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

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

Joined
Aug 24, 2011
Messages
2,848
Reaction Score
5,196
So what adjustments do you think Hurley and the team can make to counter what McDermott and Creighton did on both ends of the floor to our guys on Tuesday?

I consider myself a hoops junky who has a solid understanding of Xs snd Os, but I'm not sure what adjustments Hurley can make in light of what a team built like Creighton can do when they play their A game, and with the mix of players we have on this year's team.

Of course, somehow getting Clingan to defend well without fouling as much would help, but I'm not sure what more the coaching staff can do to help him at this point. I hope they can. Though hard to prevent bad and/or borderline calls against him.

One thing we do know, when the opposing perimeter players curl around the high screen at the top of the key, they have to do something different than having our bigs hedging on screens, our weak side perimeter defenders leaving the opponents sharpshooters to temporarily cover the exposed bigs dropping back towards the basket until our big re-engages back into the paint. Creighton exploited that most of the night, especially when Clingan was on the bench.

Now there are not a lot of teams that are built and coached like Creighton that can knock down a lot of threes and successfully do rive to the basket the way they do. Creighton won't always shoot it as well from deep as they did, but hope that there is something UConn could have done differently to get more stops.

Now on the other end of the floor, Creighton did a good job of taking away some of our perimeter shooters and defending the back cuts that usually result in some could percentage shots in the paint or drawing fouls. It didn't look like they were running their half court motion as well as they usually do, but much of that might be the result of how Creighton defended it. I'd like to watch part of the game again to watch more closely at what they did.

I wish we had a 5 who could come off the bench and at least defend the paint close to how Clingan does. Johnson seems to have digressed and too often goes too far out with his help D or too aggressive on his hedge where he's either left too much open space behind him or picking up over aggressive fouls. And even with Clingan out on the floor in the second half, Creighton's sharpshooters kept on knocking down some big 3s.

Spencer struggles at times on the defense end since he doesn't have high end quickness and athleticism but it's hard not to keep him out there when he usually does so much on the offensive end. At times Hurley puts Diarra in who defends more aggressively and has been making plays on both ends, though I think he usually comes in for Castle more often than for any other player.

So what adjustments do you think can be made to counter what Creighton did?
 
Joined
May 27, 2015
Messages
13,382
Reaction Score
89,591
I don't think there's a need to reinvent the wheel and make any major changes, Creighton got ridiculously hot from 3 and beat us at home. We dominated them at Gampel, they couldn't make a shot and we won. If we play like we did all year we'll beat them at MSG, even with how hot they were we were a few plays away from winning that game
 

BGesus4

Running everywhere
Joined
Apr 21, 2016
Messages
2,826
Reaction Score
17,093
I don't think there's a need to reinvent the wheel and make any major changes, Creighton got ridiculously hot from 3 and beat us at home. We dominated them at Gampel, they couldn't make a shot and we won. If we play like we did all year we'll beat them at MSG, even with how hot they were we were a few plays away from winning that game
Or decent chance we won’t even play them because they’ll be on Marquette’s side of the bracket
 

huskeynut

Leader of the Band
Joined
Aug 27, 2011
Messages
6,971
Reaction Score
28,066
Creighton shot the lights out and UConn didn't. It happens.

Onto the next game. Let Creighton crow that they beat the mighty UConn. Msy come back and bite them but good.
 
Joined
Feb 9, 2023
Messages
654
Reaction Score
1,731
So what adjustments do you think Hurley and the team can make to counter what McDermott and Creighton did on both ends of the floor to our guys on Tuesday?

I consider myself a hoops junky who has a solid understanding of Xs snd Os, but I'm not sure what adjustments Hurley can make in light of what a team built like Creighton can do when they play their A game, and with the mix of players we have on this year's team.

Of course, somehow getting Clingan to defend well without fouling as much would help, but I'm not sure what more the coaching staff can do to help him at this point. I hope they can. Though hard to prevent bad and/or borderline calls against him.

One thing we do know, when the opposing perimeter players curl around the high screen at the top of the key, they have to do something different than having our bigs hedging on screens, our weak side perimeter defenders leaving the opponents sharpshooters to temporarily cover the exposed bigs dropping back towards the basket until our big re-engages back into the paint. Creighton exploited that most of the night, especially when Clingan was on the bench.

Now there are not a lot of teams that are built and coached like Creighton that can knock down a lot of threes and successfully do rive to the basket the way they do. Creighton won't always shoot it as well from deep as they did, but hope that there is something UConn could have done differently to get more stops.

Now on the other end of the floor, Creighton did a good job of taking away some of our perimeter shooters and defending the back cuts that usually result in some could percentage shots in the paint or drawing fouls. It didn't look like they were running their half court motion as well as they usually do, but much of that might be the result of how Creighton defended it. I'd like to watch part of the game again to watch more closely at what they did.

I wish we had a 5 who could come off the bench and at least defend the paint close to how Clingan does. Johnson seems to have digressed and too often goes too far out with his help D or too aggressive on his hedge where he's either left too much open space behind him or picking up over aggressive fouls. And even with Clingan out on the floor in the second half, Creighton's sharpshooters kept on knocking down some big 3s.

Spencer struggles at times on the defense end since he doesn't have high end quickness and athleticism but it's hard not to keep him out there when he usually does so much on the offensive end. At times Hurley puts Diarra in who defends more aggressively and has been making plays on both ends, though I think he usually comes in for Castle more often than for any other player.

So what adjustments do you think can be made to counter what Creighton did?
Put castle at foul line and have him go to work. Probably opens up karaban and Spencer at 3 point line.
 

ctchamps

We are UConn!! 4>1 But 5>>>>1 is even better!
Joined
Aug 24, 2011
Messages
17,083
Reaction Score
42,307
Not an adjustment by the coaches, but it's imperative that Donovan does not get into foul trouble. His absence on the floor prevents our players from sticking with the players they guard. It's the only way to stop uncontested threes. The corollary is to get Kalkbrenner into foul trouble so they have to double our bigs opening us up on the perimeter.

Only major change will be to have Castle not be the primary ball handler unless he gets more confident in his three point shooting. He should be positioning himself along the baseline, flashing to the foul line and going to the other base line eliminating his defender ability to park in the lane.
 
Joined
Feb 18, 2023
Messages
355
Reaction Score
1,077
If they are gonna hedge with Samson I wish they’d try just trapping instead to get some deflections or turnovers and use Samsons athleticism. When he hedges they just wait for him to back off and it’s 4 on 3 behind him. Idk if it would work but it couldn’t of been much worse the last game.

As far as the offense, Creighton held us under 70 both games even when we won in Gampel. All three games we lost we were taken out of our offense so there’s gotta be an adjustment we can make there when we are played that tight.
 

UConnSwag11

Storrs, CT The Mecca
Joined
Aug 26, 2011
Messages
13,969
Reaction Score
52,913
They got going when Clingan went out. Not saying we’d win but it would’ve been much closer.
 

prankster

Twister Member
Joined
Aug 21, 2011
Messages
4,346
Reaction Score
5,435
Teach both of our bigs to drain a 3 from the top of the arc.

You're welcome.
How confident were the Bluejays that neither Clingan nor Johnson would attempt a shot from the high post?

They left Clingan at least 3 feet of space. Johnson had at least 6 feet when they were in the high post.

We were not able to give Kalkbrenner that kind of space, because he drops a 3 from time to time.
 
Joined
Oct 7, 2011
Messages
5,043
Reaction Score
18,168
So what adjustments do you think Hurley and the team can make to counter what McDermott and Creighton did on both ends of the floor to our guys on Tuesday?

I consider myself a hoops junky who has a solid understanding of Xs snd Os, but I'm not sure what adjustments Hurley can make in light of what a team built like Creighton can do when they play their A game, and with the mix of players we have on this year's team.

Of course, somehow getting Clingan to defend well without fouling as much would help, but I'm not sure what more the coaching staff can do to help him at this point. I hope they can. Though hard to prevent bad and/or borderline calls against him.

One thing we do know, when the opposing perimeter players curl around the high screen at the top of the key, they have to do something different than having our bigs hedging on screens, our weak side perimeter defenders leaving the opponents sharpshooters to temporarily cover the exposed bigs dropping back towards the basket until our big re-engages back into the paint. Creighton exploited that most of the night, especially when Clingan was on the bench.

Now there are not a lot of teams that are built and coached like Creighton that can knock down a lot of threes and successfully do rive to the basket the way they do. Creighton won't always shoot it as well from deep as they did, but hope that there is something UConn could have done differently to get more stops.

Now on the other end of the floor, Creighton did a good job of taking away some of our perimeter shooters and defending the back cuts that usually result in some could percentage shots in the paint or drawing fouls. It didn't look like they were running their half court motion as well as they usually do, but much of that might be the result of how Creighton defended it. I'd like to watch part of the game again to watch more closely at what they did.

I wish we had a 5 who could come off the bench and at least defend the paint close to how Clingan does. Johnson seems to have digressed and too often goes too far out with his help D or too aggressive on his hedge where he's either left too much open space behind him or picking up over aggressive fouls. And even with Clingan out on the floor in the second half, Creighton's sharpshooters kept on knocking down some big 3s.

Spencer struggles at times on the defense end since he doesn't have high end quickness and athleticism but it's hard not to keep him out there when he usually does so much on the offensive end. At times Hurley puts Diarra in who defends more aggressively and has been making plays on both ends, though I think he usually comes in for Castle more often than for any other player.

So what adjustments do you think can be made to counter what Creighton did?
Guard them
 
Joined
Aug 24, 2011
Messages
11,018
Reaction Score
29,396
So what adjustments do you think Hurley and the team can make to counter what McDermott and Creighton did on both ends of the floor to our guys on Tuesday?

I consider myself a hoops junky who has a solid understanding of Xs snd Os, but I'm not sure what adjustments Hurley can make in light of what a team built like Creighton can do when they play their A game, and with the mix of players we have on this year's team.

Of course, somehow getting Clingan to defend well without fouling as much would help, but I'm not sure what more the coaching staff can do to help him at this point. I hope they can. Though hard to prevent bad and/or borderline calls against him.

One thing we do know, when the opposing perimeter players curl around the high screen at the top of the key, they have to do something different than having our bigs hedging on screens, our weak side perimeter defenders leaving the opponents sharpshooters to temporarily cover the exposed bigs dropping back towards the basket until our big re-engages back into the paint. Creighton exploited that most of the night, especially when Clingan was on the bench.

Now there are not a lot of teams that are built and coached like Creighton that can knock down a lot of threes and successfully do rive to the basket the way they do. Creighton won't always shoot it as well from deep as they did, but hope that there is something UConn could have done differently to get more stops.

Now on the other end of the floor, Creighton did a good job of taking away some of our perimeter shooters and defending the back cuts that usually result in some could percentage shots in the paint or drawing fouls. It didn't look like they were running their half court motion as well as they usually do, but much of that might be the result of how Creighton defended it. I'd like to watch part of the game again to watch more closely at what they did.

I wish we had a 5 who could come off the bench and at least defend the paint close to how Clingan does. Johnson seems to have digressed and too often goes too far out with his help D or too aggressive on his hedge where he's either left too much open space behind him or picking up over aggressive fouls. And even with Clingan out on the floor in the second half, Creighton's sharpshooters kept on knocking down some big 3s.

Spencer struggles at times on the defense end since he doesn't have high end quickness and athleticism but it's hard not to keep him out there when he usually does so much on the offensive end. At times Hurley puts Diarra in who defends more aggressively and has been making plays on both ends, though I think he usually comes in for Castle more often than for any other player.

So what adjustments do you think can be made to counter what Creighton did?
I would say what Creighton and Seton Hall did. They both made concerted efforts to push the D out on Spencer and Karaban.

Creighton - Spencer - 6 pts, 0-2 from 3, AK 7 pts, 1-3 from 3
Seton Hall - Spencer - 5 pts, 1-5 from 3, AK 9 pts, 1-6 from 3

Get Donovan off the court and extend out pressure on those 2 and let Newton and the rest try to beat you.

Someone mentioned having Donovan and/or Samson take that shot at the top of the key. I'm thinking running sets with Alex at the top of the arc and using that space from the 3 pt line to the lane to shoot or drive and draw a foul or kick out a pass? That spot seems to be soft a lot of the time, we just don't have a big that can shoot it from there.
 
Joined
Mar 4, 2014
Messages
16,706
Reaction Score
19,933
They got going when Clingan went out. Not saying we’d win but it would’ve been much closer.
UConn absolutely would have won. You change one tiny thing and everything about the future changes. You change one big thing, like keeping Cling Kong in the game, and everything changes drastically.
 

gtcam

Diehard since '65
Joined
Sep 12, 2012
Messages
10,997
Reaction Score
29,068
Hoping that Cam and Newton pick it up on the defensive end but it's hard to teach lateral quickness and a desire to dig down deep on every defensive stand
 

storrsroars

Exiled in Pittsburgh
Joined
Mar 23, 2012
Messages
20,005
Reaction Score
40,026
Whatever UConn was doing between the 8 minute and 4 minute timeouts was working. I feel that when DC fumbled Diarra's pass OOB, that deflated us and led to the larger margin of victory for the Jays. If DC handles that pass and scores (likely), it's an 8 point game with 3+ minutes left and the Jays' butthole is spasming.

But yes, it starts with DC not getting early fouls.
 
Joined
Aug 29, 2011
Messages
1,890
Reaction Score
10,126
Don't play your 3rd game in 7 days on the road against a hot shooting team. In all seriousness though. it was clear that sometimes the complex offensive schemes aren't clicking and creating shots becomes the necessity. That is why Newton got his 27 points. I think Hurley should have had Castle doing more creating. Kind of nitpicking, but Newton needed some help.
 
Joined
Aug 31, 2011
Messages
1,004
Reaction Score
4,837
I'm curious to see our "shot selection" this year vs. last year. Seems like we are setting a lot less screens for our 3 point shooters and also taking a lot more mid range floaters. Last year was all layups by Sanogo and Threes off a screen.
 
Joined
Aug 27, 2011
Messages
6,272
Reaction Score
30,832
Clingan staying out of foul trouble would have a profound effect. Just don't foul, stay in the game normal starters minutes. Obviously guarding the 3 better. Two very doable things.
 

Online statistics

Members online
146
Guests online
4,182
Total visitors
4,328

Forum statistics

Threads
157,111
Messages
4,083,743
Members
9,979
Latest member
Texasfan01


Top Bottom