St John's post game thread | Page 2 | The Boneyard

St John's post game thread

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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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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.
 
Dibbie said:
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.
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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.
 
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WhereistheDove? said:
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.
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Neither of these things are happening.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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GiladKatzDeli said:
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.
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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!
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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Turns out getting PG wrong in the portal is hurtful. Feel for Alex, comes back for UConn pride and cost him significant $.
 
3rdbass said:
He barely played in the 2nd half and why he was clearly playing better than Karaban and better matchup due to his mobility. Not sure what was Hurely thinking of staying with cold Karaban. If he can't shoot he doeen't give much right now. Did he work on anything in his game in the offseason? Dribbling? No. Jump shot from the mid range? No. Post game? No. Karaban has been a dud this year. I love him for what he was but he isn't that good of a player on team that isn't talented enough like this one.
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I agree he should have gotten more run in 2nd but if I remember correctly after the great start he fell into his usual habit of getting sloppy on D & doing some careless plays on offense. It’s like he can’t keep his focus/intensity for more than a 4-5min stretch. It’s bizarre & frustrating
 
It’s not the loss so much its how we lost. This may have actually been the worse Pitinos offense has played against us. When you don’t clean up the turnovers and missed fts on top of that this is the result you’re going to get. This is why the 25 turnovers against Marquette are not ok.

Team gets a Red Bull kick and then crashes completely on their face to the point where they knock their teeth out onto the pavement.

You know Pitino teams never go away, we play well he’ll even decent we win, a 25-9 run is an automatic loss.
 
To be blunt, we sucked. After the fast start, we were all full of ourselves, then we were terrible. 20+ turnovers, again??? 62 points? If AK can't make a 3, we can't win. I am so frustrated! But I'm not giving up. Potential is there, but it's hard to see.
 
I hate more than anything losing a game to a team that made a bunch of 14-16 footers. It’s just objectively a bad shot, so when our opponent takes one to end a possession, it makes me think we did our job on D (which is obviously a lot harder this season). Then when the shot goes down, it’s super deflating.

Of course a whole bunch of other things, generally not good, to take away from tonight. Regroup.
 
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