Texas Post Game Thread

[SubbaBub]

Fourth big game in a row where I'm very grateful for Malachi when Demary has disappointed.

Also, nice to see Stewart have a solid game off the bench with the exclamation point at the end.

Not a great backcourt game by anyone but the offense was a lot better in the 1st half with Silas getting the majority of the minutes than it was in the 2nd with Smith getting the majority. That matters, too.

For me, there were a lot of what we used to call empty possessions especially in the second half. Turnovers, missing shots that should be made, awkward passing and decision making, trying stuff that may have worked at lower levels that doesn't work here.

If we need to clean up the fouls, we need to clean these up too. Mostly it's the 4 new guys so hopefully they figure it out by March.

Also need to free up Ball for some easier catch and shoot 3's. Opponents are focused on him and he's working too hard to get his shots from 3. I think that's affecting his percentage. That pull up from the FT line is open all day. Going to be big for us later in the season.

 

[MuchoDogYears]

Another crazy thing to consider. Right now we are away better defensive team than we are on offensive team. If we keep playing defense like this, maybe with a little less fouling, we know Mullins and Reed will make us much better offensively. I think we could be a top ten team in both facets.

We all know what happens when a Hurley team is top ten metric wise in offense and defense.

When Silas learns the offense and becomes confident running it, the offense will look 100% better.

Malachi is not here to learn and run the UConn offense. He’s here to be the point guard off the bench and to run offense in the way that he learned to do it the last four years. Yeah, it would be a bonus if he learned UConn‘s offense but it’s apparent that’s not what the coaching staff is looking for from him.

They’re looking for a change of pace from Malachi, which will be difficult for the opposing team to adjust to. Particularly after Silas solidifies and becomes the starting point guard running the UConn offense the way it’s designed.

 

[microfich]

Great post fich! Question on your officiating observations. Do you see that in real time or did you rewatch to come up with those pearls. Very interesting, and I would never notice who calls the fouls in real time.

'Twas real time. Being there live makes it easier to spot who it was and where he was positioned.
If I'm gonna yell at the refs I wanna be fair, lol.

 

[Waquoit]

UConn had that one stretch where they were just flowing. Texas calls time out and Hurley makes a bunch of subs. They never got that same groove back. I'm thinking the rotation is going to tighten up a bit in the future.

 

[BuffaloHusky]

When Silas learns the offense and becomes confident running it, the offense will look 100% better.

Malachi is not here to learn and run the UConn offense. He’s here to be the point guard off the bench and to run offense in the way that he learned to do it the last four years. Yeah, it would be a bonus if he learned UConn‘s offense but it’s apparent that’s not what the coaching staff is looking for from him.

They’re looking for a change of pace from Malachi, which will be difficult for the opposing team to adjust to. Particularly after Silas solidifies and becomes the starting point guard running the UConn offense the way it’s designed.

I’m not sure it’s Silas offense which is the issue… instead it’s his fouling sending him to the bench. If he can stay on the court, I’d be excited to see what happens.

 

[BuffaloHusky]

Great post fich! Question on your officiating observations. Do you see that in real time or did you rewatch to come up with those pearls. Very interesting, and I would never notice who calls the fouls in real time.

'Twas real time. Being there live makes it easier to spot who it was and where he was positioned.
If I'm gonna yell at the refs I wanna be fair, lol.

I will make another ref comment on top of this. The BE refs on this game have a very distinct pattern based on games I’ve seen in person… call the first half one way and then tighten everything up in the second. As a fan, its really maddeningly as their second halves eliminate any game flow and usually produce a ton of free throws in games that end up closer than they should be.

 

[jpeakin]

That was a Larry Bird play. Really special.

Exactly what I thought watching it live.

 

[Hamms30]

I will make another ref comment on top of this. The BE refs on this game have a very distinct pattern based on games I’ve seen in person… call the first half one way and then tighten everything up in the second. As a fan, its really maddeningly as their second halves eliminate any game flow and usually produce a ton of free throws in games that end up closer than they should be.

You're not wrong in wanting a consistent game throughout, but the truth is .. if they call it tight in the first half, they get yelled at and booed and accused of ruining the game because teams are in foul trouble for the rest of the game. If they don't tighten up in the second half, when it gets to fouling time.. teams wind up with 3 fouls to give when they're trying to foul at the end of the game and they get yelled at and booed and accused of ruining the game because they should have called it tighter from the get go.

I’m not sure it’s Silas offense which is the issue… instead it’s his fouling sending him to the bench. If he can stay on the court, I’d be excited to see what happens.

He also got called for a foul because two Texas players fouled each other. Weird night for Silas.

 

[noelle]

I suppose the optimistic theory right now is that a lot of the offensive struggles is due to how fouls are called/not being called gumming up actions they try to run. But if that is the case there's no reason to assume it'll change drastically. If the refs are hostile the offense gets ugly extremely fast because they can't create advantage individually and the 3's are often times not falling. The way to solve this problem is to have more rim cuts and lobs.

Compared to their offense from the past the dunks and rim cuts are a big load of high percentage shots missing from this offense and the major way of cashing in their scheme advantage that's also less variable than 3s. It's the critical part of the "bulletproof" team blueprint of 23/24. I think only a few players like AK are actually hitting this option in the action fast enough. Their main challenge is to get this part of the offense to work. Relying on 3's is highly unstable in the best of times and we are clearly not in the best of times on the shooting side right now.

 

[DRBackup]

Oh, you want them to run wind sprints ala Syracuse and Fran Brown?

No, I want them to shoot FTs until they've made 300.

 

[DRBackup]

Great post fich! Question on your officiating observations. Do you see that in real time or did you rewatch to come up with those pearls. Very interesting, and I would never notice who calls the fouls in real time.

The only thing I notice is when there is an official under the basket that doesn't blow the whistle, but then a beat late, the guy at halfcourt calls a foul there is no way he could even see. I can totally believe, in this game, that was the third official he's talking about. There were a few of those in this game.

 

[Deepster]

That was a Larry Bird play. Really special.

My buddy said the same exact thing right after it happened.

 

[FlippinCrazy!]

My favorite part was when the two Texas guys ran into each other and we got called for a foul.

It was a foul. Does a dog herd cattle into a pit hole? No, they lead them into the barn. Gators were obviously a different story. Alligators eat livestock, you can’t let them on the farm. Silas just needs to be more aware of who he’s playing and he’ll be fine.

 

[upstater]

 

[thekollieman]

Lmao “who’s that on?”

 

[Excalibur]

I liked him. Plays hard. Clearly has an edge to him.

Totally a player that we'd love if he played for us. But he doesn't so I hate his guts 😀

 

[HuskyNan]

 

[aceboon]

Silas literally pushes the Texas defender into his own man knocking the ballhandler off his path. UConn fans are gonna have to get a grip and acknowledge that this team just fouls a ton, that was the only foul I was unsure of in the 2nd half and then when I to watch the replay I said yup, thats a foul. That foul sent Silas to the bench with foul trouble and they went into the TV timeout directly after and Hurley still didn't challenge despite having to time to review it because he knew it was a foul. That's like the 3rd big non conf game that Silas hasn't been able to get into a rhythm because he's always in foul trouble with undisciplined fouls.

 

[upstater]

Silas literally pushes the Texas defender into his own man knocking the ballhandler off his path. UConn fans are gonna have to get a grip and acknowledge that this team just fouls a ton, that was the only foul I was unsure of in the 2nd half and then when I to watch the replay I said yup, thats a foul. That foul sent Silas to the bench with foul trouble and they went into the TV timeout directly after and Hurley still didn't challenge despite having to time to review it because he knew it was a foul. That's like the 3rd big non conf game that Silas hasn't been able to get into a rhythm because he's always in foul trouble with undisciplined fouls.

I saw a guy that flopped backwards and sold it.

 

[aceboon]

I saw a guy that flopped backwards and sold it.

The staff disagreed and pocketed their challenge

 

[Leebo]

The staff disagreed and pocketed their challenge

Pretty sure you can't challenge random "was that a foul" type situations.

 

[upstater]

The staff disagreed and pocketed their challenge

You can't challenge fouls.

 

[aceboon]

I was wrong on the challenge, either way it was still a foul

 

[aceboon]

You can't challenge fouls.

You can apparently challenge charge/block fouls in the restricted area, but not standard contact fouls like what is in reference here.

 

[YearoftheHusky]

Umm…Texas was not "really bad"!

But they are, unfortunately.

 

[Leebo]

You can apparently challenge charge/block fouls in the restricted area

I believe it's still only the position of the defender (were they in the area or not), not whether it was fundamentally a foul or not.

 

[thekollieman]

Silas literally pushes the Texas defender into his own man knocking the ballhandler off his path. UConn fans are gonna have to get a grip and acknowledge that this team just fouls a ton, that was the only foul I was unsure of in the 2nd half and then when I to watch the replay I said yup, thats a foul. That foul sent Silas to the bench with foul trouble and they went into the TV timeout directly after and Hurley still didn't challenge despite having to time to review it because he knew it was a foul. That's like the 3rd big non conf game that Silas hasn't been able to get into a rhythm because he's always in foul trouble with undisciplined fouls.

I laughed at the commentary but ironically I feel like the foul on Silas is clear on film there when from my perspective (opposite baseline-ish pov) in the arena made it a total mystery live.

 

[upstater]

I laughed at the commentary but ironically I feel like the foul on Silas is clear on film there when from my perspective (opposite baseline-ish pov) in the arena made it a total mystery live.

If that amount of hand pushing is a foul, then folks we need to watch games with 100+ whistles.

 

[thekollieman]

If that amount of hand pushing is a foul, then folks we need to watch games with 100+ whistles.

For sure. It was (and is during most games) basically arbitrary when they decide to blow the whistle or not on seemingly equivalent contact from play to play. I’m just saying I see what it is they blew it for on that particular play from the video.

 

[WhereistheDove?]

I was wrong on the challenge, either way it was still a foul

Listen, I fully agree we have a lot of dumb, unnecessary fouls. This was not one of them. There is no world in which Silas in that position and with that tiny amount of contact is able to displace the Texas screener (who actually never gets set himself and continues to move with Silas). It was a flop and a very bad call. But it is what it is.