St. John's Post Game Thread | Page 12 | The Boneyard

St. John's Post Game Thread

Watch St. John’s inbound the ball on their final play. They give it to their big guy in the middle of the floor (who pushes Mullins away first) not a short guard in the corner who can be trapped.
Did anyone get trapped in the corner tonight? No
 
Haven’t read the thread but…Silas 9 to’s is terrible. He played very well in the 2nd overall bu that is a rough statline.

Biggest worry in general is Malachi…He just doesn’t look good enough. He has had great games but he is purely a net negative at this point. Very worried about our bench.
 
That dunk was awesome! Loved it! If it wasn't for the TO's and missed FT, it might have been Demary's best game yet. As it was, it was a mixed bag.
I still think it was a great game for him. He was the only Alpha dog on the team. I will take taht agressivness any day then running all a the top of the circle. Unfortunately St. John's is a bad matchup for us and we have to play a lot smarter to win and not have defensive lapses like we did in this game.
 
These really athletic teams are our achilles heel this year for sure. We can't defensd teams driving to the basket on us.
I agree with that criticism generally but I didn't feel like dribble penetration was our biggest problem this time. Just too many rebounds, too many fouls. And SJ made some big shots. Give them credit. Darling's late step back 3 was a dagger. Mullins missed a couple open looks late. Ejiofor started hitting his hook shots and a 3. Reed was missing his late. They made clutch shots we didn't.
 
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UConn was right there to win the game tonight but credit St. Johns, they made plays when they needed to and UConn was unable to stop them in critical spots. The Zuby offensive rebound on the missed free throw was the killer play. He is so good and plays so hard. He is certainly a unique player with his ability to put in on the deck, shoot, and play so physically. Not many are like him thankfully. With that being said, St. Johns played a B+ game and UConn played probably a C game and was still there to win it. That's a good thing. When you play as poorly as UConn did but have a chance to win, it tells me how good a team you can be. Some other observations:

I agree with most posters. Solo Ball is a no-show in a lot of big games. Unless and until he commits to putting the ball on the deck, using his three point shot as a weapon to drive aggressively to the basket, he becomes too easy a cover for well coached teams. They defended him on the 3 point line, and he could nothing. He needs to start playing better as the stakes rise.

Reed got absolutely out physicaled, out hustled, and out played by Zuby. He needs to start playing with more physicality and has to be much more tenacious. This was a tough game for Riebe (he will grow from it), but you need Reed to be better (especially on the foul line). 6 rebounds in 35 minutes is a joke for someone his size.

UConn has to work on press break. They can't rely on Demery going 36 minutes and being forced to be the primary ball handler the entire time. You can play he and Smith together, use Mullins more, whatever, but Hurley has to figure out better press break strategy. Demery was gassed at the end of the game, as he went 36+ minutes. You gotta get him more of a blow in game like this.

One thing on Hurley. He is a great coach. I love that he is here, and think the world of him. With that being said, he has to consider working on some form of a zone for teams like St. Johns who are physically more gifted than UConn. It's just a fact. They aren't a great shooting team, so zoning them at least for parts of the game can disrupt their flow and perhaps keep them off the foul line. I disagree strongly with several posters who point the finger only at UConn. Many times, St. Johns played similarly defensively with their hands and were overtly physical and no call was made. Yes UConn fouls, but so does St. Johns yet they are given a longer leash by the officials. Just my thought. As I have said consistently, I still think this is a Final 4/National Championship contender and nothing tonight diminished that feeling.
Great recap. What is Rees doing with the small gesture. You fired up Zuby. Not sure that was too smart
 
It doesn’t feel like Solo played tonight. No one has even mentioned him.
He still is in a slump unfortunately and he needs to try to go to the basket more and not setttle for looking for his outside shot all game.
 
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It doesn’t feel like Solo played tonight. No one has even mentioned him.
Seems the game plan for them was to deny solo and Mullins. The were pulling and holding bumping those two all night when they got the ball it was usually 30 ft from the basket.
 
The frustrating thing, like I said 2 months ago, is that St. John's is probably a top 10 caliber team (especially when officiated like this in this conference), but we're going to be punished more harshly than that for a loss and won't get as much credit for a hypothetical win against them because they s__t the bed OOC.

I said it then and will say again, it's no exaggeration that the rest of the conference's OOC performance, St. John's in particular, may cost us a seed line.
 
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Please stop. We had ONE turnover inbounding the ball. Did you watch the game?
Did you? There was a turnover on an inbounds 14:17 in the second half.

And then of course, the critical one where we were only down by five with 53 seconds to go

Silas was inbounding the ball both times
 
He still is in a slup unfortunately and he needs to try to go to the basket more and not setttle for looking for his outside shot all game.

Players going into their 3rd year pf
Playing college basketball shouldn’t be in a slump for most of their games.
 
He still is in a slup unfortunately and he needs to try to go to the basket more and not setttle for looking for his outside shot all game.
I could not agree more on Ball. St. Johns pushed him off the 3 tonight, so he needed to drive the basketball with a purpose. Attack the rim and look for contact. Instead, he goes into a shell. He needs to play MUCH better in big games.
 
Nears only count in horse shoes. Call me when it’s an actual issue.
It's an issue for sure. How many top teams struggle like we do with this? Did SJ have trouble inbounding the ball? Sounds like you won't acknowledge the problem until it actually costs us our season. At that point it will be too late. I'm calling for a proactive approach.
 
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Did you? There was a turnover on an inbounds 14:17 in the second half.

And then of course, the critical one where we were only down by five with 53 seconds to go

Silas was inbounding the ball both times
Silas shouldn’t be inbounding. He does a great job of getting open against the press. Someone should be inbounding to Silas.
 
It doesn’t feel like Solo played tonight. No one has even mentioned him.
Solo did have a nice block without fouling. 3 for 8 and 3 rebounds. Unfortunately Darling hit a shot late in game with Solo defending him.
 
It's an issue for sure. How many top teams struggle like we do with this? Did SJ have trouble inbounding the ball? Sounds like you won't acknowledge the problem until it actually costs us our season. At that point it will be too late. I'm calling for a proactive approach.
You don’t watch much CBB huh? They all do.

We didn’t trap or press SJ
 
The problem with the inbounds is there in nobody in the middle everything goes to the corners which is exactly where the defense wants the ball to go. UConn has multiple guys who can handle and bring the ball up but it’s always alex inbounding and throwing it to the corner.
 
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