These Are Crazy Numbers 24-3 14-0 12-1

[jibsey]

Polley 24 minutes 3 points
Gaffney 14 minutes 0 point
Hawkins 12 minutes 1 point


Expecting to win BE games against anyone with this kind of play from those 3 players is not realistic. Two of those 3 are supposed to be great shooters. Our team allowed few enough points to Providence so that was not the problem, but these guys have to score for the team to be relevant. Hurley knows this after watching our last 5 shots in the game clunk but what does he do about it?

 

[uconntoatl]

Polley 24 minutes 3 points
Gaffney 14 minutes 0 point
Hawkins 12 minutes 1 point


Expecting to win BE games against anyone with this kind of play from those 3 players is not realistic. Two of those 3 are supposed to be great shooters. Our team allowed few enough points to Providence so that was not the problem, but these guys have to score for the team to be relevant. Hurley knows this after watching our last 5 shots in the game clunk but what does he do about it?

Design better offensive opportunities, not just throw the ball around the perimeter for 25 seconds

 

[AdamaNation]

Perhaps the post presence and success of adama offered more to the offense than just a banger with touch. It clearly allowed the ball movement to be more dynamic and seemingly more fine tuned. That spacing is a huge loss. Our only problem before he went down was his not passing out of double teams. Which he seemed to start realizing. Funny how many liked our offense before the injuries and how we were one of the higher rated offenses in the country. Yes, competition matters with that, but we also faced 3 or 4 of the top 20 defenses in the country and I bet providence is top 50 ( just guessing).

 

[EnochRoot]

It all starts with a legitimate point guard who distributes the ball.

 

[Kitaman]

Keep this quiet: Akok 15 minutes 0 points

 

[Jumpman62114]

It all starts with a legitimate point guard who distributes the ball.

I would go a step further and say its about guards that can break down a D and create opportunities. Cole does that will mixed success due to his height. Nobody else on this team has that skill which is a bit mind boggling for a high D1 program. Tyrese can drive but most of the time its to score.

 

[EnochRoot]

I would go a step further and say its about guards that can break down a D and create opportunities. Cole does that will mixed success due to his height. Nobody else on this team has that skill which is a bit mind boggling for a high D1 program. Tyrese can drive but most of the time its to score.

I’d argue Cole creates more for himself than he does to distribute, but your point is a good one re: Martin. Where are the plays for Cole to run to get Martin in an iso situation? Martin should be squaring up in that play at least a half dozen times each half, and not only to draw the opposing squad into foul trouble.

 

[willie99]

It all starts with a legitimate point guard who distributes the ball.

Eight assists
One turnover

 

[MexicoHusky]

Gaff and Polley aren't exactly difficult to shutdown. I think Providence actually scouted Hawkins well. Put solid defenders on him and worked hard to stick to him.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Keep this quiet: Akok 15 minutes 0 points

He is a big. Like Sanogo he relies on others getting him the ball. They generally ignore him. Polley is playing 20 minutes too much a game. We can’t win that way.

 

[ucp990411]

It all starts with a legitimate point guard who distributes the ball.

8 assists and 5 assists yesterday from our point guard. Responsible for 13 of our 19 field goals. Sounds legit to me

 

[ucp990411]

I meant 5 field goals along with 8 assists.

 

[SubbaBub]

This is the rare game when every cliche in the book applies.

Have to play 40 minutes, check
Can't score 22 in the first half and expect to win, check
Need your leader to be on his game, check
Need something from the bench, check
Need to limit mistakes, check
Need to take better shots, check
Need to make your open shots, check
Need to be smart with the ball at the end of the game, check.

I'm inclined to forget about it as a universally bad night, but there are now opportunities for other guys to step up if it continues. Guys who are playing well should play and go from there. Polley is the obvious candidate here if he's going to shoot so poorly.

 

[Hoophound]

I would go a step further and say its about guards that can break down a D and create opportunities. Cole does that will mixed success due to his height. Nobody else on this team has that skill which is a bit mind boggling for a high D1 program. Tyrese can drive but most of the time its to score.

This is the issue. Same thing happened last year. I get concerned because the staff should see that Diggins has to be thrown into the fire. We desperately need a pure pg. I knew Gaffney wasn’t a pure pg from his high school tape and debated it with people here repeatedly. It was obvious that any reference to him as a PG was just to make him a more sought after recruit. Most likely, he took that approach because he’s a little small for the wing. The staff should have known they needed another PG and that Gaffney was not it. Dan needs to stop relying on combo guards to play the point. It just won’t work most of the time.

Cole is a small shooting guard. He definitely has some PG skills. He makes some really nice passes off the pick and roll. He just doesn’t have the athleticism to break down the D and drive consistently nor is he good at penetrating and distributing in the lane.

 

[boog204]

This is the issue. Same thing happened last year. I get concerned because the staff should see that Diggins has to be thrown into the fire. We desperately need a pure pg. I knew Gaffney wasn’t a pure pg from his high school tape and debated it with people here repeatedly. It was obvious that any reference to him as a PG was just to make him a more sought after recruit. Most likely, he took that approach because he’s a little small for the wing. The staff should have known they needed another PG and that Gaffney was not it. Dan needs to stop relying on combo guards to play the point. It just won’t work most of the time.

Cole is a small shooting guard. He definitely has some PG skills. He makes some really nice passes off the pick and roll. He just doesn’t have the athleticism to break down the D and drive consistently nor is he good at penetrating and distributing in the lane.

Yup, many said this before the season. I like Cole. But he's not a true PG in that he is not great at driving/dishing and with this team, we have a collection of guys who are not able to create their own shot. So you need a PG who can get them the ball in the right spots. Against good teams, none of our "point guards" are able to do this.

On the Cole front, he is who he is. He's again under 40% from the field and due to his lack of athleticism and quickness he will struggle against more athletic guards and due to poor roster makeup, he has to carry the brunt of the scoring/distributing/ballhandling duties on this team. In the big scheme of things, are you really surprised we are playing lots of games in the 50s and 60s? Many people predicted it prior to the season.

 

[NowInStorrs]

Bart Torvik's game score chart is pretty interesting. I realize that there are injuries, yada yada, but the trend in the quality of play is not going in a good direction. The game score against PC was basically the D1 average performance and UConn's second worse game of the season (They somehow won their worst game because UMES). It's concerning.

 

[ucawn]

Bart Torvik's game score chart is pretty interesting. I realize that there are injuries, yada yada, but the trend in the quality of play is not going in a good direction. The game score against PC was basically the D1 average performance and UConn's second worse game of the season (They somehow won their worst game because UMES). It's concerning.

I’ve been pretty adamant that it’s plausible our venue has some contribution to our quality of play. We’ve looked our best in Gampel and damn near unwatchable in the XL. Can we just write that place out of existence PLEASE. Crowd was great yesterday but frankly I don’t care I want good basketball.