St. John Post Game Thread

[giddyup]

Guys plays without fear in OT and it made a big difference. They pushed the floor and attacked. They got into trouble going into slow down at 7 minutes in regulation with Hurley again almost managing to let a solid win get away. This team is going no where without the ability to keep a foot on opponents and put them away with a lead.

 

[Kitaman]

We won, I’m happy

I'm relieved.

 

[Zissou]

Good to have UConn in the Big East.

 

[wheelerdog]

Did anyone else notice that the guy who rebounded the Sanogo miss at the end of regulation took 5 steps after he secured the ball?

 

[auror]

Guys plays without fear in OT and it made a big difference. They pushed the floor and attacked. They got into trouble going into slow down at 7 minutes in regulation with Hurley again almost managing to let a solid win get away. This team is going no where without the ability to keep a foot on opponents and put them away with a lead.

We got stops in OT. Literally the only difference between the end of the game and the rest of the game is that the Johnnies scored 1.75 points per possession in the last 6:02 and 0.85 ppp in the other 38 minutes.

 

[cohenzone]

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

Your opinion. Tell me when It helps when your best player is an underclassman and your go to guy and leaves. Most freshmen aren’t quite ready be that guy. Hurley can do better, Yada yada yada. Having experienced go to guys makes a difference, but I see you don’t agree, and it’s more fun bashing the coach. This team is a bunch of pretty good, competitive role players. There will be a bunch of close games. Name your current go to guy. Could be i’m right 500:times but I yield to your clear cocksure genius. Go have a few beers.

 

[BostonBay]

Same pattern with Hurley in the last 10 minutes. The offense relies on too much perimeter dribbling or meaningless perimeter passing, often resulting in bad shots. On the the other side, poor perimeter defense lets the opposition take it to the paint w/ease. Hurley was bailed out tonight by Sanogo who was a beast blocking shots and scoring in the paint. But, you could see the lack of adjustments down the stretch let an average at best Samson Johnson team crawl back from 10 at home. Too much raw talent to have this happen game after game. Poor coaching.

 

[auror]

Same pattern with Hurley in the last 10 minutes. The offense relies on too much perimeter dribbling or meaningless perimeter passing, often resulting in bad shots. On the the other side, poor perimeter defense lets the opposition take it to the paint w/ease. Hurley was bailed out tonight by Sanogo who was a beast blocking shots and scoring in the paint. But, you could see the lack of adjustments down the stretch let an average at best Samson Johnson team crawl back from 10 at home. Poor coaching.

Cole took a couple ill advised jumpers in the last few minutes, but we drew 10 fouls in the last 11:30 of regulation. That shows we were doing stuff. We just missed the free throws.

 

[Jbirdp5]

Polley played his role well tonight, hopefully we can expect that from him at least at home.
I thought down the stretch so many deflections turned into layups or open shots for them and it was very flukey.
Can’t let cole be matched up on champagnie there at the end. Gotta find a way to switch back. Cole was all over him but as soon as he rises up he’s shooting a wide open shot.
Hopefully this builds some positive momentum for Saturday at providence. Need that one!

 

[navery12]

Your opinion. Tell me when It helps when your best player is an underclassman and your go to guy and leaves. Most freshmen aren’t quite ready be that guy. Hurley can do better, Yada yada yada. Having experienced go to guys makes a difference, but I see you don’t agree, and it’s more fun bashing the coach. This team is a bunch of pretty good, competitive role players. There will be a bunch of close games. Name your current go to guy. Could be i’m right 500:times but I yield to your clear cocksure genius. Go have a few beers.

It is objectively crazy to ask an NBA lottery pick to return to school so you can have an experienced go to guy. It helps UConn get the level of recruit we're going after to have guys getting to the NBA in 2 years. If we can't do that then they're going to start picking other schools

 

[cohenzone]

It is objectively crazy to ask an NBA lottery pick to return to school so you can have an experienced go to guy. It helps UConn get the level of recruit we're going after to have guys getting to the NBA in 2 years. If we can't do that then they're going to start picking other schools

I never said it’s nuts for the kid to stay. I’d leave too. I just happen to think that the logic that its good for the program is cockeyed. Great, good recruits will come and maybe, just maybe, they will turn out ok. Winning helps the program more and if you don’t think this team would be better off with a Bouknight, just say I disagree. St. John’s would totally suck without Compagnie. He could’ve jumped. They have a fighting chance because of him. Gillespie didn’t leave early and Nova will still get top recruits. There are very few programs that reload quickly when a stud leaves early and it’s typically because they still have a stud or two on the roster. Peace and love. Go Huskies. Bed time.

 

[CTBasketball]

If anyone was at Bidwell before the game, we all agreed this would be a very close game. That 11pt spread was a joke. St. John’s isn’t that bad of a team.

 

[Huskybass]

If anyone was at Bidwell before the game, we all agreed this would be a very close game. That 11pt spread was a joke. St. John’s isn’t that bad of a team.

I was at the Bidwell. Wings were very good.

 

[polycom]

Resting Martin, Jackson and Cole isn’t going to work against the top teams in our league. We stole the game back today but we need to figure out the last 6 minutes

 

[CardiacAndre7]

If Gaff is well and truly in the dog house, which would probably be deserved, Hurley has to find spot minutes for Diggins. I don’t care if you have to rest RJ for 2 minutes each half, we need another ballhandler. Diggins scouting report coming out of HS was a steady, savvy guard who can run an offense. Well, we sure could use that for stretches without RJ. Add in the fact he looks very disengaged on the bench. Just gotta see what he can do, who knows, maybe he can help.

 

[ThabeetDown]

Our turnover issue is really a Andre Jackson issue

In 5 December games he had a total of 5 turnovers. In 2 January games, he has 8. Maybe he got over confident from his stellar December play? He at least needs to go do 90 MPH rather than the 100 MPH. As Hurley said earlier, he needs to learn to paint within the lines.

 

[Huskychick]

Man two really intense games in a row. This league is so tough. It reminds me of the old Big East. I have to feel like our teams are going to be prepared going into the NCAA tournament.

 

[storrsroars]

I bookmaraked the 13 min mark in the 2nd half when UCon was up 13 and RJ had to go to the bench with 3 fouls. That is when SJU stemmed the tide and started cutting the deficit albeit slowl. UConn had a lot wasted possessions

It was 14:08 and UConn was up 9, but who's counting. And Cole came back in at 12:20 with UConn up 7. There were two TOs in that 1:52 (Hawkins, Gaff), but no real damage. UConn got the lead back up to 10 with more than 6 minutes left.

UConn was still up 6 at 2:41. From that point, Johnnies went 4-5 on three pointers and hit both their FTs. Cole went 0-3 (0-2 on 3s), Martin missed a jumper, and UConn went 3-6 on FTs (Sanogo 2-4, Whaley 1-2).

IOW, the difference was our shooting stunk in last couple minutes, theirs didn't. And unlike the Bazz/Boat era, or even late career CV, this is not a team that can be counted on to win a close one from the charity stripe.

 

[storrsroars]

Our turnover issue is really a Andre Jackson issue

AJ's TOs are more errors of commission, not omission. I think he'll improve on decisions when to pass, and I think his teammates will anticipate his passes better. But I also don't think you want to discourage him from throwing those darts as so many of them work.

The thing I noticed late was that when SJU wanted to press, the couldn't do a thing with AJ. He could easily pass or dribble out of the pressure. We could've used that in a couple of earlier games when Gaff was in late.

 

[storrsroars]

Guys plays without fear in OT and it made a big difference. They pushed the floor and attacked. They got into trouble going into slow down at 7 minutes in regulation with Hurley again almost managing to let a solid win get away. This team is going no where without the ability to keep a foot on opponents and put them away with a lead.

Among things Sanogo did that don't show up in box score was getting 4th and 5th fouls on Wheeler in last 14 secs of regulation. Johnnies missed him in OT. After that it was a game of attrition that Johnnies lost, with 3 key guys fouling out.

 

[mauconnfan]

This seems to be the script when we play St. Johns. They never quit. Well coached team that always seems to make runs on us.

It’s not just the script when we play St John’s actually is it? It’s more grabbing nice leads and being clueless how to hang on to them.

 

[Hey Adrien!]

All I can say is: I love Big East basketball and I’m so freakin’ glad we’re back in the Big East with fans in the building!!!

Can’t wait to be at Gampel for the Xavier game!!!

 

[Scoe]

Breeds confidence to win a close game, now what do you do from here, you gotta build off this, can’t stay the same.

 

[freshler40]

AJ's TOs are more errors of commission, not omission. I think he'll improve on decisions when to pass, and I think his teammates will anticipate his passes better. But I also don't think you want to discourage him from throwing those darts as so many of them work.

The thing I noticed late was that when SJU wanted to press, the couldn't do a thing with AJ. He could easily pass or dribble out of the pressure. We could've used that in a couple of earlier games when Gaff was in late.

AJ has a lot of upside. Still early for him. His style is hard to guard, just needs to finish at the rim a lot more, too much looking to pass than score. He is a high flying dude and fun, for the most part to watch. AJ needs to dial it back and that is likely to happen.

 

[CTBasketball]

I was at the Bidwell. Wings were very good.

I was in the Air Bud jersey - wings are always very good!