St John's post game thread

[Husky Alien]

Why no Stewart in 2nd half?

 

[uconntoatl]

Starry levying fines for turnovers

Karaban has regressed

Predictable perimeter passing

 

[Mets8692]

Turnovers were frustrating. Just not valuing the ball.

The AK yips go on. Him missing 4? wide open 3s was the difference

That 24-10 stretch was incredible. The rest of the game felt like a fever dream. Idk what happened.

 

[uconntoatl]

Starry levying fines for turnovers

Karaban has regressed

Predictable per

 

[Palatine]

We are going to be great when we get Karaban back.

 

[Dibbie]

I’m fine with AK being in a shooting slump. Being just a baton passer with 5 seconds left on the shot clock, really hurt the offense tonight.

 

[Gutter King]

Hard to know what really the problem is here. A normal "bad" game of 15 TOs and we win. AK just visibly shell shocked. We have looked great offensively for multiple 4 minute spurts this season, but when we are bad we are dog-s bad. We had multiple instances to put this game away, and just don't step on the neck.

We do know that our brand is much more suited for the tourney than BE. So I am holding out hope that the pieces are actually here, and we are masking them by bad D (not tonight), TOs and youth. Hard to skate by with the lack of depth at PG.

One thing for certain, it is very hard to get a grip on how good this team is and can be. I mean Liam was very good tonight and AK was at his worst...just constantly head scratching at this team.

 

[JoeyBuckets]

I know its easy to say now after the game but why didn't we try to extend the game. St johns is a terrible free throw shooting team.

 

[Matias]

St. Johns had actual plays to execute for their star shooter. We didn't. Simple as that.

 

[TheHorde]

I know Hass is hurt and battling but critical turnovers at critical times killed us tonight

If he didn’t play we would have lost by 15-20.

 

[AntG168]

McNeeley was a bright spot

 

[Shabazzkets]

I have defended this team all season but facts are facts now. Poor point guard play, woefully inconsistent play from your supposed leader, turnovers, useless Mahaney, foul plagued Samson, poor defense…too many problems for this team to overcome. Ah well. We will be back next year.

 

[Brochacho]

I’m fine with AK being in a shooting slump. Being just a baton passer with 5 seconds left on the shot clock, really hurt the offense tonight.

Yup. Passing up shots he should take for worse shots is brutal. I’d rather see him go 0-10 than that.

I think what really changed the game vibe was bricking his 4th or 5th open 3 in the first half and then fouling St. John’s on a 3 for the 4 point play. Took the air out of the gym and kickstarted their 15-2 run.

 

[3rdbass]

McNeeley was a bright spot

and Reed was a beast!

 

[TRest]

Great to see Liam back and knocking the rust off. Clearly the biggest two issues right now are a) AK needs to find his game quick, and b) Diarra needs to get healthier.

This is a top ten team if we can get them back playing well.

Neither of these things are happening.

 

[Kolumbo]

McNeeley hit a 3 at 9:15 to make it 51-45 and Karaban made a free throw with 7:12 left to make it 52-48. Next points came at 2:54 with Reed hitting 2 free throws to make it 60-54 SJU.. Just an awful 2nd half collapse. The rest was conversation.

 

[blkknight1]

Why no Stewart in 2nd half?

Because coach h decided to ride AK even though stewie had played well.

 

[Chin Diesel]

Alex has lost a ton of money. And I hate that. This all sucks.

Lolz. He's literally making over $1m this season.

 

[Matias]

Shooter?

Solo could sink them if there were actual plays executed to get him the look.

 

[rockycody]

How does a “good” team struggle so much to get off a shot within its offense. It’s like St. John’s was the ‘85 Bears.

 

[Marat]

We will beat them at MSG. That's all.

 

[GiladKatzDeli]

I'm not a betting man, but earlier this week I saw the spread was UConn -9.5, which even as a UConn fan I would've definitely picked St. John's to make it closer than that. Now I think it's around UConn -3.5.

Prediction: UConn will be the better team in March, but we're not 100% healthy and haven't completely gelled yet. St. John's wins tonight by 5-10 points and Hurley uses the loss as fuel the rest of the season.

This is exactly how I thought things would go tonight. St. John's was the tougher (and healthier) team and obviously we need a lot more out of Karaban, Diarra, and Johnson. However, I like our chances to beat these guys either at MSG and/or during the Big East Tournament. Go Huskies!

 

[Fishy]

They’re just not that good - like top 25/30-ish.

Ball handling is a huge issue - only Diarra is mildly competent at it and he’s absolutely worn out. We’ve wrung everything out of that kid. If we gave up 50 turnovers in two games against Marq and SJU, we would give up 70 against Houston and Auburn. Pray we do not draw them.

Defense is crap. Again, Diarra is the only good defender on the roster and again, we have squeezed him dry. (But Ross! No. He’s not. Not yet.) Offense is efficient, but is entirely dependent on threes being made. There’s no plan B because we do not have a single player who is effective going to the rim. Alex and Samson are non-factors WAY too often for guys who have been here as long as they have.

Also, they do this thing where they give up a mini-run in losses where they seem to give up for like three or four minutes. They give away a gap that they do not have the time or the ability to close. Just kinda soft.

This year is a bridge year to whatever comes next.

 

[HuskyPooh]

There’s nothing to talk about other than our AA being a net negative. I love Alex but stop looking at the box score or the refs. We are built around a guy who has been a no show or worse in all of our losses.

 

[ATLDYKA]

Does anyone know what Nowell's injury is? We need him back and we need to let him go through some growing pains these last 10 games or so. Our PG situation is a mess and we need a potential other option.