Villanova post game thread

[TheHorde]

So do you think Karaban is fully healed from the concussion? /s. He's had a pretty good 5 game run here.

Mahaney played pretty well. If he can give that every game it makes everything better.

Switching Diarra on to Poplar did the trick. I'm not sure how many points Poplar had with Diarra on him but it wasn't much.

On to Creighton.

Hasn’t the removal of the tape on his shoulder more or less coincided with his resurgence lately?

 

[TheHorde]

Just don’t….

DOOMED

 

[Chin Diesel]

Last five minutes of the game are on FS1's replay rn.

 

[Chin Diesel]

Me thinks we are too hard on this team. It amazes me how critical we can be, yet others see us differently almost reverently.

I saw good/better defense last night, Nova coach thought it was exceptional and intimidating and suffocating.

“They were just intense,” Villanova coach Kyle Neptune said. “They made it hard for us to catch, made it hard for us to get to our sets. They just came after us.”

View attachment 107739

Announcers talked about Nova being slowest pace of play in the country. Second half UConn was giving light 3/4 court pressure and by the time Nova was starting their sets there was only 17-18 seconds left on shot clock. Quite a few times their offense was get the ball over half court, one off ball screen, a pass, and then a one on one shot or drive. Off the ball movement was non-existent.

 

[Dove]

Here.we.go!!!!!!!

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

You realize that if it weren’t for novas having so many free throws this wouldn’t have been a game at all.

Or, for Nova having committed so few fouls in the first 30 minutes of the game.

Dixon was 11-48 in our three games. OUCH!!

And he only committed 4 fouls in 3 games.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

Reminded me of last season seeing them break a team in the 2nd half

It starts with defense™

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

There is no such thing ”law” that says ...

Stop digging.

 

[UCTitleTown]

It’s 12:30am. Am I asleep? Is this a dream? What’s going on?

America’s leading scorer shot 2-15?

Michael Jordan played the first half with the name “Poplar” on his jersey?

Aidan Mahaney was our best player for half the game?

Alex Karaban nailing clutch shots against the team that started his slump? Scored or assisted on every single Husky point from 6:17 to the end of the game except Solo’s 2 FTs at the end

THIS. IS. MARCH.

Ashworth from Creighton shot something similar vs. DePaul. Nervous about him going off tonight. Hard to imagine he'll have back to back stinkers.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

Have surgery today

^ Best wishes

 

[Vancat]

Somebody needs to put that Popeye look that Samson flashed onto a t-shirt. It was perfect!

https://x.com/UConnMBB/status/1900400058027168020

 

[Umami Zen]

Thought our defensive rotations and help defense was excellent-Esp. on Dixon. Took away his secondary spin move in traffic. Poplar was always going to get his-A tough match up for our guards.Alex back to being Alex. Aidan with a solid prime time contribution. Our guys played through the uncalled fouls and physicality like BET champs should and sealed the deal. Great W

 

[UCTitleTown]

The adjustment to play bigger the 2nd half of the 2nd half was huge.

You also saw the advantage of playing a team who had to play the day before.

Mahaney showed a burst of speed with his layup and didn't look rattled against their pressure. I expect him to get more minutes.

Let's wear down Creighton tomorrow.

Creighton is beat up. I'd consider pressing them a bit and getting out on the break to wear them out late. Just contain Kalkbrenner and don't let Ashworth go off.

 

[UCTitleTown]

I loved the Samson block in the first half where he hung in the air and blocked the shot with his off-hand. Very impressive and composed play.

 

[Conndog]

Good job coaching last night by Hurley! The refs were not calling holding & grabbing by Villanova in 1st half, the free throw difference was huge, and it may have been the not-called charge where Mahaney I think got knocked backward that he exploded and got the technical. Second half reffing was much less one-sided. Also, he subbed well, found the right combinations and strategy to stop Villanova’s two main threats Dixon and Poplar, and now UConn is hot tonight with AK in good form, both centers playing great, Hass is reasonably rested, and subs Mahaney and Stewart are really contributing. Imagine if we get A games from Solo and McNeeley going forward. Team Is looking confident!

 

[HuskyHawk]

Reflecting on the Box Score, UConn really played stellar defense. Poplar went off but they shut down everything else. Holding them to the 50s is pretty impressive. Samson had a monster game defensively. He was all over the place and was the only guy who could guard Poplar. Took him several times and every single time Poplar couldn't get a shot off and had to pass out.

Huge game from Mahaney. I don't know what drugs they gave him, but playing at 1.5X his normal speed is working for him. Maybe he's finally comfortable in the offense. Alex seems to be Alex again, which is all we can ask for. Now if we could only get the old Liam back, we'd really be cooking. Ball is due for a breakout shooting night soon. While everyone on the board gushes over Reed, can we appreciate just how much better our combined 5s are that what anybody else is throwing out there? Merge their stats and impact and it's really impressive.

 

[uconn_jack]

Didn’t look like a goaltend live. Never saw a replay.

It hit the backboard before he blocked it.

 

[80shusky]

Great win! That opening 7 minutes where we were 4-14 I think? I kept thinking if we would just hit some shots we would be tied or up a few points here and I think we are going to get there. In the second half when they initially kept their lead at 5 pts or so I started to wonder if UConn was going to turn it on. The defense was great. Nice work from Mahaney and Stewart and of course Alex. The offensive sets looked really crisp and were giving them open looks all night even early when the shots weren't falling.

 

[Edward Sargent]

He has skills. But he never puts 2 good games in a row this season. He can change that. I know many have written him off, but the book isn't finished on him.

He just put two good games together - SHU and Nova

 

[AllHusky]

Great reading repetitive comments about how impactful our defense was last night. That has been non-existent this year. Dee-fense!!

 

[Hunt for 7]

We can evaluate each players performance and that has merit. But for me it is pretty simple is Alex is hitting big threes every player on our team is better. And thus when Alex is on we are much better and also a pretty dangerous team in March. Stay hot Alex!

 

[DogMania]

He is really turning into it. He even played Dixon well when switched on to him. I really love his dedication to improving his D. I'm sure Hurely told him to get more minutes he needs to improve there. He has the athletic ability and just need the mindset. Let's hope he keeps playing great D as he is so versatile and can play 1-5 at times on D. He was +19 when on the court only beeaten by Karaban at +21.

Although this might already been brought up, Ross got only 1 minute last night when Hurley emptied the bench. This is clearly the result of both Stewart and Mahaney improving, giving the team some very productive minutes.

Props to both players for working hard where their efforts are finally translating to quality real game minutes.

Props to Hurley for not giving up on Mahaney as a backup PG, something that I and many others here had given up on. He still struggles with the physicality of the game, but seems to be improving on both ends of the floor, especially the offensive end and handling on-the-ball pressure.

I hope he continues to play well throughout this post season and can work hard on getting stronger and improving his lateral movement during the off-season.

 

[Brochacho]

This is the most excited I've been for a pair of 7-point performances (Mahaney and Stewart). Mahaney still got beat on D a fair amount and Stewart made a couple of silly plays on D (goaltend, three point foul) but if we can get 15-20 minutes per game like that from them here on out, look out. If we can keep Diarra off the floor for 15-20 minutes a game and keep McNeeley, Ball and Karaban off the floor 5-10 minutes - hello San Antonio.

 

[RuffRuff]

Nice win, ugly game. Nova was 5-32 from the floor outside of Poplar. Nova offense was a bunch of iso and Dixon was absolutely awful forcing up all kinds of low quality shots. They had 5 assists. Our D played well. AK had a really nice game, valuable minutes from Mahaney. Liam looks like he needs a sports therapist. Hass looks broken physically. A nice win but not one that gives you goosebumps around tourney potential. We are going to need Mahaney.

Nova fans can’t wait to find a real coach. Neptune looks like a maitre d on the sideline with the skinny pants, turtle neck and blazer look.