Villanova post game thread

[6Nattys4Us]

Only thing we wrapped up was a move to the top of the 8s. NET up, etc. Above us? Bottom of the 7s = Creighton.

So simply, beat them and we move up to 7 and they slide down to 8. What we do vs. St. John's (or Marquette) won't hurt because so many other teams are done it's house money.

 

[6Nattys4Us]

It's about time!

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.

 

[superjohn]

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.

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.

 

[David 76]

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)

Hope all goes well!

 

[jpeakin]

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 / handle

 

[RuffRuff]

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.

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.

 

[ctbro1999]

They did a great job on Dixon for the entire part, not the most part.

Seriously, locking down the nation's leading scorer to 2-15 shooting and just 8 points? What more could we have realistically done? Lol

 

[JustbrewitMan]

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.

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.

 

[JustbrewitMan]

That "In the Huddle" with Hurley in the 2nd half was prescient...

No panic, just hyping up the team, keeping them positive and focusing them on the 2 most important things for a victory:

-Take away Poplar's right hand
-Get over the hump and take the lead (after the game, he went further and said the "game pressure" from doing that would affect Nova)


We did get over the hump shortly after that TO, and I don't think Poplar had a legit good drive with his right hand the rest of the game. The rest of the team was largely ineffective.

 

[RuffRuff]

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.

Just looking for stuff that translates to Dancing.

AK playing well - check, he's playing like old Alex. This may be the most important piece, which is great.
Solo hot - hasn't shot it all that well lately
Liam hot - going through a funk at the wrong time
Hass being healthy - was evident yesterday he is operating well below 100%, shifting to AM picking up the gap here and finding confidence. He did look really good yesterday and I anticipate he can have a good game tonight. We need good guard play to have any chance.
Tarris being a pillar in the offense - seems we've moved away from Tarris, he's back to looking kind of complacent and in a backup mentality. His vibe felt very odd yesterday.

Was that a super satisfying win? No. Maybe it came through differently on TV. It was far from a Picasso live. The first half offense looked disjointed much of the time and we had no solution for one guy defensively. Appreciate the win, excited for tonight, not coming out of that one feeling like we are gelling.

 

[Waquoit]

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

UConn needs AK to be this good every game to be at their winning best. No pressure, Alex!

 

[Hey Adrien!]

Who are we rooting for in game 1 tonight

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.

 

[Waquoit]

It
Starts
With
Defense

I dunno. I think it started with making shots.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

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.

I'd rather get off the 8/9 line than give Marquette seeding help. I don't follow this stuff closely enough to know whether a win over Marquette does it. Based on the last couple years with the committee and the Big East I am preparing to be disappointed on Sunday, but a win over St. John's certainly helps more.

Plus I just love the idea of a St. Johns / UConn final on Saturday night.

 

[Dogdeacon]

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.

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.

 

[jibsey]

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.

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.

 

[Waquoit]

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.

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.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

I dunno. I think it started with making shots.

Better shots follow good defense.

 

[Iluvsuebird]

Quite the game…just leaving MSG and could not be happier with the second half. Wore Tristen Newton shirt for luck and hope it worked. 3-0 in games I have attended.

Do not take that shirt off your body!

 

[RuffRuff]

Truth from our guy Sam

 

[Scoe]

We're a 2nd half team, whatever we do in the 2nd half can we do that to start the game.

 

[RuffRuff]

 

[Mister P]

what was the technical for?

Here’s the video.

 

[BFieldHusky]

I'd rather get off the 8/9 line than give Marquette seeding help. I don't follow this stuff closely enough to know whether a win over Marquette does it. Based on the last couple years with the committee and the Big East I am preparing to be disappointed on Sunday, but a win over St. John's certainly helps more.

Plus I just love the idea of a St. Johns / UConn final on Saturday night.

Need to root for St. Johns tonight. I believe Marquette is still in play for us to get ahead of for seeding.

 

[RuffRuff]

Need to root for St. Johns tonight. I believe Marquette is still in play for us to get ahead of for seeding.

Why not just beat them in the final to jump them? If we both win tonight, committee could have a 7 seed reserved for the winner. So not only are you the BET Champ, you're also the 7 seed champ!

I'm all for Marquette winning - StJ is our kryptonite.

 

[superjohn]

Truth from our guy Sam

And yet you don't come out of that game last night thinking we're gelling?

I feel pretty darn good about this team but opponents get tougher from here on out.

 

[uconnfan68]

It hit the backboard before he blocked it.

I’ll take your word.

 

[tzznandrew]

And yet you don't come out of that game last night thinking we're gelling?

I feel pretty darn good about this team but opponents get tougher from here on out.

Barring getting a 13-16 seed in round 2, every team play going forward is better than Villanova.

Not more talented, of course, but better.

I definitely like what I've been seeing with this team in the last few weeks. Really since the last St. John's pantzing we took.

 

[Mister P]

Would be nice if the refs did their jobs better so they would not need to be yapped at.

I think the most egregious call was called on Solo when came from the weak side to block a layup by Brickus. He had all ball. Coincidentally, we went on our second half run after that foul.


Video showed him dropping an “F” bomb to the official.
“It was calculated,” Hurley said after the Huskies outscored the Wildcats 42-20 in the second half to win 73-56. “I pick up some technical fouls that are not calculated, they’re regrettable. But that was one I wanted. But I’m not sure what type of impact it had, because the free throw discrepancy continued.”

Edit, to be clear, Hurley did not p/u the tech on that Solo play.

 

[boba]

I'd rather get off the 8/9 line than give Marquette seeding help. I don't follow this stuff closely enough to know whether a win over Marquette does it. Based on the last couple years with the committee and the Big East I am preparing to be disappointed on Sunday, but a win over St. John's certainly helps more.

Plus I just love the idea of a St. Johns / UConn final on Saturday night.

As long as the outcome is like 1999, I'd love it too. (Wow that was the last time St. John's was in it?)