Villanova Post Game Thread | Page 4 | The Boneyard

Villanova Post Game Thread

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BigFanCT said:
As much as the crowd tries at the XL it’s just not nearly the same as Gampel. GTown was much, much louder.

Just not the same.
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AntG168 said:
Nova last year was a mad house. Game trajectory influences UConn crowds. GTown was louder because Joey California went nuclear. Both are amazing home courts
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When we went on the second half run, the crowd was ready to explode and Nova hit a three and immediately called a timeout.

We never went on that big run with 4-5 consecutive plays to get the crowd really building to a crescendo.

That’s all that was missing. Neptune and Nova did a good job managing the crowd with timely shots and timeouts. It’s not the venue. 15k is louder than 9k.
 
We will have to see how Adama adjusts. The playbook is set based on GT and Nova. Deny Adama the entry pass and collapse on him and force outside shots. With long enough spells of cold shooting, it has given both GT and Nova a puncher’s chance to stay in the game. But, it hasn’t worked yet because we have too many good shooters that ultimately will find the bucket, but it’s about the best shot most teams will have.
 
It is a great win, but am I the only one who feels the offense is not what it was a few games ago?
Credit to them for pulling out victories, but it is not the overwhelming offense we were seeing in our first games.
 
Zissou said:
Dixon was only 1-5 from three, so 5 of 9 from two.

UConn has 2 very good centers, but Dixon outplayed them tonight.
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He didn’t outplay Clingan. He actually gagged on a couple bunnies near the hoop because there was 7’2 stretched out in front of him. We didn’t see enough Clingan and that’s on Hurley.

Having said that Dixon played well, tough kid.
 
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David 76 said:
It is a great win, but am I the only one who feels the offense is not what it was a few games ago?
Credit to them for pulling out victories, but it is not the overwhelming offense we were seeing in our first games.
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There’s a lot more game footage for opposing teams to dissect.
 
My two cents.. First.. A great BE win.. Crowd really helped our guys.. Played with intensity and passion..Our identity.

What can be learned by watching this game's tape for players/coaches?? Nova is a team of method actors and know their roles.. Up fakes practiced in pre-game warmups/shoot arounds.. Sell the fouls(even Neptune) and get to the line.. Don't agitate the refs... Boxing out our Bigs. You cannot continue to get T's and concede four points to good FT shooting teams in close games. (Two points for FT and two-or three points-- with ball possession after FT)

Game MVPs.. Hawk-1st half.. Diarra-Karaban-2nd half.. Team D and bench depth won the game.. Our freshman playing like vets. I'll take a W over style points in BE any day. Great game for Betsey/Mulready to see in person

Next
 
JustbrewitMan said:
Let’s be honest. Nova was gifted 10-14 pts by the refs ignoring travels, calling phantom fouls (Sanogo one was the worst), and letting Nova do their usual backdowns and swallowing the whistle on some obvious offensive fouls.

This game should have been a 15-18 pt cakewalk with a fair whistle. A 22-26 pt win if we shot at our usual %.

Regardless, a nice grinder win with diverse contributions from our deep
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The refs were dreadful, but both ways they had nothing to do with how well Nova defended and how bad we were on offense. Give Nova credit for getting Sanogo too far from the basket to be an impact. As I've said if he dribbles more than once, trouble can happen at any time, they made sure he didn't get it for drop steps or immediate lay ins. And we threw some dreadful passes to the interior, started the game with Hawk throwing one about 20 feet high blooper to him. And AJ threw 2-3 darts that weren't getting there as Nova was overplaying the ball. I know one thing, throwing it high to 7'2" is easier than to 6'8"!!

But offensively we weren't good. If Andre is shooting 11 times already an issue unless 7 are dunks. You do win the defensive battle (and we did) when AJ and Diarra are in the game but you will lose the offensive battle, Diarra is an open court guard not a half court PG. But he was good on the other end so how do you take him out? Karaban was good, needed to get him more looks than they did. Newton, got caught in the middle without a plan a few times. He needs to be more aggressive and less "point guardy", too much indecision. Thought Alleyne was able to create his own shot, maybe could've used a few more minutes as his defense was very good again. Biggest thing was Clingan getting just 14 minutes when Sanogo is so far off his game, can't happen. He was the better option in the 2nd half when the struggle continued.

Give Nova credit they had a game plan and it kept them in the game. I don't think they're that good but they will be good and consistent as they play hard. Thing is we should beat this team easier, home crowd waiting to chomp, and we struggled. Wins are great and keep winning is good, but the real test is Saturday for me. That team can and will score, can we. Our struggles can't continue on the offensive end Saturday or this board will be out of it's #1 minds.
 
J187Money said:
It was a game flow issue. Place was about to erupt 4 or 5 times and a Villanova bucket or a whistle killed the vibe. Just couldn’t get a run going.
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Even with an inspiring effort from Diarra in the second, UConn never got a great run.
 
David 76 said:
It is a great win, but am I the only one who feels the offense is not what it was a few games ago?
Credit to them for pulling out victories, but it is not the overwhelming offense we were seeing in our first games.
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Minus spurts you are correct 76. Since Butler not very impressive on the offensive end in any consistent manner. They do find their way so give them credit, but a long way to go to have that total offensive output we saw against Oregon, Alabama etc..
 
mauconnfan said:
He didn’t outplay Clingan. He actually gagged on a couple bunnies near the hoop because there was 7’2 stretched out in front of him. We didn’t see enough Clingan and that’s on Hurley.

Having said that Dixon played well, tough kid.
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The box score aligns with my perception. It’s true that Clingan altered shots and created misses. Dixon had to play against both your centers and outplayed their combined effort.

Too often Sanogo was in while Dixon caught a breather, and he got points of Slater who could not stop him.

UConn has 2 very good centers, but that did not beat Nova. UConn won with a difference in the guard play, having a deeper collective contribution. Daniels and Hawkins were both great (both making very difficult shots and working their tails off) but offset each other. Newton, Jackson, and Diarra weren’t great, but they got to the line late and made there free throws, out scoring Arch and bench guards for the difference.
 
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Zissou said:
The box score aligns with my perception. It’s true that Clingan altered shots and created misses. Dixon had to play against both your centers and outplayed their combined effort.

Too often Sanogo was in while Dixon caught a breather, and he got points of Slater who could not stop him.

UConn has 2 very good centers, but that did not beat Nova. UConn won with a difference in the guard play, having a deeper collective contribution. Daniels and Hawkins were both great (both making very difficult shots and working their tails off) but offset each other. Newton, Jackson, and Diarra weren’t great, but they got to the line late and made there free throws, out scoring Arch and bench guards for the difference.
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No doubt he outplayed Sanogo agree and Sanogo scored against Slater. He has a 2 to 3 edge on matchups the last 2 years for sure. He's strong and doesn't let him set up on the low block pushes him away from the basket, well played. Both defenses were good we just made a couple more shots and created FT opportunities.

Big East war!
 
I have been fighting COVID symptoms sinceTuesday noon so I did not know UCONN won until this morning searched iPAD. No TV or radio on , was afraid COVID would get worse if they lost got recording will watch. I feel a tiny small little bit better that UCONN won.
 
This post is going to come off as negative, but we are an awesome team and need to play better. If we play like we did the past two games 0-4 is as likely as 4-0 this next stretch. Xavier, Creighton and Marquette will be the second, third and fourth best teams we’ve played all year going off Kenpom. @65 Providence is no slouch either. This is the stretch where we learn if we are a 1 seed or if an undefeated season is possible. Going to need some complete team games.

Diarra has really stepped up these past two games. Jackson has to stop getting T’ed after hitting 3s. Newton is due for some big games - and we need it. I hope Hawkins continues to take plenty of threes - he has the green light.
 
Adama is being fronted and doubled and other guys will need to step up and beat the 4 on 3. Low scoring nights will not be indicative of bad play but he needs stay composed and not force things. He still had the second biggest bucket of the night. Nova is particularly good at the defense.

Did not need to see buttcrack on tv. Vile and the seasons low point.

Shabazz’s mom behind the bench was awesome. Who is gonna step up as the alpha mom fan? Need to carry on in the tradition ala Andrea, Carmen and Tanesha (sp?).
 
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Padutch5 said:
Reffing in the big east is a refs worst nightmare. They could call something on every play. Unfortunatly we have seen these three far too often. First, they talk back to the coaches. That is a no no. It just encourages coaches to lose their temper.
Second, they are inconsistent. Threatening a technical on Hurley for his sidewise look to the ref on a bad call Was quite a joke. If they start handing our technicals for antagonistic looks, we had better find new refs.
Three, they let Dixon get away with murder. From numerous uncalled three seconds in the lane to his frequent uncalled hooks of UCONN players its no wonder Sanogo was off his game.. Based on the success of this strategy tonight, I predict we will see other teams try this strategy as well.
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Glad someone else saw this. I was sitting in 102 and saw Dixon hook Sanogo at least three times under that hoop and once on Karaban after a switch. Call it once and it stops. I nearly lost my mind after Dixon pivoted in the lane for a hot minute then scored after an uncalled hook. I also think all college refs need a master class in calling charges/blocks. The inconsistency in these types of calls seems to get worse each year.
 
bigknight3 said:
There was a 16-3 run in the second half. I think we went from down 3 to up by 10pts.
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And during that run there were 2 timeouts. (15:44, and 14:18) After that run the score was 49-39 and the crowd was ready to blow when Nova hit a three to cut it to 7, and immediately called another timeout at 11:29.

Until Dre hit the shot from the corner, they did a great job of managing a (still very loud) crowd.
 
this post from the peecee message board made me laugh. not sure how many harry potter fans are out there on the boneyard, but worth a read:

Uconn is Voldemort. The first couple of seasons in the Big East it was rumor and innuendo but now it is Book #4: at #2 in the country, with a really talented/deep team and Villanova looking the underdog all game: The dark mark has returned and the evil is certainly back.
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247sports.com

'Nova-UConn

'Nova-UConn
247sports.com 247sports.com
 
AreBee1969 said:
Glad someone else saw this. I was sitting in 102 and saw Dixon hook Sanogo at least three times under that hoop and once on Karaban after a switch. Call it once and it stops. I nearly lost my mind after Dixon pivoted in the lane for a hot minute then scored after an uncalled hook. I also think all college refs need a master class in calling charges/blocks. The inconsistency in these types of calls seems to get worse each year.
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Adama was also pushed out of the play on a couple of rebounds. No foul. But that is all part of the game.

Look, Hurley choose his poison. He decided to defend the the three point line hard and leave our centers one on one on defense. He let Dixon get his. Nova went 5-22 from the arc.

Nova decided to clog the middle and harass Adama. They successfully denied him the ball most of the game. We were a pedestrian 9-30 from the arc but that made us +12 from the three point line.

Both coaches had game plans that worked to some extent. UConn won the game.
 
Palatine said:
Adama was also pushed out of the play on a couple of rebounds. No foul. But that is all part of the game.

Look, Hurley choose his poison. He decided to defend the the three point line hard and leave our centers one on one on defense. He let Dixon get his. Nova went 5-22 from the arc.

Nova decided to clog the middle and harass Adama. They successfully denied him the ball most of the game. We were a pedestrian 9-30 from the arc but that made us +12 from the three point line.

Both coaches had game plans that worked to some extent. UConn won the game.
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Perfect post right here. The 9-30 (30%) wasn't great but there were a lot of really good looks that just didn't go down. The purpose of the offense is to get quality looks, and we know we have the talent to make them.

If we get quality looks every game, we will win a lot more games than we lose. Even if we have an occasional bad shooting night.
 
Palatine said:
Adama was also pushed out of the play on a couple of rebounds. No foul. But that is all part of the game.

Look, Hurley choose his poison. He decided to defend the the three point line hard and leave our centers one on one on defense. He let Dixon get his. Nova went 5-22 from the arc.

Nova decided to clog the middle and harass Adama. They successfully denied him the ball most of the game. We were a pedestrian 9-30 from the arc but that made us +12 from the three point line.

Both coaches had game plans that worked to some extent. UConn won the game.
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yeah, great post. dixon also had 4 turnovers (and maybe should have had more if the refs were counting 3 seconds) because we never gave him the easy pass to an open shooter or cutter.

i thought both teams played well this game, and that's why it was so ugly at times. people saying that nova is a "bottom-end big east team" may end up looking foolish at the end of the year.
 
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Blue Idiaco said:
You can see the passing of the baton in this game. Villanova is an old, slow team that couldn't handle UConn's athleticism. Diarra and the press changed the game. FYI: the average age of the Villanova points scored was 22 years old! Uconn average aged points scored was just over 20 years. Villanova has no recruiting class coming in, will lose Daniels, Slater, Moore and Whitmore. No idea if Dixon comes back, he probably will.

They had a week to prepare for what is perhaps one of two chances the rest of the year to get a true statement win (right now Villanova is not even a bubble team), did a lot of things right, saw Uconn shoot poorly, and yet never were ever really in the game in the second half. Dixon played great but got tired, as is expected.

Whitmore has to be asking himself why he decided to go to Villanova. He gets to hang out with a bunch of 22 year olds who play back to the basket and at a mind-numbingly slow pace. It was a bad decision for him and he looks miserable.

Uconn is better with Clingan on the court. As he gets more time, he will play more and Uconn will be better for it. Loved Hurley going to press, it was obvious they needed to speed up the game and not get lulled into the muck. Diarra was great, Karaban was great.Hawk was great in first half, but forced a lot in 2H. Sanogo really struggled but the pass to Jackson forced them to defend him different and he was able to get a couple of key looks later.

Good win, learned something about themselves this game. FT shooting was generally great, which will be key. At Xavier will be a tougher game on paper, they move the ball well on O, but not sure they match up well with UConn.
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I'd be shocked if Nova isn't a tourney team by March. They're going to do real damage in their Big East schedule.
 
mauconnfan said:
He didn’t outplay Clingan. He actually gagged on a couple bunnies near the hoop because there was 7’2 stretched out in front of him. We didn’t see enough Clingan and that’s on Hurley.

Having said that Dixon played well, tough kid.
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I wanted to see Clingan get some run at the under-8. I agree he needed a few more minutes.
 
It might be for 10,000 combo student/fans but what's wrong with 5,000+ more fans being able to see the game live along with the energy shot of having all these fans in downtown Hartford?
 
elmcityboy said:
yeah, great post. dixon also had 4 turnovers (and maybe should have had more if the refs were counting 3 seconds) because we never gave him the easy pass to an open shooter or cutter.

i thought both teams played well this game, and that's why it was so ugly at times. people saying that nova is a "bottom-end big east team" may end up looking foolish at the end of the year.
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Yeah, the way Nova has played the last few weeks they're a borderline top 25 team IMO.

I mentioned to my dad last night at the game that it reminded me of the last few years when we played Villanova, but with the roles reversed: usually we were the team that played very well, scrapped, clawed, but just couldn't get over the hump against the better team. I thought Nova played a great game and yet we were able to keep them at an arm's length distance pretty much the entire 2nd half.
 
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