St. Mary's Post Game Thread

[aburks41]

I just want to say this, I was critical of Hurley during the January skid. Not to the extremes of some people here, but I would bring up his record in close games. I don’t even care about that stuff anymore. This guy can flat out coach. I’m writing those losses off as bad luck/a curse/bad juju or whatever.

I’ve always maintained that I want him to be THE guy here, and this season has cemented that for me. 4 more wins to immortality. Lead us to the promised land, Coach.

 

[JustbrewitMan]

 

[aburks41]

View attachment 85375

Even a $1 flyer is a cool $36. Nice hit!

 

[Scottobot]

Great win. Lost our way early by settling for 3s and some sloppy TOs and 2 quick fouls by Hawkins. Bench came in and settled things down, and Newton made some clutch 3s. I loved how we full court pressured early to tire their team. St Mary’s is a scrappy team that fights for every rebound and lose ball. They were a little slower in 2nd half as a result. In the second half we kept feeding Sanogo, and he shot a high percentage 11-16. Hawkins showed real maturity and poise shaking off bad 1st half and creating the separation in second half with hot shooting. ST Mary’s is not a team you want to get into a one possession game with. It was mandatory to crack it open and UConn did. Great coaching, great effort by the whole team… loving the deep bench.

 

[JustbrewitMan]

Even a $1 flyer is a cool $36. Nice hit!

That’s what it was!

 

[gsmooth]

It’s amazing seeing Adama in the postgame. I remember his freshman year clearly struggling with understanding postgame questions and frustrated with the language barrier. Testimate to his work ethic. What a truly amazing experience getting to see the young man grow. Having an all time Huskies NCAA performance, let’s keep it going!

yeah, and keep in mind, he knows 4 languages. If didn't have a basketball career to look forward to, which he obviously does, he could get a job in the United Nations, or in a lot of places, knowing English, French, and Arabic. Same with OMax Prosper knowing English, Spanish, French, and Creole.

 

[MexicoHusky]

Very surprised St Mary's didn't attempt to double Sanogo. Get him to force it against double teams. Instead they allowed to operate 1 on 1 much of the night. As much space I've seen Sanogo given in a while.

 

[CL82]

UConn has yet to win by less than 10 against non BE teams this season. Outside of the big east we’ve been DOMINANT

 

[gsmooth]

When Hawkins is on my goodness does it put pressure on the opposing team. Need a full game

he is the multiplier, IMO. When UConn is playing well w/o Hawk, UConn is a like a campfire. Hawk is the kerosene that can turn that campfire into a full inferno.

 

[gsmooth]

Very surprised St Mary's didn't attempt to double Sanogo. Get him to force it against double teams. Instead they allowed to operate 1 on 1 much of the night. As much space I've seen Sanogo given in a while.

yes and no. They really pride themselves on not giving up 3s.

 

[Ratso]

St Mary’s not having any depth even with a healthy Ducas wasn’t going to hurt them we saw it in the 1st half with our bench.

this is the 1st competitive game i’ve seen another team just get worn down.

 

[uconngb]

Very surprised St Mary's didn't attempt to double Sanogo. Get him to force it against double teams. Instead they allowed to operate 1 on 1 much of the night. As much space I've seen Sanogo given in a while.

That’s because he’s no Timme!!!

 

[gsmooth]

this is the first time I have seen a UConn player slap on the team name tag onto the bracket board. I always see the other teams do it, but never UConn.

 

[caw]

So, UConn's closest OOC game this year was OKST, in a win by ten. I like these OOC games.

 

[Blaneylover]

Bro, just enjoy the win my goodness. People are going to say he didn’t change anything other than play clignan more than 4 minutes. Clingan changed the game in the second half. They’re going to say if he pulls this stuff again Arkansas is going to have a layup line


Enjoy the win.

I thought he was great tonight. Went to Clingan despite Sanogo dominating in the block because of 1) defense and 2) they can run their full offense (no constant dump downs)...giving Hawkins,.Newton and our other perimeter guya shots. The kill shot run was with Clingan.

I liked going to Joey C early. This was a game that he could play in without being exposed. I would have taken him out down the stretch of the first half and inserted Alleyne. Hawk has 2. Joey C couldn't pick up his third.

As for Thursday night. Coach Hurley should work a zone into the game plan. Arkansas is Uber athletic, but they cannot shoot.

 

[ValleyGuy]

No, you're right. The middle of the season never happened.

You probably think Matt Painter is a better coach

 

[ValleyGuy]

Get a load of Randy Bennett full court pressing v. walk-ons. Don’t extend this game too long you’ll miss your flight you bum.

Hurleys son shoulda splashed a 3 at the buzzer.

 

[Fore!]

Great call. If losing by 15 was the goal they nailed it. Credit to St. Mary’s for a well-executed game plan.

That’s right; just like losing their best player in the 1st half to a back injury was in the game plan. That is what turned the tide of the game.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

They do but they get to the rim better than anyone we’ve played. We can’t hard hedge with Sanogo or leave him to guard the rim

Enjoy the win.

First team to ever beat two Gaels in one tourney!!!! Historic!!!!!!

St. Patrick s Day Weekend Massacre

That was deeply satisfying.

Also struck me as a bit much to be pressing with 7 seconds left and down 15, but whatever.

Yeah, but we broke the press completely, and then dribbled out the clock, which also was satisfying.

Our bigs have been DONINANT

...well, maybe not precisely.

Tomorrow

..it's always a day away

No, you're right. The middle of the season never happened.

Meaning what? Please choose your words with care; I might have missed something.

 

[huskiesouth]

Me: Will babysit for tickets and airfare.

I’ll do it for just tickets, I’ll pay my own airfare. But then again whichever player I’m chaperoning will probably end up not receiving the proper guidance.

 

[willie99]

As Uconn fans , what crime did we commit to have to listen to Antonelli "coach" St marys, as to how to beat Uconn the entire game?

Just go to the games and scream, problem solved.

 

[pepband99]

Underrated stat. Amazing what happens when the phantom fouls go away.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

GAEL SLAYERS

 

[husky429]

No idea what he said at all.

Ya'll need to get out more. His accent really isn't that heavy.

 

[Hey Adrien!]

I freakin’ love Whaley:

 

[husky429]

I thought Hassan should’ve gotten some more run

Joey has played these guys a bunch of times. I figured that's why he got more of the backup minutes.

 

[freshler40]

They do but they get to the rim better than anyone we’ve played. We can’t hard hedge with Sanogo or leave him to guard the rim

Not sure the hard edge works against good guards, it didn't stop SD from getting to the rim until Clingan had them blink. Twice in the second half SD drove to the rim, saw our force then backed out. It was great to see. There are no easy answers to play against our two centers.

 

[freshler40]

Which I thought was weird. In the first half we didn’t even battle for offensive boards. We retreated off of shots instead of crashing the boards

Agreed, we conceded the offensive boards. Clingan changes that quickly. Would like to see more intensity out of our starters in the first half rather than a feel them out kind of start. Having said that the end results are a masterpiece with our coaches pressing all the right buttons. For teams that haven't played us twice, their coaches must be pulling out their hair.
Saint Mary's guards were great, got in deep and often had a quicker first step. Their problem began when they faced Clingan! It must be great being a guard for UConn when you have that eraser behind you.

 

[UConnSwag11]

Joey has played these guys a bunch of times. I figured that's why he got more of the backup minutes.

Diarra hasn’t been good for a long time. Joey helps us a lot more with the second unit

 

[freshler40]

That was a very good team. Ducas going out was the turning point in this game. I feel like we dodged a bullet. It's is the kind of luck you sometimes need to survive and advance. But give us credit. We used the luck to step on their throat. We might have won anyway, happy we didn't have to find out.

The good news is that we are winning playing different styles of play. Arkansas will be more like Iona but more athletic. But let's drink for a few days first.

There was no luck at all. We are deeper and have had a second unit that recovered from being down in both these NCAA games. Great coaching adjustments adopted by willing players have produced the winning combinations. Saint Mary's didn't have one player in double figures. When have you seen an opponent with that stat at this level???????? Wake up to WOW when you see it. This performance was not forty (40) minutes of luck.