UCONN's Magical Mystical Ability to close out a half

[VA Blue Dog]

After seeing Alex Karaban hit the three at the half against Miami, I said "That's a replay of the last game against Gonzaga!".
In the back of my head I thought, "This has been happening a lot." After checking here's what I came up with.
We have impressively closed out 19 of our 38 games.
This has been a problem that has plagued us in the past.
These made shots enable great half time mojo. Arms raised. Heads raised. Fists pumped. Crowds screaming as we head to the locker room.
There are only a few occasions where we let the opposition make a final half time shot.
Notice the times left on the shot clock.

Game	UCONN VS	Type Shot	Time Left	Shooter	Assist By
Final 4	Miami	3 Pointer	0:03	Alex Karaban	Tristan Newton
Elite 8	Gonzaga	3 Pointer	0:03	Alex Karaban	Andre Jackson
2nd Round	St. Mary's	3 Pointer	0:05	Tristan Newton	Unassisted
1stRound	Iona	2 Pointer	0:27	Donovan Clingan	Hassan Diarra
BE Semi	Marquette	3 Pointer	0:04	Alex Karaban	Tristan Newton
4-Mar	Villanova	2 Pointer	0:00	Alex Karaban	Tristan Newton
1-Mar	DePaul	2 Pointer	0:01	Adama Sanogo	Tristan Newton
22-Feb	Providence	3 Pointer	0:27	Nahieme Alleyne	Tristan Newton
11-Feb	Creighton	3 Pointer	0:00	Adama Sanogo	Hassan Diarra
7-Feb	Marquette	3 Pointer	0:01	Nahieme Alleyne	Unassisted
25-Jan	Xavier	2 Free Throws	0:01	Alex Karaban	Unassisted
20-Dec	Georgetown	2 Free Throws	0:03	Tristan Newton	Unassisted
17-Dec	Butler	3 Pointer	0:01	Nahieme Alleyne	Tristan Newton
10-Dec	LIU	2 Pointer	0:01	Donovan Clingan	Unassisted
1-Dec	OkaST	3 Pointer	0:35	Jordan Hawkins	Joey Calcaterra
27-Nov	IOST	3 Pointer	0:02	Hassan Diarra	Unassisted
20-Nov	DEL ST	2 Pointer	0:08	Donovan Clingan	Joey Calcaterra
18-Nov	UNC-W	3 Pointer	0:02	Alex Karaban	Andre Jackson
11-Nov	BU	3 Pointer	0:23	Adama Sanogo	Hassan Diarra

 

[Waquoit]

Karaban always seems to have an answer at the end of the shot clock, too.

 

[FLDawg16]

Hmmm, noticing a big gap in January. I wonder how our results were during that time

 

[ctchamps]

Instead of a luck factor we are hitting the clutch factor pretty well.

Nice analysis. This is the way!

 

[Umami Zen]

Has the "it" factor.. Is prepared for and wants the ball.. Will be unguardable after an off season of SnC/conditioning/skill development.

 

[UCfor3]

Dan Hurley always takes the use it or lose it timeout before the half for our last possession. During that timeout him and the staff come up with some great plays and the players have executed them to perfection and made the shots. Credit all around to the staff and players.

 

[JakeTheDog]

 

[Gutter King]

The first four Hurley years we were so bad at crunchtime shots. We couldn't even get organized enough to get an attempt off half the time. This making shots business is so much more fun than banging our collective heads against the wall at the end of half.

It is also apparent that this team feeds off that momentum and it turns on the Terminator mode for them.

 

[Tenspro2002]

That is a ridiculous amount of scoring with <5 seconds left in the half.

These are big momentum plays that have largely carried over to the second half.

 

[storrsroars]

So, AJax can't score to close out a half. Guy is useless!

 

[jibsey]

I think they should be on to that Karaban play now?

 

[Waquoit]

I think they should be on to that Karaban play now?

I bet we have a counter already booted up.

 

[Echo Hawk]

After seeing Alex Karaban hit the three at the half against Miami, I said "That's a replay of the last game against Gonzaga!".
In the back of my head I thought, "This has been happening a lot." After checking here's what I came up with.
We have impressively closed out 19 of our 38 games.
This has been a problem that has plagued us in the past.
These made shots enable great half time mojo. Arms raised. Heads raised. Fists pumped. Crowds screaming as we head to the locker room.
There are only a few occasions where we let the opposition make a final half time shot.
Notice the times left on the shot clock.

Game	UCONN VS	Type Shot	Time Left	Shooter	Assist By
Final 4	Miami	3 Pointer	0:03	Alex Karaban	Tristan Newton
Elite 8	Gonzaga	3 Pointer	0:03	Alex Karaban	Andre Jackson
2nd Round	St. Mary's	3 Pointer	0:05	Tristan Newton	Unassisted
1stRound	Iona	2 Pointer	0:27	Donovan Clingan	Hassan Diarra
BE Semi	Marquette	3 Pointer	0:04	Alex Karaban	Tristan Newton
4-Mar	Villanova	2 Pointer	0:00	Alex Karaban	Tristan Newton
1-Mar	DePaul	2 Pointer	0:01	Adama Sanogo	Tristan Newton
22-Feb	Providence	3 Pointer	0:27	Nahieme Alleyne	Tristan Newton
11-Feb	Creighton	3 Pointer	0:00	Adama Sanogo	Hassan Diarra
7-Feb	Marquette	3 Pointer	0:01	Nahieme Alleyne	Unassisted
25-Jan	Xavier	2 Free Throws	0:01	Alex Karaban	Unassisted
20-Dec	Georgetown	2 Free Throws	0:03	Tristan Newton	Unassisted
17-Dec	Butler	3 Pointer	0:01	Nahieme Alleyne	Tristan Newton
10-Dec	LIU	2 Pointer	0:01	Donovan Clingan	Unassisted
1-Dec	OkaST	3 Pointer	0:35	Jordan Hawkins	Joey Calcaterra
27-Nov	IOST	3 Pointer	0:02	Hassan Diarra	Unassisted
20-Nov	DEL ST	2 Pointer	0:08	Donovan Clingan	Joey Calcaterra
18-Nov	UNC-W	3 Pointer	0:02	Alex Karaban	Andre Jackson
11-Nov	BU	3 Pointer	0:23	Adama Sanogo	Hassan Diarra

Interesting topic.

Throw out the 2 - 27s and the 23. You're down to 16 near or at the buzzer. How many shots were missed under the same parameter? And how many times was the opponent in possession of the ball with the last shot? How does the "made shot" compare to the overall team percentage for the year? Odds are that over 38 games any team would have possession 19 times at the end. But you may be on to something and I've noticed it too. I think the overall make number is unusually high. Of the 16 buzzer shots made they are hitting 84% of the 19 expected. And Karaban seems to have killer instinct under these extreme conditions.

 

[Poe]

Not in the too distant past it seemed it was other teams hitting a shot against us at the end of the half way too often. Nice that we’ve been able to reverse that trend.

 

[VA Blue Dog]

I updated the Half Time Close Out Chart and the disparity is even greater than reported before.

Game	UCONN VS	Type Shot	Time Left	Shooter	Assist By
Final 4	Miami	3 Pointer	0:03	Alex Karaban	Tristan Newton
Elite 8	Gonzaga	3 Pointer	0:03	Alex Karaban	Andre Jackson
2nd Round	St. Mary's	3 Pointer	0:05	Tristan Newton	Unassisted
1stRound	Iona	2 Pointer	0:27	Donovan Clingan	Hassan Diarra
BE Semi	Marquette	3 Pointer	0:04	Alex Karaban	Tristan Newton
4-Mar	Villanova	2 Pointer	0:00	Alex Karaban	Tristan Newton
1-Mar	DePaul	2 Pointer	0:01	Adama Sanogo	Tristan Newton
22-Feb	Providence	3 Pointer	0:27	Nahieme Alleyne	Tristan Newton
11-Feb	Creighton	3 Pointer	0:00	Adama Sanogo	Hassan Diarra
7-Feb	Marquette	3 Pointer	0:01	Nahieme Alleyne	Unassisted
25-Jan	Xavier	2 Free Throws	0:01	Alex Karaban	Unassisted
22-Jan	Butler	2 Free Throws	0:03	Alex Karaban	Unassisted
18-Jan	Seton Hall	3 Pointer	0:12	Jordan Hawkins	Tristan Newton
7-Jan	Creighton	3 Pointer	0:12	Tristan Newton	Andre Jackson
4-Jan	Providence	2 Pointer	0:02	Adama Sanogo	TRistan Newton
31-Dec	Xavier	3 Pointer	0:01	Tristan Newton	Unassisted
20-Dec	Georgetown	2 Free Throws	0:03	Tristan Newton	Unassisted
17-Dec	Butler	3 Pointer	0:01	Nahieme Alleyne	Andre Jackson
10-Dec	LIU	2 Pointer	0:01	Donovan Clingan	Unassisted
1-Dec	OkaST	3 Pointer	0:35	Jordan Hawkins	Joey Calcaterra
27-Nov	IOST	3 Pointer	0:02	Hassan Diarra	Unassisted
24-Nov	ORU	1 Free Throw	0:15	Tristan Newton	Unassisted
20-Nov	DEL ST	2 Pointer	0:08	Donovan Clingan	Joey Calcaterra
18-Nov	UNC-W	3 Pointer	0:02	Alex Karaban	Andre Jackson
11-Nov	BU	3 Pointer	0:23	Adama Sanogo	Hassan Diarra

To answer ECHO HAWK,, good question.
We closed out the half 15 times with last second three pointers against only 1, 3 pointer (Posh Alexander) against us.

Game	Team Last Shot	Type Shot	Time Left
Sweet 16	UCONN	FT (Hawkins)	1:28
9-Mar	Providence	FT	0:31
25-Feb	St. Johns	3 Pointer	0:23
18-Feb	Seton Hall	2 Pointer	0:20
4-Feb	Georgetown	2 Pointer	0:44
31-Jan	DePaul	2 Pointer	0:02
15-Jan	St. Johns	2 Pointer	0:01
11-Jan	Marquette	2 Pointer	0:00
28-Dec	Villanova	FT	0:11
7-Dec		FT	1:04
25-Nov	AL	2 Pointer	0:03

Unquestionably UCONN IS CLUTCH.

 

[Deepelm]

 

[FfldCntyFan]

I updated the Half Time Close Out Chart and the disparity is even greater than reported before.

Game	UCONN VS	Type Shot	Time Left	Shooter	Assist By
Final 4	Miami	3 Pointer	0:03	Alex Karaban	Tristan Newton
Elite 8	Gonzaga	3 Pointer	0:03	Alex Karaban	Andre Jackson
2nd Round	St. Mary's	3 Pointer	0:05	Tristan Newton	Unassisted
1stRound	Iona	2 Pointer	0:27	Donovan Clingan	Hassan Diarra
BE Semi	Marquette	3 Pointer	0:04	Alex Karaban	Tristan Newton
4-Mar	Villanova	2 Pointer	0:00	Alex Karaban	Tristan Newton
1-Mar	DePaul	2 Pointer	0:01	Adama Sanogo	Tristan Newton
22-Feb	Providence	3 Pointer	0:27	Nahieme Alleyne	Tristan Newton
11-Feb	Creighton	3 Pointer	0:00	Adama Sanogo	Hassan Diarra
7-Feb	Marquette	3 Pointer	0:01	Nahieme Alleyne	Unassisted
25-Jan	Xavier	2 Free Throws	0:01	Alex Karaban	Unassisted
22-Jan	Butler	2 Free Throws	0:03	Alex Karaban	Unassisted
18-Jan	Seton Hall	3 Pointer	0:12	Jordan Hawkins	Tristan Newton
7-Jan	Creighton	3 Pointer	0:12	Tristan Newton	Andre Jackson
4-Jan	Providence	2 Pointer	0:02	Adama Sanogo	TRistan Newton
31-Dec	Xavier	3 Pointer	0:01	Tristan Newton	Unassisted
20-Dec	Georgetown	2 Free Throws	0:03	Tristan Newton	Unassisted
17-Dec	Butler	3 Pointer	0:01	Nahieme Alleyne	Andre Jackson
10-Dec	LIU	2 Pointer	0:01	Donovan Clingan	Unassisted
1-Dec	OkaST	3 Pointer	0:35	Jordan Hawkins	Joey Calcaterra
27-Nov	IOST	3 Pointer	0:02	Hassan Diarra	Unassisted
24-Nov	ORU	1 Free Throw	0:15	Tristan Newton	Unassisted
20-Nov	DEL ST	2 Pointer	0:08	Donovan Clingan	Joey Calcaterra
18-Nov	UNC-W	3 Pointer	0:02	Alex Karaban	Andre Jackson
11-Nov	BU	3 Pointer	0:23	Adama Sanogo	Hassan Diarra

To answer ECHO HAWK,, good question.
We closed out the half 15 times with last second three pointers against only 1, 3 pointer (Posh Alexander) against us.

Game	Team Last Shot	Type Shot	Time Left
Sweet 16	UCONN	FT (Hawkins)	1:28
9-Mar	Providence	FT	0:31
25-Feb	St. Johns	3 Pointer	0:23
18-Feb	Seton Hall	2 Pointer	0:20
4-Feb	Georgetown	2 Pointer	0:44
31-Jan	DePaul	2 Pointer	0:02
15-Jan	St. Johns	2 Pointer	0:01
11-Jan	Marquette	2 Pointer	0:00
28-Dec	Villanova	FT	0:11
7-Dec		FT	1:04
25-Nov	AL	2 Pointer	0:03

Unquestionably UCONN IS CLUTCH.

 

[Chin Diesel]

After seeing Alex Karaban hit the three at the half against Miami, I said "That's a replay of the last game against Gonzaga!".
In the back of my head I thought, "This has been happening a lot." After checking here's what I came up with.
We have impressively closed out 19 of our 38 games.
This has been a problem that has plagued us in the past.
These made shots enable great half time mojo. Arms raised. Heads raised. Fists pumped. Crowds screaming as we head to the locker room.
There are only a few occasions where we let the opposition make a final half time shot.
Notice the times left on the shot clock.

Game	UCONN VS	Type Shot	Time Left	Shooter	Assist By
Final 4	Miami	3 Pointer	0:03	Alex Karaban	Tristan Newton
Elite 8	Gonzaga	3 Pointer	0:03	Alex Karaban	Andre Jackson
2nd Round	St. Mary's	3 Pointer	0:05	Tristan Newton	Unassisted
1stRound	Iona	2 Pointer	0:27	Donovan Clingan	Hassan Diarra
BE Semi	Marquette	3 Pointer	0:04	Alex Karaban	Tristan Newton
4-Mar	Villanova	2 Pointer	0:00	Alex Karaban	Tristan Newton
1-Mar	DePaul	2 Pointer	0:01	Adama Sanogo	Tristan Newton
22-Feb	Providence	3 Pointer	0:27	Nahieme Alleyne	Tristan Newton
11-Feb	Creighton	3 Pointer	0:00	Adama Sanogo	Hassan Diarra
7-Feb	Marquette	3 Pointer	0:01	Nahieme Alleyne	Unassisted
25-Jan	Xavier	2 Free Throws	0:01	Alex Karaban	Unassisted
20-Dec	Georgetown	2 Free Throws	0:03	Tristan Newton	Unassisted
17-Dec	Butler	3 Pointer	0:01	Nahieme Alleyne	Tristan Newton
10-Dec	LIU	2 Pointer	0:01	Donovan Clingan	Unassisted
1-Dec	OkaST	3 Pointer	0:35	Jordan Hawkins	Joey Calcaterra
27-Nov	IOST	3 Pointer	0:02	Hassan Diarra	Unassisted
20-Nov	DEL ST	2 Pointer	0:08	Donovan Clingan	Joey Calcaterra
18-Nov	UNC-W	3 Pointer	0:02	Alex Karaban	Andre Jackson
11-Nov	BU	3 Pointer	0:23	Adama Sanogo	Hassan Diarra

 

[Chin Diesel]

The first four Hurley years we were so bad at crunchtime shots. We couldn't even get organized enough to get an attempt off half the time. This making shots business is so much more fun than banging our collective heads against the wall at the end of half.

It is also apparent that this team feeds off that momentum and it turns on the Terminator mode for them.

This year's team is light years ahead of Hurley's previous UConn teams with passing, spacing and presenting multiple options who need to be defended at different levels.

All that leads to more options to get a shot off.