St. John's Post Game Thread

[RuffRuff]

He's averaging 5 & 2 this year. Not exactly a home run, but yes he's been better than Smith for sure. At least he can shoot it.

That Illinois performance from Smith seems like a lifetime ago. Hurley basically has to tell him to stop pounding the rock and stop shooting inside the arc. Defend, move the ball, don't be a detriment offensively.

I think his season totals are weighted down by the fact he was barely used early. His averages are likely better than that now. He plays in more control and is an animal on defense at the POA. Smith is a total wild card, not even sure what he's going to do out there.

 

[SwingDog]

I don't really buy that St Johns has "improved" since the beginning of the season, they're just built to dominate the Big East with their roster construction. I posted on here when they were struggling in the non conf portion of the schedule that they would still clean up once conference play started. They did the same thing last year, they just played less tough non conf games.

I would say overall they have improved, especially since the loss to Providence. Like UConn, they've had a number of close wins to inferior opponents but have had more wins by wider margins. To me, the thing that sets them apart is conditioning, not that they're in better physical shape than the Huskies. Hurley said in the post-game presser, when you play against St. John's, unlike lesser opponents, your passes need to be crisp and your ball handling solid otherwise they will turn you over and convert on the other end- and that's exactly what happened. They scored 20 points off TO's tonight. UConn has to be sharper and crisper on 2/25/26 if they want to get the win. Even you even cut that in half, the Huskies win by a point. It seems like they were caught off guard by the Red Storm's telegraphing of passes and also at times their quickness of the dribble in one-on-one situations. St. John's was clearly a cut above what the Huskies have been seeing over the past several weeks.

 

[RuffRuff]

Maybe? I can also see them losing in the first weekend again.

They haven’t done anything in the tournament yet and have an elderly coach, it’s weird how people think they are back to be a perennial threat to win it all

I don't think the poster was saying that - he was saying they're better built to make a run than last year. They are.

Popped over on the StJ board to take a peak, they're general feedback is that this Uconn team is a finesse outside of Reed/soft team - not sure that isn't accurate. We do need to get tougher & more athletic in our roster makeup.

 

[The Viking]

Enjoy the W, Johnnies! In 3 weeks, you’ll be crying.

Based on what - do you hang out with Ted williams frozen head when you watch the games?

 

[Kolumbo]

I don't think the poster was saying that - he was saying they're better built to make a run than last year. They are.

Popped over on the StJ board to take a peak, they're general feedback is that this Uconn team is a finesse outside of Reed/soft team - not sure that isn't accurate. We do need to get tougher & more athletic in our roster makeup.

I popped over there too. It's amazing when you go to the other board and it's as if we all watched 2 different games. No one is talking about the foul disparity over there as if it wasn't a factor. We are all degenerates, aftera all

Watch 'We understand that, we do. We do blow all the time.We're fucking degenerates ourselves.' | The Wolf of Wall Street Clip

Watch the clip 'We understand that, we do. We do blow all the time.We're degenerates ourselves.' from the movie The Wolf of Wall Street on Clip.Cafe. We understand that, we do. We do blow all the time.We're degenerates ourselves.

clip.cafe

 

[aceboon]

At this point it feels like if Tarris doesn't convert at the rim and gets fouled you might as well count it as a turnover, he's a big liability at the FT line

 

[Leebo]

Always good to see the hordes of posters who only come to spew doom and gloom after losses. Must have been tough for the last few months.

 

[The Viking]

I'm pretty discouraged that we have a very financially backed coaching staff that still has not learned how to educate our young men on how to inbound the ball without every single inbounding seeming like it's the end of the goshdarn world

 

[KembaRunner]

He's averaging 5 & 2 this year. Not exactly a home run, but yes he's been better than Smith for sure. At least he can shoot it.

That Illinois performance from Smith seems like a lifetime ago. Hurley basically has to tell him to stop pounding the rock and stop shooting inside the arc. Defend, move the ball, don't be a detriment offensively.

He was horrible tonight, no doubt. But it was just three games ago against PC where he was awesome and Danny said “Mali’s back” several times in the presser.

 

[FreeDogs]

30 to 13 in free throws in a big east top 25 big east game. First game you seen all year a jersey hold call? and I’m the one who hasn’t seen many games lol?

It's the first deliberate hold I've seen called on the opposing team when our guys have tried to curl around a screen.

 

[FightOnCT]

They have punked us 3 times in a row. People are saying they are a bad matchup for us because they are physical and athletic. Well they will still be more physical and athletic when we play them at home. So what’s the solution? I see nothing other than Big East ref conspiracy theories.

The game is at home with a better UConn team this year. Road upsets happen, no big deal

 

[FightOnCT]

I don't really buy that St Johns has "improved" since the beginning of the season, they're just built to dominate the Big East with their roster construction. I posted on here when they were struggling in the non conf portion of the schedule that they would still clean up once conference play started. They did the same thing last year, they just played less tough non conf games.

Partially agree. They’re genuinely better, they wouldn’t have won otherwise, but their playstyle works into the Big East as a whole. The best version of those gritty, physical athletes and the only team better than them is also one of the few that’s not like that

 

[jpeakin]

I'm pretty discouraged that we have a very financially backed coaching staff that still has not learned how to educate our young men on how to inbound the ball without every single inbounding seeming like it's the end of the goshdarn world

St Johns is definitely more athletic than we are and every time they made a basket, the crowd was buzzing, absolutely going wild. The pace was hectic. I thought we were at least ok with inbounding. If you want to get on the coaching staff about something, how about we start with making the team take a million free throws each practice. I cannot comprehend how you can be this bad at free throw shooting at this level, particularly Reed.

 

[husky8273]

If you want to get on the coaching staff about something, how about we start with making the team take a million free throws each practice. I cannot comprehend how you can be this bad at free throw shooting at this level, particularly Reed.

4 starters' FT % is above 81%. then Reed at 56%, Riebe 50%.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

A road game vs a Quad 1 team.

Solo Ball and Braylon Mullins...Hurley and Murray have to figure this combo out.

Silas and Alex are warriors.

UConn is a Title contender. Tonight was tough. Hurley was not at his best.

Not a great coaching night. Starters averaged 34 minutes, and continued to shy away from the actual rim. It affected fouls drawn, rebounds, and baskets made. It forfeited the advantages of depth.

Silas continued his growth into the mixed-comfort situation we've seen since RJ Cole. Loosely speaking, he's newly been showing that, roughly speaking "he can do anything, but he can't to do everything." The overstretching of his capacity showed tonight in the turnovers & missed free throws. He can't be asked to do so much, and certainly not with so much talent otherwise available.

When Silas and Alex went deeper and all the way to the basket, it increased the challenge to the opponent's defense as we've seen in other games. Reed's soft hands, Alex's floater, and mid-range shots from Solo & Braylon & Silas are a truly valuable team skillset, but sometimes it establishes an avoidance of contact that weakens the team.

When Silas goes to the basket, good things happen. Simply put, others follow his lead, and it fills out the team's multi-level ability to score. It worked that way with Tristen Newton.

All the high-speed aspirants are working toward 'completion.' It's that time of year.

Tonight's game could be no more than a repeated pattern that get ironed out in the next month or disappear in the NCAAs, when St. John's may be like Pitt or Louisville have been in the past - teams we could't solve, but didn't have to play after the Conference season.

The healthy 9-man roster has now played 4 games. It's time to mature the offensive scheme, roles, rotations, and maximizing the many options we've seen and also believe are untapped.

Ball protection is as important as ball movement and pace management.

Shooting (& making) free throws must be emphasized & improved.

It is not a casual observance that the game could have been a win. But the outcome wasn't at all unfair or unwarranted. Good lessons are contained in this game; may they be learned and grow as mid-winter seeds planted.

 

[dalydosehoops]

That one sucked. I tried to make sense of it.

UConn win streak comes to halt as Huskies upended by St. John’s in MSG classic

Silas Demary, Jr. tries to fight off St. John’s pressure defense as Red Storm forced UConn guard into nine turnovers as Huskies fell to John...

dalydoseofhoops.blogspot.com