St. John's Post Game Thread

[DogMania]

The doom and gloom is wild.

Yeah we made mistakes in a hostile environment against a very good and physical team.

We also got hosed by the officials and got out shot at the FT line by 20 and still had a chance to win.

We have lost 2 games. One of those by 4 to the #1 team in the country without Reed and Mullins.

The offense seems to be fixed mostly, which is what everyone was worried about.

The one thing we really need to fix is the lineup rotations. Hurley has a bad habit of sticking Smith/Stewart/Reibe on the floor all at once which just can’t happen. They went on a 16-1 run with those 3 on the floor in he first half.

I've mentioned the same thing a number of times this season. Hurley needs to bring in the bench one or max two players at a time with three to four starters on the floor. This wholesale line change has not worked out well at all. And this was a game where that was not going to work under any circumstances.

Smith is now getting the Ross treatment on the Yard. He's had a few solid games, and one recently against PC. He's capable, and I think would have better results if he came in the game for a 2 or so minute stretch with 3 to 4 scorers on the floor. He does dribble too much and needs to distribute the ball sooner. He too often misses that first open teammate. I hope he can learn and develop since he has some offense game and is pesty enough on the other end of the floor where he usually holds his own. He needs to get better, but Hurley needs to put him in situations where he can be successful.

The starters having to play long stretches against SJ's relentless physical play wore our starters down. Spotting them between whistles for a couple minutes might have helped, but all in all, they underperformed in so many areas (FTs, TOs, RBs, etc.) that were too much to overcome.

 

[Lafayette]

Did you really pummel two St. John’s fans?

Yes, be let's leave out the details - this is a family friendly board (oftimes)

 

[aboogieee]

I miss the days where Oop-ing to our big would get us 10 points a game easy. Every drive to the lane you thought it may be an alley oop to a big. Now it's virtually never.

I think about this a lot. Silas deserved at least one year with Samson.

 

[Kemba15]

I think about this a lot. Silas deserved at least one year with Samson.

I probably said to the guy next to me at MSG last night 3x “Samson dunks that!”

 

[RuffRuff]

I probably said to the guy next to me at MSG last night 3x “Samson dunks that!”

Tarris just stares at them.

 

[DogMania]

SJU outscored UConn 13-1 during the 4 minutes that Malachi Smith played. Demary can't play 40 minutes and be effective late. We need someone to give him a rest.

I'm rewatching the game now and very little was Malachi's fault during his first stint on the floor.

The first possession with him on the floor was a nice setup to Solo Ball who missed an open three.

The second trip on the floor was leading some solid offense where Karaban missed an open three from the top of the key.

The third possession, they set up Reed in the paint who made a nice move and missed a bank shot that he should have converted, but was sent to the line where he made just one of two.

The fourth position he made a nice drive through the paint and missed a layup that he should have converted. I realize that he has often done a nice job of getting to the basket where his layups have been erased before the ball even hits the backboard, but that wasn't the case this time. That did happen to him during the latter part of the game.

During the next possession, UConn had a nice defensive stop, but then Reed took forever to throw the outlet pass which he almost air mailed over Smith's head. He did a great job of catching and keeping it inbounds. He did get it knocked out from behind as he was about to drive the ball into the paint. I noticed Hurley was jumping up and down and yelling for them to push the ball up court. Maybe it would have been better for Smith to slow the game down and gather the team, but that's not what Hurley was asking.

Malachi, then prevented a sure layup resulting in a 2 shot foul.

If his teammates had done their jobs and if he had made his layup (it wasn't like any of his teammates were getting themselves to the basket as easily as he did) no one would be talking about him being unplayable. He actually did his part, but when you're a bench player where there are just a handful of trips up and down the floor, when things don't go right it just seems to look worse than it was. How many times have we seen some of our more reliable players or starters start a game off missing their first four to five shots but end up with the solid stat line in the end and we don't seem to make a big deal about any of their bad stretches on the floor.

When will the Boneyard spend more time rooting for all our players instead of wanting them benched for some other reserve player that would likely do worse, or wish they had not been recruited at all.

I realize the bench has struggled a lot, and they need to get more out of them on a consistent basis. One thing that might help is putting one or two at most bench players in the game with at least 3 to 4 starters instead of what looks like a wholesale line change. Too often Malachi is on the floor with not enough playmakers to support him. With that said, whoever's on the floor including Malachi need to execute, something that hasn't happened enough lately.

 

[Fishy]

Ball can be too sticky with Malachi. It is what it is. He's our backup point guard and not responsible for what happened last night.

We do some fundamentally dumb stuff. The turnover rate is an issue. Fouls are a huge issue - forget complaining about the refs. We've taken 100 fewer free throws this year than our opponents which I am guessing in an outlier among top ten teams. (I have not checked.) It's not that the refs hate us, it's that we foul way, way too much. If you think the teams were playing are not being called often enough, I promise you that we're committing more than we're called for as well.

I'd like to see Hurley split up the AK-Ball-Braylon trio more often. Throw Ball into the mix with Malachi, etc., while Stewart gets a little more time with AK and Braylon.

 

[DogMania]

Watching the game again, there was a stretch in the first half from the 7:21 (Pitino called a timely TO) - 3:08 mark where UConn could have blown the game open. They executed well on a few of the possessions but ended up turning the ball over (Reed & Stewart) or missing an off balanced shot (Reed), there were other empty trips, finally ending with that horrible strip on Silas that resulted in a layup.

I couldn't help wonder why Hurley didn't call a time out sometime within that stretch of the game, to give them some needed rest and draw up an offensive set since they were showing signs of the wheels starting to fall off.

Patino was masterful with how he used his timeouts. Hurley, not so much. There were so many things that UConn did poorly throughout the game (missing free throws, turning the ball over, giving up too many second chance opportunities, etc.) where the accumulation of all those things were too much to overcome. There's so much about that game that they are capable of cleaning up and turn the tables on St John's when they meet up again at the end of the month.

 

[jdb50]

Watching the game again, there was a stretch in the first half from the 7:21 (Pitino called a timely TO) - 3:08 mark where UConn could have blown the game open. They executed well on a few of the possessions but ended up turning the ball over (Reed & Stewart) or missing an off balanced shot (Reed), there were other empty trips, finally ending with that horrible strip on Silas that resulted in a layup.

I couldn't help wonder why Hurley didn't call a time out sometime within that stretch of the game, to give them some needed rest and draw up an offensive set since they were showing signs of the wheels starting to fall off.

Patino was masterful with how he used his timeouts. Hurley, not so much. There were so many things that UConn did poorly throughout the game (missing free throws, turning the ball over, giving up too many second chance opportunities, etc.) where the accumulation of all those things were too much to overcome. There's so much about that game that they are capable of cleaning up and turn the tables on St John's when they meet up again at the end of the month.

Hurley is such a creature of habit that it winds up being a negative at times. Your point about when to use the first half timeout was spot on. Dan usually uses it under 2 minutes. He loves his mass substitutions and struggles to mix in subs with the starters. I like Reibe withe the other starters but he had those 2 early first half fouls and we had way more Tarris who was not playing well.

 

[RuffRuff]

Hurley is such a creature of habit that it winds up being a negative at times. Your point about when to use the first half timeout was spot on. Dan usually uses it under 2 minutes. He loves his mass substitutions and struggles to mix in subs with the starters. I like Reibe withe the other starters but he had those 2 early first half fouls and we had way more Tarris who was not playing well.

Creature of habit, superstition and emotions.

Only non negative nets last night were Tarris, Silas and Ross. Probably could have used more Ross last night.

Smith was a -12 in very limited minutes.

 

[aceboon]

They've improved significantly IMO. Keep in mind, they only returned a single starter from last year (Zuby) it's a team full of transfers. Chemistry takes a while. Keep in mind, they also played Michigan in an exhibition game before the season and only lost by 2...in OT.

Michigan lost to Cincinnati in an exhibition, they mean nothing

 

[RuffRuff]

Michigan lost to Cincinnati in an exhibition, they mean nothing

Michigan also a team entirely made up of transfers.

 

[Bobol]

….. I think StJ loses once or twice more too, hope @Nova.

StJ’s already defeated Nova at Nova.

The remaining StJ’s b. nova game is at MSG.

 

[DogMania]

Please stop. We had ONE turnover inbounding the ball. Did you watch the game?

Might already been posted, but we had two inbounding turnovers, and I think they were both by Demary. One was on our defensive end of the court and the other was on the offensive end of the court, both from the baseline.

 

[DogMania]

How can Mullins go off. He starts hot and somehow nobody looks for him when he’s hot. 3-3 in the first half. We should have gotten him more shots. Our own team shuts him down more than the opponents.

And he has to get more aggressive. The little fade in the lane over Ejifor was beautiful. Why doesn’t he do that more. I think as a freshman, he is too concerned with fitting in.

SJU did a very good job of not allowing Mullins get open. He was blanketed heavily after his hot start. Granted there was some grabbing going on, but I think Hurley can run more high screens between him, ball or Karavan. They did it once. I can't remember which of those three knocked down the 3 ptr. St John's has a lot of size on the perimeter and often switched on those players. But there were a few times where their switching didn't go smoothly and one of them got open. Mullins doesn't need a lot of room to get that three off, so I think they would benefit from practicing some simple two-player isolation to give him a little room to get more threes off. Maybe I'm wrong, but that's my thought.

 

[Fishy]

How can Mullins go off. He starts hot and somehow nobody looks for him when he’s hot. 3-3 in the first half. We should have gotten him more shots. Our own team shuts him down more than the opponents.

And he has to get more aggressive. The little fade in the lane over Ejifor was beautiful. Why doesn’t he do that more. I think as a freshman, he is too concerned with fitting in.

This is part of why I think they need to have some rotations where he and Solo are not on the floor together. Get another bigger body out there with them.

 

[Lafayette]

I really don’t believe in player +\- as with Malachi three players missed shots he would have also had assists on. And who scored fo St. Johns when Smith was in?

Until they furthers the analysis for that stat everyone is collateral damage to one bad play.

 

[housekeys]

... forget complaining about the refs. We've taken 100 fewer free throws this year than our opponents which I am guessing in an outlier among top ten teams. (I have not checked.) It's not that the refs hate us, it's that we foul way, way too much. If you think the teams were playing are not being called often enough, I promise you that we're committing more than we're called for as well.

Wait, the refs are not the problem? Yet they miss calling all the many extra fouls we commit. OK that makes sense.

 

[DogMania]

I think everyone is rooting for Solo, he is a good kid, but we have to face facts....All he has shown he can do is shoot the 3. Not a good ball handler, not a great passer, bad rebounder, struggles to defend, and refuses to put the ball on the deck and attack the rim. He's an average player right now and plays poorly in big games. He needs to get tougher and play tougher.

He's hit some nice midrange shots this season and has also executed some nice entry passes. His block was big time. He's more versatile than he's given credit for. Though time and room to grow.

 

[DCKembaFan]

Duke losing helps with the race for the #1 seed in the East. If UConn keeps winning, it's there for the taking

 

[Fishy]

Duke losing helps with the race for the #1 seed in the East. If UConn keeps winning, it's there for the taking

I think if we win the BET, and assuming nothing stupid happens, we get the one seed.

 

[Fishy]

I think everyone is rooting for Solo, he is a good kid, but we have to face facts....All he has shown he can do is shoot the 3. Not a good ball handler, not a great passer, bad rebounder, struggles to defend, and refuses to put the ball on the deck and attack the rim. He's an average player right now and plays poorly in big games. He needs to get tougher and play tougher.

I think he’s actually improved on a number of fronts.

Unfortunately, the three pointer has abandoned him. If he were merely shooting at the same rate as last season, he’d be average just under 18ppg and the conversation around him would be entirely different.