That's what an exhausted team looks like

[champs99and04]

I've been late to the pity party for this years team, but they ran smack dab into the proverbial wall there in the second half. Terrible rebounding, lazy fouls, missed shots, etc. It seemed as if the combination of heavy minutes, mental wear, and brutal travel vaporized them all at once. You could even see it in KO with the dumb technical he picked up late.

One guy that shouldn't have been tired with all the time he's spent on the bench is Brimah. He's been criticized a lot, but these are the type of match-ups he's usually good in and he was dreadful. Gotta really consider going small with Jackson-Facey or maybe some combination of Facey, Durham, and Enoch if that's all he's gonna give you.

College basketball is weird and SMU isn't particularly deep (they have a week off, though), so I'm not counting them out entirely for Saturday even though a noon tip on the other side of the country isn't what the doctor ordered for the weary and weak.

I'd like to see more zone. By my unofficial scoring, we seem to defend much better in it than out of man.

 

[CTBasketball]

Zone is a problem because it makes it harder for our poor-rebounding team to rebound.

 

[pj]

Christian Vital didn't have a good game either. We needed everyone to play well and didn't get it.

 

[champs99and04]

Zone is a problem because it makes it harder for our poor-rebounding team to rebound.

That's a valid point, but I'd still wager our PPP are lower in zone than man.

 

[UConn990411]

Being tired doesn't really fly as an excuse when you come outta the locker room completely unprepared to play.

These extended runs by opponents have become way too much of a pattern the past few years, and if they're not playing a crap team, it usually turns out to be insurmountable.

 

[Fishy]

They ran into the same problems they run into on nearly a game by game basis.

That they did it in the second half tonight makes fatigue a convenient excuse.

But that's bull.

 

[HooperScooper]

Christian Vital didn't have a good game either. We needed everyone to play well and didn't get it.

Until those two threes at the end Purvis didn't have a particularly good game either. With all of those players having subpar games they were still in it until the end.

 

[gtcam]

They ran into the same problems they run into on nearly a game by game basis.

That they did it in the second half tonight makes fatigue a convenient excuse.

But that's bull.

You don't know that Fishy
I think the flight and the 4 games in 9 days, etc does come into play
When shots don't fall, you don't score (see Houston 1st half)

 

[UConnStats]

Vital, Brimah, and Facey (him more offensively) were just putrid tonight. It happens.

The reffing at the end of the game was also pretty one-sided in my opinion, but it's nothing crazy for a road game.

Sucks to lose, but Ollie needs to rally the troops because they need to compete on a Saturday.

 

[UConn990411]

You don't know that Fishy
I think the flight and the 4 games in 9 days, etc does come into play
When shots don't fall, you don't score (see Houston 1st half)

So you're saying they weren't tired for the first 20 minutes, had 15 minutes of rest at halftime, and then were suddenly tired?

UConn played great from minutes 1-20, and then Houston erased a 10-point deficit in 6 minutes. Being tired doesn't add up here.

 

[superjohn]

I've been late to the pity party for this years team, but they ran smack dab into the proverbial wall there in the second half. Terrible rebounding, lazy fouls, missed shots, etc. It seemed as if the combination of heavy minutes, mental wear, and brutal travel vaporized them all at once. You could even see it in KO with the dumb technical he picked up late.

One guy that shouldn't have been tired with all the time he's spent on the bench is Brimah. He's been criticized a lot, but these are the type of match-ups he's usually good in and he was dreadful. Gotta really consider going small with Jackson-Facey or maybe some combination of Facey, Durham, and Enoch if that's all he's gonna give you.

College basketball is weird and SMU isn't particularly deep (they have a week off, though), so I'm not counting them out entirely for Saturday even though a noon tip on the other side of the country isn't what the doctor ordered for the weary and weak.

I'd like to see more zone. By my unofficial scoring, we seem to defend much better in it than out of man.

Agree with a lot of this but excusing Ollie's T on being tired is a cop out.

 

[Drew]

We lost this game because we 1. failed to effectively rebound in the second half on the defensive end and 2. have zero zone offense besides lazily passing the ball around the perimeter before taking a terrible midrange jumper or a 3.
Am I the only one that notices UConn repeatedly fails to send our bigs to the short corner & top of the key, and instead opts to screen the top of the zone and try to dribble through it?

Sampson ran a few really beautiful offensive sets tonight. Would be nice to see UConn have a go to play for when we need a bucket.

 

[TRest]

How tired will we be having to win 3 in a row in Hartford?

 

[superjohn]

So you're saying they weren't tired for the first 20 minutes, had 15 minutes of rest at halftime, and then were suddenly tired?

UConn played great from minutes 1-20, and then Houston erased a 10-point deficit in 6 minutes. Being tired doesn't add up here.

They did look like they were in quicksand the entire second half. Don't know why they completely stopped competing but my guess is physical and mental fatigue had at least something to do with it.

 

[Fishy]

You don't know that Fishy
I think the flight and the 4 games in 9 days, etc does come into play
When shots don't fall, you don't score (see Houston 1st half)

Nah - if this was out of the ordinary, fine.

But these runs are a constant and have been for seasons.

 

[huskymagic]

Stop with the annoying excuses about being tired. These guys are 19 and 20 years old playing on 3 days rest. This wasn't some track meet, it was a game placed at a normal pace and had a 10 point lead at half-time. This is just an unacceptable pattern that we see with all Kevin Ollie coached teams. Nobody on the team except Vance played well that's why we lost, and no way we can win when Adams, Purvis, and Vital have no footprint on the game. We aren't going to beat any good team with Our entire backcourt playing bad. Adams needs to start playing more aggressive in the half-court and quicker. Ollie needs to be working the refs more during the game.

 

[ctchamps]

So you're saying they weren't tired for the first 20 minutes, had 15 minutes of rest at halftime, and then were suddenly tired?

UConn played great from minutes 1-20, and then Houston erased a 10-point deficit in 6 minutes. Being tired doesn't add up here.

It most certainly can although we don't know for sure. If guys are exhausted it makes it hard to take a punch and rally back.

With that said this team couldn't make shots to start the second half and then when they started making them Kentan received his fourth and the team couldn't get defensive rebounds.

It doesn't take much imagination to realize what this team would have done with Terry and Alterique playing.

This was a dud game for Christian (love his heart but he couldn't make anything but a break away) and Kentan has had dud games the last 3 out of 4 games including this one. We could have used Terry today.

 

[UConn990411]

They did look like they were in quicksand the entire second half. Don't know why they completely stopped competing but my guess is physical and mental fatigue had at least something to do with it.

I'm sure fatigue played a role, but it doesn't explain the 15-4 Houston run to start the 2nd half.

 

[Kitaman]

We are not getting the loose ball, and not securing rebounds or passes. It was similar the game before. Houston was getting tip balls, loose balls on the floor and deflected balls as well.

Part of that is we seem to continually be out of position when the shot goes up, and our players just don't have strong hands. Teams are smacking the ball loose too often.

Not sure if its hustle or bad instincts, but its frustrating to watch.

 

[ASweet3781]

Mike Melio‏@EnzosDad 2h2 hours ago
Usual Contingent of KNOW-IT-ALL Critics SILENCED. GREAT half by @UConnMBB and The Greatest Coach in America @CoachKO_UConn #AintNoPlanB


One of UConn's big donors taking to twitter to take a victory lap and crow over a halftime lead over Houston. I guess that's the state of the program right now.

 

[ctchamps]

Stop with the annoying excuses about being tired. These guys are 19 and 20 years old playing on 3 days rest. This wasn't some track meet, it was a game placed at a normal pace and had a 10 point lead at half-time. This is just an unacceptable pattern that we see with all Kevin Ollie coached teams. Nobody on the team except Vance played well that's why we lost, and no way we can win when Adams, Purvis, and Vital have no footprint on the game. We aren't going to beat any good team with Our entire backcourt playing bad. Adams needs to start playing more aggressive in the half-court and quicker. Ollie needs to be working the refs more during the game.

They had started to make noise in the second half and I noticed your guy had no clue that when the ball comes off the defensive backboard it helps to get it. He boxes out but doesn't know when to release and go after rebounds. It was a killer the last three minutes especially because Rodney was heating up and taking the crowd (the five hundred or so people) out of the game.

 

[UConnfan8]

We punched them in the mouth the whole first half. Sure didn't LOOK tired. Did we take a nap at halftime or something?

 

[Palatine]

I've been late to the pity party for this years team, but they ran smack dab into the proverbial wall there in the second half. Terrible rebounding, lazy fouls, missed shots, etc. It seemed as if the combination of heavy minutes, mental wear, and brutal travel vaporized them all at once. You could even see it in KO with the dumb technical he picked up late.

One guy that shouldn't have been tired with all the time he's spent on the bench is Brimah. He's been criticized a lot, but these are the type of match-ups he's usually good in and he was dreadful. Gotta really consider going small with Jackson-Facey or maybe some combination of Facey, Durham, and Enoch if that's all he's gonna give you.

College basketball is weird and SMU isn't particularly deep (they have a week off, though), so I'm not counting them out entirely for Saturday even though a noon tip on the other side of the country isn't what the doctor ordered for the weary and weak.

I'd like to see more zone. By my unofficial scoring, we seem to defend much better in it than out of man.

That's an excuse. These guys are 20 years old. If they are exhausted it's not from playing basketball.

 

[champs99and04]

They ran into the same problems they run into on nearly a game by game basis.

That they did it in the second half tonight makes fatigue a convenient excuse.

But that's bull.

It's not an excuse. It's literally an observation that I made even before the lead had completely swung. Certainly this team has no trouble blowing games under the best of circumstances, but it was clear to me very early in the second half that they were not going to win that game. The fact that there were a few tell tale signs of fatigue - losing 50/50 balls, lethargic box outs, erratic jump shots - isn't indisputable proof but it would seem to corroborate my observation.

Vital and Brimah were both fresh and managed to be the worst players on the court, so it was more than conceivable for them to win that game. They haven't won those games and that's why they are where they are, but if you look at nothing other than body language it was obvious that they were spent.

In the past 12 days they have gone from Storrs to Orlando back to Storrs to Philly back to Storrs again and then to Houston. That, on top of the academic and social requirements college-aged kids have to juggle, on top of playing an exorbitant amount of minutes, on top of all of the game and film prep that goes into just one game...you can see how it might have played a role. Perhaps the great teams overcome that, but this team obviously isn't great.

 

[King Husky]

They ran into the same problems they run into on nearly a game by game basis.

That they did it in the second half tonight makes fatigue a convenient excuse.

But that's bull.

The only guy who was fatigued in the 2nd half was Brimah. I have no idea why Ollie kept him in so long without coming out, but that killed us.