We’re back in business with our guards BUT

[Scrappy3]

Really like the way Hawkins and Newton are playing. It honestly bodes well in tourneys. All you want is the chance to win 6 in a row and I SAY we can.WE CAN

But 2 issues
1. When we get leads we become undisciplined. It’s happened in 4 of our losses and in a few of our wins. We do not need alley oops— just continue to play hard and tight.
2. The quality of unit 2. I’m not asking for Kevin mchale but I’d like to see our role players atleast hold the line. Make your open shots move the ball and find good shots. I thought we had a gem in Joey C but he’s gone AWOL. I feel however he can re emerge especially in the tourney . Glad to see clingan gets his 18 minutes. He gives us more paint control on defense and minimizes second chance opportunities

 

[caw]

Really like the way Hawkins and Newton are playing. It honestly bodes well in tourneys. All you want is the chance to win 6 in a row and I SAY we can.WE CAN

But 2 issues
1. When we get leads we become undisciplined. It’s happened in 4 of our losses and in a few of our wins. We do not need alley oops— just continue to play hard and tight.
2. The quality of unit 2. I’m not asking for Kevin mchale but I’d like to see our role players atleast hold the line. Make your open shots move the ball and find good shots. I thought we had a gem in Joey C but he’s gone AWOL. I feel however he can re emerge especially in the tourney . Glad to see clingan gets his 18 minutes. He gives us more paint control on defense and minimizes second chance opportunities

For point 2, I know you mean the bench guards, but I liked the limited minutes from Johnson and Clingan obviously played well. Alleyne at least held the line, he wasn't amazing but he was solid. Joey and Diarra seemed to be non-factors today.

Point 1, it's been the case all year.

 

[Scottobot]

Alleyne made some shots tonight. If Newton can play well, and either Alleyne or Joey can come off the bunch and knock down a couple 3s they will be tough to beat.

Biggest thing they need right now is to win a close game. In particular if they could win a game on a last possession shot, that would exorcise a lot of demons.

JC still above 40% from 3 for season, so I wouldn’t give on him up yet. Alleyne is due for a breakout

 

[giddyup]

We have to how are guards hold up against better players before making any judgment. It’s generally against faster guards where they have trouble on D and being effective on dribble penetration on O.

 

[GHSWolverines]

For the few minutes SJ played, he was active on the boards. I was surprised he did not play at all in the 2nd half. I would like to see him get 10 to 15 minutes per game.

 

[UConnSwag11]

Let’s wait until we play against better teams. Need 2+ games for a trend. These are the same reactions after beating Butler

 

[RichZ]

JC still above 40% from 3 for season, so I wouldn’t give on him up yet. Alleyne is due for a breakout

Looking at the season as a whole gives a distorted picture of his value now. In Big East play, he's 8 of 32 -- 25% from deep. His all around FG % in BE play is 25.9% (14 of 54) and he's shot 18.5% in our 6 losses. (5 of 27).

If he was a passable defender, it might make sense to keep giving him minutes. But he is not.

 

[MJKI]

I think Samson getting back to game speed will do wonders for our second line. Trotting out him and Clingan at 4/5 against teams lesser bigs should put us in a good defensive and rebounding position.

 

[bendm]

clingan should be conference sixth man of the year if they have that award. diarra should give us consistent perimeter D off the bench. would be great if samson could fully work his way into the rotation by march.

at this point joey is a smaller polley, i.e., if he misses his first shot take him back out b/c he's not giving you anything else. alleyne also hasnt played well since PKI.

 

[Hi-Low]

Maybe DH has shortened the rotation or DePaul is a one off but Joey got 3 mins & Diarra got 5....I tend to think the rotation is shortening and those 2 will see limited mins for now. Samson will slowly work his way to 10+ mins to backup AK so the rotation will be 8 guys with Joey and Diarra getting spot mins so Hawk & Newton can get a breath.

We get no offense from Ajax so the reality is Hawk & Newton will be getting major mins going forward because they are so vital to our offense. Their backups all year have been Joey / Diarra so it's pretty obvious their minutes will take the hit. Alleyne has mostly backed up Ajax so his mins may stay the same or get a boost in games Ajax fouls or is turning over like crazy.

If Alleyne can't get his offense going then Joey / Diarra may see some of his mins but rotation has to tighten to 7 or 8 main guys at some point.

 

[CL82]

I thought we had a gem in Joey C but he’s gone AWOL.

I pictured Joey walking around campus, bundled up like the Michigan man, mumbling “cold… So very cold… Need sun”. We need to get him an NIL deal at a tanning salon so he can soak up a little quality vitamin D.

 

[Candyman]

Alleyne made some shots tonight. If Newton can play well, and either Alleyne or Joey can come off the bunch and knock down a couple 3s they will be tough to beat.

Biggest thing they need right now is to win a close game. In particular if they could win a game on a last possession shot, that would exorcise a lot of demons.

JC still above 40% from 3 for season, so I wouldn’t give on him up yet. Alleyne is due for a breakout

Alleyne was 2-7 so year he hit shots but didn't shoot it good. Joey C won't play when Newton and Hawkins play well. His defense isn't up there with Alleyne and he's not a pg like Diarra. Joey hasn't earned any minutes in Big East play.

 

[Scottobot]

Looking at the season as a whole gives a distorted picture of his value now. In Big East play, he's 8 of 32 -- 25% from deep. His all around FG % in BE play is 25.9% (14 of 54) and he's shot 18.5% in our 6 losses. (5 of 27).

If he was a passable defender, it might make sense to keep giving him minutes. But he is not.

I think that is just regression to the mean and shows how hot he can shoot. His form and mechanics look good. If he continues to get some minutes I bet he has another hot streak this season. I think DH needs to keep JC and Alleyne in the rotation. Great chance one of them gets red hot. That said if he comes in and misses a couple shots, the. I’d go with another option that game. Bench players don’t need to be good every game.

 

[RichZ]

I think that is just regression to the mean and shows how hot he can shoot. His form and mechanics look good. If he continues to get some minutes I bet he has another hot streak this season. I think DH needs to keep JC and Alleyne in the rotation. Great chance one of them gets red hot. That said if he comes in and misses a couple shots, the. I’d go with another option that game. Bench players don’t need to be good every game.

I don't have that kind of faith in him. Last night, Hurley didn't either. Joey played 3 minutes, did not attempt a shot, had one assist, one turnover and one foul. The latter two stats were off one action -- an offensive foul that gave possession to DePaul. At least that turnover didn't result in a score for DePaul.
But he also managed to lose contact with his man defensively at least once.

Personally, I'd prefer to remember him for the one spectacular play (touch basket) a few games back, and not have to watch him occupy space on the floor without contributing. On the other hand, if he does get his 3 point mojo back, I'll eat my words and cheer for him like crazy.