UConn Round 2 ThoughtZ™

[RichZ]

1. Late start again. The "8:15 game" looks like it's not going to start until almost 9:15. These schedulers just don't give an old man a break. Every game runs 15 minutes longer than they allow for, and the studio commentators don't get their time cut to make up for it.
2. Tarris wins the tap, but we turn it over on the first possession.
3. A minute and 10 in, we're down 4 zip.
4. Alex scores our first bucket at 18:08
5. We're down 14-12 at 14:15, and a period of frustration and sloppy play by both teams left the score unchanged for the next 2-1/2 minutes.
6. I keep reading about UCLA being more of a finesse team, but from what I've seen so far tonight, they are very physical and aggressive.
7. Ross ties it with a three. Could have given us our first lead, but he missed the FT.
8. Next possession, Ross hits another deep jumper to give us a 3 point lead!
9. Up 5 at the half. 38-33.
10. At the half stat totals are rebounds 15 to 13, dimes 8 to 6, steals 6 to 2, and blocks 4 to 1, all in UConn's favor, of course.
11. I wouldn't say the officiating has been bad -- atrocious would be more accurate.
12. Ross has 9 points, 3 boards, a steal and a block going into the half. Heck of a contribution.
13. Alex playing a solid game - scoring, defending & passing. And Mullins came up with a couple timely threes late in the half.
14. Our tenuous lead disappeared quickly as the 2nd half got underway.
15. A sudden 9/0 run put us up 7 with 12 minutes left.
16. Our lead grew to 12 points ( 56-44) @ 10:33 on a long 3 from Alex off a busted play.
17. But a minute later it was down to 4.
18. Back up to 7 @ 5:23, and it was up to 11 (65/54) just 40 seconds later.
19. Lead grew to 73/57 with 1:10 left, and Hurley called off the dogs so both teams could get their end of the bench guys in,
20. Alex's game tonight -- 5 boards, a dime, a block and a career high 27 points!
21. After having the game of his career in the 1st round, Reed ended up with 10 points, 13 boards a steal and 3 blocks tonight. Effective, but not the excitement of the other night.
22. Ross finished with 11 points (3 of 4 from the floor and 3 of 4 from the line) 3 boards and an assist before fouling out in the final couple minutes.
23. Smith and Demary had 4 points, 5 boards and 10 dimes between them.
24. Mullins tallied 17 points (5 of 9 from the floor and 5 of 5 from the line).
25. I like the team's 16 dimes on 23 buckets, but the 16 TOs is bothersome.