What an atrocious game vs Syracuse

[BJ_Toscano]

Post-game press:

 

[Towney007]

In general - just an awful game. I think that's about as bad as you can expect this team to play. We're not DOOMED and today was just more of a bad day than anything else, but some general observations:

-Foul shooting is shockingly awful for a Kevin Ollie-Coached team. They lost the game - flat out - at the foul line.

-We have no presence down low. None. I've seen this team three times this year - and i"m not a Brimah basher or anything - but he doesn't even feel like he fits with what they're trying to do. He's just disappeared from everything and the touches and looks he does get - he pooches. Heading forward - this is going to be the team's underbelly. They're going to have to figure out how to better incorporate their bigs if they want a shot at a deep tournament run.

-I refuse to give Syracuse credit for their zone defense tonight. We got way too many open looks (that we missed, btw) for me to credit that. That being said, there was way too much give and go nonsense outside the three point line. A third of the possessions felt like a complete waste and even when we got results and scored - they were still bad possessions. There were entire stretches where i'm not even sure they ran a play. It was THAT stuff that felt like last year all over again.

-I thought the game was poorly coached. They ran the same lob play almost 15 times. They ran the same look on the baseline another 10. They didn't make a single adjustment and like I said above - just stopped doing anything for entire stretches. Ollie's gotta make adjustments, change up looks, etc. He's a terrific coach, but was far from that today.

-Defense. It stunk. Especially in transition.


The only thing i'm worried about in a real sense is their bigs and how they factor in to what they're doing. Other than that i'm mostly pleased with what i've seen so far. We hit 10% of the free throws we missed tonight and we get a win. An ugly win, but a win. So I dunno - not time to light the barn on fire yet.

 

[cohenzone]

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 even more odd, considering they barely went into the paint.

Don't really agree. Not saying the D was good, but our O was basically terrible, bad ball movement and lousy shot selection and execution set up a load of transition baskets which is also when a lot of the fouling occurred. A lot of our missed lay ups were from awkward angles. Purvis was one of our problems on O, despite his shooting in the last 6 minutes our so. Driving into 2 or 3 guys 5 or 6 times was poor and forced. We shot probably 4-5 3s early in possessions, not making SU work on D. Looks great when they go in, but most were from 3-4 feet beyond the arc, which is a bad idea with 6 seconds gone on the clock. I never had the feeling the coaches had a scheme for beating that zone. The upside is that they had less than a day to prepare against that zone, which is not typical even during the NCAAs where there's a day in between. Anyway, it's early and this doesn't really rise to a WTF loss status.

 

[80shusky]

Post-game press:

Wow in the post game presser the boys certainly looked humbled. Especially Hamilton who looks heartbroken. Gibbs looks flat out pissed. Ollie needs to get their chins up to rebound for a win tomorrow.

 

[Rocktheworld]

Post-game press:

Damn. From the first second, look at that body language. Really really hard to see DHam's head on the table like that. Hard to see the veterans looking so defeated. They know what just happened, and know what needs to be done.

Everyone looking like their grandmothers just died. How they respond will be a huge indicator of how this season will probably go.

 

[David 76]

I thought I saw a halftime adjustment. In the 2nd quarter we were stuck passing the ball around the perimeter and chucking up 3s.
Out of halftime, we were getting the ball into our bigs or to DHam around the free throw line Unfortunately AB missed 3-4 up close, Ham missed a floater and Shonn missed one up close too. Correct strategy, poor execution.

But still, why we lost
1) Free Throws
2) defense
3) Too much passing the ball around the perimeter

 

[BugsyCT]

Post-game press:

Man, these guys look like they just lost an NCAA tourney game. Tough one to swallow. Hope they come out with fire tomorrow vs the Zags.

 

[OkaForPrez]

Post-game press:

I'm glad nobody stuck a Mic in my face after this one. They handled it better than I would have.

 

[MexicoHusky]

Tbey gave Rodney the lane all night and he failed epicly. He needs to get better. No doubt. We'll get better.

Cuse looked pretty good.

 

[Skiblets]

Defense lost this game.

.

This times 1000. For a team that stresses 'kills', there was a stretch in the second half where Cuse hit three threes in a row and scored on 8 of 9 possessions. We still scored in the 70's against that fracking zone..should have been enough

 

[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.