In general, our perimeter defense is keyed at the top of the arc, not the wings or angles. In particular, Reed, Jr. or Sampson rushes to try to help then has to get back to defend the hoop. This is leaving Alex and Liam vulnerable to wing 3s as they are covering for the vacancy in the middle and have to hedge.They did a great job on Dixon for the entire part, not the most part.
We locked down in the 2nd half. I agree we were getting beat too much in the 1st half.
Somebody needs to put that Popeye look that Samson flashed onto a t-shirt. It was perfect!
It depends in the type of team UConn is playing which center will have the greater impact. Reid against Creighton may be the guy.Agreed, I am hopeful he can continue playing like this. He doesn't seem to be in his head as much. This was his most confident game though this season.
Stew I think is almost there, he is in flow of the offense and defense recently. Make that dunk and don't make one silly foul and he'd be exactly what UConn wants from him this year. Even with those two missteps, great game from him.
Reed didn't play great on defense but his strength and rebounding helped a ton early.
As for the starters, not sure anyone but Karaban and Johnson really had great games. They were both fantastic tonight.
It's about time!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."
He was pretty terrible in the 1st half. Got blown by on two straight drives before committing a dumb pass attempt to Reed for a turnover. He damn near fell over at half court from a simple bump......then.....he hit that corner 3 and the switch flipped. The AM that came out of the locker is someone who could be key for us.The key tonight was he wasn’t hesitant. He was confident with the ball knew what he wanted to do and did it. He also didn’t pass up shots when he was open.
Increasingly relevant is until 1 min left, we had a bench of 3 (Reed, Jr., Mahaney, Stewart) so functionally 8 played. Sorry, Ross got 1 min, it was Stewart who got the minutes.BIG bench contribution form Mahaney, Reed, and Ross!
Only thing we wrapped up was a move to the top of the 8s. NET up, etc. Above us? Bottom of the 7s = Creighton.
But in the first half, Nova was in our shirt, face, shorts, playing their best St. John's defense against us. Funny their coach (ex-coach one would think soon) said that of us.It's about time!
AK and Jaylin shut down Dixon and made him look stupid. Jaylin shut down Dixon and made him look stupid each time we played Nova this season. Our lineup with the three wings and 1 big looked very good defensively.Yeah, it was weird - rode him then moved off him, I'm sure he was spent as he carried them for most of the game. Then they naturally went to their best player, who couldn't hit anything and was taking awful threes. Dixon took one three from the corner which he was behind the backboard on, and then another so far out of the flow of the offense, rushed, from the wing at about 27 feet. Nova doesn't run anything. They were awful in the last 8 minutes, not sure how much we take credit for or not. I think they had 3 points from around the 8 minute mark till the end of game other than some junk points at the very end.
Hope all goes well!Have surgery today so only saw a few minutes into the 2nd half. Darn double OT lead in game. Heckuva 2nd half performance, though.
it looks like a lot of the team are gelling at the right time, and defense is improving. Absent the atrocious 3 point shooting in the first 15 minutes and some questionable work by the officials on hand check fouls by ‘Nova this could have been a 30 point blowout.
On to Creighton! (Who should be a bit leg weary)
post / handleHave surgery today so only saw a few minutes into the 2nd half. Darn double OT lead in game. Heckuva 2nd half performance, though.
it looks like a lot of the team are gelling at the right time, and defense is improving. Absent the atrocious 3 point shooting in the first 15 minutes and some questionable work by the officials on hand check fouls by ‘Nova this could have been a 30 point blowout.
On to Creighton! (Who should be a bit leg weary)
Buddy and I were talking - pound for pound, Jaylen is the best looking athlete on Uconn. He just looks like a basketball player, when you consider length, frame, smoothness of movement. Anything that stops him from becoming great will be entirely upstairs. He does still feel very young, almost looks more like a freshman than a sophomore. Once the maturity kicks in and he flips into a man, he's going to be a really interesting player to watch.AK and Jaylin shut down Dixon and made him look stupid. Jaylin shut down Dixon and made him look stupid each time we played Nova this season. Our lineup with the three wings and 1 big looked very good defensively.
Seriously, locking down the nation's leading scorer to 2-15 shooting and just 8 points? What more could we have realistically done? LolThey did a great job on Dixon for the entire part, not the most part.
Yeah, it was weird - rode him then moved off him, I'm sure he was spent as he carried them for most of the game. Then they naturally went to their best player, who couldn't hit anything and was taking awful threes. Dixon took one three from the corner which he was behind the backboard on, and then another so far out of the flow of the offense, rushed, from the wing at about 27 feet. Nova doesn't run anything. They were awful in the last 8 minutes, not sure how much we take credit for or not. I think they had 3 points from around the 8 minute mark till the end of game other than some junk points at the very end.
Just looking for stuff that translates to Dancing.Yea, some of it was on Nova, but we also did a much better job containing their drives into the lane, and when they did get there, we contained it much better.
Don't be afraid to give us some praise and credit, You don't have to always be 110% contrarian.
UConn needs AK to be this good every game to be at their winning best. No pressure, Alex!So do you think Karaban is fully healed from the concussion? /s. He's had a pretty good 5 game run here.
In terms of matchup, I don't care, but who wouldn't root for Smart over Pitino? Also, I'd like to see Marquette get a bit of a boost in potential seeding. After losing the last two games of the regular season, they can use some mojo after finishing the season losing to St. John's in OT.Who are we rooting for in game 1 tonight
I dunno. I think it started with making shots.It
Starts
With
Defense
In terms of matchup, I don't care, but who wouldn't root for Smart over Pitino? Also, I'd like to see Marquette get a bit of a boost in potential seeding. After losing the last two games of the regular season, they can use some mojo after finishing the season losing to St. John's in OT.
Jaylin's 1st half layup off the SJohnson feed was a great example of that athleticism. A Nova player flopped to the ground and JStew had to make the layup and jump over the flopper to land safely on the other side. He did this effortlessly.Buddy and I were talking - pound for pound, Jaylen is the best looking athlete on Uconn. He just looks like a basketball player, when you consider length, frame, smoothness of movement. Anything that stops him from becoming great will be entirely upstairs. He does still feel very young, almost looks more like a freshman than a sophomore. Once the maturity kicks in and he flips into a man, he's going to be a really interesting player to watch.
He does play great D against Dixon.
Mahaney had not had a ton of experience running the complex offense with his very limited minutes. I think that plus confidence is what is getting him there.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.
He does a lot of things well. He just needs to to put it all together consistently. I like how he's always ready to go when he gets the call.Jaylin's 1st half layup off the SJohnson feed was a great example of that athleticism. A Nova player flopped to the ground and JStew had to make the layup and jump over the flopper to land safely on the other side. He did this effortlessly.
Better shots follow good defense.I dunno. I think it started with making shots.