St. John Post Game Thread

[Tenspro2002]

A few thoughts:

• The refs finally let us play defense in this game and didn't call every hand check or anticipate contact at the rim
• Cole wasn't great down the stretch but seems to hit an enormous 3 at least once a game when momentum is swinging against us
• Sanogo was a monster, and what's even better is it came within the flow of the offense, not force-feeding him the ball in the post for a 1-and-done chance at a hook shot
• It's time for Hurley to seriously mix up the rotations because we can't keep running out of gas with the same 5 players going 8-10 minutes without rest at the end
• Hawkins missed a few shots that would have been absolute momentum-cementers in our favor and had yet another bad turnover. An under-discussed part of the problem with our guards is that Hawkins is basically unplayable at crunch time. Yes, Gaffney should be better and trustworthy. But Hawkins is a top-50 recruit and supposed to be the next "the guy". This could really be a lost season for him if he doesn't turn it around quickly. We're almost half-way into this season.

 

[inWV]

Take the win. SJU is well coached, doesn’t quit on plays and has a guy who looks like he’ll make some money in the league. Big East basketball feels like it’s back.

 

[navery12]

Is the clock supposed to stop there when it gets down to 1 minute? Or because it went through on the "plus side" of 1 minute does the clock just keep running?

Good call, I was thinking it stops under 2 minutes but that would make sense if it's under 1 minute

 

[UC1995]

Yep, why was Cole on a guy 7 inches taller on that possession?

Agreed, that was why Martin had him the rest of the way.

 

[krinklecut]

You should have used a better book mark because we were only up 9 when Cole went out

And then 10 later in the half lol so the point is completely moot

 

[huskyjawz]

That was a clutch shot by Champagnie.
But I wondered why Cole was on him giving up 7”-8”. There must have been a defensive switch that I didnt see.

I was wondering this as well.

 

[Husker Husky]

Seemed like every loose ball got batted to a Johnie. That sure kept them in the game.

 

[Dove]

A whole lotta hate in the chat room tonight.

• Hurley needs to be fired
• This team sucks
• RJ hero ball is killing us
• Gaffney...just hit repeat
• AJ is way outta control
• Why do we play at the HCC?
• Play calling...disgusting
• Some are done watching this team
• Martin is a ghost
• Some wished they didn't stop sniffing glue
• Sit Whaley forever!!!
• Play Hawkins, Johnson and Diggins over upperclassmen dreck!!!

At the end of the day...UConn wins!!!

 

[AntG168]

Pros:
They won a close game - builds confidence.

Cons:
The game should have never been that close - I can feel the tension through the tv when the lead gets within 8 under 2 minutes. Absolutely terrified to make a mistake

They won in crunch time through sheer attrition and mistakes by St Johns - maybe it’s because we have been spoiled with guards with brass stones throughout the years, but can anyone come up with that clutch shot on our side? Telling that our coach went with the “get fouled” play with 3 seconds left instead of “get our guy the ball to bring it home” play.

On to the next.

With the refs blowing the whistle the way they were, that was a phenomenal call by Hurley

 

[aburks41]

The amount of turnovers is still absurdly high. We’re giving up 17+ possessions every single game because of them. Even if we only scored on 4 of those possessions, thats 8-12 points we are “giving up”. That’s the difference between having 4 losses and being a top 10 team right now. They need to fix it

 

[Kolumbo]

Count:
Heart attacks, conniptions, broken tvs

 

[AntG168]

Our turnover issue is really a Andre Jackson issue

 

[elmcityboy]

That was a clutch shot by Champagnie.
But I wondered why Cole was on him giving up 7”-8”. There must have been a defensive switch that I didnt see.

there was a switch. cole started that possession off on posh. not sure if switching that screen was in the gameplan or a spur-of-the-moment thing, though.

credit to champagnie -- the ability to rise and fire there is pretty rare in cbb. it's something i wish polley would do more.

 

[auror]

Yep, why was Cole on a guy 7 inches taller on that possession?

It was coming off a missed FT so it was semi-transition as Posh pushed it. Posh used traffic to rub off defender. We switched it to stop ball. Cole on Champagnie. Good D, better shot.

 

[gsmooth]

You should have used a better book mark because we were only up 9 when Cole went out

Whatever the lead was, maybe it was 50-39, not the point. UConn had empty possessions when he went to the bench after getting the 3rd foul and lost momentum. They were rolling before that and most likely would’ve extended the lead. There was no chance of doing that once he had to go to the bench with the 3rd foul.

 

[TRest]

A whole lotta hate in the chat room tonight.

• Hurley needs to be fired
• This team sucks
• RJ hero ball is killing us
• Gaffney...just hit repeat
• AJ is way outta control
• Why do we play at the HCC?
• Play calling...disgusting
• Some are done watching this team
• Martin is a ghost
• Some wished they didn't stop sniffing glue
• Sit Whaley forever!!!
• Play Hawkins, Johnson and Diggins over upperclassmen dreck!!!

At the end of the day...UConn wins!!!

Why do you hate freedom?

 

[auror]

Whatever the lead was, maybe it was 50-39, not the point. UConn had empty possessions when he went to the bench after getting the 3rd foul and lost momentum. They were rolling before that.

It was 50-39 but they were at line and made both so it was 9 when the subs came in.

 

[navery12]

Whatever the lead was, maybe it was 50-39, not the point. UConn had empty possessions when he went to the bench after getting the 3rd foul and lost momentum. They were rolling before that.

The lead was cut all the way from 50-39 to 50-43 until RJ was subbed back in at 12:21 to go. We then went another 2 and a half minutes without scoring so tonight it was more of a UConn issue than RJ on the bench issue

 

[Dove]

Why do you hate freedom?

 

[cohenzone]

This team cannot close out a game. Nor do we have a guy to take a final shot.

All the people who get excited when a stud leaves early for the pros are I think are misguided. It does zero to advance the program‘s record. If a guy like Bouknight is on the floor, some of these close games would probably not be. There is really nobody who commands attention with the ball in their hands. Will Hawkins get to that point? Who knows. Cole does his best but he would be a great complement to Bouknight.

But we don’t have Bouknight. One thing Hurley can try to do is to try and get Jackson to slow down in the right situations. When UConn made its run to go up 11 he was clearly too juiced to bump the lead to 20. Two bad possessions in a row and the game tightened. Coach also can’t make free throws for the team. The BE is a tough league. Nobody in the league can go into a game not expecting a battle.

 

[karstenkibbe]

Our turnover issue is really a Andre Jackson issue

It was also a Gaffney, Hawkins and Sanogo issue tonight. Gaffney and Sanogo were careless. Hawkins simply can’t handle the ball. But to your point, for every beautiful assist, Andre has a habit of giving one right back. Tonight, he gave back two for every assist. We won’t win if he keeps throwing impossible angle 25-foot curveball bounce passes to Sanogo.

 

[gsmooth]

a win is a win, i guess. sanogo was a monster.

champagnie is the real deal, too. the rip-through mid-range and-one is nba stuff. the three over cole was insane.

Champagne absolutely is. Gillespie will probably win BE player of the year, but Champagnie is the most NBA ready. He had really bad game Providence with 5-19 shooting. I was afraid he would reverse that with a great game tonight. He has had some great games earlier this year scoring 30 plus

 

[navery12]

All the people who get excited when a stud leaves early for the pros are I think are misguided.

Do you think if you repeat this 100 more times it's suddenly going to be right? You were wrong the first 500 times you posted it

 

[gsmooth]

Just a weird, weird game! we were lucky to win after blowing a lead all game long. It isn't not closing so much (which is happening) tonight, we just don't know how to take a lead and put the other team away. UConn was always up 5 or 7 or even on occasion a little higher. Then, they relaxed, threw the ball away trying to do too much or too fancy. UConn would do well to figure out how to avoid having to close out at the end.
And thank God for Sanogo. That was one of the all-time great UConn performances!

Yup. It happened all game long. I thought they had a really good chance of extending the lead to 15, but when Cole went to the bench with his 3rd foul, SJU was able to keep the game within arms reach

 

[HanDurley]

Playing in all these close games now is only going to help this team come March. Stay the course.