This was a really solid win...

[EricLA]

Harvard is ranked for a reason. i thought the game would be closer. The game had a lot of things that will help the team down the road - close game in the first half, jumping out to big lead in 2nd half, only to have harvard make a bit of a run, then UCONN clamped down and scored when they needed to in order to prevent a serious comeback.

i taped the game so i haven't watched it yet but looking at the numbers and following it on ESPN play by play showed some good thing. i thing the margin was expected to be about 6, and we blew that out the door. it will be interesting to see how Harvard does the rest of the year. i think this will be considered a really good win come tourney time.

I know this team has some work and i'll let others who watched the game talk about specific player contributions, but overall another solid win.

i will add that i think it's good that Napier is not the 1st or 2nd scorer. i think it's great to have a scoring PG - who who is capable of keeping defenses honest, but i like seeing him try to be a facilitator first and a scorer 2nd. given he played 36 minutes i'm not surprised by the 10 shots. i'd still rather see Drummond get more attempts than Shabazz, but that's nit picking.

 

[ibleedhuskyblue]

the last 3 games (FSU, Ark, Harv) will all be seen as "quality wins" by seasons end. they're all good teams, and we played well to beat them.

 

[61cygni]

I also thought it would be a closer game. Was very disappointing seeing us going scoreless for 5 minutes to end the first half and looking frazzled on defense, as well as seeing AO struggle. I was happy to see AO pick it up at the end to help keep the margin of victory high, and the defense was good in the second half, good job of locking down the paint without fouling.

 

[Gurleyman]

Maybe the best thing that happened was Alex shook off what was headed towards a blah game, and had some big moments late to help put the game away. A dunk in traffic, a tip-in off a Boatright miss, a couple defensive rebounds - stopped the ball from getting into Wright's hands down the stretch (Drummond was playing behind him and was a little passive -- thinking about foul trouble perhaps). The last five minutes were exactly what we need from Alex. He has big game experience and can be valuable late in games, even when he's not scoring much.

 

[Deepster]

the last 3 games (FSU, Ark, Harv) will all be seen as "quality wins" by seasons end. they're all good teams, and we played well to beat them.

+1

 

[nelsonmuntz]

I would like to see better finishing by Lamb and Boatright in particular. Too many pullups by the guards when they should have driven and dished. 13 for 33 from the field says to me that a) the guards should take better shots and b) get the ball to the big guys. Oriakhi, Drummond and especially Olander were making themselves available, they just weren't getting the ball.

Defensively the team played about as good as it could. With the exception of a few open 3's, Harvard was completely stymied on offense. They looked helpless at times.

 

[NaughtybyNapier]

Agree with basically everything said above.

Boatright is speeding thru the UConn gate of lore. He is extremely good. I'm terrible at predictions, but he looks like the best player on this team, though I expect Shabazz and Lamb to regain top dog status. SN is still playing awesome and Lamb has great gifts and instincts. So much going right...but so frustrating. I'd love to be a fly on the wall of JC's brain.

 

[babysheep]

If you define something as "solid" based solely on the final deficit, I guess so.

 

[bballgrda]

Agree with basically everything said above.

Boatright is speeding thru the UConn gate of lore. He is extremely good. I'm terrible at predictions, but he looks like the best player on this team, though I expect Shabazz and Lamb to regain top dog status. SN is still playing awesome and Lamb has great gifts and instincts. So much going right...but so frustrating. I'd love to be a fly on the wall of JC's brain.

Boatright was fantastic his first two games but wasn't overly impressive tonight. Might wanna slow down with best player on the team talk. Really liked to see Lamb drive, think that will be key later in the year

 

[EricLA]

If you define something as "solid" based solely on the final deficit, I guess so.

not sure why you are so negative - this was the same Harvard team who beat FSU, a really good defensive team who took UCONN to OT just weeks ago. i thought Harvard had incredible ball movement and UCONN played really solid and frenetic defense for long stretches of the game. in fact, i was very impressed with the defense. Harvard runs their offense really well and is very quick with their passing and really confident with what they run.

sure i saw things they will need to work on. and i don't doubt JC and co. are working on it. i think Napier still needs to make better decisions. but there was an awful lot of movement on offense for UCONN which is not something i've consistently seen in the past. there were a couple of times where they got stuck on one side of the court, but overall, for this time of the season, i thought the team looked very good.

 

[babysheep]

Yeah, it's also the Harvard team that beat UCF, who beat us, but what does that really matter? And we all know FSU is going nowhere fast, especially without Singleton. Just because FSU was ranked at the time doesn't make them a good team. I mean look at Vandy, UCLA from this year. Look at SDSU last years.

 

[huskymagic]

Agree with basically everything said above.

Boatright is speeding thru the UConn gate of lore. He is extremely good. I'm terrible at predictions, but he looks like the best player on this team, though I expect Shabazz and Lamb to regain top dog status. SN is still playing awesome and Lamb has great gifts and instincts. So much going right...but so frustrating. I'd love to be a fly on the wall of JC's brain.

Boatright is the most talented player at UConn overall. However, Lamb is the best player on the team. Drummond has the most potential and should be a beast by Februrary and March.