What adjustments could Hurley and the team make to counter what McDermott and Creighton did on Tuesday?

[Seamus84]

From Jake to Emeka to Hasheem to Amidah to DC, our best defensive teams have been built on funneling an opposing player to the middle where a big body is waiting for you. When that presence is gone we struggle (unfortunately Samson can’t fill that role). As has been mentioned, when DC goes out we may need to shift to better on-ball defenders for a stretch.

 

[storrsroars]

I'm currently fighting with an ad vendor who was suspending ads on pages with the name "Solo Ball." They insist it is a euphemism for prohibited "Adult Sexual Content."

If an athlete has a solo ball, do they use a solo cup?

 

[Get a Job]

If an athlete has a solo ball, do they use a solo cup?

I'd say you'll have to ask Lance Armstrong, but he probably wouldn't tell you the truth anyway.

 

[storrsroars]

I'd say you'll have to ask Lance Armstrong, but he probably wouldn't tell you the truth anyway.

I thought about using a Lance joke, but cyclists don't wear cups.

So I wondered who I would ask, and wouldn't you know the interwebs has a ranking of the most notable one-balled people in history. So I'll ask John Kruk.

 

[mauconnfan]

It’s just 2 games the Huskies weren’t on their games as a whole. We can’t over analyze this game or the Hall game because teams are all different. Here’s the reality, you can never believe that Ashworth and Miller are significantly better defenders than say Mitchell and Jones from Marquette can you? As a matter of fact Mitchell is a very good defender and the Huskies did what they wanted all game. I won’t get into the obvious hugging and mugging we saw but our whole team didn’t play well Tuesday which is a rarity. If Donovan stays out of foul trouble and the refs don’t let Dixon mug him all game they have no answers. DC is the key.

Big game today, dare I say “must”?

 

[VA Blue Dog]

Hard to defend when a team is that hot. Aside from Kalkbrenner (0 for 1), Ashworth was their worst 3 point shooter, 38 %. The other four went 67%. Keep changing the zone and don't be afraid of time outs especially in the first half. Call two in a row if you have to. If you can't shift and are late on the screens and the hedges, keep changing your zones 1-2-2, 3-2, 2-2-1. Try some half court presses to slow them down. That worked when we were down by 23 in the 2nd half. Mix it up. Key thing is to stop the momentum and the teams confidence.

 

[ucp990411]

How about not having to play a hot Creighton team 3 days after a really big and emotional win. And not playing in front of a super rowdy crowd of 18,000. Or how about not playing a team that makes 6 threes in a row and shoots 50% on threes for the game. Or not have 2 bogus fouls called on our most important player in the first 5 minutes. Or not playing our best game while the 15th ranked team could not have played better. Come on people, you are overreacting just a little don’t you think?

 

[JohnFSilver]

If Villanova goes 14 of 28 from 3, they are gonna win the basketball game.

 

[DMIL]

Against a team like Creighton it comes down to perimeter defense. The rotations were slow the entire game and inconsistent. You also have to remember that UCONN is not used to playing from such large deficits. We saw this against Kansas and Seton Hall as well.

UCONN hasn't shown the ability to sustain their comeback on both Defense and Offense against good teams when falling behind by such a margin. I think this is something worth noting and I'm sure it has been noted as a characteristic of this team. We have 3 examples in their losses. It's a blueprint now.

 

[Stinger92860]

I don’t think this would change the outcome of the last game but Clingan staying on the floor is key, and the other thing that might help is to not double down as much as we did. Give up the shots in the paint, but that places pressure on DC Not to foul. Creighton could not miss, but many shots were wide open. they kicked out a z z, next.

 

[willie99]

After getting drubbed by St John's on Sunday, I'm going to suggest the only thing we need to change is the venue. Looks like they're not nearly as good at MSG. Affectionately known as Storrs South

 

[mauconnfan]

One of UConn/ Creighton came back to earth while the other did what they needed to do. Only adjustment needed is play them away from their place!

 

[80shusky]

It looked to me like Creighton did to UConn what Kansas did but to greater effect. They extended the D on Spencer and Karaban and basically faceguarded them. All while sagging off Castle (he was out for Kansas though so Hass) and extending on Newton and making them try to beat you. Push Kalk back in the middle to play zone D, get Clingan in foul trouble, and shoot over 50% from 3 on volume shooting and you’ve got a blowout.

Kansas wasn’t able to execute this the entire game consistently, so UConn made up some ground in the 2nd half. Creighton had the bodies to do it and executed it the entire game. I’m not sure how you game plan to stop this or if you need to.

Not many teams have the coaching and roster to pull this off, let alone consistently for 40 minutes. I think most coaches know if they shut down two of UConn’s best players, shoot 50% from three and get the starting center in foul trouble they have a good chance to win.