will prove himself to be as well, but we will see.
 
Donyell 360 said:
A lot of you are insisting that Stew is the better defender. He certainly has more length, but he has trouble keeping guys in front of him as much as any of our guys do. Ball is quicker and more athletic. He has improved a lot as a defender. He is still a work in progress. I agree with the assessment that Hurley just found a combo that was working and he stuck with it. Let's not read too much into it. Ball will be fine. I hope. My only concern is whether this motivates him or gets him down. Clearly Stew has shown he doesn't let those things get him down. He is a great team player. I think Ball will prove himself to be as well, but we will see.
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Screenshot 2026-01-08 at 9.42.11 AM.png

Solo is the second worst defender per Maya, of true rotation players. You can see why Reibe got so little time yesterday in a tight spot here.
 
REB1094 said:
At first I thought it was CFJ making a bad decision. But Kim was actually yelling at CFJ to go as soon as the ball crossed halfcourt. I get that playing fast is what got them there, but you need to understand score and time

He did get a really good look because Braylon flopped, but a turnaround CFJ jumper with 5 seconds left is not the shot you want

It’s a moot point because UConn won anyway, but they left enough time for Silas to come 1 inch off of the most heartbreaking buzzer beater imaginable
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That did not look like a flop to me. that looked like Floyd got away with a blatant push off.
 
MTBingNinja said:
Why was Solo Ball on the bench for the latter portion of the game last night? Was his wrist injury acting up?
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Didn't seem to be into it on D, and he was too anxious to score points on a night when his shooting was off (3 of 10 from the floor)
 
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