We were better than them and found a way to lose.

[Improviser]

They needed to complete a near perfect game to win over a Top 10, veteran team, that had 2 recent games under its belt. RJ makes one foul shot, not both, and then Creighton would have needed a 3, and no guarantee they would.

One made foul shot = the perfect game even with all the poor shooting of Gaffney and Cole and the offensive non-productivity of Adams and Martin.

Too bad Whaley was in foul trouble the first half, and then fouled out when his presence might have meant a defensive stop. Maybe, he learns how to foul less.

Not sure what this loss does to the team. Motivation for more focus in coming games? Time will tell.

But Bouk is not going to average 40 a game. So again, what happens next? Where will the offense come from?

Polley for a few 3's a game but then a loss of defense (Martin is better)? More PT for Sanogo? Akok eventually back for interior defense with improved offense?

Gaffney a really bad shooter and not necessarily a good point guard.

 

[Hankster]

Shameful loss. Should never have gotten that result given the position we were in to close out the game. I don’t want to hear, “17 days no games.” You don’t lose a game up 4 with 20 seconds left.

Let’s run through the closing 20 seconds:
Gaff sinks 2 FTs to put us up 4
Zeg runs right through our whole defense for an uncontested layup
Cole gets the ball trapped in the corner(never should’ve passed it there use a timeout)
Cole somehow gets a foul call and goes to the line
Cole missed both FTs and Zeg has the ball going the other way.
Zeg sprints to the cup unmarked again and Cole pokes it loose with 4 seconds to go
Creighton’s forward is on Gaffney posting him up and hits a game tying floater with no time left.

That is a throw. This game should’ve been won. We should be 4-0, 1-0 in conference play, absolutely cruising with momentum after Bouk drops 30+ on a top 10 team, we get ranked on Monday and add a good win to our resume. However we chose to lose, Creighton didn’t win, we showed the same folding attitude that we did against Hartford when we thought we would win.

Do you mind if I rewind it back to almost 1 minute left? The ball goes down to Carlton. RIGHT UNDER THE HOOP WITH ONE DEFENDER. Easy layup. Instead, he kicks it out to the three point line!!! We were down 2 I believe. A jacked up 3 to no avail. I am not disappointed in this loss. I am PISSED.

 

[AntG168]

This loss falls solely on Cole. You guys are thinking way too hard about this. He chocked at the free throw line. We played well enough to win. Some of these doom and gloom post are beyond weird. Relax, we played a top 10 team today and were the better team for 3/4 of the game

 

[JMick]

They needed to complete a near perfect game to win over a Top 10, veteran team, that had 2 recent games under its belt. RJ makes one foul shot, not both, and then Creighton would have needed a 3, and no guarantee they would.

One made foul shot = the perfect game even with all the poor shooting of Gaffney and Cole and the offensive non-productivity of Adams and Martin.

Too bad Whaley was in foul trouble the first half, and then fouled out when his presence might have meant a defensive stop. Maybe, he learns how to foul less.

Not sure what this loss does to the team. Motivation for more focus in coming games? Time will tell.

But Bouk is not going to average 40 a game. So again, what happens next? Where will the offense come from?

Polley for a few 3's a game but then a loss of defense (Martin is better)? More PT for Sanogo? Akok eventually back for interior defense with improved offense?

Gaffney a really bad shooter and not necessarily a good point guard.

if this game was a foul shot away from their "perfect game" then we're in for a long season.

 

[navery12]

Do you mind if I rewind it back to almost 1 minute left? The ball goes down to Carlton. RIGHT UNDER THE HOOP WITH ONE DEFENDER. Easy layup. Instead, he kicks it out to the three point line!!! We were down 2 I believe. A jacked up 3 to no avail. I am not disappointed in this loss. I am PISSED.

That was the right play, I'll take a wide open 3 over a contested layup any day of the week. Can't predict Gaffney bricking the shot

 

[AntG168]

if this game was a foul shot away from their "perfect game" then we're in for a long season.

This was faaaaaar fr our perfect game. And we should’ve won. This game can and should still create momentum

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

So let’s throw in the season while Vance Jackson bricks 3 pointers by 3 feet and looks like Bambi on ice playing D. If you are ok with throwing in the towel for player development I can respect that, but he ain’t the savior right now, he’s a net negative ( again right now). And as much as Cole hurt us from stripe at end ( and it was a knife in my heart) and his bad shorting day, gaffney not ready to carry his jockstrap. So again. Throw in a towel for player devolopment ? Since bouk won’t be here next year I’d rather have my best getting minutes, flaws and all.

A few games from now, when you start calling him Andre, things should be more sorted out more for coaches, players, and fans.

17 days off is real.

 

[navery12]

This was faaaaaar fr our perfect game. And we should’ve won. This game can and should still create momentum

Exactly, people need to calm down. It's 1 loss to a top 10 team, and we only have to look back to last season to see that Hurley has shown we can win these types of games

 

[Hankster]

guess we're the only 2 here that are ok with losing in OT to a top 10 team after not playing in 2.5 weeks.

i'd be surprised if cole and gaff ever go a combined 2/13 on threes again.

Well they didn't play like being off for 2.5 weeks in the second half.

 

[August_West]

A few games from now, when you start calling him Andre, things should be more sorted out more for coaches, players, and fans.

17 days off is real.

Shut up dove.

 

[bendm]

Well they didn't play like being off for 2.5 weeks in the second half.

but they certainly did in the first half and who can blame them

 

[superjohn]

if this game was a foul shot away from their "perfect game" then we're in for a long season.

Bouknight was amazing but that should be what we expect from him now, not 40 points but he's always going to be the best player on the floor. The rest of the team didn't play well and they still don't know how to close. With all that said we absolutely should've won and they missed over a month of practice and several games where they would've grown.

 

[August_West]

you are mistaken. we would have lost by 30 if this game were played under these circumstances anytime between 2016-2018

You have a short memory of how many games we couldn’t close out on Ollie era. It was actually tragically comical how many times we were under 4 min with lead and snatched defeat from jaws of victory

 

[Hallfan]

I understand being upset but given that you haven’t played in 17 days the performance was outstanding. Defense was exceptional and Bouknight is potentially BE POY. UConn will have a good season. Welcome back!

 

[Forte]

So let’s throw in the season while Vance Jackson bricks 3 pointers by 3 feet and looks like Bambi on ice playing D. If you are ok with throwing in the towel for player development I can respect that, but he ain’t the savior right now, he’s a net negative ( again right now). And as much as Cole hurt us from stripe at end ( and it was a knife in my heart) and his bad shorting day, gaffney not ready to carry his jockstrap. So again. Throw in a towel for player devolopment ? Since bouk won’t be here next year I’d rather have my best getting minutes, flaws and all.

If Jackson is an elite player the season will be far from thrown and he should make significant/ impactful difference by the last half of the season. We aren't asking for the dude to get every touch and be playing the entire game. We are simply saying let him eat up Gaffney and Adams minutes. He offers more upside. Common sense.

 

[Improviser]

This was faaaaaar fr our perfect game. And we should’ve won. This game can and should still create momentum

We should have won, of course. Reminds me of Donyell Marshall's blown foul shots. They played lousy but still would have been good enough to win. No room for the slightest lapse and that is what I meant by perfect ( no lapse at a critical moment). Meaning, in spite of lousy play except for JB, you should win and the one thing that seems easy, 1 out of 2, you miss.

Though, the defense generally good, stunk near the end. Consistent defense to the wire, would have done it.

 

[Greathusky]

If RJ hits those two free throws....

 

[August_West]

If Jackson is an elite player the season will be far from thrown and he should make significant/ impactful difference by the last half of the season. We aren't asking for the dude to get every touch and be playing the entire game. We are simply saying let him eat up Gaffney and Adams minutes. He offers more upside. Common sense.

If he offered more chance to win a game than Adams or gaffney, Hurley would be performing coaching malpractice by not having him on floor. Is he performing coaching malpractice?

 

[JMick]

This was faaaaaar fr our perfect game. And we should’ve won. This game can and should still create momentum

I think this team has a ton of potential but a lot is going to have to go right to realize that potential. you could tell how bad the time off hurt with stupid things like not seeing the ball off the rim, poor conditioning, completely missed defensive assignments, etc. I don't know if it is going to create momentum; all losses hurt but these kind of losses hurt more.

 

[Peacefrog]

You have a short memory of how many games we couldn’t close out on Ollie era. It was actually tragically comical how many times we were under 4 min with lead and starched defeat from haws of victory

Let's add this to "fort the ead". I like it.

 

[AntG168]

If RJ hits those two free throws....

These same doom and gloom posters are euphoric. It’s a massive overreaction. We lost because cole missed to free throws to ice the game. THE END

 

[JB75]

Like I said in an earlier post bAdams is who he is/Carlton is who he is/Gaffney is who he is/give the new guys like Martin Jackson sanogo some time and come mid February we ll be cooking. Akok back too. Very disappointed in gaffney. At least Cole played great D and “tried” to be our second scoring option.

 

[UConn990411]

Did anyone see Whaley's last foul? I thought that was a killer and I could not see a foul anywhere.

It was one of many brutal calls by today’s crew. The “foul” that sent RJ to the line was bad, too.

NBA refs get a lot of (deserved) heat, but college officiating is abysmal.

 

[AntG168]

I think this team has a ton of potential but a lot is going to have to go right to realize that potential. you could tell how bad the time off hurt with stupid things like not seeing the ball off the rim, poor conditioning, completely missed defensive assignments, etc. I don't know if it is going to create momentum; all losses hurt but these kind of losses hurt more.

Bouknight realizing he might be the best damn player in the country means something. If Bouk is the leader we think he is and Hurley the coach we think he is, then one loss to a top 10 team after a 17 day lay off should not be a negative. RJ makes his free throws(which prior to this game he hadn’t missed one lol) then the tone on this board is massively different

 

[superjohn]

If he offered more chance to win a game than Adams or gaffney, Hurley would be performing coaching malpractice by not having him on floor. Is he performing coaching malpractice?

He doesn't trust him yet, same with Sanogo. Same with Calhoun with Lamb, same with Hurley and Bouknight last season. For UConn to reach where they can this season he's going to have to start playing Jackson and Sanogo more.