What an atrocious game vs Syracuse

[djct1999]

I am not one to make excuses and from what I saw, the team that played better yesterday won the game. I blame this on the 9:30 start from the night before to a 3:30 start the next day. Give us more than 5 hours to prepare for Syracuse and a days rest, and UConn wins by 20. Nothing more or nothing less. Next................

 

[UConnSwag11]

Losing to Cuse sucks so much d. Other than the shltty reffing,We gave the game away. We missed way to many easy chances, fts, and left a lot of open shooters in the second half. The fact they shot that many fts didn't help. We were the better team just didn't comeout with intensity the second half. Time to move on. We still put up over 70 which is a positive. This 3rd place game might be better for us as the zags seem to be a ff favorite. I think we're quicker than them and more talented. Sabonis and wiltjer will be a problem but I think we can tire sabonis out if we can run and space the floor like we did with MSU. Beat the zags and let's get to Maryland on a winning streak

 

[mlz01]

I was as bummed as anyone but I do see the silver lining....just wish it didn't have to come from a loss to Syracuse, but oh well. Many on this board say it time and again....we play for wins in March and nobody remembers preseason basketball tournaments, except fans of teams like Syracuse that rarely win in March.

This is a major teaching moment for KO and I'm confident he'll use it for the betterment of the team. I hope we play hard and smart today against a top team. Regardless of the outcome, I'm in (as a fan) this season for the long haul.

We are a good team, clearly not great. But we have the pieces and the coach to be great. I'm going to hold my criticism of our guys until they've had more time to develop as a unit. Here's to a strong performance today against Gonzaga. Let's go Huskies!!

 

[Rico444]

I'm just echoing everybody else, but the defense was terrible. One of the worst performances on that side of the ball I've ever seen from this team, and this program has always been about tough defense above all else. FT shooting and execution offensively weren't up to snuff, but the defense was the reason we lost this game.

I thought I was gonna be miserable for awhile after this one, but I feel surprisingly good this morning. I think this game was an aberration, we have to remember this team has a bunch of new pieces that are still getting fully acclimated. Today is a really big game though.

 

[willie99]

gross display of basketball and terrible prep by KO and his staff.

Astonished by how poorly we attacked the zone. Unless it looked different on TV

What I saw was a bunch of 3's and one on one play. We did what Cuse wanted us to do

 

[uconnell]

Shouldn't Cooney be collecting Social Security? Seems like he has been at Cuse forever.

 

[DogMania]

Defense lost this game.

But that free throw discrepancy was a bit perplexing. We got into the paint plenty. Purvis could have finished better, but he took a lot of contact on a few of those drives. In the second half, when Syracuse wasn't hitting a shot, they were at the line, almost every time.

We were on the wrong side of the FT's against Michigan which was eve once he got in the paint, you seem to drive around the basket instead of right at it. n more odd, considering they barely went into the paint.

The Syracuse length really caused some problems for Purvis. Once he got in the paint, he seemed to drive around the basket, instead of attacking it. By doing so he was avoiding contact, which will not draw any fouls. The one time he did attack directly at the basket he got completely stuffed.

It was just a bad all around game for the team. They missed free throws, they gave up a ton of points in transition, they had stagnant offense against the zone at times, they fouled a ton, missed a lot of early three pointers and stop taking open ones for long stretches of the game, Brimah had that one horrible stretch on both ends of the floor which contributed to a deadly Syracuse run, Miller struggles on both ends of the floor, and Gibbs struggled with his a shot and seem to lose confidence throughout most of the game. Considering all those things, we only lost by only 3 points. Clearly, the sky is not falling.

 

[mauconnfan]

Rodney needs to just stop on 2 feet and take a shot rather than that runner which gets him in too deep at times and gives the defense a chance to make plays. He's getting to the middle easy now it's time to adjust and get good shots off.

 

[Rico444]

Rodney needs to just stop on 2 feet and take a shot rather than that runner which gets him in too deep at times and gives the defense a chance to make plays. He's getting to the middle easy now it's time to adjust and get good shots off.

Either that or go right into the shot blocker's body; you'll pick up more foul calls and cause them to have to make adjustments because of more foul trouble.

 

[mauconnfan]

Either that or go right into the shot blocker's body; you'll pick up more foul calls and cause them to have to make adjustments because of more foul trouble.

He needs to make FT's first though huh?

 

[upstater]

I am not one to make excuses and from what I saw, the team that played better yesterday won the game. I blame this on the 9:30 start from the night before to a 3:30 start the next day. Give us more than 5 hours to prepare for Syracuse and a days rest, and UConn wins by 20. Nothing more or nothing less. Next......

No doubt Syracuse played better, and they just punk'd UConn on a number of possessions in the second half.

But it's early. I don't think you're going to see teams doing some of that stuff to UConn (fast breaks with absolutely no resistance).

 

[Rico444]

He needs to make FT's first though huh?

Definitely. Everybody needs to get better there. Even just drawing the fouls without making the FTs will help this team though; it's one more foul to get us closer to the bonus and it means they're more likely to have to put a mediocre player into the game for longer.