Villanova Post Game Thread | Page 4 | The Boneyard

Villanova Post Game Thread

navery12 said:
This is just blatantly not true. We missed 6 free throws and not a single one was the front end of a 1 and 1. Clingan and Johnson both had 0/2 trips on a shooting foul, and Newton/Castle both had a 1/2 trip
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I may have that wrong. But we are shooting 72.8% from the line this year. That is blatantly true. I really really really hope that does not come back to bite us in a nail biter during the tournament. Villanova shot almost 83% tonight. That’s more along the lines of what the 2022-2023 UConn team brought.
 
superjohn said:
We also executed well the last 3 minutes. Didn't like the crazy long three from Tristen with a minute left but everything else was spot on. It's so rare we've been tested like that which made it nice to see them look calm in handling their business.
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Newtons never phased by anything. Sometimes you wonder if he’s too relaxed, but he tends to make enough big and clutch plays because the moment never bothers him.
 
Huskyforlife said:
Because this place would be boring if every post was “yay we’re so awesome go UConn.”

We looked vulnerable without Castle and Don. Injuries are a real thing, and we’ll be lucky if nobody in our top 7 misses anymore time. Ball and Stewart are real talents, capable of more than what they’ve shown, I believe in them to figure out a contributing role this season. Also having depth keeps your starters fresh, and less worried about picking up fouls.
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Remember when El-Amin got injured in the post season. Not saying we win that year, but we probably get closer.
 
HailUConn said:
This game is the official requiem for "Hurley cannot win a close game".
He has won multiple close games, home or away, big or small ball.
This team has the mettle of a champion led by veterans Sir Newton and Spencer.
A special shout out to Castle, calmly sunk 2 free throws after that nasty fall.
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You only spitting facts!
 
Gritty win on a night where Spencer and AK struggled with their deep ball.

I'm still a tad concerned with Castle. The half court motion offense seems to lose its mojo with Castle out there. He's simply not decisive in the flow of the offense. He needs to make quicker pass/drive decisions. We all can see he's struggling with his 3 ball. He makes some nice ad-lib passes and has an impressive one-on-one iso power dribble game, which translates more to the NBA game. Though I wish he'd be more decisive more often with his power game. He's a great defender. Just wish he'd figure out Hurley's motion-O since the team is at their best when executing it with pace. Still a lot of games to improve.

Newton keeps on coming up huge late in games.

It was a gritty win. They never lost their composure in a tough hostel court.
 
superjohn said:
We also executed well the last 3 minutes. Didn't like the crazy long three from Tristen with a minute left but everything else was spot on. It's so rare we've been tested like that which made it nice to see them look calm in handling their business.
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With an offense this good that’s all it comes down to. Execution. There’s not much of a need for hero ball. The shots are going to be there.

Part of the reason there’s not much reason to worry in situations like tonight.
 
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slepers said:
They shot 75%
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Yup. And 72.8% on the season. Now compare that to last year. The margin of error in the tournament will likely not be nearly what it was last year. Villanova shot almost 83% tonight.
 
TheChamps990411 said:
Whille he did take some head scratching bad shots Tristen imho put to bed the argument that this teamd doesnt have a guy that can go get a bucket when we need it.
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The three he took from 30 feet after making one on the previous possession from 25 feet was a head scratcher. But he came up big when it counted.

Anyone else as nervous as I was when he went to the line with 4 seconds left? But he calmly nailed them both.
 
TheHorde said:
Made 75% and shot well late but missed some front ends of one and ones. Every point counts and it’s not deniable that this year’s squad hasn’t shot free throws as well as last year’s. I’m very happy with the win but would love to see a slight uptick at the line.
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Are you sure they were front ends take out the 4 Samson and Clingan misdeed and I know one was the backend of a 1&1 so that leaves one!
 
navery12 said:
If the standard is that we'll struggle without 2 of our 5 starters then there are 0 good teams this year. It would be nice to get more from Ball and Stewart, but that's a nice bonus, not necessary
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Was trying to say losing even 1 at a time is a significant drop off for us. Going from title favorite to top 5ish is still very awesome, but having at least one more Joey/Alleyne level bench guy would take a lot of stress away.
 
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husky429 said:
What was Hurley yelling at McConnell about when Tristen was shooting FTs at the end?
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The announcer to you, Mcconnell the was dealing with jawboning as excuse to try to freeze tristan by delaying giving him the ball
 
Gutter King said:
We win by ten if we actually used him on offense rather than launching 25 footers.
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I love the 3 ball, but there’s a few times we have that lob angle from either top or wing, and the guards weren’t hitting him. Especially in the last few minutes milking some small leads.
 
TheHorde said:
I may have that wrong. But we are shooting 72.8% from the line this year. That is blatantly true. I really really really hope that does not come back to bite us in a nail biter during the tournament. Villanova shot almost 83% tonight. That’s more along the lines of what the 2022-2023 UConn team brought.
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Last year we shot 76%, so with our 20 FT attempts per game that we average that's an extra 0.6 points per game. If that's a significant difference to you then I don't really have anything else to say to you.

And our closing lineup of Newton, Diarra, Spencer, Castle, Karaban are 5 good to great FT shooters, which is really all that matters for the discussion
 
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It’s a good sign that the complaint has gone from “this team can’t win close games” to “this team has to play close games that they win.”

I’m thrilled with any road win in conference. Villanova aren’t bums. They’re good. And O’Connell brings down the vibe with his mere presence.
 
slepers said:
Are you sure they were front ends take out the 4 Samson and Clingan misdeed and I know one was the backend of a 1&1 so that leaves one!
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I stated under another comment I probably remembered it incorrectly. Still would like to see the free throw percentage tick up 2-3 points.
 
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TheHorde said:
Made 75% and shot well late but missed some front ends of one and ones. Every point counts and it’s not deniable that this year’s squad hasn’t shot free throws as well as last year’s. I’m very happy with the win but would love to see a slight uptick at the line.
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Completely wrong on what transpired this evening.
 
We need a heck of a lot more than 2 and 2 from our starting center. I thought we played really bad tonight. Lucky to come away with a win.
 
TheHorde said:
I may have that wrong. But we are shooting 72.8% from the line this year. That is blatantly true. I really really really hope that does not come back to bite us in a nail biter during the tournament. Villanova shot almost 83% tonight. That’s more along the lines of what the 2022-2023 UConn team brought.
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Keep searching for your validation
 
Huskyforlife said:
Was trying to say losing even 1 at a time is a significant drop off for us. Going from title favorite to top 5ish is still very awesome, but having at least one more Joey/Alleyne level bench guy would take a lot of stress away.
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That I can agree with. All I'll say about that is that last year at this time Joey was unplayable and buried on the bench. So a bit early to write off those guys contributing on a March run. Especially Stewart who seems to be gaining Hurley's trust by the day, and feels like he's on the verge of breaking out offensively
 
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