We are officially in our January slump

[Waquoit]

All of these posts about reducing Ball's minutes make me feel even more confident that he's going to break out in a big way pretty soon. It's my Inverse Boneyard Theory and it usually works.

I hope so, but hope isn’t a plan. I would’ve felt better if he showed us something in the Georgetown game. Still, it is the dog days. Hopefully this is a Ben Gordon situation.

 

[Umami Zen]

Solo's coach says he's not 100% healthy but he continues to play. His injury is to his shooting hand. His numbers will get better as his wrist heals. Defense is a matter of effort and awareness re: picks and rotations. Moving the feet. He can control that.

 

[uconngb]

Stew can if the matchup is right. Short stint, 5-8, bring in Solo. Ross will get going in a few games. Give him a little time. Took 2+ years to get him to be effective, he deserves a little leash. Use of NEVER on the Yard is a guarantee that it’ll be replaced by EXCEPT. We are going to need all hands on board the later the season goes. Solo and Ross gotta be effective, as Stewart is now and they both have been at times. Need it when we need it.

Yes I have way more confidence in JStew

 

[uconngb]

Wrong, of course. The 24 team - possibly the best overall UConn team - shot 69-92 for the tournament for 75%

Good ? Obviously. Over 80% ? No

I was obviously referring to 2014 team…..you know we’ve won 6 of these things, right??

 

[Hey Adrien!]

January: the best month of the year to slump in college basketball.

The '23 title team's record in January: 3-5
The '24 title team's record in January: They didn't lose, lol.
'25 champs Florida lost 2 of first 4 games in January.

 

[willie99]

January 2023, Hurley can't win a close game and Hurley can't win a tournament game

 

[RuffRuff]

January: the best month of the year to slump in college basketball.

The '23 title team's record in January: 3-5
The '24 title team's record in January: They didn't lose, lol.
'25 champs Florida lost 2 of first 4 games in January.

If you're going to take an in season vacation, it is probably the best month to do it.

 

[connVA]

We're winning close games, our conference opponents are giving us their best shot, but we're simply not playing well

5 for 26 from three, we need to make more, many more.

We missed 6 of 8 FTs down the stretch, all by our best free throw shooters. Last game Reed was absolutely awful from the line. If you want to win a championship, you have to hit 80% from the line. Especially down the stretch

We're frustrated, I know the staff is frustrated, I know the players are the most frustrated, but still we are WINNING.

They're going to wake up. January will end, we're just not playing like a championship team this month

Arrogant and spoiled I suppose

Testament to how arrogant and spoiled we are (and/or how confident I am in the team and coaching staff)- watching the game at Cap One I really wasn't worried when things were getting close. It was more bemusement over the false hopes of the Hoya fans down the stretch. Also- from what I was seeing/hearing, they weren't very knowledgeable although I'm guessing they'd say they're too busy doctoring, lawyering, and playing diplomat to pay attention to trainwrecks.

 

[nomar]

I remember I intentionally manipulated a stat for the purpose of eliminating a couple outliers - but if you counted “clutch foul shots” as margin less than 10 points, last 5 minutes, and the outcome still in doubt, we were 44-45 at the line in the tourney. The one miss was Bazz splitting 2 up by 6 to Iowa State with about 1:30 left.

Those standards eliminate 3-4 harmless misses against Nova when we were up double digits, and Boat missing the last one against St. Joe’s in overtime when we were up 8 with 5 seconds left (ie game no longer in doubt). Those misses damage the stat if you look at just the last 5 minutes.

Yeah we basically made every FT we needed to make, starting with Amida’s legendary and-1. Hence Calipari’s comment. I’ve never seen anything like it, before or since.

IIRC the 2011 team wasn’t a good FT shooting team and all season people predicted it would be their downfall, but it didn’t end up being a big factor.

 

[prankster]

I prefer to think we are now out of our January slump.

We exited it with 2 not exceptional WTF games with a pair of wins.

I believe Villanova may be in for a thumping.

This week off is just what the team and staff needed.

 

[superjohn]

Stew can if the matchup is right. Short stint, 5-8, bring in Solo. Ross will get going in a few games. Give him a little time. Took 2+ years to get him to be effective, he deserves a little leash. Use of NEVER on the Yard is a guarantee that it’ll be replaced by EXCEPT. We are going to need all hands on board the later the season goes. Solo and Ross gotta be effective, as Stewart is now and they both have been at times. Need it when we need it.

How is Stewart effective now? He has 8 total points in the last four games with 7 rebounds, 2 assists, and 5 turnovers. I like Jaylin but he remains an enigma and he doesn't score the ball. We don't need a non-scorer in the starting lineup.

 

[noelle]

How is Stewart effective now? He has 8 total points in the last four games with 7 rebounds, 2 assists, and 5 turnovers. I like Jaylin but he remains an enigma and he doesn't score the ball. We don't need a non-scorer in the starting lineup.

offensively he sets good screens and moves the ball well, brings more physicality. stew lineups have been really good this year. it's actually our best lineup by a lot.

 

[NickDanger]

Outlier(s) for a good shooting game is better than it not occurring at all. But it matters because if it is an outlier it means it's not something that can be depended on. This team won't reach their peak without Solo's perimeter shooting. The offensive schemes are predicated on having consistent perimeter shooting and Solo hasn't really shown he can do that this year. His wrist is probably bothering him more than he is letting on, but regardless his shooting has been underwhelming.

I asked why it matters if it feels like an outlier. If they have 8 good shooting games the rest of the season, does it matter whether they or the bad games feel like outliers?

 

[gsmooth]

I asked why it matters if it feels like an outlier. If they have 8 good shooting games the rest of the season, does it matter whether they or the bad games feel like outliers?

Reread my post. I stated very clearly why it matters. BTW, there are 12 games left in the regular season so if Solo had 8 games of good shooting that would by definition not be an outlier and be a great sign his shooting touch has returned. UConn performance will only be maximized when Solo returns to form.

As for why one good shooting game would feel like an outlier rather than him returning to form, just look at Solo's game-to-game shooting this year. The number of good shooting games has been far and few between. That's why if he ends up shooting well the next game, that's good, but I would not be so quick to think that in and of itself would mean he has turned around his shooting woes or will.

 

[giddyup]

It’s shooting. If we’re shooting at an average rate there are no complaints about any of this. We’re not, so we get this stuff about psychology

No doubt. The point I was obviously not making well is one of floor chemistry. There is something off. The offense is clunky and inefficient. It’s not running nearly as crisply as in the fall. Could be the January funk, but I think it’s something about floor chemistry that Hurley is scratching his head over. Obviously the team has enough raw talent to overcome bad shooting nights, but there is more to it.

 

[superjohn]

No doubt. The point I was obviously not making well is one of floor chemistry. There is something off. The offense is clunky and inefficient. It’s not running nearly as crisply as in the fall. Could be the January funk, but I think it’s something about floor chemistry that Hurley is scratching his head over. Obviously the team has enough raw talent to overcome bad shooting nights, but there is more to it.

It's pretty simple, in the fall we were playing out of conference games and we could move around freely. Now we're playing Big East games and a lot of that freedom of movement is gone and the threes aren't falling.

 

[DisabledVet]

We're winning close games, our conference opponents are giving us their best shot, but we're simply not playing well

5 for 26 from three, we need to make more, many more.

We missed 6 of 8 FTs down the stretch, all by our best free throw shooters. Last game Reed was absolutely awful from the line. If you want to win a championship, you have to hit 80% from the line. Especially down the stretch

We're frustrated, I know the staff is frustrated, I know the players are the most frustrated, but still we are WINNING.

They're going to wake up. January will end, we're just not playing like a championship team this month

Arrogant and spoiled I suppose

I think that we are looking like a team that plays to the talent level of the opposition